======================================================================== WRITINGS OF ALBERT BARNES by Albert Barnes ======================================================================== A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by Albert Barnes, compiled for study and devotional reading. Chapters: 52 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 0.00. Barnes Albert - Library 2. 1.00. A Manual of Prayer 3. 1.02. Introduction 4. 1.03. Preface 5. 1.04. Part 1 - Accountability-Creation 6. 1.05. Part 2 - Death-Grief 7. 1.06. Part 3 - Happiness-Justification 8. 1.07. Part 4 - Knowledge-Ostentation 9. 1.08. Part 5 - Pardon-Summer 10. 1.09. Part 6 - Talents-Zeal 11. 1A.00. An Inquiry into the Organization and Government of the Apostolic Church 12. 1A.01. REASONS WHY THE ARGUMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH SHOULD BE ... 13. 1A.02. THE CLAIMS WHICH ARE ADVANCED BY EPISCOPACY 14. 1A.03. EXAMINATION OF THE PARTICULAR CLAIMS OF EPISCOPACY 15. 1A.04. THE CONSTITUTION OP THE CHURCH AS ESTABLISHED BY THE SAVIOUR AND THE APOSTLES 16. 2.00. Scenes & Incidents in Life of Paul 17. 2.01. Preface 18. 2.02. Early Training of the Apostle Paul 19. 2.03. Saul, A Persecutor 20. 2.04. Conversion of Saul of Tarsus 21. 2.05. Paul's Obedience to the Heavenly Vision 22. 2.06. Residence of Paul in Arabia 23. 2.07. Saul Brought to Antioch 24. 2.08. Saul and Barnabas Sent Forth 25. 2.09. Paul and Silas at Philippi 26. 2.10. Paul at Athens 27. 2.11. Paul at Corinth 28. 2.12. Paul at Ephesus 29. 2.13. Paul at Miletus 30. 2.14. Paul in the Temple at Jerusalem 31. 2.15. Paul Before the Sanherdrim 32. 2.16. Paul in the Castle at Jerusalem 33. 2.17. Paul Before Felix 34. 2.18. Paul Before Festus 35. 2.19. Paul Before Agrippa 36. 2.20. The Voyage to Rome 37. 2.21. Paul at Malta 38. 2.22. Paul in Rome 39. 2.23. Paul's First Trial Before Nero 40. 2.24. Paul's Anticipation of Death 41. 2.25. Death of the Apostle Paul 42. 3.0. The Atonement 43. 3.00. Dedication 44. 3.01. PRESUMPTIVE OBJECTIONS TO THE DOCTRINE OF Chapter 1 45. 3.02. DIFFICULTIES ON THE SUBJECT OF PARDON. 46. 3.03. EMBARRASSMENTS IN A HUMAN GOVERNMENT FROM THE WANT OF AN ATONEMENT. 47. 3.04. THE OBJECTS TO BE SECURED BY AN ATONEMENT. 48. 3.05. PROBABILITIES THAT AN ATONEMENT WILL BE PROVIDED IN THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT 49. 3.06. NECESSITY OF AN ATONEMENT. 50. 3.07. THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. 51. 3.08. CONFIRMATION OF THESE VIEWS OF THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT FROM THE BIBLE. 52. 3.09 . THE EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 0.00. BARNES ALBERT - LIBRARY ======================================================================== Barnes Albert - Library Barnes, Albert - A Manuel of Prayer Barnes, Albert - An Inquiry into the Organization and Government of the Apostolic Church Barnes, Albert - Scenes and Incidents in the Life of Paul Barnes, Albert - The Atonement ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 1.00. A MANUAL OF PRAYER ======================================================================== A Manual of Prayer by Albert Barnes Summary This is a dictionary of various short and brief thoughts about prayer and related topics. Contents Dedication Introduction Preface Manual of Prayer Part 1 Accountability - Creation Manual of Prayer Part 2 Death - Grief Manual of Prayer Part 3 Happiness - Justification Manual of Prayer Part 4 Knowledge - Ostentation Manual of Prayer Part 5 Pardon - Summer Manual of Prayer Part 6 Talents - Zeal ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 1.02. INTRODUCTION ======================================================================== INTRODUCTION. The following work on Prayer was submitted to me in manuscript by the Author for my perusal, before it was committed to the press. It may be proper to state that the Author is a layman, and that the work has been prepared amidst the duties of a laborious calling, demanding necessarily nearly the entire hours of the day. This work has been written during the intervals which could be secured from active duties; and by practising much self-denial. It may be proper, also, further to state, that this is the first appearance of the Author before the public as the writer of a book; and on this account, he has felt reluctant. that his name should be at present known to the public. I have examined the work in manuscript, and as it has passed through the press, with deep and growing interest, and with increasingly augmented convictions of its utility, and of the ability with which it is written. Some of the characteristics of the work, I think, will be found to be the following. 1. It is designed to be an outline of the subjects of prayer. It is not intended to be used as a form of devotion ; but to contain the leading sentiments on the various topics of prayer, which it might be desirable to employ. It had its origin in the Author’s own sense of the need of such a work when he became a professor of religion. In his private devotions, as well as in his public prayers, he deeply felt then the desirableness of* some such manual that would suggest the appropriate language, and the appropriate trains of thought on the various topics of prayer. This deeply-felt necessity in his own case, suggested to him the idea that such a work might be demanded also by the embarrassments of others. It was supposed by him—as is undoubtedly the case— that many others may have similar difficulties when they at first make a profession of religion ; and that they would be materially benefited by’ some such aid as this volume is designed to furnish. Probably in all our churches there are many, particularly among the young, who experience much embarrassment when called to offer prayer in public, and who would be materially aided by some such work as this, suggesting the appropriate language, and appropriate Scripture passages on the various topics of prayer.—There is no work, it is believed, which meets this deficiency; or which will serve to relieve the embarrassment which is so often felt. Unless"I am deceived, this work will, therefore, occupy a place which is filled by no other, and will be found to be a very material aid, particularly to the younger members of the churches. 2. The style is uncommonly pure, simple, chaste, and remarkably adapted to the subjects. It abounds with Scripture phrases and with passages happily introduced and pertinent to the subject. It is elegant and finished, without any improper attempt at ornament, and yet with as much ornament as is proper in public prayer. It is always serious and solemn ; always breathes a spirit of true devotion; and such as will express the feelings of elevated piety in an address to God. It is such as would be prompted by a well disciplined mind, a cultivated intellect, and a pure heart; a spirit chaste, and refined, and impressed with a sense of the divine presence, and of the importance of the service of prayer, when deeply conscious of addressing the Great and Eternal God. In some of the prayers, there is uncommon beauty of language; and if such language should become common, even in the pulpit, it would materially conduce to the interest which is felt in this part of public worship. Indeed, I know of no book, except the Bible, by familiarity with whose modes of expression, even the ministers of the gospel would be more directly benefited than this little volume. The more it is examined, I think, the more will the beauty of the language be appreciated and felt. 3. The sentiments are scriptural. The great truths of evangelical Christianity are presented, while at the same time there is, probably, no sentiment advanced which could not be uttered, and which is not constantly uttered in prayer, by the great body of Christians of all denominations. The doctrines of the fall and ruin of man; of the depravity of the heart; of its deep pollutions and evil tendencies; of the divinity and incarnation of the Redeemer; of his atoning sacrifice; of justification by his merits ; of the agency of the Holy Spirit in renewing and sanctifying the soul; of the eternal rewards of the righteous, and the eternal condemnation of the wicked; and the obligation to a holy life, will be found to prevail every where in the work. At the same time, it is imbued with a large and catholic spirit. It breathes benevolence towards all. It utters the language of supplication for all. And it would tend to promote a liberal and large spirit among all who should use it. 4. It is a work adapted to the times in which we live. It is fitted to direct the mind and the heart more and more towards the plans of Christian benevolence, and to foster a love for the institutions which contemplate the salvation of the world. Its constant use would make a Christian more and more the friend of Sabbath-schools ; of the poor; of the afflicted; and of the institutions for the translation and spread of the Bible, and for spreading the gospel around the world. Prayer, formed after the models here presented, would breathe always the benevolent spirit of the gospel, and would be fitted to foster in the hearts of Christians, elevated views of devotion, and Christian benevolence, and at the same time, tend to secure the divine co-operation and blessing on the great enterprises for the conversion of this whole world to Christ. With these characteristics, this book will do good, in my humble judgment, wherever it is used. It will be found a material and very valuable aid in the devotions of the young; and will tend to promote a spirit of self-denial and of benevolence; and to diffuse among the followers of the Redeemer, more ardent wishes for the conversion of all mankind to God. Albert Barnes, Philadelphia, Nov. 29, 1837. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 1.03. PREFACE ======================================================================== PREFACE. It might be reasonably presumed by any one who did not know the contrary, that every Christian is acquainted with all the items of the long catalogue of his wants in the sight of God; and that he is able to spread them before the Throne of Grace in appropriate language. Yet every person, at all intimate with church members, and especially with those who are young in the christian life, has had abundant opportunity to observe, that most of them know but few of their religious necessities, as subjects of prayer; and that they are in consequence without definite feelings respecting them, and adequate words to express them. The influence of prayer, in forming private piety, and in giving tone to the character and success to the efforts of the church, is fully acknowledged by all. Indeed the theory of all God’s people is, that without this instrumentality religion would die as surely and as speedily as the panting animal in an exhausted receiver. And their views are equally positive, that with this means of grace, used in its fullest power, a mental and moral renovation would take place through all the earth’s inhabitants that would be almost as complete and blessed in its kind as that creation of a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. It is moreover a conceded fact that the devotional character of Christians by no means keeps pace with their religious activities. Action, action, is the watchword of their present history: and it is surely a requisite of obedience to God. But without prayer it becomes a mere lifeless apparatus. Nor will it be regarded as uncharitable to say, that a large amount of their efforts, in each of the various departments of benevolent enterprize, is deficient in this vitality; and that in this defectiveness we find the explanation why their success is so utterly disproportioned to their exertions. Yet notwithstanding these correct opinions so generally entertained, it i3 still a melancholy truth that but few professing Christians carry them out into practice. Individual piety, except in comparatively few instances, still lingers in its infancy. The church of Christ is still feeble in her energies, and limited in her triumphs; and the latter day glory which might even now, so far as human agency is concerned, be pouring the full blaze of its meridian splendours over a regenerated world, is only dimly seen in the distant sky, breaking the outline of darkness with the faint promise of future light. The inquiry naturally arises—" Why have not Christians used this power of prayer?" The answer submitted here is, that a principal reason is to be found in the fact that, as a body, they have never made its various topics matters of close and heartfelt familiarity and suitable expression, in their private devotions. They have not furnished their understandings with a particular knowledge of the things they need, nor exercised their affections by the frequent presentation of them before God, in all their particularity, and in language that will at once express and excite the feelings suitable to such an important service. The following work has been humbly undertaken with the view of furnishing Christians, and especially 4 young converts, with a manual of the subjects and modes of prayer; and thus of pointing out (if not of supplying to some extent) the means of remedying the deficiencies noticed above. The author is fully aware that his effort is a feeble one. His path was untrodden and difficult; and it ought not to be wondered at, if he has cast up a highway which the traveller will not find to be level and direct in all its length. Moreover, the peculiar character of the undertaking has forbidden the use of such ornaments of style as are permitted in almost every oiher composition; and it has thus been left almost destitute of literary interest. This volume should not be regarded merely as a book of forms. It has not been the intention of the writer to furnish a complete prayer under each topic; but to offer the leading ideas which would seem to belong to each, to arrange them in some order, and to give them a scriptural and evangelical expression. The proper use of the book, it is hoped, will store the reader’s memory with a vocabulary of his wants, supply his understanding with a train of thought suitable to them, and give his heart an intelligent and fervent habit of stated and ejaculatory devotion. It may be considered a serious defect by many devout persons, that these topics are not severally closed by the invocation of a blessing through the Mediator, or an ascription of praise to God. They do not, however, appear justly liable to this charge, inasmuch as they are intended only as parts of prayer, which, except in special cases, are to be employed in various combinations with other parts, at the user’s pleasure. The important and essential feature of a distinct reference to the merits of the Saviour will, it is expected, be found in sufficient frequency throughout the body of the work; and it is presumed, that every Christian is competent and mindful, in closing his petitions, to supply that part of the exercise which is technically called the " blessing." As some may be disappointed in not finding particular points more copiously expressed, it may be remarked that this apparent deficiency will, in most cases be found supplied under other heads, the language of which could not be used at the points that may be noticed as defective, without unpleasant and unnecessary repetition. Others may think that there is too great a disproportion between the personal and intercessory supplications. The mode pursued has been intentionally adopted, so as to give a greater degree of unity to the work. Although intercessory prayer is introduced in lesser proportions than might seem consonant with the petitioner’s strong yearnings of heart for the best welfare of mankind, yet it was known that the mere substitution of pronouns would make nearly the whole language of the book available in supplicating blessings on others. It has been a sedulous desire throughout these pages to keep them free from sectarian peculiarities, and to furnish a volume which would (without offence to any) contribute to the devotion of every evangelical denomination. If any bias should be discovered in it, the reader may be assured that it was wholly unintentional. This work is principally designed to furnish an assistant to closet devotion. But the plan it suggests is not intended to end with this advantage. It is well known that the business of leading in public prayer is limited to a few who are gifted with more courage, capacity or zeal, than the large majority of the church, which is thus left without employment in that particular sphere of Christian duty. The hope is entertained that the system of devotional thought presented in these pages will assist in bringing out into this service some who, having been intimidated by its difficulties, are now relying supinely on the gifts of their more favoured brethren. It should be a prominent object with every church to have a numerous band, who are able intelligently and fervently to lead its devotions: but the great body of church-members will not be able to discharge this important duty without diligent attention to the gifts and graces of supplication. It should not be understood that the author regards the machinery of prayer as possessing more value than its spirit. Far, very far otherwise. It would be infinitely better to employ the broken and disjointed sentences of untutored but craving religious want, than to use with heartless formality the most finished liturgy. Still it is true, on the whole, that the excellency and efficacy of prayer will depend very much on our knowing definitely and thoroughly what we want, and how to express our desires. The Author. October, 1837. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 1.04. PART 1 - ACCOUNTABILITY-CREATION ======================================================================== MANUAL OF PRAYER. ACCOUNTABILITY. O Thou Judge of the quick and the dead, make me realize that I am responsible to thee for all my thoughts, words, and actions; and in all my duties and privileges. Thou searchest my heart and triest my reins: thou knowest all the thoughts of my mind, with all the works of my life; and thou makest record of them :—and for all these thou wilt bring me into judgment, whether they be good or evil. Then there shall be nothing that now is covered that shall not be revealed; and hid that shall not be made known: and it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for my soul, if I fail to serve thee now in reverence and godly fear. O let not my stewardship of thy mercies be one of wilful sin, of abused privileges, and neglected duties; but grant that in all things I may strive, in the grace of Christ, to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. But, O Lord, let not my anxiety for my own salvation blind my eyes to my duties to my fellow men. Excite me to diligent labour on behalf of thy church and of sinners. May I feel that I am bound to do good as I have opportunity ; looking diligently to the judgment of that day when the unprofitable servant shall be cast into outer darkness, while he that has been faithful shall enter, through the atonement of Christ, into the joy of his Lord. And unto him that is able to keep me from falling, and to present me faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. ADOPTION. Lord, wilt thou give me the spirit of adoption, by which I may cry " Abba, Father?" I am indeed thine offspring by creation: may I be thine by adoption, and be thou my parent in that nobler relation of a reconciled God and Father in the Lord Jesus. Make me one of the number and give me, through the merits of Christ, a title to the privileges of thy dear children. Behold! what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on them, that they should be called the sons of God. O grant that in indulging this hope, I may purify myself, even as thou art pure. Make it a spirit of tenderness and reverence, of gratitude and love, of obedience and zeal. May it give me access to thy throne with an humble confidence in the faith of Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. May it enable me in all the vicissitudes of life to look up to thee as infinitely able and willing to bless me with thy paternal gifts: for if earthly parents know how to give good gifts to their children, much more will our Heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Grant that thy Spirit may bear witness with mine that I am thy child ; and if a child, then an heir, and a joint-heir with Christ, In that inheritance which fadeth not away. Look in mercy, O God, on thy children by nature, who are wandering as prodigals from their home, and are living without God in the world. Touch their hearts with a feeling of their wants and their apostacy; and do thou bring many back, who shall say they have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and are not worthy to be called thy children. Establish them in the fellowship of thy saints, and make them heirs of the grace of life, through the Lord Jesus Christ. ADORATION. O Most High, thou dwellest in light that is inaccessible and full of glory. Thou art infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in thy being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. Thou art not worshipped as though thou needest any thing; for thou givest unto all, life, and breath, and all things. Yet thou art exalted above principalities and powers, that at thy name every knee should bow, and every tongue confess. O, thou art infinitely worthy of the everlasting adoration of all thy rational creatures. Thou art glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. In thee I live, and move, and have my being. From thee I derive every good and perfect gift. It was thy power which created me; it is thy wisdom that governs me; thy goodness that provides for me; and thy grace that save3 me. O help me, adorable Jehovah, to feel and express the infinite excellencies of thy character, and to bow before thee as over all, God, blessed forever.—[See Praise, andihe various Attributes.’] AFFLICTION. Prepare me, O Lord, for meeting and bearing all the adversities of life. Support or deliver me in poverty, in sickness, in pain, in bereavement, in persecution, in sorrow, in reproach. Let the trial of my faith in all these work patience and holiness. May I endure as seeing him who is invisible; and so repose on thy wisdom and goodness, that I may say—" Thy will be done—do with me as seemeth good in thy sight—• hou givest and takest away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." Though thy judgments are unsearchable and thy ways past finding out, I know that thou art too wise to err; for thine understanding is infinite. Thou art too good to be unkind; for thou dost not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men; yea, whom thou lovest thou chastenest, and scourgest every child whom thou receivest. O Shepherd of Israel, cause my every adversity to be sanctified to me. Lead me to acknowledge thy hand in it; to feel that my sins have far more than deserved it; and to be willing that thy justice may be exalted at my expense, and that I may be brought to say, " I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me." Show me that my cup has been mingled with mercies ; for the days of my comforts have far outnumbered the hours of my sorrows—that my griefs are not peculiar to me; for they are the lot of humanity —that they are not the accidents of life; for thou doest all these things—and that I am not called to suffer them alone, for thou hast said, " I will never leave nor forsake thee; and my rod and staff" they shall comfort and support thee, even in the valley and shadow of death." Lord, grant that thy grace may be peculiarly dear to me in the hour of trial. Enable me to say with thy servant, " Before I was afflicted, I went astray ; but now I have kept thy word." May that grace strengthen me, that I may glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience a hope that maketh not ashamed. Lead me closer to thy throne, as the only place where I may find abiding help in every hour of need. Grant, merciful Father, that my troubles may lead me to sympathize with all who suffer in mind, body, or estate; remembering them that are in bonds, as being bound with them ; and them that suffer adversity, as being myself also in the body. Lord, cause my sorrows, which indeed are but for a moment, to wean me from the vanities and wickedness of earth, to prepare me for eternity, and to work out for me an eternal weight of glory : and vouchsafe to me, in all of them, the consoling thought, that though the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, I have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Grant, O Lord, that the impenitent, when they suffer affliction, may be so influenced by it as afterwards to reap the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Let them not despise thy chastenings, nor faint when they are rebuked of thee. Convince them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Lead them to repent and forsake the error of their ways, and to turn unto him who maketh all things work together for good to them that love him. These prayers I offer through the prevailing name of Jesus; to whom, with the Father and Spirit, be all honour and rule for ever. ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF GOD. Sovereign of the Universe, thou art the infinite source of blessedness. Giving doth not impoverish thee, neither doth withholding make thee rich. It is in thee that my weakness is made strength, and the iniquities of my heart removed. O Lord, let a full persuasion of thy boundless sufficiency fill my heart, that I may forsake the broken cisterns of human happiness, and go to the fountain of living waters. May I commit all my wants and trials to thee; may I be encouraged in the midst of danger and distress; be persuaded that infinite wisdom and goodness govern all thy dealings; and be led to persevere in faith and prayer, until the vision of hope be exchanged for thine open presence, where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore. ANGER. Lord, strengthen me by thy grace, that I may restrain and conquer my propensities to unholy anger. Let it not cloud my brow, nor envenom my tongue, nor vex my heart. Teach me that he who ruleth his own spirit is greater than he who taketh a city; and that he who is hasty of spirit exalteth folly, and shall suffer punishment. He that soweth to the wind shall reap the whirlwind; but the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.—May I consider him who endured the contradiction of sinners, and seek not to avenge myself, but rather give place to wrath. Let me do nothing in rashness and strife. Enable me, in the exercise of candour, forbearance, meekness, and forgiveness, to disarm every temptation to sinful passion, and to cause the wrath of my adversaries to praise thee. ASSURANCE. Lord, grant me a well-grounded assurance of a personal interest in thy favour. Comfort me by the persuasion that my many offences have been remitted. Enable me to gather satisfactory evidence from my feelings and conduct that I have passed from death unto life; and may thy Spirit bear witness with mine that I am numbered with thy children. Give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of Christ, that I may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Cause me to feel that it is my duty to aim at the attainment of this grace, and my privilege to enjoy it, in the exercise of faith, prayer, and zeal. Blessed God, grant me the full assurance of hope unto the end :—a hope that I am accepted before thee for the merits of Christ; and that though worms may devour this body, yet in my flesh I shall see thee, and be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. ATONEMENT. God of Salvation, I thank and adore thee that in the counsels of eternity thou didst devise a plan by which rebellious, guilty, and hell-deserving man might receive thy forgiveness, be reconciled to thee, and enjoy thy favour—and that in the fulness of time thou didst finish thy decree of mercy, by sending thine only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. O, it was matchless compassion that made the ruins of our apostacy the theatre on which to display the wonders of redeeming love. When we lay in the open field, and were polluted in our own blood, thou didst bid us live: yea, thou didst bid us live! Scarcely for a righteous man would one die; peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die: but thou hast commended thy love to us, in that while we were sinners Christ died for us. Thou didst set him forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, for the remission of sins, in order that thou mightest be just, and be the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Lord, may I have an ever-present conviction that there is no other name by which I can be saved. May I seek redemption only through his blood, the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace. Purge thou my conscience from dead works to serve the living God; and may I thus judge, that if Christ has died for me, I should henceforth live not unto myself, but unto him. O Lord, grant that at last I may be found among those that have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. O may there be many who shall go into all the world and preach this blessed gospel to every creature. May men every where learn their guilt and danger, and see the fitness of the Saviour thou hast provided for them. May multitudes thirst after righteousness, and be led to that fountain which has been opened in the house of David, where whosoever will, may take of the waters of life freely. Grant, in thy mercy, that all the ends of the earth may look unto Christ and be saved.—[See Jesus Christ.] AUTUMN. O thou that makest the seasons, and crownest them with thy goodness, give ear to the thanksgivings and entreaties which I now offer thee in the name of Jesus. I praise thee that thou hast preserved me amid the heat and diseases of the past summer. I thank thee for the fruits of the earth which have already been gathered, and for those which still burden the fields with the promise of plenty. The whole face of nature speaks thy praise, and bears witness to thy bounty. Lord, what is man, that thou hast been thus mindful of him; or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Instead of continuing health and sparing life, thou mightest have brought over us the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and the destruction that wasteth at noonday. Instead of making the earth to bring forth and bud, that it might give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, thou couldst have made it more desolate than the wilderness, until the land had fainted by reason of the famine. It is of thy mercies that we are not consumed : for thou art slow to anger and full of compassion ; and thy tender mercies are over all thy works.—O God, incline me to be merciful to others, even as thou hast been merciful to me. Dispose me, in my enjoyment of the abundance of the earth, to pity and relieve the wants of the needy; and deeply impress on my heart the lesson of gratitude which thou hast been striving to teach me by thy goodness. Whilst thou art now changing the face of the declining year, and bringing over it the tokens of decay and death, O teach me that such are earthly hopes and human life. The fashion of this world passeth away ; and we all do fade as a leaf. The grass withereth, and the flower fadeth ; and all flesh is as grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field. May these waning scenes lead me to seek that inheritance in light where no sorrow shall wither, and no sin shall blast the fruit of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God! Lord, instruct me that he who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and that he who soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Let my christian experience be like the fruit of the earth, which bringeth forth first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear: and then, O Lord, when thy harvest is come, put in thy sickle, and gather me, as a shock of corn cometh in his season, into thy heavenly garner. And the praise of my salvation shall be unto the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost forever. BACKSLIDING. O thou, who through Christ, art rich in mercy to all who call upon thee, preserve me, I pray thee, against backsliding from the ways of grace. Let not my infirmities and corruptions lead me back to the love of the world. Suffer not the temptations by which I am surrounded to draw me away from my love and allegiance to thee. Teach me to avoid the appearance of evil, and to watch against the earliest and least encroachments of sin, both in the heart and in the life. Let me not fall into the occasional nor habitual neglect of public or private duties. Permit me not to substitute formality for the spirit of devotion; nor insincerity for truth of heart; nor vainglory for good will to man ; nor error for the truth of God. Keep me, O Lord, from open transgression, and from degrading thy cause in the eyes of a gainsaying world, by an unholy walk and conversation. And grant, merciful Father, that when my feet fall into snares, and slide in the way of evil, thy grace may be sufficient for that hour of need. Bring me back from all my wanderings, and may the memory of them make me humble and watchful. Forgive my backslidings, restore me to thy favour, set my feet upon the rock, establish my goings in thy strength, and dispose me to press on towards the mark, for the prize of my high calling. Lord, let me not be of those that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe unto the saving of the soul. BENEVOLENCE. Father of mercies, fill my heart with ever-living sympathies for the wants and woes of all my fellow creatures. Make me merciful even as thou, Heavenly Father, art merciful. May I desire more the blessing of them that are ready to perish than the favour of the wise and rich, and mighty. Make me the steward of thy bounty, for with such sacrifices thou art well pleased; and grant that I may experience the truth of thy word, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Lord, thou lovest a cheerful giver. May I remember that whoso hath this world’s goods and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, the love of God dwelleth not in him. Dispose me to do good, as I have opportunity, in all the relations of life. May I be eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, health to the sick, strength to the feeble, help to the needy, and comfort to the mourner. But above all, may my desires and zeal go forth for the spiritual wants of mankind. Let not indolence, selfishness, nor unbelief steel my heart against the claims of those who live regardless of thy will, and of those who are perishing for lack of knowledge. Lord, make me an humble yet honoured instrument in thy hand of spreading the knowledge of thy truth, and of turning sinners from the error of their ways unto the wisdom of the just. Bible.—See Scriptures. BIRTHDAY. 0 thou Giver and Preserver of Being, I would lift up my thanksgivings to thee for having continued and blessed my life through another year. Here I would raise my Ebenezer, and say, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped me." I would look back with mingled feelings of wonder and love on the way in which thou hast led me, ever since the dawn of my existence. If thou hadst measured unto me according to my deserts, my days of probation would long ago have been ended, and I should now be reaping the fruits of sin in the world of despair. But, thanks be unto thee, thy mercy rejoiced against judgment; and I, who might have been a monument of thy justice, am a witness that thou art long-suffering and abundant in goodness. Lord, accept my gratitude for the many tokens of thy favour which I have enjoyed since my last birthday. I thank thee for my food and raiment, my home and friends, my health and my countless comforts. I praise thee that the means of grace—the institution of prayer, the worship of thy sanctuary, the oracles of truth, the fellowship of saints—have-all been continued unto me. And to all these thou hast added the teaching, and sanctifying, and rejoicing influences of thy Holy Spirit. Lord, thou hast crowned my year with thy goodness, and thy paths • in it have dropped fatness. O God, help me to ponder and fulfil the duties of heart and action which lie before me in the untravelled and uncertain, but important period of time on which I am now entering. I may have numbered the last year of my existence ; and ere the present one shall have finished its brief circle, time may be to me no more, and the state of my soul be unalterably fixed. Make me thoughtful of death and eternity ; and yet suffer me not to forget, that while it is still day, and before the night cometh, in which no. man can work, thou hast appointed unto me’ spheres of duty, which thou requirest me to occupy until thy coming. Give me, I beseech thee, in Christ Jesus, an eye of wisdom to discern, and a heart of love to do, all the requirements of thy blessed will. And if it be thy pleasure to prolong my years, may I look back on them as spent in thy service, and say, " For me to live is Christ!" But if thou wilt bring my season of trial to an end, O grant that I may be able to say, with exulting joy, " For me to die is gain!" BIGOTHY. God of Truth, preserve my understanding and heart from the influence of bigotry. While I am not permitted to tolerate dangerous error, nor connive at heresy, keep me from ignorant perversity and blind obstinacy in defending my own opinions ; and from unkindness and intolerance towards those from whom I differ in sentiment. Suffer me not to mistake prejudice for the love of truth, nor malice for true zeal. May I sincerely desire the success of all who labour for the glory of God and the welfare of souls. Restore, O Lord, the spirit of harmony in all the divisions of the household of faith; so that thy watchmen may see eye to eye, and thy saints, of every name, dwell in the unity of the Spirit. BLESSING OF GOD. Great God, I desire to feel that without thy blessing, all that I now possess, and all I hope to enjoy, will be barren and worthless. Thou only canst make my possessions and pursuits answer the purposes of wisdom and goodness. Lord, bless thou> my waking and sleeping hours ; my seasons of retirement and intercourse; my daily food and daily duties; my joys and sorrows; my prosperity and adversity ; my rest and labour; my praises and prayers; my thoughts, words, and actions; my hopes; my all. Whatsoever thou mayest deny me, grant me thy favour which is life, and thy loving kindness which is better than life. Let me not undertake nor prosecute any thing on which I cannot ask thee to set the seal of thine approbation. May I turn away from every thing which 1 may judge to be repugnant to thy will. Especially may I feel, in my religious duties, that neither is he that planteth any thing, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. If thou vouchsafe not thy favour, the heaven that is over my head shall be as brass, and the earth that is under my feet shall be as iron. Without thee I can do nothing ; for in myself my strength is weakness, my wisdom is folly, and my goodness is as the morning cloud and the early dew. But I praise thee that my sufficiency is of God, and that I can do all things through Christ strengthening me. Endue me, I beseech thee, with power from on high; and make thy strength perfect in my weakness. O Lord, bestow thine abiding sanction and thy richest blessing upon the various efforts of thy church. Give them abundant success. Make them all works of faith and labours of love. Let " Glory to God in the highest, on earth, peace and good will to men," be inscribed on every motive and every exertion of christian zeal. Cast down every obstacle and subdue every enemy. O, do thou remove all the woes and vices that afflict humanity ; and in their stead, bring thou the peace and purity of the precious gospel, which are the sure and satisfying tokens of that holy blessedness which fills the courts of thine upper sanctuary. Lord, give these petitions gracious audience through Christ the Saviour; and dispose me to ascribe unto the King, immortal, eternal, and invisible, all the praise and dominion, now, henceforth, and for ever. BROTHERLY LOVE. O thou who art the Fountain of Love, fill my heart with strong affections for all that are of the household of faith. May I keep that message that we had from the beginning—that we should love one another. He who doeth this abideth in light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. May I regard thy people as lively stones of thy spiritual house; as partners with me in the trials of life, and in the grace of God ; as members of thy family on earth, and of thy heritage in heaven. Lord, grant me that testimony of having passed from death unto life, which flows from love to the brethren. Lord of Hosts, may all thy saints love each other, not in word nor in tongue only, but in deed and in truth. Mny they be kind one to another, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven them. May brotherly love continue, through evil report as well as good report. Dispose them to suffer long, to hope all things, to believe all things. Show them, O Lord, that the success of thy kingdom among the ungodly, the peace and joy of the fold of Christ, and the enduring favour of Jehovah, depend on their loving one another out of pure hearts, fervently. BUSINESS. Lord, dispose me to act according to thy will, and in reference to thy glory, in all my worldly business. I thank thee for that law of my nature by which thou hast connected my happiness and usefulness with the employment of my body and mind in the duties of life. O let not mere selfishness be the motive nor end of my labour. May I desire to fulfil in myself the benevolent purposes of thy providence in giving me an active nature, and to make my employments promote the temporal and spiritual interests of mankind. Make me diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord : so that whether I eat, or drink, or whatever I do, I may do it for thy glory. CENSORIOUSNESS. Lord, preserve me from the spirit of censoriousness. Guard me against an intermeddling, rash, or uncharitable judgment on the conduct of my fellowcreatures. May I do unto others in this matter, as I would they should do unto me. May I remember that with what measure I mete, it shall be measured to me again. Let me not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Whenever I am tempted to behold the mote that is in my brother’s eye, may I consider the beam that is in mine own eye. Show me my own weakness and sinfulness. Dispose me to think no evil of any, and to maintain a good opinion of all, until I have proved all things. And when it becomes my duty to censure others, may I do it, not in anger nor pride of heart, but in sorrow, and with a desire to do good. CHARITY. Giver of all Good, grant me that fruit of the Spirit which is love. May this be the element where my soul will live, and move, and have its being. O, may I feel that if I could speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal: though I should bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Lord, grant that thy holy commandment, and the countless examples of thy good will, and the various wants of my fellow beings, may be heart-stirring motives to this law of kindness. And especially may the love of Christ constrain me to love my neighbour as myself. May this grace preserve me from envy, censoriousness, and ill-will, and so mould my temper and character, that I shall be meek and forbearing, disinterested and self-denying, and steadfast and kind, in all my intercourse with mankind. Blessed God, let it not be bounded by narrow limits, but be as expansive as the length and breadth of the world, and take into the bosom of its sympathies the whole family of man. O thou Sovereign of Destinies, hasten that time when charity shall fill the hearts and control the conduct of all men; when anger, and malice, and revenge shall have fled away for ever; when nations shall learn war no more, and Jesus, the Prince of Peace, shall reign over an undisturbed empire of love. CHASTITY. Preserve me, O Holy One, from impurity in thought, in word, and in action. Grant that a sense of thy holiness and thine omniscience may so rest upon me, that I may walk in the Spirit, and not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. May I set a watch upon my lips, that no corrupt communication may proceed out of my mouth—and make a covenant with my eyes, that they may not pamper forbidden wishes—and throw a guard around my heart, that it may not devise wicked imaginations. Enable me to put away all uncleanriess, and to glorify thee in my body and spirit, which are thine. God of Justice, enter not into judgment with our land for the foul impurity which covers it. If thou wert strict to mark its iniquity, thou wouldst bring over it the besom of desolation, and make it a monument of reproach. O lead us, in thy mercy, to the use of such measures as shall subvert the dominion of licentiousness, and establish purity of heart, speech, and conduct. Lord, thou knowest whether the means which have been employed, by social and open action, for the suppression of that destroying vice, are according to thy holy will. If they are, O give them abundant success. But if they are not, cause them to be laid aside, and teach thy people what they may do that will secure thy blessing. Correct, elevate, and inform public opinion in relation to the destroying evils of lewdness. Make the libertine a scorn and reproach in every society. O preserve those that are still pure; and let them not go down the pathways of disgrace and destruction. Cleanse our land and the world from this vile leprosy which destroys health, and happiness, and virtue : and bring over it a reformation that shall be total abstinence from impurity of every name. CHILDREN’. Lord, I thank thee that thou dost suffer little children to come unto thee, and that thou dost perfect praise out of the mouths of babes and sucklings. I would praise thee that thy saving truth, while it is fitted to fill the minds of angels with the most exalted knowledge, can be learned, and understood, and felt by children; and that many such have known its power, and have spoken in their feeble accents of its excellence in their life and death, and are now enjoying the fruits of its redemption in the courts above. Lord, for the sake of the compassionate and prevailing Redeemer, increase that cloud of witnesses. May many remember their Creator in the days of their youth, and increase in wisdom and in favour with God. Be thou the guide of their youth, and satisfy them early with thy mercies, that they may rejoice and be glad all the days of their lives. God of Grace, I would praise thee for what thou hast done and art doing, through the labours of thy people, for the rising generation. Multiply the number and increase the efficacy of these efforts. Enable parents to make an unreserved dedication of their offspring to the Lord, and train them up in the way they should go, that when they are old, they shall not depart from it. May all who have any influence over youth, devote their most zealous labours that they may be made wise unto salvation, through the faith which is in Christ Jesus. And grant, I pray thee, that thy Church may regard them as the hope of the world, and bend all her energies of faith, and love, and zeal, that the rising generation may be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Heavenly Father, incline the hearts of children to fulfil their duties to their parents. Teach them that they are bound by the laws of natural affection, and the ties of gratitude, to honour their father and mother—which is also the will of God, and the first commandment with promise. O, how often are the authority and peace of parents disregarded or violated by those for whom they have spent their property, and time, and anxieties; and to whom they have looked for comfort and support in declining age. Lord, do thou make every child feel its obligations to keeps its father’s commandment, and to forsake not the law of its mother; but to bind them continually upon the heart, and to obey them in reverence and love.—[See Early Piety, Sabbath Schools, Youth.] Christmas. Heavenly Father, assist me to exercise those feelings of grateful devotion which are suitable to this day which has been set apart by so many of thy followers, in memory of the birth of thy well beloved Son. Grant me enlarged and soul moving views of all that relates to the glorious plan of salvation through a Redeemer. Unfold to my mind, I beseech thee, the deep depravity and lost estate into which our guilty race had fallen. The whole head was sick, and the whole heart faint: and from the sole of the foot even unto the head, there was no moral soundness in it; but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores! All flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth ; and the whole world was guilty before God. Lord, thou wast angry with the wicked every day: thy curse was in their house; and thy wrath treasured up for them perdition in the day of thy wrath. O, if thou hadst not laid help upon one mighty to save, all men would have had their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Gracious God, make me sensible of that love whereby thou didst give thine only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life—and which thou hast commended to us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Though thou hast shown thy loving kindness in the works of creation and in the developments of providence, in this thou hast gathered as into a bright and burning centre, the matchless proof of thy good will to man. O, the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. Lord, make me to know the excellencies of Christ’s glory, and the depths of his humiliation. Though he dwelt in the bosom of the Father and inhabited the praises of eternity, and exercised the powers of the Godhead, yet he took upon him our sinful nature, was born in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; and was buried, and continued under the power of death for a time. Teach me that he was thus made sin for me, that I might be made the righteousness of God in him. O God, show me that though he thus gave his life a ransom for many, still there is none who can have redemption through his blood without the convincing, renewing and sanctifying power of thy grace. Lord, make me know my sin and my need of a Saviour, dispose me to turn away from all my transgressions, and to lay hold of the hope set before me in the gospel. Lord, impress on my heart the features of Christ’s lovely and perfect character. May I learn of him who was meek and lowly, kind and patient, obedient and forgiving, wise and holy. Let the same mind which was in him be also in me. Show me that he is glorified in the bodies and spirits of them whom thou has given to him ; and that if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his. May the grace which has brought salvation, teach me to deny ungodliness and to work righteousness, that his image, destroyed by the fall, may be renewed in me, and that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in my mortal flesh. God of Grace, excite my faith in this blessed Saviour by clear visions of that heavenly glory which he has prepared for those that love him. O, thanks be unto thy name, thou hast not only redeemed thy saints from the fearful penalties of guilt and the wretched dominion of sin, but thou hast given them thine unfailing promise, that they shall go into life eternal, and dwell before thy throne, and serve thee day and night in thy temple. Lord, grant that through his merits, an entrance may be ministered unto me abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Merciful Father, persuade the ungodly, who are rejecting the Saviour, that without his atoning righteousness their souls must endure the perdition of eternal death; while through his blood they may have remission of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Reconcile them unto thyself through him, not imputing their trespasses unto them. O dispose them to join with fulness of heart, that heavenly anthem which heralded his birth in our nature—" Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." CHURCH. Great Shepherd of Israel, I thank thee that thou hast established thy church on the earth, and hast put the seal of thy redeeming grace on it, and hast promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I would praise thee that he who is thy fulness, has been made head over all things to his church, which is his body, and which he has redeemed by his blood out of every kindred, aS£v tongue, and people, and nation. ~ Lord, dispose me to sustain all the relations which I bear to thy heritage. Suffer me not to withdraw, in any degree, from the fellowship of the saints, in their profession of faith in the Lord Jesus. Thou hast commanded that fellowship; thou hast adapted it to our social nature; thou hast made it the stream of our consolation, the wall of our safety, and the field of our usefulness.—May I love to seek thy face in the tabernacles of the righteous, and worship thee there in spirit and in truth. May I cherish the reputation, and welcome the instructions, and encourage the labours of those whom thou hast set to minister in holy things. Lead me, O Lord, to seek the interest of thy church in its purity, peace, knowledge, and universal dominion. Lord, cause all thy people to strive for the welfare of Zion. May they mourn over her desolations, and rejoice when her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth. May they feel deeply humbled at their want of personal holiness, and at their neglect in extending the blessings of salvation to a perishing world. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity. May the sons of God be blameless, and harmless, and without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation ; among whom may they shine, as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. Make them a peculiar people, zealous of good works. May they have the pleasure of seeing thy work prospering in their hands, and multitudes added to their number, of such as shall be saved. Arise, and have mercy on Zion : let the time to favour her, yea, the set time come. 0, King of narshal, and discipline, and strength- f the sacramental host, and lead it on I to conquer, until the kingdoms of become the kingdoms of our Lord and he shall reign for ever and ever. COMMUNION WITH GOD. Gracious God, grant that I may hold communion of spirit with thee the Father of Spirits. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so may my soul pant after thee. Draw near to me, in thy mercy, while I attempt to approach thee; and do thou manifest thyself unto me, as thou dost not unto the world. Cause me to walk with thee, as did thy saints of old ; and for this end teach me thy will, that I may acquaint myself with thee, and be at peace. Shed thy grace upon my heart, and cause my affections to be fixed on thee, as the highest and noblest object of love. May thy works, and thy word, and all the means of grace, be always channels of thy blessings to me, and motives for gratitude and obedience unto thee.—Lord, lift thou the light of thy countenance upon me. Make thine abode with me; and let my heart be a temple of the Holy Ghost. Give me that spirit of adoption by which I may cry, " Abba, Father." May I be persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate me from thy love which is in Christ Jesus. Give me such a sense of pardoned sin, as shall fill me with holy joys and strong purposes of new obedience to thy will. Grant me in these seasons of sweet converse with thee, those blessings which are spiritual in their nature, satisfying in their possession, and eternal in their continuance. Lord, vouchsafe that my fellowship with thee maybe sought only through him who is the way, the truth, and the life ; for no man cometh unto the Father but by him. Let the communion of thy Holy Spirit rest upon me, and abide within me, now, henceforth, and for ever, COMMUNION OF SAINTS. Heavenly Father, dispose me, in gladness and singleness of heart, to keep the fellowship of the saints. May I have more relish for their company, though they may be poor and unhonoured, than for fellowship with those who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Make my communion with them, pleasant and profitable to my soul. May I feel that we are all children of the same parent; brethren of the same family; subjects of the same discipline of trials and duties; and heirs of the same inheritance beyond the grave. Incline me to love their persons, their character, and their interests—rejoicing with them that do rejoice, and weeping with them that weep—ministering to their necessities—holding converse with them in the grace of God—seeking not to please myself, but bearing their infirmities and burdens—and so fulfilling the law of Christ, who hath given us a new commandment, that we love one another. COMPANY. Lord, teach me that my habits of life and my reputation will be determined by the company I keep. Make me ever mindful that evil communications are full of corruption, and that the companion of fools shall be destroyed. Make me holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. O let me not enter the path of the wicked, nor follow a multitude to do evil. But when I am called, in the exercise of social or religious duties, among the impenitent, enable me to seek by kindness, and persuasion, and example, to win them to the obedience of faith. Make me, O Lord, a companion of them that fear thee and keep thy precepts. May I desire more the fellowship of them that are lowly and poor in spirit, than of those who are rich in this world’s goods, while their hearts are strangers to the love of God. Preserve me, I pray thee, from every unholy association, and lead me to seek the communion of thy saints, that we may be comforted together by our mutual faith. CONDESCENSION OF GOD. Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him ; or the son of man, that thou visitest him ? Thou art infinite in all thy perfections, and needest not our praises nor services to increase thy happiness and glory. If our guilty race had continued even as thou didst create it, (but a little lower than the angels,) we must have praised thee for thy condescension in nourishing and governing us; but now, that we have lifted the arm of rebellion against thee, and have steeped our souls in transgression, how greatly is thy condescension magnified in pursuing us with thy mercies, in providing for our wants, in protecting and delivering us from evil; and above all, in offering to redeem us from our lost estate by the sacrifice of thy Son. He, who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He, who was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. He, who from eternity knew no pain, sweat great drops of blood and suffered unspeakable agony, that we might escape the wrath to come—the worm that never dieth, and the fire that is never quenched. O help me, God of Grace, to acknowledge thine undeserved and astonishing mercy. May it draw me closer to thee in the bonds of love and confidence, and seal me for thy service, in a covenant never to be forsaken. CONFESSION. Holy One of Israel, help me, I beseech thee, to confess before thee my unworthiness and ill-desert. To whom but to thee should I go with the recital of my transgressions; for it is against thee, thee only, I have sinned. Thou hast said that he who covereth his sins shall not prosper; while he who confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy. If I say, " I have no sin," I deceive myself, and the truth is not in me; but if I confess my sins, thou art faithful and just to forgive them, and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. O Lord, I have sinned against thee in doing what thou hast forbidden, and in leaving undone what thou hast commanded. I have transgressed thy law and gospel, in thought, word, and deed. I have sinned in childhood, in youth, and in riper years. I would acknowledge with shame and sorrow, my vanity and selfishness, my pride and hypocrisy, my impatience and unbelief, my self-indulgence and selfrighteousness, my neglect of thy service and glory, and my living to myself, and not unto thee. How often has my heart rebelled against thy wholesome discipline in affliction, or impiously forgotten thy dispensing hand in the enjoyment of mercies. O, I have in countless instances, backslidden from thy love, broken my covenants with thee, and brought dishonour on thy name. And yet such has been the hardness of my heart, that I have mourned but little over such transgressions. O Lord, these my sins have been protracted through long years which thou hast crowned with forbearance and mercy. They are heavy and black with enormous guilt, because they were committed in the midst of light and knowledge. My transgressions are more numerous than the hairs of my head ; and if thou wert strict to mark one in a thousand of them, I could not stand before thee. My iniquities are increased over my head, and my trespasses are grown up to the heavens. Lord, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth, and put my mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. God be merciful to me a sinner. CONFIDENCE IN GOD. O Lord, Jehovah, thou art the strength of all that put their trust in thee. Thou art boundless in wisdom, omnipotent in power, and infinite in goodness. Thou dost not withhold any good thing from him that walketh uprightly. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water; that bringeth forth his fruit in his season ; his leaf also shall not wither. Whatsoever he docth shall prosper; and the end of that man is peace. Lord, if thou art my light and salvation, whom shall I fear? If thou art my strength, of whom shall I be afraid ? Enable me, I pray thee, to trust in thee with all my heart; and keep me from leaning on my own understanding. May I cast all my cares upon thee in perils, in wants, in losses, in griefs, in sickness, and in death. Cause me to hear thy voice in every variety of tribulation, saying unto me, " What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." I would remember that oft when I said, " My foot slippeth," thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the day when I cried, thou didst answer and strengthen me. May the memory of thy past goodness, the possession of present joys, and the testimonies of thy promises persuade me, that though the mountains depart and the hills be removed, thy kindness doth not depart from thee, neither is the covenant of thy peace removed. God of Israel, inspire thy people with unlimited and unwavering reliance on thy character, dealings, and purposes. May they learn that the word of the Lord endureth for ever. Let them not cast away their confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. As thou didst not withhold thine own Son, but didst deliver him up for them, O cause them to hope that with him thou wilt freely give them all things. Lord, let them never forget that thou makest all things work together for good to them that love thee. Although the fig-tree may not blossom, neither fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive fail, and the fields yield no meat; the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—yet may they rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of their salvation. CONSCIENCE. God of Judgment, I thank thee that thou hast given me an inward monitor, to warn me against iniquity, and to smite me when I transgress. Enable me, I pray thee, to nourish and culture this plant of thy hand. Show me that my happiness and welfare, and the enjoyment of thy life-giving countenance, will depend on the activity, strength, and purity of my conscience. May thy will, as exhibited in thy word, be the supreme rule of its actings. May thy Spirit cleanse it from error and sin, and animate it with right knowledge and holy power. Lord, give it peace through the justifying merits of Jesus Christ, and purge it from dead works to serve the living God. Make it tender and watchful, and a faithful index of thy sovereign will, that it may be void of offence towards God and man. Lord, stimulate and give a wholesome vigour to the conscience of all men. May it exercise a controlling and righteous influence over their inmost thoughts and their outward actions. Teach them that though they may turn away from its testimonies, and stifle its chidings, yet there is a day coining when, if they continue impenitent, it will rise up in judgment against them ; when he that sitteth upon the throne will confirm its testimony, by pronouncing the verdict " Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." CONSISTENCY. Enable me, O Lord, through the grace of Jesus, to follow thee fully. May I act in all things, worthy of the vocation wherewith I am called, and strive to be of those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek eternal life. Thou art entitled to my fullhearted and consistent obedience. O may that obedience be without reserve and without hypocrisy. Let me not call thee " Lord, Lord," and yet do not the things which thou sayest. Make my walk the index of my heart, and make my heart right in thy sight. Give me oil for my lamp, that when the Bridegroom cometh, I may go forth in joy to meet him. May I remember that he who gathereth not with thee, scattereth abroad. Let me never do evil that good may come. When I would do good, let not evil be present with me: let not the law in my members war against the law of my mind, and bring me into captivity to the law of sin. I beseech thee to give me strength to cleave to thy service steadfastly in penury and in plenty, in persecution and in peace. May my light shine in evil report and in good report. And, 0 Lord, let it be as the path of the just which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. CONTENTMENT. Great Sovereign of heaven and earth, thou art infinitely wise and good in all the allotments of thy providence. I pray thee teach me in whatever state I am therewith to be content. Keep me, O Lord, from envy, from avarice, from ambition, from anxiety, and from murmuring. May I remember it was discontent that brought death into the world, and all its woes. Make me content with such things as I have; for thou hast said thou wilt never leave nor forsake me, if I put my trust in thee. May mine be the prayer of Agur—" Give me neither poverty nor riches; lest I be full, and deny thee; or be poor, and steal, and take thy name in vain." Let me not forget that the love of money is the root of evil. They who will be rich fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. Make my soul satisfied in the midst of losses and afflictions. May I be ever ready to say— " The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away : blessed be the name of the Lord." Heavenly Father, discipline me so by thy grace, that I shall be careful for nothing, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, make known my requests unto thee. Let me not trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth me all things richly to enjoy. Show me that human happiness consists not in the abundance of worldly treasure, but in godliness, which with contentment is great gain. I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies; wherefore then should 1 complain 1 I brought nothing into the world, and I can carry nothing out; let me therefore look not at things which are seen and temporal, but at things which are not seen and that are eternal. May thy great and precious promises give me more comfort than fhe wicked have when their corn and wine do most abound. Induce me, O Lord, to seek my portion where the righteous obtain joy and gladness, and where murmuring and sorrow shall flee away for ever. CONTRITION. O thou that hearest and answerest prayer, grant me, for Christ’s sake, that contrite heart, which in thy sight is of sreat price. Show me my guilt, as committed against thee, my Maker, Governor, and Benefactor. Lead me to abhor myself, and to repent in dust and ashes. May I look on him whom I have pierced, and mourn, and be in bitterness. Lord, I would acknowledge my transgressions: O may my sins be ever before me. I thank thee for thy promise, that thou wilt dwell with him that is of an humble and contrite heart. Prepare my heart for thine abode. According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out all my transgressions. Create within me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me by thy free Spirit: then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Conversation.—See Tongue. CONVERSION. Lord, I would come to thee, in the name of Christ, that I may learn the necessity, the nature, and the fruits of regeneration. O wilt thou fasten on my mind, abiding convictions that the carnal mind is at enmity against thee, and that all mankind are by nature the children of wrath, and receive not the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness to them ; neither can they learn them, for they are spiritually discerned. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Show me, O Lord, that if any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creature: old things are passed away ; all things are become new. He has put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him who created him, in righteousness and true holiness. It is thou, God of Mercy, who workest in such to will and to do, of thine own good pleasure: not by works which they have done, but according to thy mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. They are born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God, who only giveth repentance unto life, and the earnest of that Spirit whereby they are sealed until the day of redemption. Teach me, O Lord, that they who have been born from above bring forth fruits, meet for repentance: that they add to faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity: and that these, abounding in them, cause them that they be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Saviour. They are made free from sin, and have become servants unto God, having their fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Blessed Saviour, give me evidence in my heart and conduct, that I have passed from death unto life; that having been convinced of my sin and misery, I have had my mind enlightened in the knowledge of thee, my will renewed, and have been persuaded and enabled to embrace thee, as thou art freely offered in the Gospel. Let me not be satisfied with the form of godliness, without its life-giving power. Search me, 0 Lord, and try me; and see if there be any evil way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Create in me a new heart and renew a right spirit within me. Grant me forgiveness of sins, and enable me to look forward with a rejoicing hope to an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Vouchsafe unto me, I pray thee, the testimony of thy Spirit, that 1 have been redeemed by thy grace. O, if thou hast begun a good work in me, continue it unto the end ; and let thy grace be in me as a well of living water, springing up into everlasting life. Lord, convince the impenitent of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. Thou hast no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, and thou art not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. O lead many to inquire what they must do to be saved. May thy law be a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ, that they may be justified by faith. Persuade them to believe in that only name by which sinners can be saved. May they be born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible ; by the word of God, which Iiveth and abideth for ever. COURAGE. Lord, enable me to add to faith christian fortitude. May I endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Give me grace to encounter and subdue the corruptions of my own heart; and in that conflict between the flesh and the spirit, may I come off more than conqueror through him that hath loved me.— Strengthen me that I may resist the allurements of a world lying in iniquity, and that I may strive against the fear of man ; remembering that whosoever will deny Jesus before men, shall be denied by him before the Father in heaven. May I always be ready to answer every man that asketh me a reason of the hope that is in me—Make me strong in the power of thy might; fori am not called to wrestle against flesh and blood merely, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickednesses in high places. Great Captain of Salvation, give me the girdle of truth, the breast-plate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit; and having thus the whole armour of God, may I be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. COVENANT. Adorable Jehovah, I would praise thee that, in thy sovereign mercy, thou didst from eternity enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver men out of their estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer. Lord, make with me this everlasting covenant, even the sure mercies of David. Call me with a holy calling; not according to works, but according to thy purpose, which was given in Christ Jesus before the world began; but has now been made manifest by his appearing, who hath brought life and immortality to light through thy gospel: and in whom we have redemption, through his blood. O bind me to thee in the adoption of thy children, wherein thou makest them accepted in the Beloved. Put thy law into my mind, and write it in my heart; and be my God, that I may be of thy people, chosen according to thy covenant of grace. Make my heart and life abundant in the fruits of that holy relation. Let me not forsake thy love, nor turn from thy ways, but press on towards the mark for the prize of that high calling which is in Christ Jesus. Merciful God, regard with compassion those who are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. Make them feel the deep and radical depravity of their hearts. Convince them of sin, as committed against a holy God. Show them the danger to which they arc exposed while they refuse to forsake their transgressions. Exhibit to them Christ crucified, as him by whom alone they can escape from the dominion, the guilt and the retribution of their sins. O may thy Spirit give them grace to receive and rest upon him for pardon and acceptance. And grant that they may enjoy a union with him as close and fruitful as the branch which abideth in the vine. COVETOUSNESS. Preserve me, Great Helper, from the vice of covetousness, which is idolatry. 0 let me not worship filthy lucre instead of the living God. May I remember the judgment of the valley of Achor, on him who coveted forbidden spoil; and the swift destruction of them that kept back part of the price, and agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord. Let me not dishonour my faith in thee, nor blight my spiritual comfort, nor bring disgrace on thy cause in the eyes of the world by indulging in this wickedness. Give me full contentment with my own condition, and a right and charitable frame of spirit towards my neighbour and all that is his. Banish from my mind all discontentment with my own estate; all envying and grieving at the good of my neighbour, and all inordinate emotions and affections to any thing that is his. Help me, O Lord, to overcome the love of the world. May I seek thy favour as the chief good of life, and say in my heart—" there is none on earth I desire beside thee." Lead me to look with the eye of benevolence on the wants of my fellow creatures; and in supplying them, as thou hast prospered me, to find that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Let me not seek to lay up treasures on earth, but in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves cannot break through and steal. Lord, redeem thy church from this vice, which has spotted her garments and tainted her blood and crippled her energies. How long, Blessed Saviour, shall they who have covenanted to be thine, bow the knee at the golden shrine of mammon? Show them that covetousness degrades their immortal nature, breaks thy holy law, and is the fruitful source of manifold iniquity. Keep them from those graspings of avarice, those daring speculations and greedy monopolies which are the offspring of pride and the fountains of misery. May they thus judge, that if Christ has bought them by his own precious blood, they should not live for themselves, but for him. Excite thy people, O Lord, to active and unwearying benevolence. As thou hast made them the stewards of thy multiplied mercies, let none forget to do good and to communicate ; for with such sacrifices thou art well pleased. May they cease to do evil and learn to do well; and labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life. CREATION. Great Builder of the Universe, in the beginning thou didst make the heaven and the earth; and by thee were all things created, that are in heaven and earth, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers. Thou didst speak, and it was done: thou didst command, and it stood fast.—Lord, thou didst make man in thine own image, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. But man being in honour abode not. He fell from that holy and happy estate, in which he was created, by sinning against God; and now all that dwell upon the face of the earth are by nature the children of wrath: yea, the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain because of transgression. O God, redeem the works of thy power from thei r degeneracy. May this earth be renewed with the beauty of Eden. Breathe thou into man the breath of life, and make him a new creature in Christ Jesus. Lord, assist me to acknowledge thy power, wisdom and goodness as they are shown in the works of thy hands. Day unto day uttereth speech concerning thee, and night unto night bringeth forth knowledge of thee: yea, all thy works praise thee. O let my tongue and my soul join the chorus of creation, and praise thee in songs of rejoicing and in newness of life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 1.05. PART 2 - DEATH-GRIEF ======================================================================== DEATH. Blessed Lord, make me ever mindful of the truth, that it is appointed unto all men once to die. Thou canst wound and kill, and there is none to deliver out of thy hand. Thou hast determined our days, and appointed the bounds of our habitations. O lead me to consider my latter end, and teach me to number my days, that I may apply my heart unto wisdom. Make me to know my end, and the measure of my days, that I may learn how frail I am. Lord, what is my life 1 It is a vapour that appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away. Teach me, thou source of wisdom, that death is the great crisis of my being, which will determine my destiny for ever. He whom it finds unjust and filthy, shall be unjust and filthy still: and he whom it finds righteous and holy shall be righteous and holy still. Lord, let me pass the time of my sojourning here in fear, seeking to be ready for its solemn message; for in such an hour as we think not, the Son of Man cometh. Whatsoever, therefore, my hand findeth to do, may I do it with my might; since there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither I go. Let me not fear them that can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, which is the second death. Lord, train me to such habits of obedience to thy will, and trust in thy dealings, and faith in thy promises, that while I look upon the earthly house of this tabernacle as one that must be dissolved, I may rojoice in the hope, that I shall have a building of God; a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. When I am called to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, be thou my rod and staff to comfort me: and when my heart and flesh fail, be thou the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. Lord, let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. Look in mercy, I pray thee, on those who are encompassed by the sorrows of death. Prepare them for their solemn and awful change. If they have made their peace with thee, through the blood of Christ, comfort them and give them blessed foretastes of thy heavenly kingdom. But if they have not, O bring them by thy saving power into thy covenant of grace. O thou who didst weep at the tomb of Lazarus, comfort those who mourn for the loss of cherished friends. May they kiss thy rod ; and if it be consistent with the life or death of the departed, let them not sorrow as those who have no~ hope, but look forward to that hour, when the hand that now has riven will restore their fellowship, and make it pure as the light and lasting as the days of heaven. DECISION’. Almighty God, help me to resolve to be thine, wholly thine, in the bonds of an everlasting covenant. Let me not halt between two opinions, but choose now to serve the living and true God, with all my heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. O let me not harden my heart, nor provoke thy wrath, by putting off to a more convenient season the things which belong to my everlasting peace. May I learn that now is thine accepted time for the discharge of duty, and this the day of that salvation which makes thy saints willing subjects of thy power. There are no neutrals in thy dominion : he who is not with thee is against thee. Lord, make me not only almost, but altogether a christian. May thy word and providence and Spirit inspire me with energy of purpose to do thy pleasure. Whatsoever I do may I do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men. O make me steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; for we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. DEPENDENCE. My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. Teach me, Giver of Mercies, my absolute and continual dependence on thee for life, and breath, and all things. Thou didst make me by the word of thy power, and I live every moment at the expense of thy bounty. I am full of wants, without any ability in myself to supply them. I am a creature of yesterday; my breath is in my nostrils; and I am crushed before the moth. I know not what a day may bring forth : I cannot add one cubit to my stature; nor make one hair of my head white or black. Grant me, I pray thee, such an abiding conviction of my subjection to thee as shall keep me from resting on an arm of flesh, and lead me to trust in the living God. In the hour of prosperity let me not forget that thou art the giver of every good and perfect gift: and in the season of affliction show me that thou canst comfort me on every side—canst make my wilderness as Eden, and my desert as the garden of the Lord. Make me realize that in all my efforts to do good, either to myself or others, I must depend on thee. Thou only givest the increase. But blessed be thy name, thy Spirit helpeth my infirmities ; and thy strength is made perfect in my weakness. Assist me by thy grace, in all the vicissitudes of life, to feel that thou art a present help in every hour of need. When toil and care, fears and trials encompass me, lead me to thee with whom alone dwelleth that peace which passeth understanding : and do thou guide me into green pastures and beside still waters; and let thy banner over me be love. And grant, O Lord, that when I am called to struggle with the king of terrors, thy grace may be sufficient for me, and that I may be made glad in the hope of eternal life. Depravity.—See Human Depravity. DILIGENCE. Lord, quicken thou me in thy way. Make me diligent in thy work, continuing instant in prayer, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Grant, that in every duty I may be active, watchful and persevering; for no man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Let not mine be the doom of that servant who hid his master’s talent in the earth: let me not be slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. SufFer me not to rely on the memory of past experience, nor on the hope of’future obedience; but whatsoever my hand findeth to do, give me zeal to do it with my might. O give me the spirit of diligence in every work of faith and labour of love; remembering my accountability to thee, the importance of the trusts thou hast reposed in me, the shortness of human life, and the abundant rewards thou hast promised to them who are faithful in thy service. Lord, enable me to lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset me, and run with patience the race that is set before me; looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, and pressing toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Lord, rebuke the sloth of thy covenant-people. Give them a spirit of active energy in all that relates to the sanctification of their own hearts, the saving health of thy church, and the conversion of sinners. Yet do thou make them feel that while they strive with all their vigour in the obedience of faith, it is thou that workest all in all. DOUBTS. Merciful Father, preserve me from a doubtful mind. Let not disease of body, nor affliction of mind, disquiet my soul within me. Let not ignorance nor error intrude on my comfort in the hope of the gospel. Let not Satan unsettle my trust in thy covenant of mercy. And O, suffer not sin, in any form, to bring a cloud over the light of thy countenance and the joys of thy salvation.—O thou that givest rest to the weary and heavy-laden, show me that thy mercy endureth for ever. Teach me that thou art merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness. Lead me, I pray thee, in every feeling of despondency, to that throne from which thou givest grace to help in every season of trial. Dissipate my fears, and give me an assurance of an interest in thy favour, and of acceptance in thy sight, through the righteousness of Christ. Grant me thy blessed Comforter, that I may have joy in the Holy Ghost. Cheer me by thy gracious promises, which are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus. Give me, O Lord, beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Let my light rise in my obscurity, and my darkness be as the noon day. Cause thy righteousness to go before me, and thy glory to be my re reward. DUTY. Eternal God, O may my daily and hourly inquiry be, " What wilt thou have me to do r" Instruct me that the duty which thou requirest of me is obedience to thy revealed will. Help me, I pray thee, to discharge all my obligations to thee, to myself and to my fellow creatures. May I love thee with all my soul, and mind, and strength, and heart. Dispose me to submit to thy will; to love thy character; to trust in thy name; and to fear thine excellent greatness. May I regard thee as, through Christ, the object of prayer, and the rewarder of them who diligently seek thee. Help me, I pray thee, to worship thee, who art a Spirit, in spirit and in truth. Lord, enable me, by thy Spirit, to do my duty to myself. May I exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and repentance unto life; and make a diligent use of all the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates unto us the benefits of redemption. May I work out my salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God that worketh in me, to will and to do of his own good pleasure. Assist me, O Lord, to perform all the duties, social, civil, and religious, which I owe to my fellow creatures. May my conduct to them be governed by that spirit of charity which excludes anger, revenge, censoriousness, prejudice, injury, and oppression. Make me averse to injure the feelings, persons, property and character of any. May I delight in the happiness of others. Make my heart a wellspring of sympathy, compassion and liberality ; and lead me to spend cheerfully my property, my time, and, if needs be, my life, in works of mercy and justice. Enable me to fulfil all my relations as a superor, an inferior, and an equal. Lord, I thank thee for the encouragements thou art giving, in the course of thy providence, to religious effort, by making rich with thy blessing those who are diligent in thy cause. Yet, I would feel that while these things are to be remembered with thankfulness, they increase my obligation to labour that I may return thine own to thee with abundant usury.—Strengthen me, I pray thee, to do thy will, while it is called to-day—to do it with my might, and with perseverance therein to the end—even as thine angels do it in heaven. Lord, I would offer these and all other petitions through him who is the Prophet, Priest and King of the whole Israel of God, and without whose merits and intercessions, all my services would be without hope or profit.—[See Obedience.] EARLY PIETY. Heavenly Father, I thank thee for the evidence which thy word and the history of thy church give us, that children and youth may be taught to love thy name and do thy will. Whilst thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, thou hast revealed them unto babes. Thou hast told such to remember thee; and hast given thy promise that those who seek thee early shall find thee. Our blessed Saviour said, " Suffer little children to come unto me:" and he took them in his arms and blessed them, saying, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." Lord, thy church, in every age, but especially in our own, has raised up many witnesses that thou canst satisfy the children of men early with thy mercy, that they may rejoice and be glad all their days. Lord, increase and greatly multiply the instances of early piety. May multitudes of children feel and act from the motives which should lead them to do that which is well-pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Convince them that they are sinners, exposed to thy wrath, walking in rebellion against their heavenly Father, and yet receiving the most tender offers of mercy through Christ the Saviour. Make them feel that christian friends and happy spirits, holy angels and Jesus Christ, desire their salvation. Make them understand something of the worth of the soul; something of death and judgment, heaven and hell. O lead them, through repentance and faith in Jesus, to remember and serve thee in the days of their youth. Shepherd of Israel, rebuke the unbelief of thy church respecting the conversion of children, even as thou didst rebuke thy disciples when they would have hindered such from coming to thee. Let none despise these little ones; for thou hast warned us that their angels do always behold the face of their Father in heaven. O may thy saints on earth be instruments of leading them to Christ, and training them as plants of righteousness, whose leaf shall not wither, and who will bring forth the fruits of grace. Bless, I beseech thee, the various means which are now used to fill the minds of children with religious truth. Let not this condemnation come upon them, that they knew thy will, but did it not. O may their privileges be to them as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as showers that water the earth, and which cause it to bring forth beauty, and verdure, God of Wisdom, I thank thee that thou hast given me a rational mind and an immortal soul, capable of being trained to the highest and noblest exercises of thought and feeling. Teach me that thou hast put on me the responsibility of training these powers in wisdom and holiness, that 1 may glorify God, do good unto others, and fill up the measure of my everlasting happiness and welfare. Let me not, I beseech thee, by any neglect or perversion of my rational and immortal faculties, defeat thy benevolence in placing me so far above the brutes that perish. O lead my understanding into useful knowledge, and my heart into redeeming grace. Lord, bless the useful discoveries and efforts that have been made, and are now making, for the spread of education. O diffuse and increase them, everywhere, until every human mind will know its powers, and exercise them in such spheres as will make them a blessing to itself, to its country, and to the world. Assist those who would scatter, by the light of truth, the mists of ignorance and error that hang over the minds of the great mass of mankind : but suffer them not to forget that righteousness is the stability of truthT and holiness the safeguard of knowledge. Make all our schools and seminaries nurseries of piety as well as of learning. Cast the healing salt of thy grace into all the fountains of knowledge, and cause them to send forth copious and fruit.—[See Sabbath Schools.] EDUCATION. and unfailing streams that will make glad the city of our God. ENVY. Father in Heaven, preserve my heart from the baneful dominion of envy. Teach me its exceeding sinfulness, and show me that if I indulge in it, it will be a fountain of unhappiness to myself and of mischief to my fellows, while it will bring down on me thy heavy displeasure. Lord, let me not be envious of the gifts, or advantages, or success of others. May I feel that I am not worthy of the least of the mercies thou hast already given me; and teach me that thou hast not, in caprice, withheld from me, and bestowed on others, the things which seem good in my eyes. Lord, make me content with thy will; and so shall my heart rejoice in thy ways for evermore. ERROR. Lord, I would come to thee in the worthy name of Jesus, to implore thee to shield my judgment and heart from the influence of error. Give me sound knowledge and right feelings. Make me quick to discern that which is right, and to reject that which is wrong. Lead me to do thy will, that I may know of every doctrine whether it be of God. O let not ignorance cloud my understanding; nor prejudice warp my judgment; nor interest stifle my conscience; nor sin fetter my will: but do thou enable me to detect, and hate, and shun what is false, and to know, and love, and follow the truth, through evil and good report. Lord, subdue and scatter every form of error in thy church, and throughout the world. Remove from the household of faith, every thing that exalts itself against thy word, and perverts the right ways of the Lord. Bring thy people of every name, into the unity of the Spirit.—Almighty God, cast down the Man of Sin ; overthrow the False Prophet; scatter the temples of Idolatry ; and overturn, and overturn, and overturn, until the Prince of Truth shall have the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. ETERNITY. O God, help me to dwell by faith and prayer, on the solemn realities of the world to come. Thou hast made me in the image of thine own eternity, with powers that are capable of eternal progress in holiness, knowledge, and happiness—or in sin, error, and wo: and thou has filled my soul with hopes and fears that travel far beyond the narrow limits of this life, and find their home in the future state of endless being. My condition will be fixed either in heaven or hell—enjoying the light of thy countenance, or cast out from thy presence for ever—rejoicing in the company of the good, or enduring the fellowship of the wicked—bathing in the fountain of eternal bliss, or plunging in the burning lake of undying wo. Lord, I thank thee that thou hast revealed eternal things to me, and hast shown me how I may escape everlasting death, and obtain eternal life. Give me a firm belief of their reality, and a deep conviction of their importance. Teach me, O God of Mercy, that life, and time, and means are given me to prepare for eternity—that there is but a step between me and death—and that according to my character then, will be my destiny for ever. O seal me now by thy Spirit until the day of redemption; and then let an entrance be ministered unto me abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, where my tongue shall utter a ceaseless anthem of praise, my understanding enjoy an unclouded knowledge of truth, and my soul delight in a perpetual feast of love.—[See Heaven, Hell, Soul.] Eternity Of God. From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. The number of thy years cannot be searched out; for thou hast no beginning of days, nor end of years. Thou art Alpha and Omega; the beginning and ending; which was, and is, and is to come ; with whom the past, the present, and the future are one eternal Now. Thou hast life in thyself; and all thy creatures have their being in thee. Heaven and earth shall perish, but thou shalt endure: they shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. Lord, may the solemn truth that thou art eternal, suitably affect my heart and control my conduct. Thou hast undying power, to make me happy or wretched for ever. Throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity, thy hand will be on me for weal or wo. O do thou enable me to shun the wrath to come, and to lay hold on eternal life. Make with me now thine everlasting covenant; and be the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. EVIL. Great Sovereign, it has pleased thee, in the unsearchable purposes of thy wisdom, to suffer sickness and pain, misfortune and misery, death and sin, to dwell on earth, and turn its gardens into deserts, its joys into sorrows, and thy subjects into rebels against thy mercy and justice. It is even so, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight. Yet, I know thou hast taught the whole intelligent universe, by the history of man’s fall, the bitter fruits of transgression: and I rejoice that in due time, thou didst commend thy love to us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, that where sin and its fruits have abounded, grace and its blessings may much more abound. Father in Heaven, restore, I pray thee, this earth to the happiness and purity of its first creation. Remove every thing that would mar the peace and holiness of mankind: and grant that as sin has reigned unto death, even so may grace reign, through righteousness, unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. EXAMPLE. Lord, make me understand the good and evil influences I may exert in the world by my example. Let me not dishonour thy name, nor cast shame on thy church, nor throw a stumbling-block in the way of sinners, by a careless or unholy walk: but may my light so shine before men, that they may see my good works, and glorify thee. May I walk as the children of light, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Enable me by well-doing, to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Make me blameless and without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse people ; holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not laboured in vain. Blessed Lord, grant me, for Christ’s sake, a name and a place among thy peculiar people, whom thou hast chosen to show forth thy praises. Make me a guide to the blind, a light to them that walk in darkness, and a living epistle of good works, known and read of all men. Enable me to hold fast the profession of my faith, without wavering, that men may take knowledge of me that I have been with Jesus. O God, restore thy salvation unto me, and uphold me by thy free Spirit; so shall I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. EXISTENCE OF GOD. Thou, Jehovah, art the only living and true God. My reason tells me that thou art—my conscience warns me of thy being—thou art known by thy judgments, and art proclaimed by thy mercies. Wherever I go, I see the proofs of thine existence; for the whole universe is a magazine of reference to thee, as over all, God, blessed for ever. Lord, let not my heart ever say with the fool, " there is no God;" nor my conduct show that I have forgotten or denied thee. Grant that I may not only believe that thou art, but that thou art the rewarder of them that diligently seek thee. O teach me out of the book of nature and the volume of thy word, thy being, and character, and will; and may all I learn of thee, lead me to worship and serve thee in Spirit and in truth. FAITH. Lord, I would believe; help thou mine unbelief. Enable me to have faith towards thee, as infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all thine attributes. May I believe with my heart unto righteousness, in all thy purposes and dealings towards the creatures thou hast made. Be thou, O Lord, the strength of my heart and the portion of my hope for ever. Let me not stagger at thy word through unbelief; for without faith it is impossible to please thee. May I trust thee in all thou hast spoken, as welt as in all thou hast done. Let me not hold thy truth in unrighteousness; but do thou make it profitable to me for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness; that thereby I may be thoroughly furnished unto every good work. Teach me to confide in its precious promises, to heed its solemn warnings, to follow its sacred examples, and to obey it3 holy precepts. Lead me, blessed God, to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. To him give all the prophets witness, that through him, whosoever believeth on his name, shall have remission of sins: while he that believeth not shall be damned. O may he be my Teacher, my Saviour and my Ruler; and may I receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered in the gospel. Lord, enable me to exercise faith in prayer. Give me an abiding conviction, that thou art the rewarder of all that diligently seek thee. May I ask of thee the things that are according to thy will, trusting that I shall receive them. May I knock at the door of thy mercy, believing that thou wilt open unto me. O grant me access with confidence to the throne of thy grace, in the strength of Christ’s merits, and of that intercession which he ever liveth to make for those that come unto thee by him. Lord, give me grace to show my faith by my works, without which it would be dead, being alone. May I add to it virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly-kindness, and charity. May it so work by love, that I may realize the iniquity and danger of those who are strangers to thy covenant of promise, and have the energies of my soul and body stirred up to pluck them as brands from the burning. Heavenly Father, give me the evidence of things not seen, and the substance of things hoped for. May I live by faith, and not by sight; looking not at the things which are seen and temporal, but at those that are not seen, and are eternal. O may it please thee to give me that victory which overcometh the world; and to grant that in all the trials of life, and amid the struggles of death, I may come off more than conqueror, through him who is the end of the law for righteousness to all that believe on him. FALSEHOOD. Lord, preserve me from falsehood. Teach me that it degrades character, injures peace of conscience, subverts the welfare of society, and incurs thy hot displeasure. O make my conscience tender with regard to every violation of truth. Let me not utter falsehood in jest; for thou hast said that for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account in the day of judgment. Let me not depart from truth, for the love of gain ; for the wages of sin is death. Let me not practice deceit, through the fear or favour of man; for his breath is in his nostrils. And, O Lord, let me not be false, with the plea of doing good ; for we may not do evil that good may come. Keep me, I pray thee, from every thing which is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to my own or my neighbour’s good name. Suffer me not to think, nor act, nor speak deceitfully in any thing. O Lord, make me, above all, sincere towards thee. Let me not attempt to draw nigh to thee with a lip-service, while my heart is i’ar from thee. Thou searchest the heart, and triest the reins : thou art not deceived, and thou canst not be mocked. May all my homage before thee, spring from a controlling desire to do thy will, which requires truth in the inward parts. FASTING. Assist me, O Lord, to set my face unto thee, to seek by prayer and supplication, with fasting. Lead me at suitable times, to deny my appetites, out of religious principle, and with a view to spiritual benefits on myself and others. Teach me that thou hast commanded this duty ; that thy saints in all ages have fulfilled it; and that in doing so, they have enjoyed thy favour. Lord, make it the intelligent service of my heart. May I resort to it as a means of crucifying the flesh, of mortifying the deeds of the body, and of bringing it into subjection to the immortal interests of the soul. Enable me to offer it in penitence before thee, as the expression of a sense of my sinfulness. Do thou make its every exercise conducive to the health of my body, and the clearness and vigour of my mind; and render it an instrument of leading me to forsake selfishness and iniquity, and to serve thee with a pure-hearted and an increasing devotion.Lord, bless the appointed fasts of thy churches. May these solemn seasons be accompanied by penitence for transgression, abandonment of sin, consecration to thy service, and revivals of pure and undefiled religion, which shall pervade all the courts of Zion, and be the means of adding to her many of such as shall be saved. FEAR. Lord, grant that my heart may always be influenced by that fear of thee, which is the beginning of wisdom, and is a fountain of life that is clean, enduring for ever. Let not my fear of thee be the dread of a slave* nor the terror of a criminal; but the awe of a servant mingled with the confidence of a child. May it lead me to avoid thy displeasure— to desire thy favour—to hate evil—and to do thy pleasure in all the walks of life. Lord, cause the dread of thy judgments to rest on the wicked. Make them feel that thy presence ia continually about them, and that thy knowledge maketh record of all their transgressions. May they understand thy power and justice, and be convinced that these attributes are pledged to destroy the finally impenitent. Cause them to kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and they perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Show them that thy mercy is upon all that fear thee, from generation to generation. Keep me, O Lord, from the fear of man that bringeth a snare. If thou art for me, who can be against me ? Who is he that will harm me, if I am a follower of that which is good ? Grant me courage to speak of thy testimonies, and not be ashamed. Though the proud have me in derision, let me not decline from thy law. Help me to despise the shame of a gainsaying world, lest the Son of Man be ashamed of me when he cometh in the glory of the Father, with his holy angels. Fellowship.—See Communion. FORBEARANCE. Vouchsafe unto me, O Lord, that spirit which is not easily provoked ; but that beareth all things, and endureth all things; that suffereth long, and is still kind. Fix permanently in my mind, the example of Christ who also suffered for us, that we should follow in his steps. And thou hast said that when we do well and suffer for it, yet take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Show me that the discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. May I consider my own proneness to trespass upon the rights of others, lest I also be tempted, and need the forbearance of my fellows. Let me recompense to no man evil for evil; nor avenge myself; but rather give place to wrath: for vengeance is thine, and thou wilt repay. Dispose me, O Lord, to love my enemies; and O let me not be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. FORBEARANCE OF GOD. Heavenly Father, assist me to contemplate the riches of thy forbearance and long suffering. I am not deserving of the least of thy mercies. Hadst thou been strict to mark mine iniquities, I had long ere this been reaping the endless retributions of sin. My whole life has been a witness for thee, that thou wilt have mercy, and not sacrifice: and I enjoy now the privilege of approaching thy mercy-seat, because thy mercy rejoiceth against thy judgment. O I am not worthy to come into thy presence, nor to lift up mine eyes to the place where thine honour dwelleth. Lord, let me not vex thine enduring goodness by continued sin, lest thou say in thy wrath, " Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone." Let me not weary thy patience with unfruitfulness; lest thou pronounce thy judgment, "Cut him down: why cumbereth he the ground?" Merciful Father, grant that thy forbearance may lead me to the humility of penitence, and the obedience of faith. Lord, let not sinners despise nor presume on the riches of thy long-suffering. Suffer not their hearts to be set in them to do evil, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. Show them that thou givest thy mercy, that they may have space for repentance; or, that if they turn not from their evil ways, thou mayest display thy holy justice in their condemnation. O grant, Lord, that thy forbearance may lead them to repent* and to learn, in the day of their merciful visitation, the things which belong to their peace. FOREKNOWLEDGE. God of Wisdom, how infinite is the contrast between thine omniscience and our imperfect know* ledge. We know not what a day may bring forth ; but thou knowest the end from the beginning. There is none that has been thy counsellor: thine eye alone searches the secrets of futurity. A thousand years are with thee as but one day ; and among the infinite series of events that lie throughout the eternity to come, there is not one, of which thou dost not know the time and the manner of its coming. Lord, I would praise thee for those fruits of thy foreknowledge which thou hast given us in thy prophecies and promises. I thank thee that thou hast granted us these testimonials of thy wisdom, to confirm our faith in thy word, and to strengthen our hope in thy mercy. O grant that the fbretellings of thy knowledge, which are registered in thy word, may convince the infidel, that the Bible is everlasting truth. And may all that love thee thank God, and take courage from these seals of thy testimonies. FORGIVENESS. Almighty God, do thou so control and discipline my heart, that I shall be ever ready to exercise the virtue of forgiveness. Though my motives and character be slandered, and my property and person injured, let me not return railing for railing, nor injury for injury. May I remember thine example of long suffering and great mercy, in which thou dost not avenge thyself of thine adversaries; and art not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. May I consider how long thou didst bear with my own disregard of thy rights, and disobedience to thy law, until thou didst at last move me to repentance and faith, and didst crown me, as I trust, with undeserved forgiveness of my sins. Lord, make me realize the condition of that prayer, " forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." O let me not, by a vindictive spirit, seal up the fountains of thy pardon; for thou hast said that if we do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will our Father in heaven forgive us our trespasses.—Lord, incline me, moreover, to a merciful spirit by the reflection, that I often commit offences against the rights of others. May I therefore do unto them as I would have them do unto me. Make me willing to seek forgiveness of any whom I may offend or injure. Permit not false shame nor pride to keep me from acknowledging my errors and transgressions. May I feel that there is more honour in confessing and repairing a sin against my neighbour, :ian in covering it up and refusing to render him justice.—Lord, dispose me to love my enemies, to bless them that curse me, and to do good to them that hate me.—[See Pardon.] FRUGALITY. Make me frugal, O Lord, in my habits of life. Let me not be anxious as to what I shall eat, or drink, or wherewithal I shall be clothed; nor seek to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. Persuade me that T have no right to decorate my person, my family, my house, or my table, with unbecoming, or dishonest, or luxurious expenditure. Convince me that an immoderate use of thy bounties is inconsistent with peace of mind, health of body, and enjoyment of thy favour. May I gather up my fragments of time and property, and use them in thy service. Lord, dispose me to use economy and prudence in my expenses, that I may thus be furnished with additional means of supplying the wants of the destitute, and contributing to those objects of benevolence which promote the welfare of man and display thy glory. GENTLENESS. Heavenly Father, bestow on me that fruit of thy Spirit which is gentleness. Impress on my mind, that the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men. May I remember him who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and like a sheep dumb before his shearer, opened noU his mouth: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who when he suffered threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously— leaving us an example, that we should follow in his steps. Blessed Jesus, thou pattern of meekness, preserve my temper and conduct from unkindness and violence. May a holy calm pervade my heart in all the changes and trials I may encounter—and manifest itself in kindness and good will, in all the relations of life. 0 fill my heart with that wisdom from above, which is gentle, easy to be entreated, and full of mercy and good fruits. GLORY OF GOD. Lord God Almighty, thou art glorious in the infinite excellencies of thy character. Thou art everlasting in being, almighty in power,infinite in wisdom, inflexible in justice, eternal in truth, spotless in holiness, and boundless in mercy. Great and marvellous are thy works, just and true are thy ways,-thou King of Saints. Who will not fear and glorify thy name? The heavens declare thy glory, and the firmament exhibiteth thy handy work : day unto day uttereth speech concerning thee, and night unto night showeth knowledge of thee. All thy works praise thee. But it is in the person and work of our blessed Saviour that thou hast chiefly shown the perfection of thy character, for the adoration and homage of thine intelligent creation. There thou didst make thy richest display of might and knowledge, righteousness and goodness. O, thou art worthy to be held in everlasting honour, that he who was the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of his person, was made flesh, and dwelt with us, being in all points tempted as we are; and when he had filled up the measure of his reproach and persecution, gave himself up to an ignominious death, that we might have redemption through his blood, even the remission of sins. Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. O help me to honour thee whenever I contemplate thy works, or thy word, or thy providence. Shine into my heart to give me the light of the knowledge of thy glory in the face of Jesus Christ. May I praise thee in my thoughts, and with my lips, and by my life: and whether I eat or drink, or whatsoever 1 do, may I do all to the glory of God. Lord, let all thy saints bless thee. Instruct them that their chief end is to glorify thee. May they meditate on thy greatness, and talk of thy wondrous works, and honour thy will by acts of holy obedience. May Christ be fully formed in their hearts the hope of glory. Make them the blessed instruments of leading multitudes, who now cast dishonour on thy mercy, to witness and magnify the riches of thy grace. Father, glorify thy name in turning the wicked from the error of their ways unto the wisdom of the just. O fulfil in all their power and efficacy the messages of the gospel, which are glory to God in the highest; peace on earth, and good-will to men. God.—See Adoration, Existence, Omnipresence, dpc. GODLINESS. O Lord, vouchsafe to me, through the merit and intercession of Jesus, that godliness which is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Lead me to reverence thy name; for thou art God, and beside thee there is none other. Incline me to love thy character, which is the perfection of excellency. Learn me thy testimonies, which are sure, making wise the simple. Lead me to submit willingly to all thy dispensations ; for they are of the Lord ; let him do what seemeth good in his sight. May I depend on thee with a confiding heart, for every blessing ; for thou hast said that as my day is so shall my strength be. Excite me, O Lord, to praise thy goodness ; for thou art merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness. Build thou my hopes of thy favour on the precious merits of Jesus, besides whose name there is no other given by which I may be saved. And, O Lord, assist me by thy grace to obey all thy law; for not every one that saith, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of our Father in heaven. Shepherd of Israel, bless the fold of Christ. Let none who have the form of godliness deny the power thereof. Give thy people wisdom, love, zeal, and influence. May their lives be hid with Christ in God, so that when Christ, who is their life, shall appear, they also shall appear with him in glory. And grant, most merciful God, that all men may learn that mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. GOOD WORKS. Blessed God, make me understand the imperfection of human obedience. There is not a just man on earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. Even when I most fulfil thy will, I am an unprofitable servant. Lord, keep me from thoughts and boastings of merit: for it is not by works of righteousness, I have done, that I shall be justified, but by thy grace, through Jesus Christ, the Saviour. And yet, 0 Lord, do thou make me careful to maintain good works : for thou requirest me to work that which is well pleasing in thy sight; and thou hast an infinite right to my service, as my Creator, Ruler, and Redeemer. Create me, therefore, in Christ Jesus, unto good works, and make me as the branch which abideth in the vine, bearing fruit. May thy word be in my heart; as good seed, which springeth up, and beareth an hundred fold. May I do thy will with a heart of love, with faith unfeigned, and with desire that all I do may be for thy glory. Grant me the renewing of the Holy Spirit, and that faith which works by love, and is accepted by thee, in Christ’s name, for righteousness. Teach me, O Lord, that whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. If he sow to the flesh, he shall of the flesh reap corruption : but if he sow to the Spirit, he shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. I pray thee, therefore, let me not be weary in well-doing; for in due season I shall reap, if I faint not—[See Duty And Usefulness.] GOODNESS OF GOD. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not till his benefits; for God is love. Thou art good, O Lord, in giving, preserving, and blessing the lives of thy creatures. They are thine offspring, and have their being in thy mercy. The eyes of all are unto thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season: thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desires of every living thing. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness.—Thou hast shown thy mercy in thy forbearance; for if thou didst mark iniquity, who could stand? Yea, thouart long-suffering, and art not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.—But thou hast exhibited thy goodness, above all, in the gift of thy Son. Thou didst so love the world, as to give him, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life: and thou didst commend thy love to us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Though we had turned every one to his own way, the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.— Blessed God, thou art merciful in the gift of the holy scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto salvation—and in the bestowment of that Comforter, whose ministrations are life because of righteousness. —Even thine afflictions have been blessings in disguise : for thou hast chastened us for our profit, that we might be partakers of thy holiness : and though thy chastenings seemed not to be joyous, but grievous, yet afterwards they worked the peaceable fruits of righteousness.—Lo ! thou hast made even the sins of thy creatures to work together for good : thou hast made the wrath of man to praise thee: and where sin hath abounded, grace did much more abound.— Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even he shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Heavenly Father, make me feel that I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies, and that I have deserved thy wrath instead of thy kindness. Bind me, I beseech thee, to thee and thy cause by a strong and an abiding gratitude. Permit me not to forget nor abuse thy mercies. Let them not rise up in judgment against me, either in this world, or in that which is to come. Do thou lead me, O Lord, to imitate thy goodness, by labours of love, and by seekingoccasions to do good in all the relations of life. Lord, draw all men unto thee by the cords of thy love. May thy kindness lead thern to repentance and to devotion to thy cause. O that men would pr;iise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. His goodness endureth continually, and his mercy is everlasting. GOSPEL. Gracious Jehovah, assist me to understand, and love, and obey the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I would magnify the riches of thy mercy which devised these glad tidings of great joy for all people. I would praise thee that thou didst send it in due time, in all its fulness of grace and truth, life and immortality. It was not because we deserved thy favour, or sought thy mercy; but because thou didst pity our lost condition, and didst enter into a covenant of grace, to bring us out of an estate of sin and misery into an estate of salvation, by a Redeemer. Lord, I would praise thee that this word is offered without money and without price; and that whosoever will may take of the waters of .life freely. Thou hast made the plan of redemption commensurate with the wants and sins of our ruined race, and with the claims of thy holy and inflexible justice. Lord, help me to lay hold upon the hope set before me in the gospel. May I receive it as the only savour of life unto life. Let me not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ; but may I glory in it as the power of God, unto salvation, to every one that believeth. May it teach me to deny ungodliness, and to live righteously in thy sight. Make it the instrument of building me up in saving knowledge, holy love, and willing obedience, to the praise of Jesus Christ. 0 God, make the impenitent feel that they cannot escape thy wrath, if they neglect this great salvation. May it bring them, from being strangers and foreigners, to be fellow-citizens of the household of faith. May it turn their carnal minds from their enmity unto peace with God, and release them, being justified by faith, from that wrath of God which now abideth on them. Blessed Saviour, call them from darkness into marvellous light: free them from the bondage of sin, and cause them to stand fast in the liberty whe/ewith thou makest thy servants free. Lord, may the kingdom of thy gospel come, and thy will be done on earth as in heaven. Multiply the number of those who shall run to and fro, increasing knowledge. Make the reading, but especially the preaching of thy word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners.—Strengthen the minds, and sanctify the wills, and increase the zeal of thy people. Send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, and make thy people willing in the day of thy power: and may converts be multiplied to them as drops of dew in the morning. O God, redeem thy promise, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the praise of God, the Father. GOVERNMENT. King of Kings and Lord of Lords, dispose me to pray for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all honesty and godliness. May I remember that the powers that be are ordained of God, and that by thee kings reign and princes decree justice. Make me grateful to thee that thou hast put the restraints of law upon mankind. O do thou make every rule of administration throughout the world, conform to thy benevolent will. Make those that bear the sword a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well. Make our officers peace, and our exactors righteousness. Let our law-givers be men that fear God and hate covetousness. Though thou canst make the wrath of tyrants to praise thee; yet do thou so order the means and objects of human government, that thy glory may be advanced by the holiness and happiness of rulers and people. Lord, I thank thee for that form of government which has been, under thy hand, a protection and blessing to this nation. Reform its evils, and spread its blessings, until every country shall rejoice in the sovereignty of useful and just laws. But, O Lord, may we not forget that it is righteousness which exalteth a nation ; while sin is a reproach to any people. Deal not with us according to our transgressions. Say not in thy wrath, that thy kingdom shall be taken from us, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Make this land Immanuel’s land, where peace will have her dwelling, liberty her home, and piety her abode, until this world and all the works therein shall be burned up, and there be a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. GRACE. Lord, enable me through the adorable Redeemer, to know, and value, and possess the exceeding riches of thy grace. It is rich in its source; for it is the fulness of him that filleth all in all. It is rich in its abundance; since it is given to us for help in every time of need. And, O, it is rich in its unspeakable blessings; for it brings the forgiveness of sins—gives us the washing of regeneration—unites us to Christ by a living faith—justifies us by his merits—bestows on us the witness of the Spirit— gives us the victory over the world and the grave— makes us heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, in the enjoyments of heaven for ever. Show me, O Lord, that Jesus is the mediator of this blessing : it is he that maketh peace through the blood of his cross : he giveth repentance and remission of sins : and he seals the redeemed soul by the Spirit, through sanctification, unto eternal life.—Lord, thou couldst have glorified thyself in the destruction of thy rebel creatures; but thou hast chosen, in thy mercy, to win them back to thee by love, that thou mightest glorify thyself in their newness of life on earth, and their eternal bliss in heaven. Merciful God, enable me, by thy blessing, to grow in grace. May I hunger and thirst after righteousness, and desire the sincere milk of the word, that I may grow thereby. May I seek to give strength to every godly principle within me, by habitual industry in thy service; by exercising myself unto godliness, and always abounding in the work of the Lord. Be pleased to order thy dispensations, whether of prosperity or adversity, so that they may promote my spiritual good. Build me on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief comer-stone. May I in all things by prayer and supplication, make known my requests unto thee. And, O, grant me thy Holy Spirit, to sanctify my affections, and to assist me in giving all diligence to make my calling and election sure. Heavenly Father, transform me by the renewing of my mind, that I may know what is thy good, and perfec’, and acceptable will. Enable me to go from strength to strength; and do thou change me from glory to glory. Animate my heart with supreme love to God, and impartial love to man. Give me an increasing purity of motive, strength of principle, self-abasement, and loathing of sin. Let me not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. May I cherish the fellowship of thy saints; and seek the welfare of thy kingdom, by gifts, by labour, and by supplication. Blessed Lord, make me holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Shepherd of Israel, cause thy grace to dwell richly in the hearts of all thy people. May they watch unto prayer against anger, pride, and covetousness; against ambition, censoriousness, and impurity. May they look diligently, lest any fail of the grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness spring, ing up, trouble them, and thereby many be defiled. Make their christian character as the light of heaven, which shineth more and more, unto the perfect day. Lord, exert the power of thy grace on the hearts of the impenitent. Convince them of their guilt and danger; persuade them to accept of thy mercy in Jesus; renew their wills and sanctify their feelings; lead them to pant after thee, as the hart panteth after the water-brook, and to run willingly in all the ways of thy commandments. O grant that where sin hath abounded, grace may much more abound. And to God, only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ, for ever. GRATITUDE. Lord Jehovah, thou art good, and lovest to do good. Thou art the giver of every good and perfect gift. My whole life has been a living record of thy mercy. Thou hast given me the blessings of health and peace, food and clothing, home and friends, protection and happiness. Yet all these are but as the small dust of the balance compared with thy mercy in Christ Jesus. Though the creatures thou hadst made to be the subjects of thy bounty, had all rebelled against thy law, thou didst so love them as to give thy Son for them, to bring them back with an everlasting redemption. And because they still, notwithstanding this matchless offer of compassion, would not come unto thee, that they might have life, thou hast given them the influence* of thy Holy Spirit, to persuade them to accept of mercy. And to as many as thou hast given power to become the sons of God, thou hast vouchsafed such measures of thy grace, that they shall be able to persevere in obedience, through faith, unto complete salvation. 0 Lord, cause my gratitude to bear some proportion to thy goodness. Let me not forget thy benefits, nor think that my own hand has wrought any of them. Incline me to look back often, with mingled feelings of wonder and love, on the way in which thou hast led me by thy providence and grace. Give me such views of thy loving-kindness, and of my own utter unworthiness, as shall lead me to magnify continually the richness of thy goodness. Induce me to love thee because thou hast first loved me. Make my enjoyment of thy mercies a motive to obedience. Especially may the love of Christ constrain me to do thy will. O may I desire to show my sense of obligation to thee by always seeking to do what is well-pleasing in thy sight. , Great God, cause thine unnumbered mercies towards guilty men, to melt the hardness of their hearts, to subdue their rebellious wills, and to lead them by the allurements of thy love, to a godly sorrow for sin, a cordial faith in the atonement, and a grateful devotion to thy cause. Make the multitudes who are children of disobedience, the sons of adoption, to the praise of the fulness of thy grace. O Lord, permit me not to be ungrateful to my fellow creatures. Thou hast been pleased so to constitute our social relations, that each is dependent on others for kindness and favour. Thou hast made many of them the almoners of thy bounty to me. Make my heart sensible of every benefit I receive from them : and while my affections abound towards those who do me good, lead me, O Lord, to do good to all men.—Promote, I beseech thee, the prevalence of acts of good will among all thy creatures, until envy, ingratitude, and hatred shall be banished from the world, and all men abound in love to God and to each other. GRAVE. Great God, teach me that I am dust, and must return to dust. May I often and habitually look forward to the grave, that narrow house appointed for all the living. Lead me to regard it as the monument of human guilt; for if there had been no sin, there had been no grave: the wages of sin is death. O may every mound that marks the last dwellingplace of a human being, be a witness that sin has entered into the world, and death by sin. May I learn from it, the vanity of earthly good—we bring nothing into the world, and we can carry nothing out—we must say to corruption, " Thou art my father ;" and to the worm, " Thou art my mother and my sister." Lord, this wide world is one vast burial-place; and we plant our feet daily on some spot that has been the charnel-house of mortality. Alas, death dwells every where, but in the giddy thoughts of men. But I thank thee, O Lord, that amid all its gloom, the grave has its consolations. Jesus, our Saviour, has been there, and has sanctified the tomb as the resting place of his people’s dust. There the weary are at rest. Though the body shall turn to dust, the spirit will return to God who gave it: and while thy saints are absent from the body, they are present with the Lord. Nor shall our sleep be eternal: the earth shall cast out her dead—this mortal shall put on immortality, and that which was sown in dishonour, shall be raised in glory.—Lord, grant that when the dead come forth at thy voice, mine may be the resurrection of life; that so I may be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and be made perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity. Heavenly Father, for Christ’s sake, grant that every tomb may be a convincing and persuading preacher to the impenitent. May they learn and act upon the truth, that it is appointed unto all men once to die. Show them that after death cometh the judgment, when they who have done evil, shall come forth to the resurrection of damnation. O may many now lay to heart the things that belong to their eternal peace: and then, when Christ shall appear, they also shall appear with him, who is the resurrection and the life, blessed for ever. GRIEF. Compassionate Jehovah, thou knowest all the sources of my griefs—the afflictions of my body— the weakness and ignorance of my mind—the loss of cherished objects—and the miseries of my sinfulness. When I look back upon my past life, how do slighted mercy, neglected grace, and sinful rebellion rise up to confound me with sorrow.—When I look within me, and examine my present state, I find that when 1 would delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man, there is a law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin : so that I am constrained to say, " O wretched man that I am ; who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?"— When my thoughts go forth into the unknown future, I have reason to pass the time of my sojourning here in fear, lest, being led away by the corruption of my heart, the error of the wicked, and the deceit of Satan, I may fall from my steadfastness.—When I look around me, I find sources of grief every where; for the ways of Zion mourn, and my heart is faint within me: I behold the transgressors, and am grieved: rivers of waters should run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy law.—O God, it behooves me also to mourn when thou dost, for any reason, hide thy face from me—when the heavens above me are as brass, and my trembling heart would surmise that even God had forgotten to be gracious. But, O Lord, thou knowest all my griefs; and thou canst sanctify them to me. I pray thee, soothe and bless my sorrows. Recompense me in all of them, by the light of thy countenance. Give me the blessedness of them that mourn with a godly sorrow ; for they shall be comforted. Restore unto me the joys of thy salvation, and uphold me by thy free Spirit. Let not my soul be cast down, nor grow weary of life, nor rebel against thy will. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. When thou hast wrought the purposes of thy sovereignty, O give me beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 1.06. PART 3 - HAPPINESS-JUSTIFICATION ======================================================================== HAPPINESS. Blessed God, I thank thee for that impulse of my nature, by which I am led to pursue happiness. Without its refreshing influence, life would be but a barren desert. Yet, O how has my evil heart corrupted this law of thy benevolence. Whilst thou hast given me faculties and aspirings for communion with God, and heaven, and holiness, I have sought my joys in sense, and earth, and sin. Lord, help me to overcome this corruption of my nature. May I make my happiness subordinate to thy glory, and in unison with my duty. Dispose me, I pray thee, to use the lawful pleasures of life temperately, and with submission to thy will. Let not my soul find its portion in this world’s pleasures, honours, or riches. Lead me to seek first the kingdom of righteousness, and all that I need for my comfort shall be added to it. Give me the blessedness of the poor in spirit and the mourners for sin ; of the meek and those that hunger and thirst after righteousness; of the merciful and the pure in heart; of the peacemakers, and those who are reviled and persecuted for Christ’s sake. May I seek thy favour, as the source and life of every joy. Comfort me, I pray thee, with a sense of thy forgiving mercy in Jesus ; and O, be thou in him my reconciled God and Father. Vouchsafe unto me the joys of holy communion with the triune God, and of faith in thy character, word, and providence. Grant me the delights of thy rich, distinguishing, and unmerited grace, and of an humble but blessed instrumentality in doing good. Teach me, O Lord, that it is not the lot of even the best of the righteous, to enjoy undisturbed bliss in this vale of tears. The deceptions of sin within and without, the malice of the wicked, and the assaults of satan, often bring anguish on the hearts of thy people. Incline me, therefore, to look at those things which are unseen and eternal, and to lay up treasures where there is no sin nor sorrow, but fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore. Lord, lead those who are seeking their happiness in the perishing and corrupting pleasures of the world, to feel their folly and guilt. Show them the excellency and stability of the joys of thy service and salvation; and enable them by thy grace in Christ, to make thee the strength of their hearts and their portion for ever. Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. HEALTH. I thank thee, O Lord, for the comfortable degree of health I have been permitted to enjoy. I bless thee that thou hast healed my sicknesses, and that thou hast made their seasons short and few, compared with those in which I have been free from disease and pain. Lord, grant me the healthful exercise of all the powers of my mind and body. Lead me to know and follow those physical and moral laws within and around me, disobedience to wh’ch, will disorder this structure which thou hast so fearfully and wonderfully made; but which, if obeyed, will tend to promote my personal comfort and soundness. May I make the pursuit of health, the means of enabling me to grow in grace, to do good, and to advance the glory of God. Blessed Lord, be thou the Physician of my soul.— Heal my heart when it is broken with sorrow; bind up my conscience when it is wounded by transgres sion. Cleanse my mind from error, and my spirit from sin; and do thou bring over my soul the renovating and strengthening joys of thy saving health. HEART. O God, assist me to keep my heart with all diligence ; for out of it are the issues of life. May I remember that it is by nature deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked ; and that none but God can bring a clean thing out of this unclean. Dispose me, I pray thee, to watch over it, lest I fall into temptation ; to be humble and mournful for its hardness and sinfulness; and to seek earnestly for grace to cleanse me from its secret faults and presumptuous sins. May I ever feel, O Lord, that thou searchest the heart, and knowest it altogether. Help me, I beseech thee, to make thee the object of its sincere, unchanging, and unreserved love. Great and Merciful God, guide and govern my affections, so that they shall promote thy glory, show forth the beauty of holiness, and impart to me peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, fulness of grace, and steadfastness, through faith, unto complete redemption. O do thou give strength to my heart in all the exigencies of life—in the days of prosperity and the hours of affliction—in Zion’s troubles and joys—in rejoicing and sorrow—in duty and temptation—in doubts and fears-—in sickness and death. Give me an inward propensity to holiness. Help me to keep the avenues of my soul— my eye, that it may not lust after evil—my ear, that it may be open to God, and shut to sin—and my thoughts, that they may not be vain and unholy. Lord, dispose me to watch unto prayer; to ponder the path of my feet; to search the Scriptures; and to rely on thy Spirit to cleanse me from all that is evil, and to strengthen me in all that is good. Merciful Father, persuade impenitent sinners to give their hearts to thee. Make them feel that thou hast created them for thine own; that thou hast purchased them day by day, by thy common mercies ; and that Christ died that they might love thee. Make them realize, in some degree, what it is to be cast off from thy love for ever. O lead them by the terrors of the Lord, and by the cords of love, to give thee their affections without reserve, whilst thou art waiting to be gracious. Whilst thou art calling, " To-day," O may they hear thy voice, and harden not their hearts; but open their consciences to conviction of sin, and their souls to the renewing of the Holy Ghost; so that they may be able to say, " Whom have we in heaven but thee, and there is none on earth that we desire beside thee." HEATHEN. Blessed God, I thank thee for the rich and various blessings of thy gospel which I am permitted to enjoy. 0 may the possession of them remind me that there are millions of my fellow-creatures, as good by nature as I am, to whom they are denied. Give me, I pray thee, such a sense of these mercies, that my gratitude to thee shall constantly urge me to strive to extend them to the benighted nations of the earth. Make my heart a fountain of compassion for the wants and woes of the heathen; and lead my feelings into such actions as shall make me an instrument of giving them the blessings of salvation. Make my conscience and heart feel the command thou hast given thy people, to preach the gospel to every creature. O Lord, lead me to obey it according to the dictates of thy Spirit, and the openings of thy providence. Grant that I may regard it as an incumbent duty and a blessed privilege, io contribute of my substance, my labours, and my prayers, for the conversion of the world. Lord, I would praise thee for what thou hast inclined thy chosen generation to do, in these days, for the heathen world. 0 strengthen and bless all their efforts which are founded on obedience and love; and do thou lead them to devise and execute every measure which will secure thy favour. Impart to all thy churches a holy and fervent missionary spirit; and cheer them by frequent tidings, that thou art granting to the Gentiles, repentance unto life. Grant that every attempt which is made to spread thy gospel abroad, may result in the revival of pure religion at home.—O do thou give wisdom and energy to those societies and organizations which devise and direct missionary efforts. May they be composed of men of wisdom, faithfulness, and prayer ; who shall have the confidence of thy people, and the favour of God in their undertakings.—Be pleased, O Jehovah, to raise up and qualify many, who shall go forth to the benighted, to preach the everlasting gospel. Make them men of clean hands, holy hearts, and self-denying labour.— Lord, dispense thy choicest and fullest mercies on those who are now labouring among the heathen. Animate them with zeal, courage, prayer, and hope. Be thou a glory in the midst of them, and a defence round about them. Give success to their plans of education, especially among the rising generation. Grant them access to the affections, judgments, and consciences of those whom they instruct in temporal and spiritual knowledge; and give them the pleasure of seeing thy work prospering in their hands.— Lord, look in mercy on those who are the objects of the missionary enterprise. Stay their hands from cruelty to those who are sent to them with the gospel message. Break down every barrier of law, of prejudice, and of enmity; and cause the heathen to receive the missionary with kindness and gladness of heart. Incline their ears and open their hearts to receive that truth which is able to make them wise unto salvation; and grant that Christ may speedily have the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. HEAVEN. O God, Most High, assist my feeble powers to contemplate the bliss of heaven. In that blest land the righteous shall hunger no more; neither thirst any more; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There they shall understand all mysteries and all knowledge. Now they see through a glass darkly; but then they shall see face to face—now they know but in part; but then they shall know even as they are known. There they shall dwell in the city of the living God, the New Jerusalem, with an innumerable company of angels and spirits of just men made perfect; and shall sing, with unwearied tongues, the new song of praise to the Lamb, who has redeemed them to God by his blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and people and nation. There they shall serve God with fulness of joy, holiness of heart, and obedience of will: and he that sitteth onthe throne shall dwell among them, the Lamb shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of waters : and thus they shall be for ever with the Lord. I thank thee, O God, that thou hast made known to us the glories of the heavenly state, and that thou hast taught us how we may obtain them. Life and immortality have been brought to light by the gospel ; and though the carnal eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, nor have entered into such heart, the things which thou hast prepared for them that love thee; yet thou hast revealed them to thy children, by thy Spirit, as a foretaste of that glory which shall be made known in the eternal life.—O Lord, shall I be a partaker of that blessedness ? Grant that the contemplation of it may make me feel the vanity of earthly things, and lead me to set my affections on things that are heavenly and divine. May I follow after holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord ; and seek a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Lord, grant that visions of heavenly glory may quicken the hopes, and purify the hearts, and animate the zeal of thy chosen people. May they have thy grace in them, as a rich prelude to the joys of everlasting life. May they show by their lives, that here they have no abiding place, no continuing city; but that they seek a better, even a heavenly.— Lead them, O Lord, while they strive to work out their own salvation, to seek to bring others into the path of eternal life. Make them feel that their own happiness and glory in the future state, will be greatly increased by here turning souls unto righteousness : for then they shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever. Blessed Lord, convince the worldly minded and sinful, of the perishing and depraving nature of temporal things; and of the exalted and eternal treasures thou hast laid up in the home of the righteous. Induce them, by thy Spirit, to renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil; and to seek that faith in Christ, that purity of heart, and that compliance with thy will, by which they shall be made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. And to thy name, Father, Son, and Spirit, shall be the glory of their salvation for ever. HELL. O Lord, give me a deep conviction of the awful truth, that thou hast ordained and fixed a place of torment for all the finally impenitent—a bottomless pit, where there is the blackness of darkness—a prison, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth— a lake of fire, where the smoke of their torment ascendeth for ever. There they will remember their ungodly deeds; their multiplied mercies ; the riches of thy long-suffering which they despised; the instruction they hated ; and their hardness and impenitence of heart, whereby they treasured unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath. There they shall have cruel fellowship with the devil and his angels: hatred and malice, and every evil passion, shall vex their souls; while around, and above, and beneath them, will be indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. Lord, let not my heart ever rebel against the wisdom and righteousness of thy punitive justice. Just and true are all thy ways, thou King of Saints. Teach me, O God, by the deep damnation of the wicked, that thou hatest sin, and lovest holiness; and that thou art thus promoting the obedience and welfare of the universe, and sustaining thy character as the moral Governor of creation. Assist me, God of Grace, to flee from the wrath to come, and to lay hold of eternal life, through the Saviour. But O, let me not be satisfied with my own safety. May I seek the salvation of those that are in the broad way of ruin. Impel me by keen sympathy for their danger, and love for their happiness, to put forth such efforts of prayer and labour, as shall be the means of saving some that are ready to perish. O do thou arouse the church to a conviction of her duty to a perishing world. Let none of thy people dishonour their calling, by carelessness about the eternal welfare of the impenitent. May each one feel the powers of the world to come; and by earnest supplication, and by fervent action, strive for the blessedness of converting sinners from their dangerous ways, and of saving souls from the second death. Lord, I beseech thee, give the wicked such views of the everlasting destruction awaiting the unrepenting sinner, as shall lead them to. consider the mercy that has provided a way of escape from perdition. Persuade them by thy terrors, to be reconciled to thee by the blood of the everlasting covenant. O make many, who now seem to be vessels of wrath, fitting for destruction, to be vessels of mercy, preparing for glory; who shall be kept by thy power through faith, unto final salvation: where the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, which are begun on earth, shall be perfected for ever. HOLINESS. Heavenly Father, grant me the spirit of holiness. O restore me to thy blessed image, and transform me by the renewing of my mind, that I may know thy will, and present myself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is my reasonable service. Mould my character by thy word, and lead me to obey that form of doctrine which thou hast delivered to me. Make me spiritually minded, which is life and peace. O enable me to say, " Behold, old things are passed away; all things are become new." Lord, make me a partaker of thy holiness, and lead me in the paths of righteousness, for thy name’s sake. But let me not forget that this great work is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. My heart is by nature desperately wicked; and unless thou give me the sanctifying power of thy Spirit, I shall remain dead in trespasses and sins. Renew me, I beseech thee, in the spirit of my mind, turn me from darkness unto light, and put on me the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Blessed Lord, let me not regard iniquity in my heart, nor roll sin as a sweet morsel under my tongue. Make me feel all the motives that should deter me from transgression.—Teach me to be holy, because thou art holy.—Grant me such views of the cross of Christ, as shall lead me to hate and forsake sin. Thou didst choose thy saints in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without blame before thee in love: and he gave himself for them that he might redeem them from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people.— O may the hope of his salvation, prompt me to purify myself even as he is pure. Make me feel the guilt, misery, and danger of sin.—Assist me to mortify the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof, that I may live in thy favour—May I remember that the eyes of men are upon me; let me not cause thy name to be blasphemed through my transgressions.—Instruct me that thy glory requires me to hate evil; for thou hast made thy people a holy nation, to show forth the praises of him who has called them from darkness into light.—O God, make me pure in heart; for without holiness no man shall see the Lord ; and there shall in no wise enter into heaven, any thing that defileth. Lord, assist me, 1 beseech thee, in this great duty of personal sanclification. Let thy grace be in me as a perpetual fountain of godliness. May I go from strength to strength, and may my path be as the shining light, which shineth more and more, unto the perfect day. O fill me with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. HOLINESS OF GOD. Lord, thou art glorious in holiness. There is no stain on thy will, and no spot on thy character: the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. Just, and true, and pure are all thy thoughts, purposes, and doings. Thou art of purer eyes than to countenance evil in others; and thou canst not look on sin without abhorrence. Thou art angry with the wicked every day, and wilt cast them, unless they repent, into everlasting destruction. Even the heavens are not clean in thy sight; and thou chargest thine angels with folly. Blessed God, teach me the beauty of thy holiness. 0,it is the life and perfection of thy character. Thou hast shown it in all thy ways—in the works of creation, which were all very good—in thy providence, by which thou hast sought to make us partakers of thy holiness—in thy grace, which teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts—in the gift of Jesus, who came to save us from the guilt and dominion of sin—in thy truth, by which we are sanctified :—and thou wilt show it in the awful decisions of the last day, when the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. O Lord, may a sense of thy holiness awe and control my spirit. May it dispose me to walk humbly in thy sight: for if the holy ones of heaven veil their faces before thee, it becomes me to lie in the dust, and to cry, " Guilty; unclean : God be merciful to me a sinner." Teach me that there is no communion between God and unholy spirits; and that none but the pure in heart can enjoy thy favour, or see thy face in righteousness. May I learn more and more the excellence of the Saviour whom thou hast provided for sinners: for if we were not accepted in the Beloved, none could be justified in thy sight. Cause a conviction of thy sinless perfection to fill me with reverence in all my approaches to thee; and suffer me not to forget that if I regard iniquity in my heart, thou wilt not hear my supplications. O give me such contemplations of thy holiness as shall cause me to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. And may I, beholding as in a glass its glory, be changed into the same image, from glory to glory. HOLY SPIRIT. Blessed and Triune God, enable me to understand the character and offices of the Holy Ghost. Thou hast revealed him to us as a partner of the deity, who exercises the attributes of the Most High, and does the works of the Almighty. O may my thoughts of him be such as become me when I meditate on the name of God. I thank thee that thou hast sent that Spirit to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Grant, O Lord, that I may share in all his blessed influences, and that they may be in me as a well of water springing up into everlasting life. May they be as showers that water the earth, imparting to my soul growth, beauty, and fruitfulness, and giving me favour in the sight of God and man. Blessed Spirit, show me my sinfulness, apply to me the redemption purchased by Christ, mortify the deeds of the body, and renew me day by day in thy holy image. O do thou lead me into the knowledge of truth, make intercession within me in prayer, bear witness with my spirit that I am a child of God, and seal me with that promise which is an earnest until the redemption of the purchased possession. Be thou my comforter in sorrow, my strength in weakness, my shield in temptation, my teacher in ignorance, my security in joy, my leader in the labyrinths of life, and my consolation in the hour of death. Lord, pour out thy Spirit on all thy servants. May they enjoy, in the fullest measure, those fruits which are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, meekness, gentleness, temperance, faith. Persuade them to set a high value on these things, and to seek them by fervent and believing prayer. Cause them to live in continual dependence on divine influence, and to walk worthy of the character of that Holy Agent. Make them his living temples, where there shall be the incense of prayer, praise, and holy obedience. May he sanctify their hearts, bind them closer by faith to Christ, make them wise unto salvation, and prepare them for their eternal weight of glory. Lord, I would praise thy name for the power which the Holy Ghost has exerted over the consciences and wills of sinners, in leading them to feel their guilt and danger, and in persuading and enabling them to accept the plan of salvation. O continue and increase these manifestations of thy mercy. Let not the ungodly grieve thy Spirit, and be left to ripen for perdition. Let none wrest to their own destruction the truth, that they must be .born again by the Holy Ghost: but may they make it the anchor of their hope, and receive with gladness those ministrations which are life because ot righteousness. O do thou convince, convert, and sanctify multitudes who now live after the flesh; and do thou lead them, in the exercises of a spiritual life, to glorify thy grace on earth, and enjoy the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Spirit in heaven. HOPE. Lord, grant me a good hope through grace. May it be the fruit of thy Spirit, and be rooted and grounded in that faith by which we receive the atonement of the Messiah : for other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid in Jesus Christ. May it be a hope that maketh not ashamed ; that purifieth the heart; that is a helmet of salvation; and an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which en« ters into that within the veil, and rejoices in the expectation of the glory of God. O may it prompt me to seek to bringothers into the same fellowship of joy, that we together may share the promise of life. Teach the wicked, O God, that a door of hope has been opened for the chief of sinners :—a way of access to pardon, in which thou canst be just, and still be the justifier of them that believe in Jesus. Show them that the expectation of the wicked shall perish, and that the trust of the hypocrite shall be as the spider’s web: while the hope of the righteous shall be gladness and assurance for ever. I pray thee bring many sinners to the footstool of thy throne, to learn the blessedness of putting their confidence in the blood of the everlasting covenant; from which only can they receive the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. HOSPITALITY. Lord, give me the spirit of hospitality. Grant me a heart of generosity, that will take pleasure in reciprocating the kindness of domestic life, and in supplying the want3 of the stranger and the destitute. May I remember that some, in so doing, have entertained angels unawares ; and that thou hast said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Thou hast commanded us to use hospitality, without grudging ; and hast promised that those who do so shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Lord, thou art good to all: thy tender mercies are over all thy works. Even thine enemies share richly in thy bounty. Incline me, therefore, to be merciful, even as thou art merciful. Lead me to do good, and to communicate; for with such sacrifices thou art well pleased. Dispose me to be an almoner of thy bounty. As I have freely received, so may I freely give. HUMAN DEPRAVITY. Lord, thou didst create man, after thine own image, in knowledge and holiness; but he fell from the estate wherein he was created, by sinning against God; and now, by his fall, all mankind have lost communion with God, are under thy wrath and curse, and are made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever. Thou didst indeed make man upright; but he has sought out many inventions. His gold has become dim, and his most fine gold is changed. And now the heart of the sons of men is full of evil: the carnal mind is enmity against God : they are all gone out of the way: there is none righteous; no, not one. O Lord, every where I behold the records of human depravity. The pages of history, the experience of my own heart, the witness of my eyes, and the news brought on every breeze, tell me that man is a sinner. And yet for every spark of sin in the outward life of every man, there has been a raging flame of transgression in his hidden nature. O let not my mind be swayed from this truth, because there are some, who in their natural and unredeemed state, seem to be not far from the kingdom of God: for if thou hadst not controlled their characters and shaped their destinies, they also had been the vilest of the vile. Suffer me not, in my intercourse with children, to suppose, from their comparative innocence and docility, that they are not depraved : for O, thy testimony against them is, that they go astray from the womb ; and that folly is bound up in their hearts. Lord, give me an ever-present conviction of this solemn doctrine, that I may watch and pray against the evil tendencies of my own heart, and also look with earnest anxiety on the condition of those who have not been brought to know and forsake their iniquities. Enable me to realize its nature and extent—to understand that the most unsanctified selfishness has usurped the sceptre which God should sway in the heart; and that all men are, in their natural character, utterly destitute of holiness, and entirely sinful. Lord, permit not my thoughts to impeach thy wisdom, or justice, or holiness, when I meditate on this truth ; for thou hast laid no stern necessity on us that we should sin; and we, we only, are guilty before thee in our transgressions. O God, subdue the corruption of my nature, and make me a new creature in Christ Jesus. Blessed Lord, convince the wicked of their deeprooted depravity; and that unless they are born again, they must be shut out of the kingdom of God. Show them that they have destroyed themselves ; while in thee only is their help. Teach them that thou hast sought their repentance by the every-day mercies of life; by the offers of pardon, and by the threats of vengeance : and yet they have abused thy gifts, and turned a deaf ear to thine entreaties and warnings. Show them that the way of the wicked is darkness, and the end thereof eternal death : while the path of the just is as the shining light, and his reward a blissful eternity. Whilst thou art revealing to them the enormity of their guilt, show them the surpassing extent of the redemption thou hast provided for it. O may thy Spirit transform their corrupt wills, and renew their depraved affections. Save them by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost; that being sanctified by grace, they shall be made partakers of thy holiness, and heirs of eternal life. HUMILITY. Heavenly Father, give me such views of thine infinite excellence and of my unworthiness, as shall humble me in the dust before thee. Thou art the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Jehovah ; and all thine attributes and works are excellent and glorious. But as for us, we dwell on the footstool of thy dominion, and live every moment at the expense of thy goodness. We are ignorant; not knowing what a day may bring forth. We are helpless; not being able to make one hair white or black. We are by nature the children of wrath ; and even in our best estate, when thy Spirit has wrought upon our hearts, it becomes us to say, " God be merciful to us sinners." Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him; or the son of man, that thou visitest him t Lord, I would remember that he who was the brightness of his Father’s glory abased himself, and led a life of trial and reproach, and suffered a death of cruelty and shame. O God, make me a follower of him who was thus meek and lowly. Lo, the angels of heaven veil their faces before thee, in expressive token of inferiority and unworthiness. How much more should 1 humble myself in thy holy presence. Thanks be to thy name, this which is my duty, is also my privilege. Thou hast given thy promise to humility; saying, that he who humbleth himself shall be exalted. Thou hast been pleased to put matchless and unspeakable honour in it, by making the contrite heart thy dwelling place. O may this grace control my life. May it dwell in my heart, teaching me my proper character. May it pervade my walk, leading me to meekness of speech and action, and controlling my spirit both in prosperity and adversity. May it fit me for doing thy holy will in all things. dead men’s bones and all manner of uncleanness. God forbid that I should have only the name without the character of godliness. Mak9 lhiu my life the symbol of my heart, and my heart the living record of ihy commandments. Lord, clothe all thy followers with humility. Make them feel their infinite disparity with thee. May they, in lowliness of mind, esteem others better than themselves. Let them not be high-minded, but fear: and while they think they stand, may they take heed lest they fall. May they look back to the hole of the pit whence they were digged. Teach them that thou hatest the pride of man ; and that thou wilt give the kingdom of heaven to them only who are poor in spirit. HYPOCRISY. God of Truth, let a sense of thy presence, and a regard for thy will, preserve me from the odious sin of hypocrisy. Let me not insult thee with a lip service, while my heart is far from thee: nor with a form of compliance with thy law, while my soul pursues the carnal pleasures of earth. Thou art not deceived, and thou canst not be mocked; because thou searchest all hearts, and understandest all the imaginations of the thoughts. O make me feel both the folly and vileness of this transgression. Thou hast said that the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, and that his trust shall be as the spider’s web. Thou hatest them that cover up their wickedness; who are like whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within are full of Keep me, O God, from hypocrisy towards my fellow creatures. Restrain me from desiring or attempting to make any deceptive impression on them. Let no guile be found in my tongue, nor affectation of righteousness in my walk. Let me not outwardly appear righteous to men, while within I am full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Keep me from a double mind and flattering lips, and from all disposition to make or love a lie. Let not rny heart be set on the applause or patronage of men; but on the favour of God, and on that final plaudit: " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." IDOLATRY. Great God, look in mercy on those who are bowing down to gods which their own hands have made, or worshipping the things thou hast created, and which are dependent on thee for their being. O Lord, further every effort that is made to spread light among the dark places of the earth. May brightness spring up to them that sit in the region and shadow of death. Cause the isles to wait for thy law, and the gentiles to come to thy light. Bring many from the east and the west, who shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. Make the wilderness and solitary place to be glad ; and the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. Say to the north, " Give up," and to the south, " Hold not back." Bring thy sons from afar, and thy daughters from the ends of the earth. Lord, grant that the heathen may learn the folly and wickedness of their worship, and casting their idols to the moles and the bats, honour and serve the living God. Lord, thou seest that this harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Send forth labourers into it, who shall be the means of dispelling every form of superstition, and spreading the day-spring of thy gospel: until every heart shall be an altar, and every tongue a voice of praise, unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever. Blessed Lord, keep my own heart from idolatry. Thou art God ; and beside thee there is none other. Suffer me not to idolize the world, nor any thing that is in the world. Let no created good supplant thy dominion over my heart. Let no object of affection divert from thee that supreme love which I owe thee, as my Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer. What concord hath Christ with Belial 1 what agreement should the temple of God have with idols ? Be thou to me my all, and in all. Persuade and control my soul to acknowledge thee as the only true God, and my God ; and to worship and glorify thee accordingly. Immortality.—See Eternity, Heaven, Hell. IMMUTABILITY OF GOD. Thou, Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands : they shall perish ; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old, as doth 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. In all the perfections of thy nature there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning. Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Thy promises are Yea and Amen, in Christ Jesus. And thy decrees of salvation, or of condemnation, stand fast for ever. O Lord, make me feel my own fickleness of heart and mind, and my uncertainty of being, that I may be better prepared to adore and trust thee as the unchangeable God. INCOMPREHENSIBLENESS OF GOD. Who can by searching, find out God ? Thou dwellest in light that no man can approach unto. The knowledge of thee is high as heaven ; deeper than hell—and the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. The thunder of thy power who can understand? The number of thy years cannot be searched out. Thine understanding is infinite. Thou doest great things, past finding out, and wonders without number. Thy way is in the sea, thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. But greater than all things else is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, to reconcile the world unto himself, and make reconciliation for the sins of the people. O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How unsearchable are thy judgments, and thy ways past finding out. Great Jehovah, help me to bow before thee with mingled sensations of adoration, fear, and humility. INDEPENDENCY OF GOD. Thou art the uncreated, self-existent, independent Jehovah. Who hath been thy counsellor; who hath taught thee the path of judgment; or showed thee the way of understanding?—Thou hast stretched forth the heavens alone, and spread the earth by thyself: thou faintest not, neither art weary with labour: thou art everlasting strength.—Thou needest not the wisdom nor power of any to help thee in the measures of thy government; for they are all thy creatures, and thy counsel standeth for ever. Thou art not worshipped as though thou needest any thing ; every beast of the forest being thine, with the cattle upon a thousand hills; and thou givest unto all, life, and breath, and all things: yea, thou art exalted above blessing and praise. Lord, make me understand that I am dependent on thee for life, for hope, for blessing, for every thing. O dispose me to seek thee, as the source of every right feeling, and the fountain of every pure joy. Of thee, and through thee, and unto thee, are all things; to whom be glory for ever. INFIDELITY. God of Light, destroy those various forms of infidelity which exalt themselves against God and truth ; and which are gathering snares and destruction upon multitudes of immortal souls. Teach all men that these delusions are the offspring of human depravity, and ignorance, and the fruitful sources of misery, vice, and ruin. They who cherish them love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil; and they choose the fruits of death, rather than come to thee and obtain life. They walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them; because of the blindness of their heart. Religion would have no foes if it were not the enemy of sin. And yet, O Lord, have not the dissensions and sins of those who profess thy name greatly contributed to increase the scepticism of the unbelieving heart? O how has the cause of Christ been wounded in the house of his friends ! Take away, I beseech thee, every root of bitterness from thy church ; and cause thy people so to live, that even the infidel shall be led to glorify our Father in heaven. Blessed God, scatter every mist of error and sin, by 1 he light of truth; and bring all mankind to submit their judgments and bow their wills to the teachings of thy written word. Give it victory over all that pollutes, and degrades, and ruins man—in behalf of all that purifies, exalts, and saves him. May it subdue his understanding to truth, his habits to righteousness, and his heart to a peace which the world can neither give nor take away. INQUIRERS. Merciful God, dispose many to ask the fearfully solemn and important question, " What must I do to be saved ?" Fasten in the minds of such a thorough conviction of the exceeding guilt of sin. May thy Spirit show them its enormity, as committed against the author of their being and the giver of their mercies. Make them feel their lost condition, without hope and without God in the world, and thy wrath abiding on them. Show them their own inability to save themselves, and that their every effort, that is not seconded and sanctified by the Spirit, sinks them deeper in their condemnation. Set clearly before their minds the necessity and value of salvation through the blood of Jesus: for they that reject it shall perish with an everlasting destruction, while they who accept it shall be redeemed from the dominion and penalty of sin, and be blessed with the favour of a reconciled God for ever. O give them earnest desires for that redemption; desires that spring from convictions of the worth of the soul—the wrath of an offended Judge—the tender love of a dying and interceding Saviour—the bliss that shall be revealed to the saints above—and the glory of the Most High, who will cause their salvation to praise him. Lord, make them fearful of grieving away the strivings of thy Spirit. Let them not be deluded by the vain hope of a more convenient season. Impress with a living freshness upon their hearts, that now is the accepted time, and this the day of salvation. Let none of them draw back to perdition. Enable them at once and for ever to renounce their transgressions, and to receive and rest upon Jesus alone for salvation. Let the Holy Ghost lead them into the knowledge of truth—preserve them from the power of error—give them peace in believing—and fill them with a holy zeal to advance thy cause and fulfil thy will, in all the duties of religion. INTEMPERANCE. Lord, be pleased to banish from our land, and from the world, the causes and evils of intemperance. Reclaim those that are now wandering in the paths of drunkenness ; recover them whose feet are running in the way of temptation ; and throw thy merciful restraint and protection over those who are yet untainted by this destroying vice. O do thou enlighten mankind as to its nature and remedy; and bring up to the help of the Lord against the mighty, the good of every name and nation. May all men learn that alcohol, the intoxicating ingredient of spirituous liquors, is not the gift of God, but the product of man’s selfishness ; that as a drink it is not needful nor useful, but hurtful and poisonous. Teach them that it diseases the body, weakens and paralyzes the understanding, stupefies the conscience, and hardens the heart. O, how has it destroyed property, time, happiness, and life—and filled the world with poverty, misery, and crime—and dragged down to everlasling perdition souls that otherwise might have been brought within the reach of the gospel, and have been made heirs of eternal life! Lord, I thank thee for the efforts which have been made to stay these desolations, and for the success which has thus far crowned the temperance reformation. But I would feel that there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. Alas, there is still a fearful residue of this evil to be removed. O may the zeal of the efforts already put forth in this benevolent scheme, be continued and greatly increased. Establish the principle that total abstinence from every thing that can intoxicate, is that alone which, with the blessing of God, will redeem and preserve our race from the fearful evils of intemperance. O do thou remove the causes of this vice; and let there be none to make, nor sell, nor buy the hurtful poison. Dispose our law-givers to take away the protection and sanction of law from this traffic in the bodies and souls of men ; and to enact such statutes as will dry up these fountains of poverty and wretch, edness, crime and death. Do thou inform and purify public sentiment every where, in relation to the great and vital interests of temperance. Then, O Lord, our hearts will rejoice that the merciless de-. stroyer has been banished, to give place to health, industry, individual and public welfare, and the triumphs of the gospel. INTERCESSION. Heavenly Father, I thank thee that we have an advocate at the right hand of the Majesty on high, even Jesus Christ, the righteous. He hath not entered into the holy place made with hands; but into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us; where he ever liveth to make intercession for his chosen generation. Blessed Jesus, I rejoice that thou wilt not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax ; that though Satan hath desired to have thy people, that he might sift them as wheat, yet thou prayest for them that their faith fail not: and that thou art their Mediator, to present their believing prayers, and secure their acceptance, at the throne of the heavenly mercy. Lord, lead me, in the faith of that intercession, to the sceptre of thy grace, persuaded that thou art able by thy power, and willing in thy mercy, to supply me with all that I need. Assist me to draw nigh with a true heart, in the full assurance of faith: for we have not an high-priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities; but one who was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin ; and who is able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto thee by him. O Jesus, Blessed Mediator, take my cause into thine own hands. Plead my interests for me, and enable me to rejoice in thy success, and to bless thy holy name for ever. Lord, grant me, for Christ’s sake, a strong and an abiding spirit of intercessory prayer. Dispose me to make supplication for all men. Make it my privilege to commend to thee all that are near and dear to me; that thou wouldst guide them by thy counsel, protect them by thy power, and save them by thy grace. Lead me to pray for my enemies, for the needy, the afflicted, the sick, and the dying. Incline me to lift up earnest supplication on behalf of thy church. Especially, O Lord, may the yearnings of my heart go forth for the impenitent. Make me feel that the triumphs of thy church will depend on the importunity of thy people for mercy on the ungodly. 0 may I understand their awful condition, and be induced to plead with thee, in the name of Christ, and through the intercessions of thy Spirit, that they may be saved. Give me that degree of confidence in thee, and regard for thy glory, and such earnest longings after their conversion, as thou wilt own and bless by the redemption of souls. JEWS. Merciful God, seek and save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Look in mercy on thine ancient covenant people, who are scattered and peeled, and who have become a by-word and a term of reproach among the nations of the earth. How long, O Lord, shall thy goodness delay towards those to whom were once committed the lively oracles of truth ; and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came ? Do thou use such instrumentalities as shall bring them to feel their blindness of mind and hardness of heart, in rejecting Jesus; and may they look to him from the ends of the earth, and be saved. Lord, seal the evidences of the truth of the gospel, and glorify thy Son, by bringing them into the blessings of the new covenant. For if the fall of them was the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness. Thou hast not indeed cast away thy people, whom thou didst foreknow. They shall turn to thee when the vail shall be taken away. O Lord, hasten that time, when, through the mercy bestowed on us, they also shall obtain mercy; and when, with the fulness of the Gentiles, all Israel shall be saved. JESUS CHRIST. Blessed Father, teach me thy truth as it is in Jesus. Grant that I may love it, and feed upon it; and that I may teach it by my lips, and manifest it by my conduct to others. Alas, our race, which thou didst make but a little lower than the angels, fell from the noble and happy Condition in which it was created, by sinning against thee: and when thou didst look from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, or seek after God; behold! they were altogether become filthy: there was none that did good; no, not one. Yet thou didst not cast them off; but in the counsels of thy mercy, didst enter into a covenant of grace, to bring them out of their estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer; even the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal Son of God became man, that he might redeem us from the curse of the law, in being made a curse for us; and that we might have salvation through his blood.—O Lord, we exercised no penitence of heart that could have prompted thee to this display of compassion ; and there was nothing in our character which could give thee any delight. It was sovereign, unsearchable, unmerited grace that formed and perfected the plan of redemption. Thou didnt indeed commend thy love to us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. (Deity.)—Great God, enable me to make Christ, and him crucified, the primary object of study and faith. Give me heart-felt and precious views of his character and offices. May I regard him as that Word, which was in the beginning with God, and was GOD; and which was made flesh, and dwelt on earth, full of grace and truth. O suffer me never to doubt that in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. To him belongs eternity; for he was before all things. He is the creator; for without him was not any thing made that was made. To him pertains dominion : he upholds all things by the word of his power. He is every where present; since where two or three are gathered together in his name, he is in the midst of them. His understanding is infinite; for he knows the hearts of all men.— Blessed Jesus, if thy followers on earth worshipped thee, as the searcher of hearts and the Saviour of souls—if all the angels of heaven cry unto thee, " Blessing and honour, glory and power"—well may thy creatures on earth acknowledge and proclaim thee as the living and true God. (Prophet.)—Lord, assist me to receive Christ as my Teacher. May he reveal to me by his word and Spirit, the will of God for my salvation. May I learn of him, who spake as never man spake, and who taught as one having authority. Let me remember that if 1 hearken not to his words, thou wilt require it of me: for if they escaped not, who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not I escape, if [ turn from him that speaketh from heaven. O put his law into my mind, and write it in my heart. Let its entrance give light and love, zeal and purity to my soul. Lord, let it not be a savour of death unto death, but of life unto life. (Priest.)—Help me, I pray thee, to receive Jesus as the High Priest of my profession.^May I look on him as offering up himself a sacrifice, to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God; and as ever living to make intercession for his chosen people. He who was the brightness of the Father’s glory, and who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, took upon himself the form of a servant, that he might put away sin, by the sacrifice of himself, in his own body, on the tree. Yea, it pleased thee to bruise him, to put him to grief, to make his soul an offering for sin, that he might justify many, and that the pleasure of the Lord might prosper in his hand. In due time, when we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly; taking away the handwriting of ordinances that was against us; suffering the just for the unjust; that he might bring us to God.—Lord, I would praise thee that by him we have received the atonement. Thou hast set him forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, for the remission of sins. He hath given his life a ransom for many. He who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. O Lord, convince me that forgiveness is granted only for his sake: there being no other name given among men whereby they can be saved. Teach me that his costly sacrifice was not needed to make thee willing to be reconciled to us; for it was the fruit of thy love: but because thou wouldst maintain thy justice, and still be the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus, and his deliverer from the wrath to come. Heavenly Father, show me by this office of Christ’s mission, the lost condition of human nature, and the wonders of thy justice and love. May it be the most cherished object of my contemplation, and fill my spirit with adoration and thanksgiving, love and obedience. May I thus judge, that if Christ has died for roc, I should henceforth live, not unto myself, but unto him ; and that both living and dying I should be the Lord’s.—[See Intercession.] (King.)—Great God, I pray thee, make me willing to receive Christ not only as my Saviour, but as my Sovereign, to subdue me to himself, to rule and defend me, and to restrain and conquer all his and my enemies. O may 1 regard his service greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Thou hast set him at thy right hand, that at his name every knee should bow, and every tongue confess; and hast given unto him the keys of death and hell, with all power in heaven and earth. His throne is for ever and ever. Thou wilt break them with a rod of iron who will not have thy Son to reign over them; and wilt dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel. Thou wilt make him Governor among the nations, and give him the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. O hasten that day—Lord, lead my thoughts often to that consummation of Christ’s sovereignty, when he shall come in his glory, to judge the quick and the dead. O may he then be my Saviour King, and I be a redeemed vassal of his everlasting kingdom. (Example.)—Jehovah God, incline me to make Jesus my example in all the duties of life. May the same mind that was in him be also in me. Lead me to walk even as he walked; for he that followeth not after him is not worthy of him. May I look unto him as my pattern of patience and humility, prayer and faith, long-suffering and benevolence. May I strive to purify myself even as Christ is pure; and beholding, as in a glass, his glory, be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, by as the Spirit of the Lord. (Union.)—Lord, unite me to Christ by a living faith, even as the branch is united to the vine. Make me a new creature in him. May I receive of his fulness, and grace for grace. May he be to me that bread from heaven that giveth eternal life; and be formed in my heart the hope of glory. Make me a member of that body, of which Christ is the head. Build me upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple of the Lord. O may my life be hid with Christ in God ; that he may be made unto me wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Lord, suffer me not to be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus. Teach me to regard it as my highest honour, to have communion with the spirit and fellowship in the service of my blessed Saviour. Make him my all and in all: my song in the season of rejoicing, and my hope in the hour of trial. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ. God of Mercy, do thou present the character and offices of Jesus to the minds of the unconverted, so that they may be convinced that they are transgressors, and be persuaded to trust in him for salvation. O may thy Spirit apply to them the redemption purchased in him, by convincing them of their sin and misery, enlightening their minds in the knowledge of Christ, renewing their wills, and persuading and enabling them to embrace Jesus, freely offered to them in the gospel. JOY. Lord of Blessedness, grant me that joy of faith, that rejoicing of hope, which is a fruit of thy Spirit. Give me a full and rich experience of the sources of this bliss—which indeed are not broken cisterns that can hold no water, but fountains full to overflowing, with the healing streams of life.—Lord, reveal thyself unto me, as thou dost not unto the world, and fill my heart with pleasure in learning thy character, and communing with thy love.—Enable me to rejoice in Christ, and in the forgiveness of sins through him, with a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.—Give me that blessed spirit of adoption, by which I may cry " Abba, Father."—May the Holy Ghost give life to my hope and strength to my rejoicing.—Cause me to rejoice in thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.—May I love the habitation of thy house, and find more comfort in thy tabernacles than in the tents of wickedness.—Let all the means of grace be to my spirit as rain upon the newmown grass, and as showers that water the earth.— Make it my privilege to verify thy word, that it is more blessed to give than to receive; for the Lord loveth a cheerful giver, and he that soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully.—Grant me the peace of a conscience that is void of offence towards God and man.—Make the communion of saints an abundant source of refreshment and strength to my christian graces.—May the triumphs of thy gospel give me more pleasure than the wicked have when their . parnal luxuries do most abound.—O "Lord, comfort and bless my soul by the contemplation of that exceeding and eternal weight of glory that remains for the people of God in heaven. Lord, grant that my spiritual enjoyments may excite me to gratitude, and lead me to open my lips, that my mouth may show forth thy praise. May others be led by my cheerful happiness, to taste and see that the Lord is good. When thou enlargest my heart, teach me to run in the way of thy commandments. Enable me to say in the hour of trial and suffering—" None of these things move me; neither count I my life dear, so that I may finish my course with joy." And, O when heart and flesh shall faint and fail, in the struggle of death, may thy rod and staff comfort me: and be thou the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. JUDGMENT. Great God, thou hast appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment, when every one of us shall give account of himself to God; and when thou wilt display to an assembled universe, the righteousness of thy justice, and the glory of thy holiness. Of that day and that hour knoweth no man; but it shall be the end of the world, when all the works therein shall be burnt up, the heavens pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat. Lord, make me mindful of that awful day, and of the solemn truths thou hast revealed concerning it. Then the Lord Jesus will come with his holy angels, and sit on his great white throne, and open the books of remembrance—the testimonies of creation, of providence, of scripture, and of conscience. The quick and dead shall stand before him, to be judged out of those things that are written in the books, according to their works, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil; and also for every thing which thou didst command to be done, but which they left undone. Lord, make me realize that men will then be judged also for the privileges they have enjoyed; for of them unto whom much hath been given, much will be required. O, even the best of thy saints will then need the atonement of Christ: they could not stand before thee, if thou shouldst mark their iniquities. But, blessed be thy name, there will be no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus : they shall receive the promise of a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. But then the judge will say to them on his left hand—"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:" and the wicked shall be turned into hell, with all the nations that forget God. O God of infinite compassion, grant that in that fearful day of trial, my name may be found written in the Lamb’s book of life, and that my unworthy, hell-deserving spirit may be received, through the merits of Christ, into the habitations of eternal life. Justice or GOD. O Most High, a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: just and true are all thy ways, thou King of Saints. Of a truth thou art no respecter of persons: thy law is holy, and thy government upright. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.—I would adore and praise thee, O Lord, that thou didst maintain and magnify the excellency of thy justice in giving thy Son, to repair by his own blood, the violated law, and thus make it more honourable by the redemption of the transgressor, than by his hopeless condemnation. O Lord, show me, in the light of this attribute, the glory of the dispensation of the gospel, in which thou canst be just, and the justifier of even the worst of sinners, who believe in Jesus. But, may I learn from it also, that thou wilt be to the finally impenitent, a consuming fire. May the knowledge of it prevent me from neglecting or violating the rights of my fellow-creatures, and lead me to render that which is just and equal, to all men. Let the threatened retributions of thy judgment warn me against transgression, and dispose me to seek conformity to thy will. Lord, cause a sense of thy justice to alarm the fears of the ungodly. Make them know that they are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, and righteous revelation of the judgment of God. Lead them now to bow to thy sceptre, which is still the symbol of mercy ; but which ere long may become the instrument of destruction. I pray thee, redeem them from the curse of the law, and give them the adoption of sons, through the righteousness of Christ. JUSTIFICATION. Heavenly Father, justify me freely by thy grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus. Pardon my sins, acquit me from the punishment I deserve for them, and give me a title to those blessings which would have been due by thy law, if I had fulfilled it in sinless obedience. Teach me that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified ; but only by the faith of Jesus ; in whom thou art reconciling the world unto thyself, not imputing unto them their trespasses and sins. O give me that faith in him which will be imputed to me for righteousness. May I ever be found in him ; not having on my own righteousness, which is of the law; but that which is by the faith of him, unto all and upon all that believe. Show me that this act of thy mercy is the gift of free grace—that by it thou hast condemned sin in the flesh, whilst thou hast magnified thy law and made it honourable—Christ being made the end of the law to every one that believeth. Lord, grant that I may have peace with thee, being justified by faith ; and that I may have access to thy throne, with confidence of acceptance in the Beloved. Enable me to know him in whom I have believed, as my atoning sacrifice; and to be persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against the great day. And grant, O Lord, that thy work of justification in this life, may result in that open acknowledgment and acquittal in the day of judgment, which shall be followed by everlasting glory. Kingdom.—See Gospel. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 1.07. PART 4 - KNOWLEDGE-OSTENTATION ======================================================================== KNOWLEDGE. Great God, I thank thee for those powers of mind thou hast bestowed on the human race, which raise us so far above the brutes that perish, and which fit us to acquire and use rational knowledge. Lord, make me understand and practice the duties which belong to the possession of these powers. I pray thee, cultivate suitably in me, each of the faculties of my mind. Enlighten my judgment, strengthen my memory, and inform my understanding. Keep me from error, and guide me into truth. Especially do thou grant me, O Lord, that wisdom which leads to salvation. Instruct me in all the duties I owe to men, to myself, and to thee. While I am careful to educate my faculties, make me mindful of the weakness and failings of human judgment. Let me not lean on my own understanding, but trust in the living God. O do thou so discipline my thoughts, that I may be fitted to enjoy the pleasures of knowledge in that holy region, where there is no cloud of ignorance nor of error, and where the light of truth fills and surrounds all its blessed inhabitants. Knowledge Of God.—See Omniscience. Law or God. I thank thee, Great God, for that law of nature, impressed on my conscience, by which I am left without excuse in the transgression of thy will. But I would praise thee still more, that thou hast given me the law of thy word, to warn, to restrain, to convince me of sin, and to lead me in the ways that are well-pleasing in thy sight. Thy commandment, O Lord, is holy, just, and good. Thou art holy; and thy law is perfect, converting the soul—thou art just; wherefore thy judgments are true and righteous altogether—thou art good; and thy statutes rejoice the heart; for in keeping them there is great reward. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law until all be fulfilled. Incline me, O Lord, to take heed to my ways, according to thy word. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Make thou thy testimonies my delight and counsellors ; my songs in the house of my pilgrimage, and the daily monitors of my conduct. May I make thy will my meditation by day, and my remembrance in the night. Make it a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path; and do thou incline my heart to perform thy statutes always, even to the end. Impress deeply on my mind that solemn truth—whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all. Lord, teach me that thy commandment is exceeding broad and deep: that it has relation not only to the actions of life, but to the hidden workings of thought and feeling. For though the sound of my lips, and the work of my hands, may be right before men; yet thy statutes may condemn the thoughts of my heart; and I may stand more guilty in thy sight for secret sin, than for open violations of thy will. Heavenly Father, let not my regard for thy commandment create within me a spirit of self-righteousness: for in the trial of thy justice, every mouth shall be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. Make it a schoolmaster to bring me to Christ, as my only hope of justification. May I remember, that while it is the rule of my obedience, it is not the plan of salvation. He who came to fulfil it, is himself the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. O Lord, make thy law the sword of the Spirit in thy dealings with the impenitent. May it awaken and alarm their consciences, enlighten and convince their minds, and persuade and sanctify their wills; so that they may be born, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible; by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. LEVITY. Lord, keep me from levity of spirit and behaviour* Thou knowest my proneness to this sin, and how ready I am to yield to that frivolity which characterizes the careless and unconverted, and which is so inconsistent with the sober realities of the christian life. Help me, I beseech thee, through the Saviour, to repent of it, and so to turn away from it in future, as to avoid the appearance of evil. Lord, let not my thoughts cherish those subjects which excite levity of speech or action. ’ Assist me to keep my heart with all diligence, that my every thought, and word, and deed may be the sober fruit of a holiness, engraven on my soul and wrought in my life, by the power of the Holy Ghost. I pray thee especially, to lay a restraint on my tongue, that unruly member; and dispose me to avoid studiously saying any thing which may dissipate serious impressions, or make me a stumbling block in the path of others, or cause the ways of religion to be despised or reviled. Enable me to attain and cultivate that happy medium between moroseness and frivolity, that calm seriousness of mind and holy cheerfulness of life, which will diffuse a savour of piety in all I say and do. O let the solemn truth, that thou God seest me, pursue me not only in my seasons of devotion, but in all the hours of my intercourse with mankind.— Make me realize that the eyes of the church and the world are upon me, and that according as I demean myself, so will the cause of religion be advanced or hindered.—Seriously impress on my mind, that a disposition to trifle is a fruitful cause of disquietude in the soul and of delinquency in the life.—Show me that the rational faculties with which thou hast endowed me, were given for higher and holier purposes, than for indulgence in a light and frivolous demeanour.—Let a sense of thy presence control me to live as becometh one professing godliness.— O incline me, I pray thee, to order all my walk and conversation, so that I may be a living illustration of the sober influences of piety. LIBERTY. Lord, increase my gratitude to thee for the blessings of liberty. While millions of the human race are groaning under the yoke of oppression, thou hast, in undeserved mercy, given to me the privileges of civil and religious freedom. O let me not abuse them, nor deny them to others who are destitute of them. Give me strong sympathy for the down-trodden of every name and nation. Dispose me to desire, and pray, and labour for the extension of freedom to all mankind. Enlighten the consciences and cleanse the hearts of all men in relation to the great doctrines of human rights. Do thou fan, and purify, and spread the fire of truth, until it shall melt off every fetter from every limb— until deliverance shall be preached to all the captives, and liberty be proclaimed to all the oppressed. O Lord, release men every where, from the bondage of sin. Break the yoke of Satan, of the world, and of selfishness. May thy Son make mankind free, and they shall be free indeed : so shall they be servants to God only, that their fruit may be holiness, and the end everlasting life. LIFE. Lord, grant, for Christ’s sake, that I may feel the uncertainty and shortness of human life. We are but of yesterday, and our days upon earth are a shadow. Our breath is in our nostrils : it is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. Teach me that my span of life is given me as my probation for eternity. Grant therefore, that I may walk circumspectly ; redeeming the time, because the days are evil. While I grow in age, enable me to grow in grace. While I travel through this wilderness, guide me by the fierycloudy pillar, feed my hunger with manna from heaven, and quench my thirst with water from the smitten rock. Lord, let me not be anxious for length of days ; nor grow weary of my season of trial. Make me contented that my times are in thy hands. Give me, I beseech thee, in all the vicissitudes of life, such preparation of heart, that whether I live, I may live to the Lord; and whether I die, I may die to the Lord: so that whether living or dying, I may be the Lord’s. Heavenly Father, may the considerations that life is short, and that it involves the destinies of eternity, excite those. who are now thoughtless about their eternal peace, to number their days, that they may apply their hearts unto wisdom: even that wisdom which will lead them to live, not unto themselves, but unto him who died for them ; and which will also prepare them to depart, and be with Christ, which is far better. Long-suffering.—See Forbearance. Lord’s Supper. Compassionate Jehovah, give me lively perceptions of the nature and uses of that holy Supper, which thou hast instituted in memory of the dying Saviour. May it always be to the eye of my faith, a token and pledge of a covenant of mercy in the blood of Christ. Let it ever be my Eucharist—my giving of thanks to thee, from a heart overflowing with gratitude, that thou didst recover man from his condition of sin and misery, by the gift of a Redeemer. Make it my Passover, in which my soul shall be made joyful, in being exempted from the wrath which abideth on the ungodly. O let it be the Sacrament of that allegiance to thy cause, which will lead me to rejoice when I am counted worthy to suffer shame for thy name’s sake; and to glory in nothing save in the cross of Christ. Make it a Feast, at which he shall sup with me, and I with him ; and in which my heart shall be refreshed by his spiritual presence. And O do thou make it a precious season of Communion, wherein I shall hold fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and be knit with closer bands of unity to them that are of the household of faith. Lord Jesus, help me to keep this ordinance in remembrance of thee. Give me knowledge to discern thy body, and faith to feed upon thee. Grant me repentance, love, and new obedience; lest coming unworthily, I eat and drink judgment to myself. Make me a partaker of thy body and blood, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith ; with all thy benefits, to my spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. Grant me comfort from this feast, when I am wounded by a sense of sin; for thou wast revealed to take away sin : give me patience in trials and afflictions, by looking at thee, enduring the contradiction of sinners, and the hidings of thy Father’s love: and O grant that I may imbibe a holy hatred for transgression, when I look at thy body broken and thy blood shed, because I have sinned.—Blessed Jesus, crowned in light and glory, dost thou indeed desire us sinners to remember thee 1 O that we should ever forget our Teacher, our Priest, and our King ! O help me to remember the glory thou didst leave, the flesh thou didst adopt, the reproach thou didst meet, and the sufferings thou didst endure, that I might be redeemed from the curse of the law, and be made a partner of thine inheritance in glory! Heavenly Father, make thy people feel their obligation to celebrate the Supper of the Lord. Thou hast commanded it, and made it the badge of their discipleship. Thou hast set it forth to be the memorial of a Saviour’s love, in which they show forth his death, before heaven and earth. And thou hast made it a special season of communion with thee, in thy banqueting-house, when thy banner over them is love.—O may they always be prepared for this service, by self-examination, by meditation, and prayer: and so let them eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. May they resolve, upon that sacred altar, that they will renounce every transgression, and live only for that which is good in thy sight. Give them an affectionate and confiding trust in thy covenant of grace ,* and build them up, by means of this ordinance, through faith unto salvation. Lord, grant that the impenitent my reflect that if they eat not the flesh of the Son of man, and drink not his blood, they shall have no part nor lot in his salvation. May thy Spirit reveal Christ to them in the breaking of bread, in all his fulness and willingness as a Saviour. 0 may they be persuaded to make with him a covenant of mercy and obedience, which shall never be revoked nor forsaken. These petitions I offer thee, Gracious Father, through him whose blood speaketh better things than that of Abel; and who sitteth at thy right hand, to make intercession, and receive the service and adoration of saints and angels for ever. LOVE TO GOD. Exalted Jehovah, thou art worthy, both by thy nature and dealings, of the strongest love of all thy rational creatures. Thou art perfect in alt the attributes of thy character. No ignorance impairs thy wisdom ; no error perverts thy justice; no falsehood clouds thy truth; no spot stains thy holiness. Thou art moreover, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness. O that the language of my heart might always be—" Whom have I in heaven but thee; and there is none on earth I desire besides thee." Be thou my Alpha and Omega; my morning praise; my noon-day thought; my evening prayer ; and my waking meditation. Blessed Jesus, help me that I may love thee with all my heart, and soul, and strength, and mind. I’ desire to cherish the memory of thine example and instructions, thy benevolence and promises, as the dearest objects of thought. O may my affection for thee, urge me to advance thy glory, to desire to be conformed to thine image, to seek communion with thee, and to love thy house, thine ordinances, thy word, and thy people. But let me not think that any strength of attachment can merit thy love to me ; for O thine acceptance of my love is one of the crowniug gills of undeserved mercy. Glorious God, may thy saints bring thee the full tribute of their hearts. Let the constant bearing of their thoughts be unto thee, and the remembrance of thy name. Fill their hearts with gratitude to thee, and lead them to seek thee with delight in all the exercises of religion. May they rejoice in thy word, as the index of thy will; and take pleasure in thy people, as the excellent of the earth; and seek the glory of Christ more than the favour of man, or the love of the world. Lord, bring those who are now at enmity with thee, to esteem and desire thee as their chief good. Cast out their selfishness and aversion, and take the dominion of their hearts, that they may be able to say, the Lord is their portion, and his love the fulness of their joy. LOVE OF GOD. God is love. Yes, thou art good, and thou Iovest to do good. The eyes of all are unto thee, and thou givest them’ their meat in due season: thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desires of every living thing. Thy tender mercies are over all thy works, and thy goodness is seen in all thy ways. But thou hast most commended thy love to us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Here it is beyond parallel; it transcends the strongest effort of thought; and it is above blessing and praise. This is the bright and glorious centre of thy good will to man, around which every other token of thy mercy gathers.—I would praise thee, Lord, for the common and special benefits of thy providence, and for that wise arrangement of the laws of nature, which promotes the happiness and well-being of thy creatures : yet I would offer thee louder strains of praise, and stronger feelings of gratitude, for thy compassion to our souls, in revealing thy will, in teaching us the issues of eternity, in giving thy Son to bear our iniquities, and in bestowing thy Spirit, to convince us of sin, to enlighten our minds in the knowledge of truth, and to persuade us to except the plan of salvation.—Forbid it, O God, that I should ever forget or undervalue thy favours which are past; or that I should doubt thy suretiship of compassion for the future. Continue to manifest thyself unto me as thou dost not unto the world. Enrich thou my soul with the fulness of thy love, now, henceforth, and for ever. O Lord, why should there be any so carnallyminded, as to be at enmity against thee, the God of love? Show them thy rich goodness, and their own dark ingratitude. Make them feel that this world has no charms when compared with that full tide of affection which flows from the heart of God towards them that put their trust in him. O make many such the partners of thy loving-kindness in Jesus, which is unto eternal life. LOVE TO MAN. Lord, I pray thee, for Christ’s sake, to make my heart a well-spring of affection to all mankind. Let no jealousy, nor selfishness, nor anger, nor malice, lead me to forget that every man is my brother. Thou makest thy sun to rise on the evil and on the good ; and sendest rain on the just and on the unjust. Why then should I shut up my compassions from any that are my fellow creatures ? O help me to feel for every want, and to sympathize with every wo, that afflicts humanity. And, I pray thee, dispose me, in benevolence of heart, to do what I can to dry up the fountains of human misery, and to multiply the sources of man’s real happiness. Lord, incline me to love the souls of men. May I have strong pity for those who are thoughtlessly or wilfully destroying their eternal peace; and may I seek to bring them under the influences of the blessed gospel. Grant me that spirit which seeketh not her own, and is not easily provoked, and that rejoiceth in the truth. Cause me to abound in good will to the brotherhood of faith, and to be kindly affectioned towards them in brotherly love. May I seek their company, and be glad in their prosperity, and make common cause with them in all their interests.—Lord, give me, I pray thee, the love of benevolence towards every thing that is capable of happiness or misery, and the affection of complacency towards every creature possessed of holiness. LUKEWARMNESS. Lord, I pray thee, through thy grace in Jesus, to preserve me from lukewarmness in my religious duties. Make me feel an interest in them proportioned to their unspeakable importance. Let no worldly influence, no allurement of Satan, no selfish desires, lower the tone of my religious feeling and activity. How long, O Lord, shall I serve thee with an indifferent heart—thee, who hast infinite claims on my most ardent attachment, and whose service should be my chief delight. O rebuke my apathy, and fill me with a holy zeal. Make me fervent in spirit; and whatsoever my hand finds to do, dispose me to do it with my might. LUXURY. Heavenly Father, guard me against indulging in luxury. Let me not seek to make provision for the flesh,.to fulfil the lust of the eye or the pride of life. Let not my desires go out in anxious pursuit of what I shall eat, or drink, or wherewithal I shall be clothed; nor be unduly set on any of the pomps of sense or vanities of life. May I use this world as not abusing it; remembering that a man’s life consists not in the abundance ol the things he possesses. Teach me that earthly indulgences excite pride and sensuality; and that instead of satisfying the heart, they increase, continually, its restless desires for unprofitable and corrupting enjoyments. Lord, thou wilt require it of the souls of those who lay up treasures for themselves, but are not rich towards God. O let me not desire to live in pleasure on the earth, nor nourish my heart as in a day of slaughter. Make me content with a competent portion of the good things of this life, and let me enjoy thy blessing with them. Show me that health of body, peace of mind, and ability and willingness to do good to others, will depend on my abstinence from fleshly lusts.—Lord, be thou to me more than all thine other gifts. Incline me to lay up treasure in heaven, that there my heart may be also. MALICE. Lord, keep my heart from the occasional or frequent influence of malice. Let no rivalry and no sense of injury, ever excite me to feelings or acts of malignity. O how infinitely is such a temper opposed to thy holiness; and how nearly does it approach to the hatred which fills the bosoms of the damned 1—Blessed Jesus, bring me into closer likeness to thy precious example. Thou didst not render railing for railing, nor evil for evil; but contra. riwise, blessing. O give me, I pray thee, that spirit of love which worketh no ill to its neighbour; and which looks on the earth, in all its length and breadth, as one neighbourhood—and on all its diversified races, as one brotherhood of man. MARRIAGE. Heavenly Parent, thou hast shown both thy wisdom and goodness in the institution of marriage. Thou hast sought by it to increase the happiness and promote the virtue of mankind. The works of thy creation, though good in thy sight, were unfinished while man dwelt alone ; and thy last and best gift to earth. was she that should be a fountain of joy, a partner of pleasure, and a solace of sorrow. Lord, teach all men that this relation of life is still (and must be throughout the annals of time,) identified with the com tort and welfare of our race. O let none with ruthless and impious hand, undermine nor overthrow this ordinance of God ; but may all regard and sustain it as the safeguard of purity, the pledge of social bliss, and the bond of public good. Lord, reform the opinions and correct the practice of christians in relation to unhallowed marriages. Let none such be unequally yoked with unbelievers. May they marry only in the Lord. Show them that those who ally themselves in sacred ties with the ungodly, rebel against the will of God, cast snares and unhappiness in their way through life, and fearfully hinder the grace of God in their own hearts. Lord, govern by the dictates of affection, prudence, and piety, those who would enter on the duties and pleasures of matrimony. Bless all who have embarked on them. May their relations be characterized by mutual love, esteem, forbearance, assistance, and sympathy. May the same sincere, ardent, unchangeable, protecting, and providing love, which the Saviour manifests to his spouse, the church, be shown by the husband to his wife. And do thou direct her conduct to him in subjection, reverence, prudence, and love. Lord, make their union conducive to every rational good of human life. Let it be an emblem of the union between Christ and his church ; that they may walk in all the statutes and ordinances of the Lord, blameless, and be made mutual helpers in the fellowship of the gospel of Jesus Christ. MASTERS. O thou, who art King of Kings and Lord of Lords, bless those who occupy places of authority over their inferiors. Teach them the duties of their stations. Induce masters to give that which is just and equal to their servants, in every thing that relates to courtesy, recompense, and good-will. May they forbear threatening, knowing that their master is in heaven, and that with him there is no respect of persons. May they reflect that though their servants are inferior in rank, they are their equals by nature, equals in the grave, and equals at the throne of judgment.—Show them that the labourer is worthy of his hire: and let no honest wages be kept back by meanness or fraud ; lest the cry of the hireling enter into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth, and thou render vengeance for unrequited toil.— Lord, incline the hearts of masters to kindness. Make them careful to avoid unjust exaction of labour, and every display of the pride of rank and authority. Give them patience under provocation; and lead them to seek every reasonable comfort for their domestics. And above all, may they strive to promote their spiritual welfare, by setting them a godly example, by giving them full access to the means of grace, and by personal exertions that they may become the servants of God, and heirs of that recompense of reward which liveth and abideth for ever. MEANS OF GRACE. Lord, I thank thee for those means of grace which thou hast appointed for the instruction, conviction, conversion, and sanctification of mankind. O bless me, I pray thee, in the enjoyment of them. Make the holy scriptures profitable to me for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. May thy preached gospel bring me glad tidings of good things. Make the holy sacraments means of teaching me the precious love of Christ, and of giving me the washing of regeneration through the Holy Spirit. O cause the exercises of public, social, and private prayer to make me feel my wants, and thine infinite fulness and willingness to supply them. May I sing thy praises with melody of heart. Give me grace to keep the season of fasting or of thanksgiving, so that it may be a time of refreshing from thy presence. Grant me the sanctified use of meditation and self-examination; and lead me to such fellowship with thy saints, as will strengthen my heart and encourage my zeal in the christian race. Blessed God, I humbly pray thee, that I may use these privileges only as the means, and not as the end, of religion. Make me regard them as the channels through which thou dost vouchsafe to pour the refreshing streams of thy grace. It is the Spirit which gives efficacy to all the appointments of thy mercy. O Lord, make me understand that while I work out my salvation with fear and trembling, it is thou who workest in me both to will and to do, of thine own good pleasure. MEDIATOR. Heavenly Father, I would praise and magnify thy name, that thou hast laid help upon one who is mighty to save unto the uttermost, all who come unto thee by him. Though the human race was at enmity with thee, and lay exposed to thy curse, thou didst, in infinite mercy, appoint an Interposer between thee and us, that we, who were alienated and enemies by wicked works, might be reconciled in the body of his flesh, through death. We thank thee that we are not called to that mountain which burned with fire, and was clouded with darkness and tempest; but to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to that blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than that of Abel. O, it was needful that he should be the Son of God; for no other sacrifice could satisfy the demands of infinite justice—and he must needs be the Son of Man; since without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. He who is our eternal Daysman, has infinite fitness for his high and holy office: for in him dwells the fulness of power, wisdom, and mercy. Blessed Jesus, be thou the propitiation for my sins; and not for mine only, but also for the whole world. O thou who didst become the High Priest of thine own sacrifice, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, do thou blot out the hand-writing of ordinances that was recorded against me for my transgressions—procure for me by thine intercession, the loving-kindness of Jehovah—and bind all my affections to the throne of grace, by that new, and better, and everlasting covenant, which is the fruit of thy wisdom and mercy, and the work of thy power and grace, unto salvation.—Heavenly Father, make the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, and the service of my life, acceptable to thee, through him who is my Strength and my Redeemer. MEDITATION. Blessed Jehovah, enable me to withdraw my thoughts and desires, at frequent seasons, from the things that are seen and temporal, and to fix them on those that are unseen and eternal. O may thy character, in all its variety and fulness, be a rich topic of my meditation. Grant me holy and exalted converse with thine attributes, as they are revealed in thy word, and in thy works of creation, providence, and redemption.—May Jesus be to my soul, the chief among ten thousand, and one altogether lovely.— Draw out my thoughts sweetly and confidingly, to that Holy Spirit, whose work is quietness and assurance for ever.—May I love to dwell upon the law of thy mouth ; and do thou make it better to me than thousands of gold and silver.—Teach me in these hours of reflection, my weakness and sinfulness, and the means by which I may grow in grace, and advance the various interests of thy kingdom.—Help me, O Lord, to fix my thoughts on the shortness of time, the certainty of death, and the undying worth of the soul. Lord, grant me the presence and blessing of thy Spirit, in these solemn meditations. May the peace of God, which passeth understanding, fill my heart, and make it a fountain of love to God and good-will to man. May my knowledge be refreshed and enlarged. While I muse on holy things, cause the fire to burn within me, until the dross of sin be consumed, and my soul be as gold that has been tried in the furnace. O vouchsafe unto me, rich foretastes of those heavenly contemplations, where no cloud of sense nor of sin shall shut out the light of thy presence, and where there are pleasures for evermore. MEEKNESS. Merciful God, impart to me the grace of meekness. Preserve me from the exercise of a violent and overbearing temper. Break down the native stubbornness and resentment of my heart; and give me that child-like spirit which knows no will but that of its heavenly Father. Bestow on me that temper of soul which seeketh not its own selfish good; that is not easily provoked by injury; and that hopeth all things before it thinketh evil of any one. May this state of mind be the working of thy Spirit, teaching me that I am, in myself, weak and sinful, and that thou requirest meekness of spirit in all that would be followers of Christ: for if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Show me that this grace is an ornament of great price in thy sight; and that he who ruleth his own spirit is greater than he who taketh a city; and that he findeth rest for his soul, in learning of him who was meek and lowly in heart. Lord, excite me to seek this heavenly mind, by considering the examples of the patriarchs and prophets, of the apostles, and Jesus Christ, who manifested it. O grant me the blessing of those who inherit the earth ; and whom thou makest the dwelling-place of thy power and mercy. MEMORY. Lord, sanctify and invigorate, for Jesus’ sake, all the actings of my memory. O how has this noble faculty been weakened and corrupted by the fall! But thou canst restore it; and instead of suffering it to run after forbidden and unholy things, thou canst give it exercise on those things w hich belong to wisdom and salvation. Lead me, I pray thee, to remember thee, my Creator, and all thine excellent mercies. May my memory be precious of him who is the way, the truth, and the life. Impress indelibly on my thoughts, the doctrines, precepts, warnings, and promises of thy word. Make me mindful of my transgressions, and let my sin be ever before me. Enable me to bring up in review, the covenants and promises I have made to thee; and lead me to pay unto thee my vows. O Lord, preserve me from every thing, moral or physical, that will weaken or deprave my memory. Lead me to the use of such means as will promote its strength and purity. May I regard and value it as the store-house of knowledge and comfort; the spring of repentance and hope; and the monitor of thankfulness and faith. May it retain that which is good, and banish that which is evil. Dispose me to practice every holy thing it remembers ; and grant that I may so use this noble power, that I may glorify thee in my body and spirit which are thine. MERCY. Great Giver of every good and perfect gift, grant me a sanctifying and saving knowledge of thy mercy. O thou art good and gracious ; slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. Yet thou hast a perfect right to withhold it from us—yea, to visit us with unmixed and irretrievable evil: for we are not only unworthy of the least expression of thy goodness, but we have deserved the strong retributions of thy wrath. Nevertheless, thy goodness has pursued us in all the walks of life. It has stayed, or soothed, or healed the inflictions of merited evil; and it has bestowed on us uncounted tokens of unmerited good. When we have been thoughtless of thee, thou hast been mindful of us: when we have hated thee, thou hast loved us. Verily, thou art long-suffering, and abundant in compassion. Thou dost not mete unto man evil for evil; but dost crown him with loving-kindness and tender mercy. O that my memory could retain, and that my heart could properly value, the long catalogue of thine affectionate dealings with me. Thou hast watched over me by night, and guarded me by day : thou hast preserved me in health, and healed me in sickness: thou hast chosen for me the changes of life, and hast suited me to them : and more than all things else, thou hast given our race that mercy of Christ, whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us, with healing in its beams. Lord, enable me to cherish a suitable estimate of thy goodness. May it lead me to love thee, and do thy will—may it succour me when I am tempted, and comfort me when I am grieved.’—May it strengthen me in the hour of death, and be the song of my rejoicing throughout the ages of eternity. Compassionate Father, deal not in strict justice with those who are now rejecting thy mercy. Say not in thy wrath, that they shall not enter thy rest. Make them hear thy tender and oft-repeated entreaties to turn from their wickedness, whilst thou art waiting to be gracious. Display to them the riches and fulness of that compassion, which brings the Sovereign of heaven to plead with them, and to pursue them in their obstinacy, with so many expressions of love. Extend to them thy golden sceptre of grace, that they may touch it and live. O forsake them not; but multiply thy mercies upon them, until their hardness of heart shall be melted down in humble sorrow and love—until their rebellious wills shall be brought to serve the living and true God. MILLENNIUM. Great God, rejoice my heart with frequent and thankful contemplations of that millennial glory, when thy name shall be great among the heathen, and when thou wilt give them to thy Son for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. Then thou wilt pour out thy Holy Spirit without measure, and darkness and transgression will be supplanted by light and obedience. Love to God and love to man, will fill the hearts of all the dwellers on earth: they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and theirs spears into pruning-hooks : nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Then there will be no clashing of sects; for there will be one Lord, one faith, one baptism. The heavens shall give their dew ; the earth shall give her increase; plenty shall fill the basket and the store, and fulness shall satisfy the hearts of the people. The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven-fold, as the light of seven days. The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills. 0 then there will be great voices in heaven, saying, " The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." Lord, teach all thy people the duties that belong to them in reference to the coming of that glorious season. May they trim their lamps, and keep their lights burning, and be ready at the advent of their Master. But do thou show them that his glorious appearing will be by the instrumentality of the sanctified and intelligent efforts of his church. O induce them to desire it ardently, to pray for it fervently, to hope for it believingly, and to labour for it diligently, in all those measures which thou hast been pleased to institute, as the means of accomplishing it. Bless their souls, and bless all their works of faith, and labours of love. O hasten thy glorious dominion. Spread it from pole to pole, from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth; and fill the wide world with thy knowledge, even as the waters cover the sea. MINISTRY. Great Author and Dispenser of Truth, bless those whom thou hast set to preach the everlasting gospel, and to bring glad tidings of good things. Thou hast not given us the ministry of angels, but of men; and hast given us this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God. It has pleased thee by that which the world calls the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. Lord of the Vineyard, let none take upon them this holy office, who are unfit for its sacred duties, in body, mind, or spirit. Yet do thou call out and prepare many, very many, who thou knowest are meet for the divine work of saving souls. Qualify those who are now ambassadors for Christ, and enable them to persuade men to be reconciled to God. Make them men of strong and cultivated judgment; of diligent and persevering study ; of zealous and faithful labour; and of prayerful, fervent, and consistent piety. Make them as the voice of him that cried in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight." May they be themselves instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, and bring forth out of their treasure, things new and old. Let them not confer with flesh and blood. Bestow on them a mouth and wisdom which their enemies shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. Give them grace to speak thy word with all boldness ; keeping back nothing that is profitable ; shunning not to declare all the counsel of God ; and having this record, that they are pure from the blood of all men. O Lord, bring them before their flocks in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. May their preaching be in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Let thy pleasure prosper in their hands, and thy word have free course and be glorified. May they seek diligently to bring the religion of their people up to the standard of the Bible—to the measure of the faith once delivered to the saints. Give them power to alarm the guilty consciences, and to persuade the stubborn wills of the impenitent. Let them not be compelled to say, " All day long, we have stretched forth our hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people:" nor to ask in despair, " Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ?" O make them guides of the blind, and lights of them which are in darkness. Grant that by their efforts, revivals of pure and undefined religion shall prevail, to cleanse thy church and to save perishing sinners. Shepherd of Israel, incline thy people to discharge the duties they owe to the messengers of thy word. May they remember that the labourer is worthy of his hire, and that they who preach the gospel, should live of the gospel. May they properly appreciate the office of those that are over them in the Lord, and esteem such very highly in love for their works’ sake. Make them careful to maintain all the institutions of thy word. May they listen to the preached message with the preparation of heart, the culture of prayer, the hearing of faith, and the purpose of obedience : receiving with meekness the engrailed word, as that which ministers grace to the hearers. Blessed Lord, excite them to sustain thy ministering servants by their intercessory prayers, that thou wouldst make them wise as serpents, and harmless as doves—that thou wouldst enable them to turn many to righteousness, who shall be as stars in the crowns of their rejoicing at the last day. Lord, give to every destitute flock a pastor after thine own heart, who shall go in and out before his people in righteousness and zeal. Send thy messengers of mercy to those who are perishing for lack of knowledge. 0 raise up, and qualify, and send forth those who shall teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: and be thou with them alway, even unto the end of the world. x These mercies, and every thing else which I desire, I would humbly ask through the perfect merit and prevailing intercession of Jesus, unto whom with the Father and the Spirit, one God, be eternal praise. Missions.—See Heathen, Idolatry. MOHAMMEDANS. Lord, look in mercy on the followers of the False Prophet, whose system of blood and sensuality haa dragged into the net of delusion and death, so many millions of the human family. Thou seest how they have usurped the seats of the early triumphs of the gospel ; and how they are trampling underfoot conscience and liberty, in the scenes where Jesus and his apostles taught, and toiled, and died for the blessed truth of God. O Lord, open a great and effectual door of access to this people, through which the chariot of thy gospel may go forth, conquering and to conquer. Subdue their prejudice and bigotry; destroy their licentiousness and love of carnage; supplant their pride and superstition: and on the ruins of this dominion of sin, build that kingdom of righteousness, which is peace on earth and good will to men. MORNING. O God, thou art my God: early will I seek thee. I thank thee for peaceful and refreshing sleep, and for the returning light of the morning. Lift thou on my soul, the light of thy reconciled and life-giving countenance. May my heart rejoice in the daily renewals of thy love, even as the springing grass rejoices in the reviving visits of the morning sun. O cause my first awakings of thought—my earliest desires, to fix on thee and the remembrance of thy name.—Whilst 1 have slept in quiet comfort, many have been racked by pain or disease; or disturbed by fear or calamity; or suddenly called to the retributtons of eternity.—Grant me grace, for Christ’s sake, to meet and discharge the duties of this day. Let me not undertake any thing which is not agreeable to thee. Dispose me to follow all my occupations in the world with a heavenly mind. May I use this world as not abusing it; and pass through things temporal, so as not to forget nor forfeit the things eternal. Enable me to make this life my journey to my everlasting home. O Lord, let a conviction of thy presence and of my accountability, pursue me in my worldly business, and render me subservient to thy will. Protect me from folly, error, and sin. Make me kind, forbearing, and just in all my intercourse with mankind. Preserve me from exercising selfishness, deceit, or ill-will, towards any one. Be pleased, Gracious God, to make the allotments of thy providence towards me this day, such as may not tempt me to evil; but such as will work together for my good. Guard my thoughts, that they may not tamper with sin ; and my lips, that 1 offend not with my tongue ; and my feet, that they wander not in forbidden paths. Grant me disposition and leisure to retire from the world, to hold sweet and profitable communion with thee at thy throne of grace. And, O may I find at the close of this day, that while 1 have been drawn so much nearer eternity, I have been equally advanced in meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. MOTIVES. Lord, I pray thee, through the merits of Jesus Christ, that thou wouldst sanctify my motives. Let my outward conduct be according to righteousness and mercy; but O, do thou make my heart pure in all its promptings towards duty. Dispose me to watch narrowly, lest I make a merit of good works ; or perform them to be seen of men, or to advance my selfish interests. Raise me above the love of self, and the desire of applause. Let not my motives, when they are right, be unsteady; but do thou give them such stability as shall cause me to be steadfast, unmoveable, alwa}’s abounding in the work of the Lord. Teach me that if my purposes are right in thy sight, O Lord, thou wilt bless me, though thou mayst see fit to deny their accomplishment. Show me that where there is a will to serve thee, it is accepted according to what a man hath, and not according to what a man hath not; for even the widow’s mite secured a richer meed of favour than the expensive gifts of the wealthy ; and a cup of cold water given to a disciple, out of love to Jesus, shall in no wise lose its reward. Blessed Lord, make mine eye single, and my heart sincere. May I do good, not to be seen of men, but in the spirit of not letting my left hand know what my right hand doeth; for my Father which seeth in secret, will reward me openly. Lord, I would not seek to do thy will merely that I may derive comfort from so doing; but because it is thy pleasure that I should obey thee, and because it should be my own desire that good may be done, for thy glory and human welfare. NEW YEAR. O thou God of the rolling seasons, assist me to bring before my mind, in solemn review, the transactions in which I have been engaged during the last year. Although most of them have vanished, or are dimly seen like faint and dying shadows, yet before thee they stand in living freshness. Though the record of them is fast wasting away from the treacherous tablet of my memory, yet they are written, as with a pen of iron, on the books of thy remembrance, where they will remain until that fearful hour of trial, when the books shall be opened, and all men shall be judged out of the things that are written therein, whether they be good or evil. Lord, I desire to acknowledge before thee with godly sorrow, that I have neglected many duties, and abused many privileges, during the past year. My heart, and my lips, and my hands, have often been the agents of transgression. Many of thy mercies have been ungratefully perverted or forgotten ; and thy chastenings have often been despised, or unheeded. O, my tongue would grow weary, and my heart would sicken, if I should undertake to recite all my iniquities before thee. Help me, I pray thee, for the sake of our Great Advocate, to repent over them, to loathe and forsake them, and to look to thee for strength, that the time past of my life may suffice to have wrought the deeds of the flesh, and that henceforth I may live to the will of God. O Lord, I desire to enter the coming, year, feeling the solemn responsibilities of human life. I know not what a day may bring forth, nor what the approaching months may reveal respecting me : except that they will bring me so much nearer eternity, and be full of records of my growth in grace, or of my backslidings from thy holy law. Yet I thank thee that my span of life is still lengthened out, and that I am still permitted to enjoy the precious opportunities that have been vouchsafed to me in days past. O God, assist me, I beseech thee, to discharge aright all the duties that lie before me. Make me understand the uncertainty of time, the worth of my soul, the multiplied interests of my fellow-travellers to eternity, and the righteous claims of thy service. Make me watchful against the many dangers to which I am exposed. Strengthen my love to thee ; deepen my convictions of sin; animate my desires after holiness; increase my spirit of prayer ; enlarge my benevolence ; and lead me in thine own way, for thy name’s sake. Protect me by thy care ; supply me by thy bounty; and grant me an increasing meetness for that state where these changing seasons will give place to an endless life. Lord, make this opening year, a year of the right hand of the Most High. Pour the healing balm of peace on all the bleeding wounds of thy church. Spread over her the spotless mantle of purity. Invigorate her by the reviving power of truth. Awaken her to renewed efforts in doing good. O may these months stand forth in the history of redemption, as precious seasons of refreshing from thy holy and life-giving presence. NIGHT. Great God, I thank thee for the light, the comforts, and the duties of this day. Assist my thoughts now in meditating on its transactions. Bless whatever thou hast seen in me which has been agreeable to thy will. Grant me repentance and forgiveness for whatever has been sinful in thy sight; and prepare me by godly sorrow, and renewing grace, for better conformity in time to come. As my allotted span of life grows shorter every day, may I make daily, some progress in the way to heaven. O Lord, take me into thy keeping during the watches of the night. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. May thine eye that never slumbers, keep guard over me; and thine arm that is never weary, protect me. May I lie down, having my thoughts directed to thee, and the things that belong to my peace. Teach me to look on sleep as the emblem of death; and to seek that preparation of heart with which I should desire to meet the king of terrors. May the close of each day remind me of that night of death in which no man can work, and urge me to finish every work thou hast given me to do. Preserve me, I pray thee, from fear, from accident, from sickness, and from death. Make my sleep quiet and refreshing. And grant that when I awake in the morning, my thoughts may be full of thankfulness to thee for thy protecting and satisfying goodness. OBEDIENCE. Adorable Jehovah, bestow on me, for the merits of thy Son, the spirit of unreserved and full-hearted obedience to thy law. Thou art entitled to the service of all thy creatures. Thou didst form man out of the dust of the ground, and didst give him the breath of life, that he should honour and obey thee. Thou hast preserved his being, and gathered around him the comforts of life, that he should show forth thy praise. And he owes thee allegiance, because thou art the Governor of the universe, having a right to do thy pleasure among the army of heaven and the inhabitants of earth ; none of whom can resist thy will, but at the risk of thy sore displeasure. But thou hast strengthened infinitely, all these claims on his service, by the offer of salvation to a perishing world. Without this, there had been no hope of escape from the fruits of disobedience, which had treasured up wrath against the day of wrath. Blessed be thy mercy, that with this precious gift, thou hast not only infinitely increased our obligations, but thou hast actually redeemed unto thyself, a peculiar people, who are zealous of good works. Though thy righteous claims of creation, preservation, and benefaction, have been disregarded, thou hast overcome the rebellion of many of thy creatures, by the controlling influence of a Saviour’s love ; so that they no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them. Lord, enable me to present myself to thee, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is my most reasonable service. Aid me to do thy will in the things which thou hast commanded, and in those which thou hast forbidden. May I fulfil thy commandment out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. Teach me that whoso keepeth thy word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. O let me not confer with flesh and blood, in reference to the claims of duty. Give me courage to hold forth the word of life in evil report and in good report. O let my obedience have that symmetry and that fulness which are found in adding to faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly-kindness, and charity. Give me patient continuance in well-doing; and cheer me by the hope, that in due season, if I faint not, I shall reap eternal blessedness. Blessed Sovereign, may thy chosen generation adorn the doctrine of God, their Saviour, in all things. Enable them by a holy walk, to be the light of the world, and to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Make their consciences void of offence toward God and man. May they find that thy yoke is easy and thy burden light. Make them fruitful of every good work; for thou hast ordained them, that they should go and bring forth fruit; and herein is our Father glorified, that they should bear much fruit. Grant that they may walk worthy of thee, in holiness and righteousness before thee, all the days of their lives. Make them willing, if needs be, to lose life for thy sake and the gospel’s; for then they shall find it in life everlasting; nnd the praise of their service, sanctified by Christ’s merits, and accepted through his pleadings, shall be thine for ever. OMNIPOTENCE. Lord, thou art God Almighty. The thunder of thy power, who can understand? Thou hast made, and controlled, and sustained the mighty fabric of nature, by the strength of thy word. The firmament, with all its shining garniture of countless worlds, showeth thy handy-work ; the earth, with all its furniture of hills and valleys, rivers and seas, proclaims thy greatness: and in thee all creatures live, and move, and have their being. O Lord, give me a realizing sense of the greatness of thy power. Show it to me in the rich and varied works of nature ; and unfold it to me in that creation in the soul of man, in which old things are passed away, and all things are become new. I would adore thee for the strength of thy grace, which breaks the stony heart, and bends the stubborn will, and quickens those that were dead in trespasses and sins, into newness of life. Thy gospel is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth. O God, I would bless thee that thou hast pledged thy might for the increase of thy kingdom in the world, and hast promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. O help me to cry, " Alleluia ; for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!" Most High and Mighty, incline me to fear thee who art able to destroy both body and soul in hell for ever. Induce me to put my trust in thee ; for if thou art with me, who can be against me 1 May I experience in my heart that working whereby thou art able to subdue all things unto thyself. Grant me the succour of him who is mighty to save unto the uttermost, those who come unto thee by him. Keep me by thy power, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. OMNIPRESENCE. O God, whither shall I go from thy Spirit; or where shall I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, thou art there : if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me ! Thou fillest and exceedest the vast amplitude of the universe. Lord, help me to understand the purposes of thy universal presence. Thou art bestowing the blessings of thy providence, and exerting the righteousness of thy government, over all thy creatures. Thou art comforting, protecting, and sanctifying the hearts of thy saints, and bestowing mingled mercy and justice on the earthly probation of the wicked. Thou art pervading heaven with the bliss of eternal life, and filling hell with the anguish of everlasting death. O Lord, assist me to profit by the truth, that thou art every where present, at all times. Teach me by it, that in the infinite contrast with thee, I am but a grain of dust, a point, an atom, or as nothing! O that it might lead me to be vigilant in doing thy will, and in trusting to thy protecting providence, and redeeming goodness. Lord, grant me here, I beseech thee, a foretaste of that fulness of joy, which is in thy heavenly presence for evermore. OMNISCIENCE. Great Fountain of Knowledge, thine understanding is infinite. Thou knowest all things ; even the end from the beginning. There is no creature that is not manifest in thy sight. Thou rememberest every thing that has occurred in the history of the wide universe: thou knowest all the open and secret workings of matter and mind, throughout thine unmeasured dominion : even a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without thy notice, and the very hairs of our heads are all numbered : and there is nothing in the countless revolutions of eternity, that is not as visible to thine eye as the light of day ! Lord, thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising; thou art acquainted with all my ways; and thou understandest even my thoughts afar off". If I say, " Surely the darkness shall cover me"—even the night shall be light about me. O grant me the solemn influences of the truth, that thou knowest the hearts of all men : thou hast indeed searched and known me. May it lead me to worship thee in spirit and in truth; for thou art not deceived, and canst not be mocked. May it restrain me from sin ; because there is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. And, O, may it be a source of comfort and blessing to me; for thou knowest all my wants, and canst supply them out of thine abundant fulness. ORPHANAGE. Lord, thou art the Helper of the fatherless. Look, I pray thee, in thy tenderest compassion, on those from whom thou hast taken away the natural guides and comforts of their life. Heal the wounded hearts of those who are bleeding under these keen bereavements. Assure them that when their father and mother forsake them, then, if they put their trust in thee, the Lord will take them up. O God, open fountains of compassion in the hearts of mankind, towards orphans. Raise up for them friends, who shall take the places, and discharge the offices of those whom thou hast, in thy wise purposes, taken. from them. Make it the business of christian love, to sooth their sorrows, to minister to their wants, and to guide their steps amid the wanderings of earth. Protect them from the dangers which accompany their exposed condition. Screen them from the oppression with which the selfish so often scourge the destitute. Guard them from the temptations which gather in fearful number and strength around the defenceless. Save them from those indulgences in sin, into which the unrestrained are so prone to fall. Gracious Lord, smooth for them the pathways of life. Even as a tender shepherd carries the lambs of his flock in his bosom, so do thou shelter them in the covert of thy wings.— Above every other blessing, grant them that of regarding thee as their reconciled God and Father, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Though thou hast hid the desire of their eyes, and the hope of their hearts, in the silence of the grave, yet thou wilt be unto them, if they confide in thee, a present help and an eternal portion. Lead them to look up unto thee, in their destitution, as their Heavenly Father; and to feel that the most cherished pleasures of earthly parentage, fall infinitely below the privileges of being in the adoption of the sons of God. OSTENTATION. O thou that dwellest in the contrite heart, preserve me, for the Redeemer’s sake, from the folly and sin of ostentation, both in the common duties of life and in my religious actions. Teach me that I have nothing that I have not received; and that thou hast commanded that nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Lord, let me not do my works before men, to be seen of them. Grant that whenever I desire to catch the applause of man, or seek to be thought of others what I am not, I may reflect that all I am and all I do, are naked and open to thine eyes. It is with thee, and not with my fellow-creatures, I have to do : for thou art the only true and final umpire of conduct and character. Heavenly Father, do thou so raise me above the fear and love of man, that I may be in all things, and at all times, a servant of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, as unto the Lord, and not unto men. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 1.08. PART 5 - PARDON-SUMMER ======================================================================== PARDON. Great God, I have sinned against thee, times and ways beyond number. If thou shouldst lay righteousness to the line, and judgment to the plummet, I should be driven from thy presence. Yea, if thou shouldst deal with me for one of a thousand of my transgressions, I could not appear before thee. Yet I praise thee that there is forgiveness with thee, and that thou blottest out the transgressions of thy people. O give me the blessedness of him to whom thou imputest no iniquity ; whose sins, though they be as scarlet, shall be as white as snow ; and though they be red like crimson, shall be as wool. Lord, teach me the nature and condition of that pardon which thou art willing and ready to bestow on thy sinful creatures. O, it is sufficient to stay the wrath of thy condemnation, and to take away for ever, the sentence which was written against us. Yet it is not procured by our own works of righteousness ; but we have this redemption through the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Grant me, I beseech thee, such a conviction of sin, and such a reliance on the atonement of Jesus, as will make it consistent with thy love of justice, and with the security of thy moral government, to remember my transgressions no more against me. Keep me from every effort to bring thee a price in my hand for this precious boon. O may I seek it as the gift of thy mercy, purchased by the death of thy Son, and made effectual by the application of the Holy Spirit. Merciful God, grant me the fruits of thy forgiving love, in peace of conscience, a sense of thy favour, a tender penitence for sin, a feeling of deep and lasting gratitude, and a holy, humble, and confiding access to thy throne of grace. Lord, lead multitudes of the impenitent to seek thy forgiving mercy. May they learn the infinite value of that sacrifice by which it was procured, and the tender solicitude and strivings of thy Spirit, that they should embrace it. Show them from what guilt and punishment it redeems, and to what purity and happiness it leads. Enter not now into judgment with them, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. O do thou excite many to call on thee whilst thou art waiting to be gracious ; and do thou make peace with them through the blood of the cross, and present them holy and unblamable in thy sight. Blot out their iniquities from the book of thy remembrance, and write their names in the Lamb’s book of life. PARENTS. Heavenly Father, enable those to whom thou hast committed the important duties of parents, to discharge them according to thy will. Thou hast been pleased, in thy wisdom, to assign to their moulding influence the character and destiny of their children, for time and eternity. O may they have strong impressions of the many and weighty responsibilities which rest upon them. Grant that an intelligent spirit of love may govern all their conduct to their offspring. May they seek to fill their minds with useful knowledge, and to bring them up for useful employments. May they strive to cultivate in them habits of industry, frugality, prudence, and generosity. Make them careful to preserve them from undue or rapacious desires after wealth, honour, or pleasure. Especially may they labour to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. O let thy words be in their hearts, that they may teach them diligently to their children, and instruct them thoroughly in the ways of peace—warning and convincing them against that which i3 evil, and persuading them to that which is good. Give parents the influence of discreet and persevering discipline. Make their example such as shall be right in thy sight, and adapted to win the confidence, love, and obedience of their children. Induce them to watch with carefulness and solicitude, over the whole moral and religious character of those whom thou hast committed to their training. And O, may they seal all their anxieties and labours by fervent prayer, with and for their offspring, that thou wouldst help to train them up in the way they should go, and preserve them in it unto eternal life. Our Father in Heaven, make the parental relation an honoured instrumentality for bringing back our race from the slavery of sin and Satan, to the liberty of holiness and the sons of God. PASSIONS. Lord, preserve me from the dominion of my passions. Thou hast given me, in thy wisdom and goodness, the affections of human nature ; but thou hast put them under laws of usefulness and of subjection to thy will. Lead me, I pray thee, to consult diligently those laws ; and help me to bring my feelings into subjection to them. O let not the things that are sensual and carnal, attract and absorb my desires. Teach me to abstain from fleshly lusts that destroy the body, that war against the soul, and which bring down the displeasure of God. Lord, keep me from the undue and unholy exercise of my mental passions. Enable me to control and direct them, that they may be the servants of grace, and not the instruments of unrighteousness. PATIENCE. Lord, I would draw nigh, in the prevailing name of Jesus, to ask thee to cause patience to have its perfect work in my heart, in all the various trials of life. May it possess my soul, and suffer no intrusion there of fretful complaint, nor anxious fear. In sickness, in bereavement, in crosses, in provocations, in persecutions, in every thing that clashes with my de sires, grant, I beseech thec, that I may secure and preserve serenity of mind. What is man, that he should complain ? Lo ! thou Jehovah art long-suffering even towards the contradiction and rebellion of sinners. May I remember that there is One who was tempted in all points as T am; and yet never incurred the sin of a vexed spirit—who when he was reviled, reviled not again; who when he suffered, threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Teach me that this grace will protect me from much that is evil, and strengthen me in all that is good; and that it will secure thy favour—for thou hast said that when we do well, and suffer for it, yet take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Enable me to run with patience, the race that is set before me. Put my heart at rest in thee; for he who hath delivered, will yet deliver. May the thought that the Lord will provide, quell every restless and fearful emotion. O God, make me a steadfast follower of them that through faith and patience, inherit the promises. PEACE. Heavenly Father, grant me peace of conscience toward thee, through the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Give me, I pray thee, that holy serenity of mind, which the world can neither give nor take away, and which results from receiving thy love, and from knowing and doing thy will continually.—Enable me to live peaceably with all men— respecting with justice their rights, and not seeking with pertinacity my own—giving place to wrath, and refraining from an evil tongue, and every thing that stirs up strife.—Lord, give thy churches rest from unholy divisions within, and from wicked assaults without. May the household of faith dwell together in unity; and then the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.—O God, promote and establish peace between man and man, and between nation and nation, throughout the world. Supplant by the influence of the gospel, that selfishness which is the fruitful source of every form of contention : and in its place, implant that holy love which worketh no ill to its neighbour, and which leadeth man to regard every human being as a neighbour and a brother. Then shall individuals cease from strife—nations shall learn war no more—and Jesus, the Prince of Peace, shall reign over a dominion where there shall be none to hurt nor destroy—where heart shall beat in harmony with heart—where eye shall speak peace to eye—and where hand shall be to hand the exchange of good-will to man. PERSECUTION. Shepherd of Israel, I would praise thy name for that comparative exemption from persecution which we enjoy in this highly favoured land. Yet perhaps we owe our peaceful security to our conformity with the world. It becomes us to inquire, whether the world arrays itself not against us, because we have not fearlessly borne our testimony against it, that its deeds are evil; or because we have not rebuked its practices by a high standard of holy living.—Lord, let me not desire exemption from the enmity of the wicked, at the expense of duty. Make me willing to suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake: yea, thou hast said that they shall suffer it who live godly in Christ Jesus. If our Blessed Lord was reviled, scourged, and persecuted, and his noble cloud of witnesses, of whom the world was not worthy, had trial of cruel mockings, and bonds, and death, why should we hope to escape ? Lord, enable me so to act, that whether men may devise evil or good concerning me, my conscience shall be free from guilt towards thee and all mankind. O thou who art a very present help in trouble, remember those who fall into persecution. Overrule the trial of their faith and patience, for their good and thy glory. Abate its severity, or open a door of deliverance from it, or enable them to bear it as good soldiers of Christ. While they suffer according to thy will, may they commit the keeping of their souls to thee, in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator. Let them not wonder nor complain, as though some strange thing had happened unto them ; but rejoice inasmuch as they are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, they may be glad also with exceeding joy. PERSEVERANCE. God of Salvation, let me not be of those that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe unto the saving of the soul. Make me steadfast in the pursuit of knowledge, and performance of duty. Teach me that the race is not to the swift, but to them who cast aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset them, and who look to Jesus, as the Author and Finisher of faith. Blessed be God, the way I am called to run in, is not an unbeaten path; for thy people on earth are now walking in it as the highway to heaven ; the saints in glory have followed it unto life eternal; yea, even the High Priest of our profession, Christ the Righteous, hath made it smooth by his glorious footsteps. O God, set clearly and strongly before my mind, that exceeding and eternal weight of glory which is laid up for those that endure unto the end. May I so run, that I shall obtain it. Enable me to continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them. O teach me the duty of perseverance, by a conviction of the uncertainty of life. Those servants only shall be blessed, whom when the Lord cometh, he shall find watching.—Give me, I beseech thee, such views of the foes that are within and around me, as shall lead me to continual dependence on thy grace, and unremitted diligence in thy will. Imbue mo with courage of mind and strength of heart, to overcome all the hinderances which Satan, or the world, or my own passions, may cast in my way.—Heavenly Father, let nothing be able to separate me from thy love in Christ Jesus. O, love me with an everlasting love. May he that is the Ransom of sinners, save me unto the uttermost. May thy Holy Spirit seal me unto the day of redemption, and be my Comforter, to abide with me for ever. And then, in that inheritance which is incorruptible, and that fadeth not’away, I will praise thee for the power of thy grace, by which I shall have been kept, through faith, unto salvation. PIETY. God of Salvation, vouchsafe unto me a spirit of intelligent and devoted piety. Make me a Christian, not only in name but in truth. May I watch diligently, lest while I have the form of godliness, I may be destitute of its power.—Lead me, I pray thee, into the constant exercise of repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fill my heart with love to thee, thine ordinances, thy service, thy people, and all mankind. Give that love such strength and purity, that it shall fulfil thy law. Make it abound more and more, in knowledge and judgment, until I am filled with the fruits of righteousness, unto the glory and praise of God. Cleanse thou my heart from evil thoughts, and my life from wicked ways; and enable me to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. Make me meek and forgiving, sincere and humble. Let consistency, selfdenial, and gratitude, pervade all my actions. Make me earnest in prayer, unwavering in faith, and joyful in hope. Prepare me for the quiet endurance of every trial, and for the zealous performance of every duty. Lord, make me a follower of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. May I so act before the world, that men may take knowledge of me, and be led to glorify our Father in heaven. May the same mind which was in Christ be also in me. As I have borne the image of the earthly, so let me bear the image of the heavenly; and of his fulness receive, and grace for grace. Blessed Lord, grant that by patient continuance in well-doing, I may seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, where the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. PITT. Merciful Father, make my heart sensible to every object of pity. Blessed Jesus, thou hadst compassion on every subject of distress and misfortune. Thou didst mourn with them that mourned, and weep with them that wept. It was indeed the tenderness of thy love which brought thee to this world of wo, that thou mightest bless and save those who were ready to perish. 0 may the same mind be in me which was in Christ Jesus. Let no form of selfishness so harden my heart, that I shall fail to exercise compassion for the wants and woes of thy creatures. Let me not stop my ears to the cry of the needy, nor turn away my eyes from them that are stricken with misery. And let me not pity only in word and in tongue; but in deed and in truth: for so shall I know that I am of the truth, and assure my heart before thee, whose compassions fail not, else 1 should be consumed in thy presence. Lord, grant that my deepest feelings of pity, my strongest yearnings of soul, may be over those who are living heedlessly under the wrath of God. Let it be my heart’s desire before thee, that they may be plucked as brands from the burning. O magnify thy goodness in bringing them from the rebellion of sin, into the obedience of faith. POPERY. God of Truth, destroy the power of popery. Let not the Man of sin, the Son of perdition, continue to rule the nations with his rod of iron. Lord, how long shall men concede to weak mortals, like themselves, the claims of infallibility and absolution 1 How long shall sinful men be permitted to keep the consciences of their fellow-men—to dispense vain indulgences for sin—to blot out the commandments of God—to make thy law void by vain traditions— to prohibit the bread of life—and to exalt the worship of superstition over the services of simplicity and truth ? How long, O Lord, shall they impiously arrogate to change a corruptible thing into the incorruptible body of Christ; and to dishonour the atonement of Jesus, by claiming for any that have been redeemed by his blood, an excess of obedience beyond the requirements of thy law 1 O redeem the victims of these delusions. May they learn that thou only art the object of worship ; that thou only canst forgive sin ; and that the scriptures of truth are the only and all-sufficient rule which thou hast given us, to know how we may glorify and enjoy thee for ever. Lord, cause thy word, thy Spirit, thy providence, and thy people, to concur mightily in overthrowing this great bulwark of Satan. May the spirit of love govern all thy saints in their efforts to recover the world from papal power. Transform all its temples into sanctuaries of righteousness; and into every heart that has been a shrine of its corruptions, put thou an altar consecrated to the pure service of the living God. POVERTY. Merciful Father, if it be thy will, preserve me from poverty. Let not my mind be harassed by fears as to what I, or those who may be dependent on me, shall eat or drink, or wherewithal we shall be clothed. Bestow on me a moderate competence of the means of support, and grant me thy favour in the enjoyment of it. Make me grateful to thee for thy past and present bounties. But, O Lord, if it be thy pleasure to strip me of my worldly comforts, and to bring me into deep and distressing need, let me not rebel against thee, nor complain of thy righteous providence. May I find more joy in trusting to thee in the midst of adversity, than in all the pleasures which unsanctified wealth could bestow. Even though darkness should gather with forbidding gloom over all my expectations of worldly comfort, throughout the remainder of my life, let the consolations of thy Spirit be more than enough to satisfy my soul. Make me rich in the hope of a better and a heavenly substance, which Corrupts not in the enjoyment, perishes not in the using, but endures for ever. Lord, pity the poor. Soothe and relieve their wants. Protect them from oppression, and deliver them from him that spoileth them. Save them from the vices which so often accompany their lot. Raise up friends who shall feel for their wants, and supply their necessities.—Lord, let it be a prominent duty with christians, to minister to those that are in need. May they remember that their Lord and Master had not where to lay his head, and that these stricken ones are his representatives on the earth. Show them that he who hath pity on the poor, lendeth to the Lord, who will pay him again : while he that oppresseth them reproacheth his Maker, and he that stoppeth his ears at their cry, shall also cry himself, and shall not be heard. Enable them to devise such employments for the needy as shall at once confer on them the blessings of industry and selfsupport. May those who have no silver nor gold to give, bestow their sympathies and counsels, which are often worth more than money.—And above all, may they seek, through thy Spirit, to confer on them that godliness which is profitable unto all things. Lord, bless those public charities which are designed to relieve the distresses of the destitute. Give minds of discretion, and hearts of pity, to those who control them. As these works of mercy are the fruits of the gospel, so may they be conducted in its spirit, and result in its choicest blessings. Though thou hast said that the poor shall never cease out of the land, yet do thou abate the sorrows and remove the evils of their condition, and make multitudes of them rich in faith toward God, and in the hope of salvation. PRAISE. O thou Most High, I would praise thee for thine excellent greatness. The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God. With thee there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Thou art infinitely more exalted above us, than we are above the smallest insect of creation. Lord, thou knowest all things: thou art the only wise God, wonderful in counsel, and infinite in knowledge. Thou art able to do, exceeding abundantly, above all that we can think. Thou art of purer eyes, than to behold evil. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. The works of nature, the movements of providence, and the plan of redemption are full of thy goodness. Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Lo, all thy ways are perfect! Lord, grant me such adoring views of thy character, as shall be delightful foretastes of that praise which is the incense of thy worship in heaven. May I rejoice that the government of the world and of the universe is in the hands of a perfect being, who will do all things well. Make me esteem thy favour as the highest honour and the most glorious privilege which men or angels can enjoy. O may I often set my feeble and corrupt powers in contrast with thine infinite and spotless perfections, that I may thus at once take my place in the dust before thee, and magnify thy great and glorious name.—[See the various Attributes.’] PRAYER. Heavenly Father, teach me to pray, and quicken me by thy Spirit, that I may worship thee in spirit and in truth. Give me clear and abiding views of the nature of this solemn act of worship. Grant me a proper estimate of thy character, as infinitely able and willing to bless all who would approach the throne of grace according to thy will. Enable me to make thy glory the ruling object of my desires ; and to present them only in the name of the heavenly Mediator, whom thou always hearest, for in him thou art ever well-pleased. May every supplication be offered in the wish and hope that Jesus will present it, with his prevailing intercession, at the throne of grace. Lord, make me feel my entire and continual dependence on thee for all the blessings I possess, or hope to enjoy. O do thou give me such a craving sense of want, such a conviction that there is no other source of relief, and such confidence in thy promises, that supplication shall be the language of my tongue, the thought of my heart, and the food of my soul. Great God, thou art, indeed, not worshipped as though thou needest any thing; for thou givest to all life, and breath, and all things. It is in mercy to us that thou art willing to hear and answer the prayer of penitence and faith. Thou hast moreover commanded it, as our imperative duty—thus making our privilege and our obligation one and inseparable. Infinite Fountain of Blessing, grant me the influences of thy Spirit, to show me what I should pray for, and the way in which I should draw nigh to the mercy-seat.—Teach me, I pray thee, the various and numerous wants of my dependent nature, until my thoughts shall grow familiar with them in all their number, and my heart shall be absorbed by convictions of their importance. Lord, dispose me to submit every object of hope and every pursuit of desire, by prayer, to the control of thy will: and do thou turn me away from continuing or completing any thing which has not the sanction of thy favour, and upon which I cannot invoke thy blessing. O Lord, suffer me not to confine my supplications to my own wants; but do thou give me a spirit of prayer in behalf of others. Make me feelingly alive to all the interests of thy church, and abundant in intercession for her knowledge, purity, and increase. O burden my heart with anxious solicitude for the impenitent; and lead my feelings out in earnest and importunate pleadings for their salvation.—Lord, suffer me not to approach thee, on any subject, with thoughtlessness or insincerity. Restrain me from a wandering and corrupted mind. May every petition be the expression of true and anxious feeling. Father of Mercy, assist me to bring my desires into conformity to thy will. Let me not ask thee for any thing inconsistent with thy holy and sovereign pleasure.—Help me to come in the humble boldness of faith to thy throne, that I may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Thou art indeed more ready to hear than I am to pray; and more willing to give than I am to ask. Enable me, I pray thee, to come to thee in the confidence with which I would approach an earthly parent: for if such an one knows how to give good gifts to his children, much more will our Heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Lord, help thou mine unbelief, and enable me to believe that thou art the rewarder of them that diligently seek thee.—Teach me that if I regard iniquity in my heart, thou wilt not hear me. Do thou therefore cleanse my heart, that my desires may go forth unspotted by sin, and find acceptance in thy sight. Lord, lead me to the thankful acknowledgment of past mercies; and dispose me to hope from them for the bestowment of future good.—Bring me to thee, O Searcher of hearts, with humble confession of sins ; for it becomes me to say, that instead of having any claim to thine audience and favour, I have only deserved thy displeasure. Heavenly Father, dispose me to fulfil every suitable occasion of devotional duty. May I love the public and social supplications of thy saints. Let me not withhold the incense from the family altar. May I delight to hold converse with thee, where there is no other eye to watch, and no other ear to hear, and where I shall feel that I am alone with God. And give me, Blessed Master, that spirit of ejaculatory prayer which will purify every current of my thoughts, and sanctify every business of my life.—O Lord, enable me, in all the vicissitudes of life, to watch unto prayer, and to find that it is good for me to draw nigh to God. And may my soul ascribe, in sincerity and love, the praise of all the mercies I derive from thee, to thy matchless grace in the Redeemer, both now and for ever. Amen. PRIDE. O thou who hast said that no flesh shall glory in thy presence, redeem and preserve me from the spirit of pride. Show me its folly and sinfulness; and incline me to watch closely against its corrupting influence over my soul. Lord, why should a Worm of the dust, a being of weakness, want, and dependence, exalt itself in the vanity of self-sufficiency, and ask the tribute of praise or homage from its fellow-creatures? O, thou hatest pride; thou makest it go before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Lead me, I pray thee, to reflect that this wicked spirit cast out the rebel angels from their first estate, into that fearful darkness, where they are reserved in everlasting chains; and that by it man was beguiled in the garden of Paradise, into that disobedience which brought death into the world ; and that it has ever since been a fountain of guilt, sending forth innumerable streams of corruption and desolation. Enable me to set this vice in strong contrast with the meekness of Christ, and with that humility by which are riches, and honour, and life. Lord, wherefore should I glory, since all that I am, and all that I have, are the gifts of thine unmerited goodness ? O do thou give me such abiding perceptions of thy greatness and excellency, and of my own weakness and unworthiness—such views of the presumption, sinfulness, and danger of pride, and of the beauty and blessedness of meekness—as shall lead me to renounce, at once and for ever, the dominion of a haughty spirit. Great God, stain the pride of human glory. May sinners learn the vanity and guilt of every thing that exalts itself against the will of God. Teach them that neither birth, nor learning, nor wealth, nor rank, is noble in thy sight: while the humble and childlike are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. O thou exalted Jehovah, bring all their thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Let them that glory, glory in the Lord; who though he be to carnal men a stumbling block and foolishness, is yet to thrm that are called, the power of God, and the wisdom of God, unto salvation ! Privileges.—See Means of Grace. PROCRASTINATION. Lord, keep me, for Christ’s sake, from that indolence of heart, and that aversion to duty, which would lead me to evade or postpone the claims of present obedience. Let me not put off for to-morrow nor futurity, that which ought to be done to-day. Suffer not the hope of a more convenient season to defraud thee of that service which thou requirest of me now. O grant me knowledge to discern thine accepted time, and zeal to do at once, and with earnest willingness, what my hand findeth to do. O Lord, how many have cheated their consciences and expectations, with intentions of future repentance, and are now reaping the bitter fruits of their foolish and sinful delay, where repentance never comes. 1 beseech thee, explode that wretched fallacy of hope which binds up such multitudes in the fetters of sloth, and delivers them over to the chains of the second death. O, awake those who are lulled by this opiate of sin, and teach them the vanity and guilt of delaying to make their peace with thee. Let none be deluded by the expectation of a deathbed repentance. Teach them how vain it is to expect that in those hours when the judgment is unfit to discharge the ordinary duties of life, it shall be competent to encounter and decide aright, the weighty interests of eternity. May they hear thy voice saying to them, " Behold, now is the accepted time: this is the day of salvation." Draw them unto thee, whilst thou art waiting to be gracious. Show them that if they will still refuse to come to thee, their hearts will grow hard and unfeeling; thy Spirit may cease to strive with them ; the stroke of death may cut them off* from the dwelling-place of mercy ; and then they will lift up the unavailing cry, " How have we hated instruction, and despised reproof.—The harvest is past, and we are not saved." PROFANITY. Lord, let me not take thy holy name in vain. Keep me from profaning or abusing any thing whereby thou makest thyself known; and lead me into a holy and reverend use of thy names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word, and works. Suppress, I beseech thee, the profanity which so shamefully abounds in the world. O, 1 would lament before thee, that because of swearing, the land mourneth. May all who are guilty of this transgression, be persuaded that it is an unprovoked, a wilful, and presumptuous sin against the Most High, whose name is exalled, that every knee should bow, and every tongue confess before him, in the deepest reverence and self-abasement. Thou hast revealed thy name, and character, and dealings, that mankind should praise, and supplicate, and obey thee: but they have, in their madness of heart, made this knowledge the occasion of impious profaneness. Lord, show them that thou wilt not hold those guiltless, who take thy name in vain. They that love cursing, shall be cursed. Adorable Jehovah, give them a speedy repentance and forsaking of thoir sin. Grant that every tongue which has abused thy majesty, may become a voice of thanksgiving and prayer. PROMISES. Great Fountain of Blessing, I thank thee that thou hast strengthened the faith, and established the hopes of thy chosen people, throughout all generations, by many precious promises. Even in that day when our first parents forfeited, by iniquity, their birth-right to Paradise, thou didst give the pledge of thy truth, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, and thus recover our race from the ruins of the apostasy. And ever since, in all thy revelations to men, thou hast been pleased to declare, abundantly, thy rich purposes of mercy. They are scattered over every page of thy word; they are suited to every variety of christian experience and trial; and they are so plain, that he who runs may read. The history of thy heritage, in all ages, has borne witness that they are steadfast and true ; for they are established on the faithfulness of the God of Truth. Lord, I desire to magnify and extol thee for those assurances of comfort in this life, and of bliss in that to come, which gather in countless profusion around the cross of Christ. Blessed be thy name, thy promises are Yea and Amen in him, unto the glory of God. O that they might be embalmed in my memory, and be cherished in my confidence; for they are more precious than rubies, and more enduring than the foundations of the earth. Make them, I beseech thee, the means of dispelling my sorrows, of scattering my doubts, and of exciting my zeal. May I regard them with overflowing gratitude to thee, as the pledges of thine eternal truth and goodness; as the beacons which thou hast set to light up the gloomy pathways of life, and to throw over the pillow of death, the glorious beams of an unclouded immortality. O God, fulfil speedily thy promises to the Daughter of Zion. Let not her ways mourn, nor her gates be desolate, nor her priests sigh, nor her people be in bitterness. Put off her sackcloth, and gird her with gladness. Give her the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Cause her righteousness to go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth. O create her a rejoicing, and thy people a joy, throughout the whole earth. PROSPERITY. Lord, suffer me not to be anxious for worldly’ prosperity. O let me not forget its fearful dangers— how often it leads the soul away in forgetfulness and ingratitude from God ; how it binds the heart in the fetters of worldly conformity and self-indulgence; how it nourishes pride, indolence, and unfeelingness, and palsies faith, zeal, and prayer. Lord, if it please thee to bestow abundance on me, enable me to use it, not in fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, but for thy glory and the good of man. If riches increase, let me not set my heart upon them. May I remember that the duration of their enjoyment must at best be short; that their pleasures are mixed with vanity and vexation of spirit; and that thou wilt judge men according to the plenty they enjoy from thee. O give me such views of thy better inheritance, as shall preserve me from the thraldom of those vices which spring from a prosperous life. Give such strength to my hope of the eternal weight of glory, that all the enjoyments of earth shall be barren and tasteless in the infinite contrast. O make me ever mindful of the solemn warning, M How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the kingdom of God !" Heavenly Father, let me not be envious nor rebellious when I see the prosperity of the wicked. Surely thou hast set them in slippery places. They that will be rich fall into temptations and snares, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. Lord, what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? God of Beneficence, enlarge the souls of those on whom thou hast cast the mantle of plenty. May they bless the Lord, and forget not all his benefits. Make them rich in good works, and ready to distribute, according as thou hast prospered them. Teach them that the silver and the gold are thine, and make them the stewards of thy bounty—willing instruments in sustaining and enlarging every work of faith and labour of love. Give them grace to lay up treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves cannot break through and steal. PROVIDENCE. Great Sovereign, thou hast prepared thy throne in the heavens, and thy kingdom ruleth over all. Thou doest thy will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth ; and none can stay thy hand, nor say unto thee, " What doest thou?" Thou callest the stars by name, and numberest the hairs of our heads : thou upholdest the sparrow, and givest strength to the seraph. Lord, I would praise thee for thy most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all thy creatures. If thou shouldst withdraw the energies of thy power from the works of thy hands, they would all fall back at once into non-existence. But blessed be thy name, thy dominion is an everlasting dominion, and thy kingdom is from generation to generation. Great God, enable me to see and acknowledge thy hand in all the movements of thy providence. Make me realize my immediate and absolute dependence on thee, and my obligations to thy preserving and governing wisdom. Make me submissive to every token of thy will. May I praise thee in joy and in grief: because it is the Lord that giveth, and that taketh away. Thou art indeed wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. Thou givest the mercies of every day’s life to the evil as well as to the good. But it is only for them that love thee, that thou makest thy providence and grace work together for good.—Exalted Jehovah, may the solemn truth that thy kingdom ruleth over all, lead me to seek thy favour as the chief blessing of life ; and to do thy pleasure as it is done in heaven. PRUDENCE. O thou who only art wise, vouchsafe to me that prudence which is the dwelling-place of wisdom. Preserve me from a heedless and an impetuous spirit. Make every purpose of my heart, and every action of my life, the result of prayerful consideration. Dispose me, I pray thee, to pursue every right object with a proper spirit. Let me not be governed by any rules of policy which are inconsistent with a good conscience; nor do evil that good may come. Instruct me in all my personal and relative duties; and give me sanctified knowledge and discreet zeal, to meet and discharge them, in the sight of God. Grant me the instruction of thy word, which is able to make me wise unto salvation; and the teachings of thy Spirit, which searcheth the deep things of God, and beareth witness with our consciences, whether we walk in the way, the truth, and the life. Reason.—See Knowledge, Understanding. Regeneration.—See Conversion. REPENTANCE. Heavenly Father, grant me repentance unto life. Give me, I beseech thee, a true sense of my sin. It is against thee, O Lord, I have sinned. I have broken thy holy, wise, and benevolent law, ways and times beyond number. I have sinned against the teachings of thy word, against the testimonies of conscience, against the drawings of thy love, and against the strivings of thy Spirit. My transgressions may have led others into the paths of evil, and thus have been instrumental in loading their souls with guilt. Mine iniquities have cast reproach on thy cause in the world ; and they have shut out the precious light of thy countenance from my soul. O God, make me feel how hateful my sin is in thy sight, and that the perfections of thy nature are pledged for its punishment. O thou hast spread wide and deep, the lake of unquenchable fire—thou hast built with everlasting strength, the prison-walls of hell—where the unrepenting sinner will dwell in torment for ever. Lord, I implore thee to give me deep convictions of the atrocious guilt and soul-destroying danger of sin. Grant me feelings of strong abhorrence towards it. Incline me to mourn, with bitterness of heart, over my transgressions. Imbue me with courage, to resolve to forsake them, and with strength to turn from them unto thee, with earnest endeavours after new obedience. Teach me that he who turns not away from every sin, turns not aright from any sin. O let not mine be the sorrow of the world, that worketh death ; but a godly sorrow, that worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. Bring me to thee crying, " Lord, save me, or I perish." And say to me in thy mercy, " Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." O God, kindle a fire in the consciences of the impenitent, that shall cleanse them from the love of sin, and purify them unto thee, in holiness of heart and life. Convince them of the evil nature, and fearful consequences of their iniquity. Show them that thou art waiting to be gracious, and that thou hast no pleasure in the death of them that die, but that they turn and live. Turn them from the error of their ways, and lead them into the path of the just. Induce them to forsake their sins, and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Incline them to obey thy will from the heart; not that they may seek by the deeds of the law to be justified in thy sight; but that be who was delivered for their offences may be made their justification and complete salvation. REPROOF. O thou Holy One, suffer me to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but may I rather reprove them. Cause my conduct to stand forth as a sentence of condemnation against them, both in my scrupulously avoiding that which is evil, and resolutely cleaving to that which is good. Give me a holy courage to bear the testimony of my voice against transgression. But, O, let it not be done in anger, but in love and humility.—Lord, may I be encouraged in this duty, by remembering that it is thy will that we should in any wise rebuke our neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.—If any of the brethren be overtaken in a fault, make me feel that it is both my duty and privilege to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. Show me that the eternal interests of the ungodly require me to take up this cross ; for the want of my reproof may leave him unmolested in his sin, to spread its contagion on others, and to go down with it to the bosom of perdition ; while my faithfulness may be the blessed means of redeeming him from the dominion of iniquity, and of leading him to seek the salvation of his soul. Lord, dispose me to receive rebuke with meekness and thankfulness. Make me open to conviction, and dispose me to acknowledge and forsake my evil. O may all that are the subjects of christian reproof reflect that he who is often reproved, and still hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Resignation.—See Affliction, Submission. RESURRECTION. God of the Living, thou hast revealed the doctrine that thou wilt raise these mortal frames, at the day • of judgment, from their long decay of death, and make them joint-heirs with our spirits in the retributions of eternity. All that are in the graves shall hear thy voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. Lord, I thank thee that our Blessed Saviour became the first-fruits of them that slept; thus setting the seal of heaven to the truth of his gospel, and to the hope of our resurrection. If Christ be not risen, then is our faith vain. But, thanks be to thy name, he has the keys of death, and could not be holden of it. O may 1 rejoice in the hope, that though after my skin worms destroy my body, yet in my flesh, I shall see God, and be for ever with the Lord. O grant that when the earth shall cast forth her dead, this corruptible may put on incorruption, and this mortality put on immortality, and be fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself. RETIREMENT. Lord, dispose and enable me to cultivate and enjoy the blessings of christian retirement. Grant me many of those precious hours of peaceful seclusion, in which I shall find rest from the cares and corruptions of the world, and reflect on my past conduct, my present character, and my future purposes. 0 may they be seasons when I shall fill with heavenly oil, and kindle with holy fire, the lamp of my profession; and when I shall hold sweet communion with thee at thy mercy-seat. Vouchsafe that when I thus retire from the world, it may be in order to replenish my soul, and return again to the duties of life, strengthened by thy grace, and richly laden with gospel blessings. O thou who didst seek the lonely desert, the solitary mountain, and the covert of night, make my withdrawings from the busy scenes of earth, such as thine own were—hours full of holy love to God, and fraught wilh good-will to man. REVENGE. Heavenly Father, convince my judgment of the folly, and my heart of the sin, of revenge. Persuade me that it can neither preserve me from harm, nor procure me any good; while it stirs up wrath and retaliation, and arrays against it the anger of a holy God. I pray thee, for the sake of Jesus, let me not render evil for evil to any man. Give me patience under provocation, meekness under injury, and good-will under revenge. Suffer me not, in any case, to avenge myself: for vengeance is thine, and thou wilt repay. REVIVALS. Blessed God, revive thy work; in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. Let not thy heritage be in bondage to sin and slothfulness; nor the ungodly go down to death, without the strong, and special, and redeeming influences of thy Holy Spirit. Let thy work appear - unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children: and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. Make the wilderness like Eden; and the desert like the garden of the Lord: let joy and gladness be found therein, with thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Great God, may all thy ministers be indeed preachers of righteousness, and ambassadors for Christ. Sanctify their motives, and inflame their zeal. Give them wisdom to devise, and faithfulness to execute, such efforts as shall promote thy glory in the work of saving souls. May they search Jerusalem as with lighted candles, and apply thy truth to their hearers with plainness, fulness, and pungency. Bless the word of their mouth, and accompany it with the demonstration of thy Spirit. O Lord, let judgment begin at the house of God. Take away the hopes of those who have the form of godliness, without its power. Convince thy people of sin against thee, against each other, and against the souls of the ungodly. Bring them to repentance that needeth not to be repented of. Break from them the fetters with which the world, the flesh, and the devil have encompassed them. Give them that clearness and strength of faith by which they shall learn the value of their own souls, and the worth of the souls of perishing sinners around them. Heavenly Father, burden the hearts of thy people with earnest desires for the revival of pure and undefined religion. May they present fervent, importunate, and believing prayer at the throne of thy grace for the prosperity of Zion, and the salvation of the ungodly. O fill them with thy Spirit, and cause them to abound in love, zeal, and holiness. May they love the places where supplication is wont to be made, and where souls have been born to God. Give them grace to uphold by prayer, the hands of thy ministers, whilst thou art using such to carry forward the triumphs of the gospel. Make thy saints willing to adopt and sustain those measures which are agreeable to thy will, and which receive the abiding sanction of thy Spirit. Lord, cast up and remove every stumbling-block out of the ways of Zion. Give thy servants unity of feeling and action, and lead them to act in the faith of thy word, wherein thou hast said, that if two shall agree on earth as touching any thing they shall ask, it shall be done for them of our Father in heaven. Let the blessing of the Lord our God be upon them; and establish the work of their hands upon them: yea, the work of their hands establish thou it. O Most High, visit with convincing and converting power, the consciences of sinners. Bring them within the reach of the preached gospel, and the hearing of effectual prayer. May thy Spirit set home to their hearts the truth, which is able to make them wise unto salvation. Make them feel deeply, that they are guilty before thee; and that instead of having the offer of* salvation, thy righteous retribution would blast them in everlasting death. O, may they cherish the workings of the Holy Ghost within them, and fear lest that Divine Agent give them up to blindness of mind and hardness of heart. Let that godly sorrow which worketh life, possess every feeling of their souls. Show them that now is the accepted time, and this the day of salvation. Give them clear, and convincing, and persuading views of Christ, as the only, and all-sufficient, and infinitely willing Saviour. O God, grant, for the honour of Jesus, that now, whilst thou art waiting to be gracious, they may renounce their iniquities, receive Christ as he is freely offered in the gospel, and give themselves to thee in a covenant never to be forgotten. Lord of Hosts, make the fruits of revivals glorious in the history of thy church. May their converts to righteousness be for multitude, as the drops of the dew in the morning. May they be distinguished for consistent piety and holy zeal, and be honoured instruments in multiplying the trophies of redeeming grace, until the Lord shall have made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall have seen the salvation of our God. And to God, the Father, Son, and Spirit, shall be all the praise in earth and heaven, now and for ever. Amen. Riches.—See Prosperity. RIGHTEOUSNESS. O thou who art righteous in all thy thoughts, purposes, and ways, give me, I pray thee, the character and blessings of righteousness. Make me just to thee, to myself, and to my fellow-creatures. But, O, keep me from trusting to my own fancied merits. Rebuke and dispel every thing like self-confidence, and lead me humbly to the foot of the cross, there to find both the mercy of acceptance, and the grace of obedience. Behold, O God, my Shield, and look upon the face of thine Anointed. May he be for me the end of the law for righteousness. May I desire to be found only in him, not having on mine own righteousness, which is of the law; but that which is through the faith of Christ, and which is of God by faith. O, may the accepted works which flow from that atoning union with him, be found in all my walk and conversation. Cleanse me from dead works to serve the living God. Make me diligent in working out my own salvation, knowing that thou workest in me both to will and to do, of thine own good pleasure. May I love mercy and do justice towards all men ; and whatsoever I would that they should do to me, in temporal or spiritual things, may I do even so to them.—Blessed Source of all good, fill me with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. SABBATH. O thou that hearest and answerest prayer for the merits of Jesus, the Heavenly Advocate, give me grace, I beseech thee, to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. In six days thou didst make heaven, earth, and sea ; and didst rest the seventh day: wherefore thou hast blessed the Sabbath, and hallowed it. I thank thee, God of Mercy, for that consecrated season, in which thou givest rest to our wearied natures, and affordest us leisure for reflection on our duties in this world, and our destinies in the world to come. I thank thee for its privileges of praise, of prayer, and of instruction, by which thy saints are built up in faith and zeal, and sinners are brought from the darkness and iniquity of carnal nature, to the light and holiness of heavenly grace. I would praise thee that there still remaineth this rest to the people of God. Thou hast made the Sabbath for man ; and thou hast abolished neither its privileges nor its duties, but thou wilt continue them down to the end of the world. O, that I might always be in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. May I remember that thou hast given me six days of the week for my own employments, and challenged a special ownership of the seventh ; and that thou hast given it the sanction of thine own example and blessing. O, let me not profane that holy time by idleness ; nor by doing that which is in itself sinful; nor by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about worldly employments or recreations. May I sanctify it by a holy resting even from such avocations as are lawful on other days; and spend all its sacred hours in the public and private exercises of God’s worship; except so much as may be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy. Let that day ever be a precious occasion, wherein thy love shall be richly manifested to me, and my aflections shall hold free, and holy, and rejoicing communion with thy Spirit. May 1 be prepared by its sanctifying duties and reviving pleasures, for serving thee and mankind better, in all the relations of life. O make it a blessed type of that eternal Sabbath, which is reserved for the pure in heart, in the regions of unmingled bliss. Lord, save thy holy day from the desecration which has been so fearfully brought upon it. Thou seest how men pursue on it their carnal pleasures and worldly interests, regardless of thy statutes, and the ultimate welfare of their country, and of mankind. Even those who have made a covenant with thee, to keep thy commandments, sometimes join hand in hand with the ungodly, in these profanations of sacred time. O that thy people would set their faces as flint against these transgressions; and bear the testimony of their voice and conduct against them. Bring not thy wrath upon our land, because its inhabitants make the Sabbath their season of amusement, convenience, and lucre. Teach all men that it is thine imperative will that they should sanctify that day ; and that thou hast judgments in store for its transgressors :—while they who turn away their feet from polluting it, and from doing their pleasure on it, and shall call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable ; and shall honour thee, not doing their own ways, nor finding their own pleasure, nor speaking their own words—they shall ride upon the high places of the earth, and shall be fed with the heritage of Jacob; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it! SABBATH SCHOOLS. Lord, thou hast taught us that it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath-day. I thank thee, that in mercy towards the ignorance and wickedness of the world, thou hast established the system of Sunday Schools. I would praise thee that they have been spread so widely, and that so many heart-cheering fruits have sprung from them. Thou hast made them instrumental in elevating the standard of knowledge and active piety in the church. They have been the means of dispelling ignorance and superstition, and of moulding the character of our youth in right knowledge and moral feeling. And blessed be thy mercy lor that which is worth more than every other blessing; they have been made the nurseries of the Lord, from which many plants of righteousness have been transferred to the gardens of thy church, there to bear fruit unto eternal life. And of these not a few are now singing, in everlasting bliss, the song of redemption to him who said, " Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Gracious God, I would humbly trust that these things are but the introductory tokens of the glorious influences which this heaven-born system will yet exert on behalf of our ruined race. Lord, am I not warranted, from thy word and from the nature of things, to expect that the religious instruction of our children and youth, when it shall become universal, and shall be conducted with that preparation of the heart and answer of the tongue, which are from the Lord,—will secure that outpouring of thy Holy Spirit, which will fill the earth with thy knowledge, even as the waters cover the deep ? Great Shepherd of Israel, may all that seek the prevalence and triumph of the gospel, give this cause their sanction and help.—Make thy ministers watchmen and husbandmen in it, who shall give it the service of the eye, and of the lips, and of the hands with willing and diligent hearts.—May all who have made a covenant with thee by sacrifice, and who stand pledged that they will not live unto themselves, inquire what thou wilt have them to do in this labour of love. O that there were heartburnings of shame and deep repentings of soul among those who have refused to come up to the help of the Lord in this work of faith.—Lord, give this cause favour in the eyes of parents, and of the world at large. May they all delight to honour and promote it. Father of Mercies, I would invoke thy blessing on all who are engaged in it as teachers. Give them knowledge to discern, and zeal to fulfil the important duties of their office. Show them that their service relates to filling the immortal mind with the riches of religious knowledge ; and to converting the soul from sin and death unto holiness and everlasting life. O that they would understand, and meet, and discharge these awfully solemn responsibilities !—Lord, give them grace to help in all their times of need. May they live in constant dependence on the teaching and blessing of the Holy Ghost. Put into their hearts that well of living water, which springs up into everlasting life; and let every work of their hands be nourished by that fountain of piety within them.—May they teach by a living example, that shall be seen and read by all their scholars—that shall make them as a city set on a hill—that shall be as salt to purify and save their classes.—Give them an ample and welldigested knowledge of divine truth. Make them wise in the treasures of the book of nature, and the volume of thy providence. Make them apt to teach—in simplicity, in patience, in love, in judgment, and in perseverance.—May all teachers love each other out of pure hearts, fervently ; and keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Make them helpers to each other in mutual study, and in private and social prayer.—Preserve their hearts from the influence of the discouragements which beset their office. Let them not be cast down, nor driven back from their work, by difficulties within the school, or by apathy or opposition without it. Let them not be weary in well-doing; but do thou strengthen them by thy precious promises, that in due season they shall reap if they faint not; and that though they may now often go forth bearing precious seed, and weeping, yet they shall hereafter return, bringing many sheaves with them. Heavenly Father, visit by thy mercy, those who are taught in Sunday Schools. Though foolishness is bound up in their hearts, thou canst supplant it by divine wisdom. Though thou seest that the imagination of their hearts is evil, thou canst create in them a new heart, and renew a right spirit within them.—Lord, make them punctual, attentive, obedient, and diligent. Seal instruction on their minds. Let not thy word return from them void; but do thou prosper it in the thing whereunto thou sendest it. Let it not be as water that is spilled on the ground, and cannot be gathered. O make their hearts as good ground, which will give growth to the seed of truth, and produce rich harvests of spiritual good. May they learn the worth of the undying soul; the guilt which sin has brought on them ; and the fearful wrath which hangs over them in their impenitency. Show them, O Lord, the way thou hast provided of escape from their guilt and danger; and do thou persuade and enable them, by the power of the Spirit, to receive Jesus as their Teacher, Saviour, and Ruler. Merciful Father, may it please thee to add to thy church from their number, many of such as shall be saved. Raise up from them many who shall be burning and shining lights—many who shall be abundantly blessed in the work of saving souls. Lord, I offer these entreaties, not in my own merits, which are worthless in thy sight, but in the name of the Beloved—unto whom, with the Father and the Spirit, be sincere and endless praise.—[See Teachers, Children, Early Piety.] Sacrament.—See Lord’s Supper. SALVATION. Heavenly Father, grant me just and full views of the plan of salvation by a Redeemer. Give me, I pray thee, an understanding to know, and a heart to feel, what thou hast done for the redemption of sinners.—In the counsels of eternity, thou didst foresee that estate of sin and misery into which mankind should be brought by the fall; and thou didst not leave them to perish in it; for in thy wisdom and mercy thou didst devise a scheme, by which’ they might be delivered from it, and be brought into an estate of salvation, through the atoning blood of thy Son. Thou didst send him, in the fulness of time, to save that which was lost—to ranson those who were under the curse of the law—to redeem them who were subject to the world, the flesh, and the devil; and over whom were hanging the terrors of the second death. And, O, that redemption which he brought, not only saves from these fearful evils, but exalts those who were by nature and practice the heirs of wo, to be the objects of God’s favour in this life, and the joint-heirs of Christ’s inheritance in the world to come! O Lord, give me an ever-present conviction that this salvation is not by human wisdom or power; for it was thy mercy that procured it, and it is thy Spirit that induces and enables us to accept it. Direct all my hopes to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world ; and assist me to realize that there is no other name given under heaven among men, whereby sinners can be saved. Enable me, I beseech thee, to believe in him with my heart unto righteousness, and to make confession of him with my mouth unto salvation. Teach me that it is by grace we are saved; for thou wouldst not defile the excellency and glory of thy work, by making it the fruit of our works of righteousness, which are indeed, of themselves, as filthy rags. Thou wilt suffer none to glory in redemption, but through the cross of Jesus Christ.—Lead me, I pray thee, in that highway of holiness, thy sacred word; which thou hast given us that the man of God may be perfect, and thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Seal me by thy Spirit of promise; and if thou hast begun a good work in me, perform it unto the day of Christ. O Most High, if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? For thy great name’s sake, show the power and fitness of thy salvation on the wicked. Arouse them from their false and guilty peace, by some bereavement of their comforts, or some disaster of life; by the startling terrors of thy law, or by the clear shining of thy love. Make them feel that the redemption of the soul is precious, and that it ceaseth for ever. Persuade them to flee for refuge to a crucified Saviour. Take them from the horrible pit and the miry clay; and set their feet upon the Rock of safety and blessedness; and put a new song into their mouths, even of praise to him who so loved the world as to give himself for it, that he might redeem unto himself a peculiar people, who should serve him in newness of life, and enjoy with him the blessings of an everlasting salvation. SANCTUARY. Lord, incline me to love the services of thy sanctuary ; for a day in thy courts is tetter than a thousand spent in worldly pleasures. O that I might desire more to be a door-keeper in the house of God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.—Lord, suffer me not to forsake the assemblies of thy saints. May I remember that Christ loved the synagogue; and that his disciples continued daily with one accord in the temple. There the rich and the poor meet together, and the Lord is the Maker of them all. There thou makest the hearts of thy saints to rejoice, and preparest them to run with renewed strength and increasing diligence in their christian race ; and there thou makest the souls of thine enemies to tremble, and bow before thy sovereign will. It is in thy house, O Lord, that thou showest the riches of thy mercy, and the strength of thy power! Great Master of Assemblies, bring me to thy tabernacles with preparation of heart and with prayer. May I revere and love that gospel which is preached there. Incline me to hear it with close and devout attention, and with personal application. Make thy word to my heart as a fire that melteth, and as a hammer that breaketh the rock. Incline me to hear it with candour and kindness towards him who is its messenger; desiring that the words of his mouth may glorify God, and be used as the means of quickening and saving souls. Strengthen me, I pray thee, to obey, with full purpose of heart, all thy commands. They only are happy, who in knowing these things are willing to do them: for not every one that saith, " Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of our Father in heaven. Make me a doer, as well as a hearer of thy word. May I render unto thee not only an outward, but an inward and spiritual worship.—Lord, let not the impressions of thy truth escape with the occasion of its utterance. Dispose me to meditate on it in my heart—to digest it in my thoughts—to make it the subject of prayer— and to show it forth in my life. O let it not be as the seed by the way-side; nor as that on stony ground; nor as that among thorns:—but let it be like that which fell on good ground, and brought forth, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred told. Lord, bring within thy sanctuaries, the multitudes who spend their Sabbaths in idleness and sin. O, let not the walks of Zion be deserted, while the gates of hell are thronged with eager travellers. May thy people draw them by the bands of a man, and thy Spirit by the cords of love, until they shall come and fill to overflowing, the tabernacles of the righteous. And come thou, O God, in the greatness of thy love and majesty, and make thy courts melodious with the praises of souls newly ransomed by the power and grace of thy truth. And thy glorious name, Father, Son, and Spirit, shall have the praise for ever. SANCTIFICATION. O Most Holy, how impure is this heart which thou didst make to be the temple of the living God. But, thanks be to thy name, thou canst make me clean. Thy Spirit can sanctify me by thy truth and by thy providence, and can change me into thine own image; making my powers fit for thy service, and my soul meet to be thy dwelling-place. Lord, grant me that work of thy free grace by which I shall be enabled more and more to die unto sin, and to live unto righteousness. May I remember that thou art holy; and that this is thy will, even our sanctification. May I look upon Jesus, in his character as a Saviour from sin. Show me in his sufferings and death, the guilt of man’s sinfulness. Teach me by the rebellion of my own heart, its stubbornness and deformity. Convince me of its demerit, by vivid views of the unending punishment of the lost. O make me loathe transgression. Paralyze its power over my judgment, conscience, and affections; that the body of sin being destroyed, henceforth I may not serve sin, but be the servant of righteousness. Great God, preserve the hearts of thy chosen generation from sinful thoughts, words, and actions ; and do thou cause them to abound in works of righteousness. May thy grace sanctify them by a hope that purifieth even as Christ is pure; by a love which seeks conformity to thine own image ; and by a faith which looks at things that are not seen, and that are eternal.—Make them living epistles, seen and read of all men. Make them the salt of the earth—the means of leading a wicked and perverse generation, by the power of a good example, to glorify their Father in heaven. Gracious Sovereign, enable them to adorn the doctrine of God, their Saviour, in all things. Imbue them with that holiness without which no man can see the Lord.—[See HoLiness.] SATAN. Merciful Father, protect me from the open and secret influences of Satan, who is the great adversary of souls. O let me not be heedless of the truth, that he exerts his power even on the hearts of thy saints. If the innocence of Paradise, and the spotless purity of Jesus himself, were not exempt from his devices, I surely need not hope to escape his assaults. But I implore the aid of thy grace, that I may resist them, and triumph over them. Bestow on me the shield of faith, wherewith I may be able to quench all the fiery darts of thl wicked one. Give me wisdom to detect, and virtue to repel, all his countless temptations. Arm me, I pray thee, with the sword of thy truth, that I may resist the devil, so that he shall flee from me. Lord, overthrow the power of Satan in the hearts of the children of disobedience. Let not this world be given up to his cruel dominion. Redeem those that are under his influence, and make them the servants of the living God. Lord of Hosts, cast out the prince of this world. Fulfil speedily thy promises, that thou wilt bruise the Serpent’s head; and that thou wilt bind the Dragon, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he shall deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years are fulfilled, in which Christ shall reign from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. Saviour.—See Jesus Christ, and Christmas. SCRIPTURES. God of Truth, I praise thee, that thou hast not left the human race to the blind gropings of unaided reason, in seeking a knowledge of thy will; but that thou hast given us the scriptures of truth, which holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. I would thank thee for their precepts, which are monitors of duty—for their examples, which are incentives to good—for their threatenings, which are merciful warnings against evil—and for their promises, which are the beacons of hope. Thy testimonies are sure, making wise the simple ; and thy law is perfect, converting the soul. Lord, grant me an affecting sense of thy condescending goodness in’ the gift of the volume of revelation. Give me the teachings of thy Spirit, that I may understand and love the things of thy word. Incline me, I pray thee, to keep thy statutes; since he only that doeth thy will, shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God : while he is cursed who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law, to do them. O make the scriptures profitable to me for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that I may be thoroughly furnished unto every good work. Incline me to search them for the truth as it is in Jesus; and may I find there that pearl of great price which is the only passport to heaven. When my soul cleaveth to the dust, quicken thou me according to thy word, and cause it to dwell in me richly, in all wisdom. Enable me to draw lessons of wisdom and holiness from its blessed pages, wherewith to guide my judgment and direct my steps, in all the ways of life. Sanctify me by thy truth; thy word is truth. Giver of Mercies, I thank thee for that bright cluster of evidences to the truth of the Bible, which the researches of the wise and good have gathered over its sacred leaves. O that every sceptic, and every infidel, would learn from them the folly and wickedness of their unbelief, and come with broken hearts and submissive minds, to the throne of thy mercy, crying, " Lord, we would believe ; help thou our unbelief." Lord, bring thy truth with convincing, and persuading, and controlling power, on the hearts and consciences of the ungodly. O make it an effectual means of converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation.—May thy saints attend thereunto, with diligence, preparation, and prayer; receiving it with faith and love, laying it up in their hearts, and practising it in their lives. God of Truth, prosper with thy blessing, the efforts which have been made, and those which are now making, to give the word of life to those who, in our own and in other countries, are perishing for lack of knowledge. I would extol thy mercy that the sacred volume has been transmitted through so many generations, without corruption ; and that it has been translated, and published, and multiplied in so many tongues and nations of the earth. O reanimate, and strengthen, and extend these labours, until thy word shall have free course in every family throughout the world, and be glorified in bringing multitudes of souls into the kingdom of God. And to thee, O Lord, shall be ascribed power, and dominion, and glory for ever. SEAMEN. Lord, remember the wants of them that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, and see thy wonders in the deep. Alas ! how few of them can be said to have any Sabbath, any sanctuary, any home; and how few are there that care for their bodies or their souls. Lord, preserve them in their constant perils by sea and by land. O thou that makest the storm a calm, that the waves thereof are still, restrain for them the raging tempest ; quiet for them the devouring ocean; and send them in safety and gladness over their trackless journeys. And while their feet are upon land, keep them from straying among those forbidden paths, which lie thicker than the perils of sunken rocks, and are fuller of danger than the stormy winds and treacherous seas. Heavenly Father, I thank thee that this class of men, so long neglected, has at length arrested the sympathies of some in thy churches ; and that successful measures have been undertaken to make them the subjects of that gospel, which should be their anchor in port, and their chart at sea. Lord, spread widely through thy churches, a knowledge of the wants and claims of seamen. May thy people look with compassion on their toils and sufferings, their dangers and destitution ; and be led, in the love of souls, to strive to bring them into the kingdom of heaven. Grant that these men, who have so long been the instruments of carrying the vices of civilization among the heathen, and all nations of the world, may soon become the heralds of the gospel, and carry to every coast of earth, the blessings of redeeming grace. O fulfil that vision of prophecy, in which the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto God. SELF-CONSECRATION. Gracious God, help me to consecrate myself to thee with full purpose of soul, and with endeavours after new obedience. Make me feel that if I could offer thee a world, and yet hold back the gift; of my heart, my oblation would be but a worthless and odious thing in thy sight. Lord, I am thine by creation, and by constant benefaction. O has not Christ died for me, that I should be thine, in the purchase of his atoning blood ? Let me, therefore, not live unto myself, but unto him. Enable me to say from my heart, " Here, Lord, I give myself to thee; it is all that I can do." Accept, I pray thee, that offering, in the name of Jesus, the Ransom of sinners. I would take thee, O Lord, as my portion—thy law as my rule—thy service as my meat and tlrink—and thy purposes as the ground of my faith and hope. Bring all my expectations, wishes, and intentions into conformity with thy will; and let me live, and move, and have my being in a covenant of full-hearted and never-failing devotion to thee, and the interests of thy kingdom. SELF-DENIAL. O Most High, enable me to deny myself, to take up my cross daily, and to follow my blessed Saviour ; who, though he had shared with the Father, the glory from the beginning, yet made himself of no reputation; and though he had all power in heaven and earth, took upon him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Lord, grant me the spirit of self-denial in what I eat and drink, and wherewithal I am clothed. Let me not be a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God. Make me temperate in every lawful pursuit. Help me to abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul. May I forsake uncleanness of thought, word, and action. Turn me away from the love of money, which is the root of all evil. Give me grace to stifle my desires for the praise of men, whose favour is indeed deceitful. Raise me above the fear of man, that bringeth a snare. Assist me, I beseech thee, to overcome my temptations to display and to self-righteousness ; and let me count all things but loss, that I may be found in Christ, with that righteousness which is of God, by faith. Make me willing to give up every thing which will come in competition with the interests of my soul, or the welfare of thy kingdom. Yea, let me not count my life dear to myself, if I may avoid that which is evil, and cleave to that which is right: for whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but he that loseth his life for thy sake shall find it. SELF-DECEPTION. Searcher of Hearts, suffer me not to dwell at case in Zion, if I have only a name to live, and have not the life-giving power of godliness. If my hope be false, O take it away before it becomes as that of the hypocrite—as a spider’s web, or as the giving up of the ghost. Bestow on me, I beseech thee, thou Gracious One, a good hope through grace, which shall be as a house built on a rock, that shall not fall, though the rains come, and the winds blow, and beat upon it. May it be as an anchor to my soul, both sure and steadfast, entering into that within the vail. Lord, search me and try me, and see if there be any evil way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. If I have indeed been deceived, O do thou open my eyes, and turn me from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that I may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith. Great God, let there be searchings of heart among all that profess thy name. May they remember that those are not all Israel who are of Israel. Not every one that saith, " Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven : for the King will say of many who would be guests at his heavenly table, " Bind them hand and foot, and take them away, and cast them into outer darkness—there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." O let all the victims of self-delusion, cast off the robes of deceit, and put on the wedding-garment; that they may be found among thy chosen ones, whom thou wilt feast with the fulness of joy, in thy presence, for ever more. SELF-EXAMINATION. Great Source of Wisdom, give me a habit of honest and searching self-examination, that I may prove myself, and know whether I am in the faith. Make me ever anxious to know the state of my heart, and the working of my motives. Guide and strengthen me, while I inquire of my soul and of thee, whether I acknowledge and mourn over my transgressions, and receive Christ as my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Have I indeed been born again—am I a new creature in Christ Jesus—and are the evidences of my new estate clear and increasing 1 Is the Lord my master to serve, and my portion to enjoy; and is the welfare of his kingdom the desire of my heart 1 Am I daily dying unto sin, and living unto righteousness ? Am I thankful for mercies, and prayerful for blessings ; pursuing the glory of God; doing to others as I would have them do unto me; and diligently seeking that city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God ? Teach me, O Lord, all my errors, weaknesses, and sins. Cleanse me from them by the enlightening, strengthening, and sanctifying influences of thy Spirit. And O, may I remember that if I should be wilfully or heedlessly blind to my transgressions, thou, Lord, knowest them altogether. Let not selflove nor pride, hinder me from an impartial knowledge of myself. Preserve me from a false estimate of any part of my character. May I look at my principles as well as my conduct—and at my motives as well as my actions. Let me never mistake the excitement of feeling for the renewing of the Holy Ghost; nor the outward activities of religion for its inward spirit. Let me not judge of my religion by occasional impressions and impulses, but by my habit of life. Lord, make it worthy of the vocation wherewith I am called, and such as becometh the gospel of Christ. SELFISHNESS. Great Sovereign, let not my motives nor conduct be governed by selfishness. Teach me that this principle is the original and deep-rooted sin of my nature. O how has it exalted self above all other creatures, and above God himself! How has it filled the world, in all the length of its history, with pride, self-indulgence, contention, cruelty, and death.—Lord, suffer me not to set up my judgment against thy wisdom, nor my desires against thy will. Show me that thy will is the supreme law of both duty and happiness. Keep me from seeking my own interests heedlessly, or at the expense of the welfare of others. Make me realize that I am but a unit among the multitudes of thy rational creatures, each of whom has the same deep stake with myself, in the pursuit of comfort and well-being.— Thou hast said that he who would follow Jesus, must deny himself. Keep me from the character and wo of those that covet an evil covetousness, and who would grow rich in pleasure and worldly good, at the cost of the humble and needy. O let me not exclude myself from thy love, nor dishonour humanity, by shutting up my feelings of compassion at the cry of want or misery. Give me that charity that seeketh not her own, that goeth about doing good, even as did our Lord and Master. Lord, preserve me from selfishness in the pursuits of religion. Though thou hast enjoined on me the most diligent efforts for growth in grace and personal salvation, thou hast laid necessity upon me to spread the gospel among the destitute, and to warn souls from the broad way of death, and win them to the narrow path of life. O help me so to blend my duties to myself and my neighbour, that we together may be partners of thy fellowship on earth, and joint-heirs of thy communion in heaven. SERVANTS. Heavenly Master, bless those that occupy the relation of servants among men. Teach them the duties of their station, and dispose them to do them in the fear of the Lord. May they count their masters worthy of honour, and obey them in singleness of heart, as unto Christ; with good-will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men ; knowing that whatsoever good things any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. Make them faithful in protecting and diligent in promoting the interests, reputation, and comfort of their employers.—O that they might always be treated with kindness and liberality; and thus be induced to a grateful attachment to those whom they serve. Lord, protect them from oppression, unkindness, and fraud. Make them contented and happy in the discharge of their lawful duties. Show them that their station is of the ordinance of God ; and that by a faithful use of their opportunities, they may so labour in the service of heaven, that at the last day, their great Master may say unto them, " Well done, good and faithful servants; enter ye into the joy of your Lord." SICKNESS. Blessed and Only Potentate, in thy power are the springs of disease and the secrets of health. Thou makest sore, and bindest up: thou woundest, and thy hands make whole. If thou speak the word, the season of my sickness shall melt away into the refreshing glow of health : but if thou command it otherwise, it will change to the cold and gloomy darkness of death and the grave. Lord make me content to leave its issues with thee. If it be thy will, then raise me up, to praise thee in the land of the living. But if not, prepare me for the valley of the shadow of death. May thy rod and staff comfort me, and thy hand minister unto me an entrance abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Heavenly Parent, visit in great mercy, all that lie on beds of languishing. Induce them to reflect that disease is a mournful proof of human transgression. May they regard their sickness as the light recompense of their iniquities; and as the discipline of thy hand, which will either prepare them for better service on earth, and nobler enjoyment in heaven—or leave them to greater hardness of heart in this world, and deeper condemnation in the world to come. O Lord of Mercy, relieve their pains, or give them grace to bear them with enduring patience. Let them neither despise thy chastenings, nor faint at thy rebukes. Grant them confidence in thy wisdom, mercy, and power: for thou canst not err in thy judgment—thy chastenings work out the peaceable fruits of righteousness—and thy strength is made perfect in human weakness. May the light of thy countenance be more desirable to them than even the gladness of returning health. O teach them in these hours of suffering, how brief and uncertain are earthly comforts^how weak and brittle their hold on human life. Incline them, I pray thee, to renounce every human hope, and to look unto Jesus, as the great and only Physician of the soul. May they, by the exercise of faith in his atoning blood, consecrate themselves to him, that whether living or dying, they may be the Lord’s. Merciful Father, shed thy most tender compassions over those whose sickness is unto death. May thy saints be stayed in their hour of trial, upon thine everlasting arm, and go through the swelling tide with hope in their hearts and rejoicing on their lips.—O let not the sinner venture to encounter the king of terrors with sullen indifference, nor deceptive hope. Although a death-bed repentance be an uncertain ground of trust, yet thy grace, which is sufficient for every emergency of life, can still redeem him, even in the gates of dissolution. O Jesus, speak to him, as thou didst to the thief on the cross, " To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." SIN. Holy One of Israel, teach me the evil nature and fearful consequences of iniquity. It is the transgression of thy law, in doing what thou hast forbidden, and failing to do what thou hast commanded. Lord, every sin deserves thy wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come. Assist me, I beseech thee, to feel that it is an evil and bitter thing to sin against the Lord. Thy law which I and all mankind break, is holy, just, and good. Thy goodness against which we have transgressed, has been over us every hour of our lives. Thou hast nourished and brought us up as children; but we have rebelled against thee. Every sin which we commit, includes as many acts of ingratitude as the whole number of thy past mercies to us. Our iniquity has blinded our minds towards truth, and has made us the prey of error. It has been the snare that has corrupted and debased our souls, and left them increasingly open to temptation and guilt. O make us feel that all the sickness, misery, remorse, and death in the world, are the fruits of transgression ; and that if sin had not entered into the world, this earth would have been, in all its generations, a paradise of happy and holy obedience. Lord, increase our sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, by heart-felt views of the humiliation, agony, and death of thy Son; and by the revelation thou hast given of that blackness of darkness and anguish of despair, which it has brought on the finally impenitent, the smoke of whose torment ascendeth for ever and ever. Great God, it becomes me to take shame and confusion of face upon myself; to cry, " Guilty, and unclean;" and to implore thee to be merciful to me, a sinner. Thou art spotless holiness; and thou canst not look upon sin but with abhorrence. If thou shouldst lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet; or if even thou shouldst deal with me for one of a thousand of my transgressions, I would be driven from thy presence in utter despair. But, thanks be to thy name, the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. Though I should be condemned without hope, if I dared to stand before thee in my own strength ; yet in the righteousness of my Surety, I may approach thee, and receive remission of sins.—Lord, preserve me from the dominion of unholiness, whether it spring from the world, the flesh, or the devil. May the grace that bringeth salvation, so teach me to deny ungodliness, and to fear and loathe iniquity, that I shall constantly die unto sin and live unto righteousness. SINNERS. Great God, affect my heart powerfully, by right views of the condition of sinners. O let not my soul be at ease in her possessions, while the earth is full of the workers of iniquity. Let not selfishness, nor unbelief, nor despondency, stupify my compassions for those who every where crowd the ways of destruction. May I look on them as rebels against thy law, over whom hang thy judgments, which may soon overwhelm them in remediless ruin. Give me deep yearnings over their awful guilt and danger. Dispose me to pray, in earnestness and faith, for their deliverance from sin ; and lead me to strive to pluck them as brands from the burning. Lord, direct me in the choice and use of such measures as will promote the salvation of souls. O wilt thou give me the blessed privilege of turning some that were ready to perish, into the covert of redemption 7 Compassionate Jehovah, kindle the love of souls in the breasts of all thy people. May deep concern for the spiritual wants of men, pervade their thoughts, direct their desires, and govern their conduct. O that all who call upon thy name for their own salvation, would earnestly ask what thou wilt have them to do in saving the ungodly. Arm them, I pray thee, with those weapons of love which are mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds. May they use the power of a holy example, the wisdom of right knowledge, and the fervour of a persevering zeal, to convince and persuade, and win the unrighteous from their transgressions. Cause the remembrance of their own former impenitency and exposure to wrath, together with their gratitude for thy distinguishing grace, to excite their strong cryings to God, and their deep compassions and earnest efforts, for those who are living without hope and God in the world. Lord, set before the minds of believers, the weight of guilt and retribution which hangs over the impenitent; and cause them to feel and act upon the strong conviction, that in fulfilling their duty to such, they will enjoy peace of conscience, the joyful reward of faithful servants, and be the happy instruments of saving souls. Lord, I would implore thy mercy on sinners themselves. Convince them of their deep-rooted depravity, and of the wrath they are treasuring up against the day of wrath. Let none deceive themselves with a vain admiration of their natural virtues; for these instead of abating the enormity of their guilt, only stamp upon it the additional reproach that they have ungratefully refused to consecrate these virtues to the Lord that bestowed them. O that thy love to them, in the mercies of thy providence, in the pleadings of thy word, in the gift of thy Son, and in the strivings of thy grace, might fill them with that repentance which is unto life. Persuade them that thou hast no pleasure in their death; but that thou art waiting to be gracious. Though they have destroyed themselves, in thee is their help: whosoever will, may take of the waters of life freely. Let them not neglect so great salvation, lest they sin away the day of their merciful visitation ; and then a great ransom will not deliver them. Lead them, I pray thee, to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. May they look to him, and be saved. And thy name, Father, Son, and Spirit, shall have the glory of their redemption through time and eternity. SLANDER. Lord, suffer me not to be guilty of the vice of slander. Let me not through either mistake or prejudice, rashness or ill-will, charge evil falsely on. my fellows. Make me tender of the reputation of all men ; and especially of the household of faith O how has this sin impaired or destroyed individual comfort and usefulness, domestic and social bliss, and public peace! How has even the character of piety been soiled, and the unity of the church been rent, by the words of suspicion, and tale-bearing, and falsehood ! O that all evil speaking would cease out of the world, and that all men would judge the motives and state the conduct of others in righteousness and truth. Lord, keep my mouth from slander, and my lips from speaking guile. Incline me to take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. May my speech be always with grace; for if any man offend not in word, the same is perfect, and is able also to bridle the whole body. SLAVERY. God of Truth and Love, direct aright the feelings and judgments of all men in relation to slavery. May they learn that it is a sin against the laws of God and the rights of man, which must, if not forsaken, avert thy blessed favour, and bring down thy sore displeasure. Thou hast said that love is the fulfilling of thy law; and that whatsoever we would that men should do to us, we must do even so unto them. Thou hast told us that the cries of them that reap without hire, enter into thine ears: and thou hast denounced heavy wo against him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong’—that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work.— How long, O Lord, shall the selfishness of man appropriate to itself the time and the toil of the weak and needy, and degrade the immortal mind with ignorance and sin 1 Lord, let our land soon cease to be an astonishment and a reproach among the nations of the earth. May we cease to do evil, and learn to do well. Show us that righteousness exalteth a nation ; but that sin is a reproach to any people. Shepherd of Israel, take away the guilt of thy people in this matter, whether it be incurred by silence, approval, or fellowship. Bring them out from unrighteousness, that they may be separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Teach them that the righteous considereth the cause of the poor. Enable them to discern the signs of the times, and to adopt such measures as heavenly wisdom will own and bless. Make them realize that all men have one Father, and that they are verily guilty concerning their brother. May they remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them. May they open their mouth for the dumb, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.—O God of Zion, do thou take up the stumbling block out of their way. Let them have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Yea, thou hast said that open rebuke is better than secret love; and that faithful are the wounds of a friend. May they in meekness, instruct those that oppose themselves; and yet be faithful witnesses, that cry aloud, and spare not; and who will show them their transgressions. Grant them in this warfare, the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous, which availeth much ; and make them abundant instruments in advancing the cause of freedom, and saving those that are ready to perish. Lord, look in mercy on the oppressor. Preserve him, I pray thee, from the vengeance of the oppressed. Touch his soul with a sense of his wrong, and of its danger. Show him that thou hast made of one blood, all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth. May he remember, that he who oppresseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker. May he break off his sins, by righteousness; and his iniquity by showing mercy. O suffer him not to continue to take away the key of knowledge, and to seal over to vicious ignorance, the souls that God has made for the light of heaven. Let him not look on his own things only, but also on the things of others. Teach him that it is safe to do right; for is not the work of righteousness peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever? Lead him to trust in the Lord, and do good ; so shall he dwell in the land, and, verily, he shall be fed ! O thou that executest righteousness and judgment for the oppressed, wilt thou not proclaim liberty throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof? Give the down-trodden rest from their sorrow, and their fear, and their hard bondage, wherein they are made to serve. Preach deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison-doors to them that are bound. But, O, let it be a bloodless deliverance ; and let the captive come forth by the will of his master; that God may be glorified as much in the repentance of the one, as in the liberty of the other. And when thou settest the slave free from the oppression of man, deliver him from the bondage of sin. Give him the liberty of the sons of God. Make him thy servant, that his fruit may be holiness, and the end everlasting life. Sorrow.—See Grief. SOUL. Eternal and Unchangeable Jehovah, thou hast given me a sou! of deathless nature, and of priceless worth. The earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved ; the earth and all that is therein shall be burnt up ; the heavens shall pass away ; and time shall be no more—and still this spirit will live on, in imperishable youth. O, what is a man profited if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Riches make to themselves wings, and fly away ; honour is but a passing breath of air ; and pleasure perishes in the using:—but thou hast made the soul in the image of thine own eternity. God of Wisdom, help me to understand something of its ever-living value. Teach me that its powers of thought, memory, and affection will cling to it, with an everlasting increase; and will be instruments of exalting its hallowed pleasures, or of deepening its debasing woes, for ever.—O cause me to learn the value of my soul, by the price that was paid for it. Thou didst so love the world, as to give thy Son to die for us. Thou didst not redeem us with corruptible things, such as silver and gold ; but with the precious blood of Christ.—Lord, let me not learn the worth of my soul by its eternal loss, but by its everlasting gain. Great God, thou hast put these awful and eternal interests in the issues of human life. Our season of time, brief and uncertain at best, is our probation that will determine our destinies for eternity. Help me, I beseech thee, now to flee from the wrath to come, and to pursue the inheritance of bliss. Make my day and means of grace sufficient to bring me into the narrow way that leadeth unto life; and then, when thou hast served thy righteous pleasure with me here, where I have no abiding place, take me to that city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 1.09. PART 6 - TALENTS-ZEAL ======================================================================== TALENTS. Giver of Mercies, thou hast been pleased to commit to me various talents, which thou requirest me to occupy until thy coming. Thou hast given me time, property, influence, knowledge, and feeling, wherewith to advance thy glory, and to promote human welfare. Lord, let me not be as the wicked and slothful servant, who hid his talent in the earth, and vainly sought to avert the doom of his guilty indolence. Alas, how have the faculties and opportunities thou hast in mercy given me, been neglected, perverted, and abused. Too often I have sought my own corrupt pleasures, instead of fulfilling the exalted and ennobling duties thou hast set before me. O give me an ever-present conviction, that the means with which thou hast invested me, are only gills in trust, which thou wilt require from me again with usury. Help me, I beseech thee, so to understand and employ them, that in the great day of reckoning, I may receive the plaudit—" Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." TEACHERS. Lord, bless all those who, in their various spheres, have taken charge of the important business of instruction. Dispose and enable them to guide the untutored and inquiring, into the acquisition of knowledge; and fit them to guard from evil, and to mould for good, the characters of those who are committed to their care. O preserve our youth from the corrupting and destroying evils of ignorant and immoral instructors. Inform the minds, and sanctify the hearts of teachers. Give them that wisdom from above which will prepare them to train their pupils in the highest and noblest knowledge that can adorn human nature.—Multiply the facilities of education; put them within the reach of all classes; and dispose all men to seek the intellectual, moral, and religious culture of the rising generation. O Lord, vouchsafe, for the sake of thy dear Son, thy choicest blessings on the Teachers of Sabbathschools. Give unto all of them the character, and efficiency which are needful for their sacred duties. Let them not make these holy efforts, the pastime of the Sabbath, an opiate of conscience, or a service to be seen of men. But let all their impulses in them, spring from love to God and love to man. Imbue all their thoughts and labours in this work, with a supreme regard for thy glory and human welfare. While they take pleasure in every lesser degree of success, O make the conversion of souls their steadfast and absorbing aim! Impress on their minds, the priceless value, the high dignity, the solemn obligations, and the glorious reward of their office. Show them that it relates to the worth of the soul; that it is kindred in its sympathies with the love of Jesus ; that its responsibilities take hold of eternal issues; and that its faithful discharge will make them as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars, for ever and ever ! Great God, give them an experimental knowledge of that salvation which is the great and final object of the system.—May all their duties in it be begun, continued, and ended in earnest prayer, and with entire dependence, and unwavering reliance on the ministrations of the Holy Spirit.—Give them those preparations of the heart, and that answer of the tongue, which are from thee; and grant them a mouth and wisdom, by which they may persuade their youthful charge in the things concerning the kingdom of God.—Make them able ministers of the New Testament; and let thy "word dwell in them richly in all wisdom, that they may be thoroughly furnished in their good work.—Make them fervent in spirit, that they may teach diligently, the things of the Lord.—Cause their example to adorn the doctrine of God, their Saviour, and to allure those whom they teach, into the same path of obedience. Lord, dispose them to avail themselves of the various helps which the wise and good have furnished for their cause ; and let them not grudge the time, and toil, and cost which are necessary to prepare them to meet and instruct their classes.—Let the spirit of affection manifest itself in all their measures ; and may they seek to draw their pupils with the cords of love and the bands of a man.—Make them patient in every trial which they may encounter, through failure, or ignorance, or vice, or enmity.—Let them be punctual in all the appointments of the school; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.—Let them not be satisfied with filling up the brief hours allotted to instruction in the schoolroom ; but may it be their pleasure (as it is their duty) to visit the homes of their scholars ; and, while they minister a word in season, secure and strengthen the good-will of both parents and children. Make them wise to know, and skilful to use the influences which mould human character and conduct.—Let all the mutual relations of teachers be governed by the fellowship of saints.—Suffer none to draw back in weariness or discouragement from these precious duties; but do thou make them always abound in this work of the Lord.—O Lord, grant that the eye of their faith may ever be fixed on that promise— " In due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not:" and that the ear of their hope may ever listen to that verdict—" Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Gracious God, give them abundant success in their labours. Make them leading instruments in spreading divine knowledge, enlarging missionary efforts, sanctifying thy church, promoting revivals of religion, and regenerating the world. TEMPER. Lord, sanctify my temper. Preserve me from peevishness, envy, anger, revenge, and malice. Enable me to maintain an unruffled spirit amid the vexations of circumstances, and the provocations of my fellow-creatures. May that wisdom from above, which is peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, be the governing influence of my life, and lead me to seek the fruit of righteousness, which is sown in peace of them that make peace. Enable me to imitate the quiet meekness of him who lived as our example, as well as died as our Redeemer. Lord, keep me from those occasional or habitual excitements of temper which rob my comfort of mind, dishonour my profession of thy name, and turn away thy precious favour. Vouchsafe unto me, O God, the continual presence of that ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in thy sight is of great price. Temperance.—See Intemperance. TEMPTATION. Great God, make me realize that T live in constant danger of temptations from foes without and enemies within. Satan, with his countless wiles—my own heart, with its self-deceit and sensuality—the world, with its many lures—each seeks to draw me from the paths of duty, and to lead me in the ways of unrighteousness. Lord, thou hast, indeed, purposes of wisdom in suffering me to be thus subject to temptation. Thou canst overrule it for my conformity to Christ, who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. It is in such seasons, O Most High, that thy strength is made perfect in our weakness ; and that we are enabled to glory in our infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on us. And thou often givest us, in mercy, the messengers of Satan, to buffet us, lest we be exalted above measure. They that arc tried, and found faithful, shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Heavenly Father, make thy grace sufficient for me in every season of trial—in the hour of adversity—in the day of prosperity—in the period when exemption from temptation has left me open to seduction—and when the abounding consolations of thy Spirit have been perverted into heedlessness towards the spiritual dangers which beset me. Give me wisdom to discover, and strength to resist, the approach of evil. May I watch unto prayer, knowing that thou art a very present help in every hour of need ; and that thou wilt with the temptation also make a way of escape for all that are of thy heritage.—Lord, carry me safely through every danger, and in thine own time, give me an inheritance among those who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. THANKSGIVING. Lord, I bring unto thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving ; for thou art the Father of Lights, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift. I desire to praise thee for the multitude of thy favours, and to acknowledge that 1 have not deserved even the least of them. I would magnify thee for thy providing, sparing, forgiving, and saving mercies. J bless thee for the various powers of my body, the faculties of my mind, and the affections of my heart; for health and employment; for food and clothing ; for social happiness and public safety. I thank thee for preserving me in the weakness and diseases of childhood, and conducting me over the slippery paths of youth, and protecting me amid the dangers of riper years. Thou hast indeed made my life, which ought, in justice, to have been a wilderness, to bud and blossom as the rose. My trials have been few and short; while my mercies have been without number and without end. But, O Lord, I would thank thee for the blessings of the gospel, more than for every thing else. O what a rich cluster of gifts is offered to us in the grace that bringeth salvation. Thou hast given us the Bible, the preached word, the privilege of prayer, the ordinances of thy house, the Son of God, the influences of thy Holy Spirit, and the hope of glory. Lord, teach me the value of thy bounties. Strengthen my memory that I may retain a knowledge of them. Fill my heart with gratitude and love, because of thine unnumbered, unmerited blessings. May they lead me to repentance, humility, and faith, and to consecrate them and myself to thy service and glory. THEFT. Blessed God, cause all dishonesty to cease from the face of the earth. Let men no longer unjustly hinder their neighbour’s wealth or outward estate. Destroy that spirit of covetousness which urges mankind to fraud, robbery, and oppression, and to be partakers of unholy gain. Do thou cause the principles of strict and impartial honesty to govern the relations of commerce, and of master and servant. Give currency and influence, I pray thee, to that blessed rule, of doing unto others as we would they should do unto us. Lord, keep me from indulging in any form of dishonesty. Make me just to all the lawful interests of my fellows. Let me never desire to increase my own substance at their expense; nor to withhold from any, however humble or unworthy, the debts of justice and humanity. Incline me always to rejoice in the good of my neighbour, and to walk uprightly, and work righteousness. Time.—See Life. TONGUE. Lord, make my voice a testimony of praise unto thee, and an organ of wisdom and love unto men. Dispose me to speak of thine excellent goodness, to confess my manifold transgressions, and to supplicate thy satisfying mercies. Give me grace to proclaim and defend thy word. Make me an advocate of the innocent and the oppressed. Incline me to encourage that which is good, and to reprove that which is evil. May I seek useful knowledge, with the purpose of teaching it to others. And, Lord, I would fervently implore thee, for Christ’s sake, that I may be led to persuade men to be reconciled to thee, by the death of thy Son. Great Author of Goodness, I thank thee for the gift of speech. But, O, I desire to realize that it is an instrument whose uses are fearfully abused. How often, alas ! does the tongue become an unruly member, and full of deadly poison ; producing envying and strife, confusion and every evil work. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips. Keep my tongue from evil, and my lips from speaking guile. Thou hast said, that if any man seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, he deceiveth his own heart, and his religion is vain. Enable me to bring forth good things out of the good treasure of the heart; and let my words be of the uprightness of my heart. Put away from me all bitterness and evil speaking; and let no corrupt communication proceed out of my mouth, but that which is good, to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.—[See Slander.] TRACTS. Heavenly Father, bless the efforts which are made to spread thy truth, by means of tracts. It was in this form thou didst first cause to be gathered the words of wisdom, which holy men spake of old, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. As thou didst then set the seal of thy favour on such instruments, so thou art now using them as means of turning sinners from death to life. Lord, bless those societies, in our own and other countries, which have undertaken to promote, in this way, the welfare of thy kingdom. Give them wisdom and grace in all their measures. May they be sustained by the prayers, and gifts, and labours of thy people. O that all the children of Zion would feelingly understand the power of the press in furnishing these leaves for the healing of the nations. I thank thee for the influence which has been given to them in heathen .lands, and for the rich promises which the signs of the times afford, as to their future usefulness, both at home and abroad. I pray thee, multiply their number, and send them to all the dark places of the earth, as winged messengers, proclaiming the everlasting gospel. Lord, extend and bless their circulation in our own land. Grant thy rich favour to the monthly distribution, wherever it is sustained; and do thou cause it to be established in every community in our country. May all who have undertaken that plan of benevolence, connect with it personal efforts for the conversion of souls. While they supply the temporal wants of the poor, and give the Bible to the destitute, and gather neglected children into Sundayschools, and seek to stay the desolations of intemperance, O may they realize that their great work, in connexion with their tract distribution, is to labour personally and faithfully, for the salvation of those with whom they are thus brought in contact. Sanction abundantly, all such efforts, by the enlightening, convincing, and converting power of the Holy Spirit. TRINITY. Great God, cause my understanding to acknowledge, and my heart to adore the mystery of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who are the same in substance, equal in power and glory, and who constitute the infinite, eternal and unchangeable Godhead. Lord, let not my feeble and erring judgment stagger at nor exalt itself against the testimony of thy word : but what thou hast revealed, that may I receive with a willing mind. O do thou enable me to receive the Father in all the fulness of his love—the Son, in all the riches of his atonement— and the Spirit, in all the sanctifying power of his grace. God of Truth, banish that heresy, which in the pride of human reason, would vainly seek to pervert the doctrine of the Unity of the Godhead, so as to destroy the belief of the glorious Trinity. May all men learn that there are three that bear record in heaven, and that these three are one. May they honour the Son even as they honour the Father; and worship that Spirit whose ministrations are life because of righteousness. Trust.—See Confidence. TRUTH. Heavenly Father, dispel every form of error by the power of uncorrupted truth. Lord, thy word is truth. Give it, therefore, free course, that it may be glorified in redeeming the corrupt and wandering minds of men, from the deceptions of prejudice and error. Bring all mankind to a knowledge of it, and especially of the truth as it is in Jesus, which only is able to make them wise unto salvation. Instruct them in that mystery which was hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to the saints ; which is Christ, in them, the hope of glory. Lord, assist me to love thy truth, and to seek its promotion, even though it may cover me with rebuke and shame. May it turn me from every refuge of lies, and bring me to trust in thee with all my heart. May sincerity dwell in my soul, and truth have its image in my heart, and verity be found on my lips. Teach me to abhor deceit in every possible form. May I remember that nothing can enter the holy city, that maketh or loveth a lie; and that the lip of truth shall be established for evere’—[See Falsehood.] Great God, thou art the fountain of untarnished truth, and with thee there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. No stain of deceit has ever cast a shadow on the purity of thy purposes and dealings. Though the mountains depart, and the hills be removed, thy kindness doth not depart from thee ; neither is the covenant of thy peace removed. Thy word is the counsels of faithfulness; thy promises are all Yea and Amen ; and thy threatenings, though they be not speedily executed, shall be fulfilled in righteousness. O Lord, give me such a persuasion of thy faithfulness, as shall encourage and strengthen my heart in every endurance of trial and performance of duty. Help me to commit the keeping of my soul unto thee, in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator. UNBELIEF. Adorable Jehovah, I beseech thee, let there not be in me an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. Assist me to know and feel that this sin dishonours thy glorious name, thy precious word, and thy righteous providence. Make me feel that it shuts out the light of thy countenance, and brings the darkness of spiritual ignorance and death over my soul. O may I reflect on the doom of him that believeth not, and is condemned already. Enable me to watch unto prayer, against this destroying evil. Protect me from the influences which lead to it—from Satan, from ignorance, from pride, and from sensuality. Lord, redeem me from its power, by the teachings of thy word and Spirit. Give my judgment a clear perception of truth, and bring my affections into submission to thy will: and then, thanks be to thy name, I shall believe with my heart unto righteousness, and praise thee in the obedience of faith. Lord, I would believe; help thou mine unbelief.—[See Faith.] UNDERSTANDING. Omniscient Jehovah, I thank thee for the gift of my understanding, by which I may acquire know- ledge, and without which I should be ignorant of thy law, and should live as the brutes that perish. I pray thee, in the name of the Heavenly Advocate, that thou wouldst make me feel the solemn responsibilities which belong to the noble faculty of reason. Let not ignorance, nor prejudice, nor depravity control its exercises. Preserve it from error, and guide it into the knowledge of truth. Make it a storehouse of useful knowledge. Direct its energies chiefly towards that wisdom which is from above. Grant me enlarged and discriminating views of thy character, works, and will. Dispose me, Great God, to submit my judgment to the tokens of thy mind in all things; for thine understanding is infinite. UNION. Shepherd of Israel, teach thy people how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is as the dew that descended on the mountains of Zion : there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for ever more. May they mourn over the sectarian walls that divide thy church, and the unkindness and strife that so often prevail among those who bear the same party name. May they lament over the sectional feelings which alienate the members of different communions, and that bigotry of judgment which forbids the universal fellowship of saints. O Lord, why should there be any other test of brotherhood than that of union to Christ ? Why should the children of adoption treat each other as strangers and foreigners ? Why should those who expect to be joint-heirs of the inheritance of heaven, refuse fellowship with each other on earth ? O God of Love, rebuke every spirit of dissension. Bring together all scattered fragments of thy church, and bind them by that charity which is the bond of perfectness. As there is but one shepherd, so let there be but one fold. As there is but one king, so let there be but one dominion. Let the heritage of God be a household of faith, that shall stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Lord, cause the unity of the spirit to bring together all thy followers in the bond of peace ; that they may be one, even as the Father and Son are One. USEFULNESS. God of Salvation, I would ask thee in the name of thy dear Son, to dispose me to do good as I have opportunity; for with such sacrifices thou art wellpleased. May I remember that every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Thou hast placed me in the garden of thy providence, not merely that I should gather fruit for myself, but for others also. Thou hast put me into the fruitful field of thy grace, not that I might obtain food for myself only, but also that I might give the bread of life to others. Christ has not died for me that I should live unto myself, but unto him in the spirit of his gospel, which is good-will to men. Teach me, O Lord, that life does not consist so much in length of days, as in the multitude of our acts of justice and mercy to mankind. I pray thee, direct me to such means and objects of good-will, as shall qualify me to be a follower of Jesus, who went about doing good. Lead me to supply the wants of the needy, to comfort the distresses of the afflicted, and to remove the causes of misfortune and guilt. Enable me to instruct the ignorant, to reprove the wicked, to strengthen the good, and to win souls from the mazes of error and sin, to the ways of truth and holiness. WATCHFULNESS. Lord, instruct me in the nature of the dangers by which I am beset, and make me ever watchful against their open or secret influences. Make me vigilant against the corruptions of my own heart—its love of indulgence, of riches, and of display. Inspire me with carefulness in my intercourse with the world, lest it draw me aside into the paths of vanity and sin. Enable me to watch against the temptations of satan, who is the adversary of the soul, and seeks its destruction by countless stratagems. May my loins be girt about, and my light be burning; and may I receive the blessing of those servants, whom, when the Lord cometh, he shall find watching. Wicked.—See Sinners. WIDOWHOOD. Lord, regard in mercy her from whom thou hast taken her earthly stay and comfort. Thou hast indeed stricken her in her dearest and tenderest ties. The light of her eyes, the counsellor of her mind, the helper of her weakness, the soother of her sorrows, the partner of her joys—thou hast. removed, without the hope of return. But thou art the husband of the widow, and the father of the fatherless. O may her desolate heart trust in thee above every human refuge, and realize that thou art able by thy power and willing in thy mercy to heal her griefs, and supply her need. Pour thou the oil of consolation into her bereaved and aching bosom, and cause her heart to sing for joy, because of thy comforts. Raise up for her those whose sympathies will cheer her wounded spirit, whose counsels will encourage her sinking hopes, and whose help will assist her in struggling with a selfish and unfeeling world. Protect her from unkindness and oppression. Open up for her a pathway of peace and plenty. Blessed Jesus, make her thine in the espousals of thy love. Thou canst be more unto her than he whose cherished presence and affection she has lost. Thou art able to turn her darkness into light, her grief into joy, and her want into abundance. Thou canst teach her in the day of her afflicting visitation the things which belong to her peace, and make the time of her earthly loss the season of her eternal gain. Be thou unto her the chief among ten thousand, and one altogether lovely. Say unto her, " Fear not, I am with thee; I, even I, am he that comforteth thee: thy Maker is thy husband." WILL. Sovereign of the Universe, sanctify my will. Give it grace always to choose that which is good, and reject that which is evil. I would lament before thee its proneness to forsake thy holy law, and to follow after selfish pleasure. That faculty which thou didst put within me, to guide me to righteous obedience, alas! how often does it urge me on to unholy rebellion. Lord, restore it to that strength and purity which it enjoyed when thou didst first send forth man from thy creating power, in thine own blessed image. O let me not choose any thing that is opposed to thy holy will. Cleanse thou the fountain of my desires, and make it as a well of living water, springing up into everlasting life. Will, Of God.—See Obedience, Submission. WINTER. Lord, who can stand before thy cold? Thou givest snow like wool, and scatterest the hoar-frost like ashes. By thy breath the breadth of the waters is straitened. The singing of birds has yielded to the sighing of winds and the howling of tempests. The trees which once hung out their garments of verdure and ornaments of fruit, to please the eye and regale the taste of man, now spread their naked and unsightly limbs over a barren landscape ; and the earth that lately teemed with the beauty and abundance of life, is now wrapped in the cold winding-sheet of nature. Yet, O Lord, let me not be heedless of thy mercy and wisdom in the arrangements of even these gloomy months. In the midst of all this barrenness, thou preservest the life of man and beast. Behold the fowls of the air, which neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; yet our Heavenly Father feedeth them. These seeming desolations are the repose of nature; and thou art keeping in safety beneath them, the germs of seed-time and the promise of harvest. In due time thou wilt bring forth, refreshed and renewed by the sleep of winter, the green herb, the Waving leaf, the smiling flower, and the rushing waters, to cheer and bless the heart of man, and praise and magnify the greatness of God. Merciful Father, I thank thee for the abundant food, the convenient raiment, and the protecting home I enjoy in the inclemency that surrounds me. May the rigours of the season be strong and unfailing motives for gratitude to God and mercy to man. Cause my heart to abound with pity to the destitute. Let me not sny to them, with heartless charity, "Be ye warmed and filled ;" and notwithstanding, give them not those things which are needful for the body. Dispose me to open my hand to the needy—remembering that thou hast said, " Blessed is he that considereth the poor." Lord, may I regard this season as the emblem of adversity. Life is indeed not all sunshine, and pleasure, and plenty. It has its days and months of darkness, and sorrow, and want. O prepare me by the grace that is derived through Jesus, for its severest vicissitudes. Make me feel that I deserve to have my joys withered and my hopes blasted; and that thou wilt be fulfilling only the dictates of merciful justice, if thou shouldst at times withhold thy favour and visit me with thy frown, in this world, that thou mayest save me from destruction in the world to come. Teach me to look on Winter as the type of the grave. As thou buriest the beauty and excellence of the earth in its icy shroud, so thou hidest the generations of men beneath the clods of the valley. And as thou wilt bring forth from this tomb of the year, the fertile beauty of the spring; so thou wilt bring up from the long desolation of death, that which was sown in dishonour, that it may be raised in glory ! Lord, grant that in the renewing power of that great day, I may share in the resurrection of the just, and enjoy the light of thy countenance and the bliss of thy love for ever! WISDOM. Lord, thou hast said that if any man lack wisdom, et him ask of thee, and it shall be given him. I would come before thee, Merciful Father, feeling the weakness of my judgment, and its unfitness, w ithout strength from thee, to discharge aright the various duties of life. I pray thee keep my understanding from error, fill it with knowledge, and govern it by prudence. Especially do thou give me that wisdom which is from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Vouchsafe unto me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus, that the eyes of my understanding being enlightened, I may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. WISDOM OF GOD. Great God, who hath been thy counsellor, or who hath directed thy judgment 1 Lo, thou workest all things according to the counsels of thine own will. O Lord, how manifold are thy works: in wisdom thou hast made them all. Thy discerning and directing mind is seen every where in the works of thy hands, in the ways of thy providence, and in the government of thy creatures. Thou choosest thine ends, and framest all thy means according to knowledge. Thy counsels are steadfast, thy thoughts are deep, and thine understanding is infinite. O Lord, thou hast gathered, as into a radiant focus, the power and glory of thy wisdom in the work of redemption. Into this the angels desire to look; but they cannot measure its matchless strength and fulness. Herein are those mysteries of thy graceCod manifest in the flesh—he who knew no sin was made sin for us—while we were sinners Christ died for us—thou canst be just, and still be the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus! O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God: how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. Omniscient Jehovah, I desire to put all my trust in thee; for thou knowest both how to provide and to deliver. I would acknowledge thee with prayer in all my ways; for thou only canst direct my steps. I would submit to thy will, which is the perfection of reason. And I would adore thee, because thou art infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in thy wisdom ! Word.—See Scriptures. WORLD. Lord, keep me from conformity to the world. May I use it as not abusing it; having my affections set on things above, and not on things on the earth. Show me that its pleasures are few in number, brief in existence, unsatisfying in their nature, and corrupting in their influence. Let me not seek to unite the service of God and mammon. Lord, I would love and hold to thee, and hate and despise the other. O, what is a man profited if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Assist me, I pray thee, to pass the time of my sojourning here in fear, knowing that it is a sphere of danger, in which my heart is tempted to wander from God, to forget eternity, to neglect my noblest duties, and to live in sense and sin. I cannot, and indeed I should not desire to withdraw from the business of the world, and from intercouse with worldly men; but I beseech thee, O Lord, that thou wouldst abide with me on all those occasions which require me to mingle with such scenes and companions. Teach me thy way, and lead me in a plain path, for the sake of my own purity and the welfare of them that observe me. Let me not pollute my own soul, by being a partaker of ungodliness. Make me an epistle of Christ, known and read of all men. May my words be fitly spoken, and my conduct be according to godliness. Give me grace to walk in wisdom to them that are without, persuading them to taste and see that the Lord is good, and teaching them that religion’s ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. WORSHIP. Adorable Jehovah, thou art exalted above principalities and powers, that at thy name every knee should bow, and every tongue confess. All thy works praise thee. Bestow on me, in the name of Jesus, that grace which will qualify me to worship thee in spirit and in truth. Let me not seek to draw nigh to thee with my lips, while my heart is far from thee; nor take the attitude of devotion, while my thoughts wander among the cares and pleasures of life. May strong convictions of thy greatness and presence rest upon me, and make me suitably afraid. Make me feel that I am unworthy of the least of thy mercies, and that if thou wert strict to mark iniquity, I dare not come before thee, but should take up my abode where there is no mercy-seat, and no answer of peace to the cry of despairing want. Gracious God, let all my approaches to thee be in humble reliance upon the merits of Christ. Give me such an impression of thy goodness, in the bounties of thy providence and the covenant of thy grace, that I shall go to thee with the love and confidence of a child to its father ,• for if earthly parents know how to give good gifts to their children, much more will our Heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Lord, grant me such views of thy character, and of my own wants and those of mankind, as shall dispose me to magnify thy name with an adoring and grateful spirit, and lead me to seek thy favour by fervent and believing supplication. Lord, bless the assemblies of thy saints. May reverence, love, and faith, animate their devotions. May thy praise be sung with holy affections; thy favour be sought with believing hearts; thy word be preached in the demonstration of the Spirit, and be heard as a message of divine wisdom and mercy. Bring into thy sonctuaries those who neglect thy worship; and fill thy courts with such as live regardless of thy statutes. Grant, O Lord, that all the solemn feasts of thy house may be seasons of refreshing from thy presence, in which saints shall grow in grace, and many prodigals be brought into the adoption of the sons of God; to the glory of thy mercy in Jesus, both now and for ever. YOUTH. Heavenly Father, bless our youth. Preserve them from the corrupting dangers which so easily affect and control their forming characters. Keep their hopes, and judgments, and affections from pursuing the things which bring ruin on the soul. Incline them now to seek thy service, ere the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of the flesh, harden their hearts, stifle their consciences, and cause them to turn a deaf ear to the calls of mercy. Suffer them not to put off the claims of religion to what they vainly think a more convenient season. May they learn that youth is the time to serve the Lord; that now is their accepted time and day of salvation: while, if they put off repentance and faith, sin will gather fearful strength in their souls, and make their redemption more and more hopeless. Lord, may they remember that the tenderest tokens of thy love have been directed towards the young. Thou hast urged them with the most persuasive entreaties, to give thee their hearts, and hast promised that those who seek thee early shall find thee, and rejoice in thee all their days. But oh, if such will continue to refuse instruction, and despise reproof, they shall eat of the fruit of their own ways, and be filled with their own devices. Lord, thou knowest that our youth are the expectation of the church, and the hope of our race. The history of the world in future ages, will be determined by the character of those who are now training for the responsibilities of life. If they shall be nurtured in righteousness, then humanity and piety shall rejoice in their labours: but if they shall be tutored in the lessons of vice, then the precious interests of mankind shall mourn because of them. O do thou make the rising generation the instruments of introducing the blessings of the Millennium, and not the means of thrusting back into future ages, that latter-day glory. Bring multitudes of them into the household of faith. Enlist their warm feelings and self-denying zeal, in behalf of religious ehterprizes. May they enter with gladness and energy, into those fields that lie fallow—or those that grow ripe for the harvest, and gather fruit abundantly, for the garners of eternal life.—[See Children, and Early Piety.] ZEAL. 0 thou that lo’vest them that obey thee, do thou make me zealous of good works. Grant me that zeal which is according to wisdom, love, and holiness. Reprove my lukewarmness, my instability, and my backsliding. Let not my pursuits of earthly things, which perish in the using, excite me to more energy and perseverance, than the strong and urgent claims of obedience to thy commands. Lead me to inquire diligently, what thou wilt have me to do; for I am bound to glorify thee in my body and spirit which are thine. May I hear the language of thy word, and the voice of thy providence, calling me to gird up my loins in thy service. Stimulate my diligence by the records of thy saints, who have devoted their lives and their all to doing good. Fix in my memory, I pray thee, the noble example of Christ, who took upon himself the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, that the culprits of heavenly justice might be saved from their condemnation.—O Lord, enable me to realize the unspeakable value of religious duties, undertaken in thy strength, in saving souls from death, in comforting and strengthening my own heart, and in procuring, through thy mercy in Christ, thy favour in this world, and thy blessedness in that which is to come. What my hand findeth to do, may I do it with my might. Heavenly Father, make me fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. And while the blessing of my zeal in thy service shall be mine, the praise of it shall be thine, Father, Son, and Spirit, for ever. Amen. THE END. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 1A.00. AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH ======================================================================== An Inquiry into the Organization and Government of the Apostolic Church By Albert Barnes Table of Contents (abbreviated) Preface 1. Reasons why the argument on the constitution of the church should be confined to the Scriptures 2. The claims which are advanced by Episcopacy 3. Examination of the particular claims of Episcopacy 4. The constitution of the church as established by the Saviour and the apostles Full table of Contents THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH, AN INQUIRY INTO ITS ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT, PARTICULARLY WITH REFERENCE TO THE CLAIMS OF EPISCOPACY. By ALBERT BARNES. PHILADELPHIA : PRESBYTERIAN PUBLICATION COMMITTEE, 1334 CHESTNUT STREET. NEW YORK : A. D. F. RANDOLPH, 770 BROADWAY. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by ALBERT BARNES, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. STEREOTYPED BV L. JOHNSON A CO. PHILADELPHIA. Preface This volume is designed to be a Manual that may be put into the hands of those who are led to inquire into the organization of the Christian church. It is not intended to be controversial, or of such a character as to provoke reply; and it is hoped that it will not be construed as an attach on the Episcopal Church. It is submitted to the public because it is believed that there is no book on this subject that is precisely what is needed, in regard to size and character, to put into the hands of those in the churches who are interested in this inquiry. There are many persons who are interested in the inquiry who have not the time or the means to examine it very extensively. Most of the works, also, which have been written on this subject, instead of confining the investigation to the Bible, are mainlv occunied with an examination of the antiquities of the church, and the customs and sentiments of the " Fathers." The claims of Episcopacy, also, are often urged with great zeal, and pressed, sometimes in such a manner as to create embarrassment, on those who have been trained in non-episcopal churches; and there is no convenient "manual" accessible to which they can at once be referred as showing precisely how this matter stands in the New Testament. The argument here presented is wholly scriptural. The characteristic of the volume is, that it is an appeal to the Bible, as the only authority in the case, and as a sufficient authority to settle the question. It is presumed that in a revelation given to mankind, God has made it possible to ascertain what was the original organization of the church, and that the evidence thus furnished is such that it can be understood and appreciated by the mass of mankind. It is assumed in this argument that nothing but the testimony of the Bible on the subject can be binding on the conscience, and that the whole matter must be, and may safely be, left there. It is not intended to be conceded, however, that the argument from history and from the " Fathers" would be in favour of Episcopacy, but that point is not referred to ; for, whatever may be the truth in -regard to that, it can have no authority in determining what was the constitution of the church as established by the Saviour. The foundation of the argument here presented was embodied in two reviews of the tract entitled " Episcopacy Tested by Scripture/’ by the Right Rev. Dr. H. U. Onderdonk, Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. Those reviews were first published in the Quarterly Christian Spectator, of New Haven, in 1834 and 1835, and subsequently in a small volume, without material alteration. They were afterward /mostly rewritten, and were cast into the form of a consecutive argument; and in this form they were again published in this country in 1843, and were soon after -republished in London. The work has again been revised for the present edition, with the design, mainly, of removing from it its controversial aspect, and making it, as its title indicates, "An Inquiry into the Organization and Government of the Apostolic Church." It has been necessary, of course, to examine with freedom the arguments in favour of Episcopacy, so far as they are derived from the Scriptures; and for this purpose, the reference to the tract of Dr. Onderdonk is, in some places, retained. This has been done the more freely because the tract has been published by the "Protestant Episcopal Tract Society/’* and because it would be impossible to find, in the writings in defence of Episcopacy, a more full, candid, and able reference to the proof from Scripture texts relied on by Episcopalians, than is to be found in this tract of Dr. Onderdonk. An examination of the reasons there assigned for Episcopacy is, therefore, an examination of the reasons on which the Episcopal argument rests ; and the tract has^ been referred to in the edition of this work now published, in the same manner as other Episcopal authorities. This work has but one* claim to public attention. It is that of being an examination of all that can be found in the New Testament that bears on the organization of the church. Much is gained in the inquiry into the organization and government of the church, if the investigation can be confined wholly to the Scriptures. There all who are not Episcopalians are willing to leave the * Printed at the Protestant Episcopal Press, 1835. inquiry; and by that authority alone the question must be ultimately determined. It is perilous for Episcopacy to make its appeal solely to the Bible, and much is gained in the argument when there is a willingness to leave the question there. This work, which is now again submitted to the public, contains nothing, it is believed,which can pain the feelings of any friend of Episcopacy, or which can be construed into a want of respect for the Episcopal Church. For the favourable regards of the public, few men have more occasion for gratitude than I have ; and now, after so many years have passed away since the argument was first penned, whatever may be the value of my opinion, early or matured, on this subject, I desire that this work should go forth in this permanent form as expressing my conviction — the result of all my study of the Bible — in regard to the organization and government of the apostolic church. Albert Barnes. Philadelphia, Aug. 21, 1855. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Reasons why the Argument ox the Constitution of the Church should be confined to the Scriptures (1.) The whole subject one of mere revelation, (2.) No authority has been given to the Fathers to determine the question, (3.) Evidence in the New Testament that the appeal should be confined to the Scriptures, (4.) The Fathers of the church were not in circumstances so favourable to give the proper information as the Apostles, (5.) It is impossible to settle the question by an appeal to the Fathers, (6.) The point conceded by Episcopalians themselves, CHAPTER II. The Claims which are advanced by Episcopacy... CHAPTER III. Examination of the Particular Claims of Episcopacy Sec. 1.— The Exclusive Claim of the "Bishop" to the Right of Ordination. — The question whether the apostles alone had this right, The peculiarity of the apostolic office. — The apostles were originally appointed to be " witnesses" of the resurrection of Christ, This confirmed by the election of Matthias, by the statements of the apostles, by the case of Paul, The inquiry whether there was any arrangement for continuing the " succession of the apostles," The burden of proof on Episcopalians, (1.) There is no express statement that the " succession" was to be continued,(2.) There is no arrangement which shows that it was designed that it should be continued. Examination of the alleged proofs : — the argument from the case of Matthias, of Barnabas, of James, of Andronicus and Junia, from the charge of Paul to the elders of Ephesus, from the case of Timothy, of Titus, of the "angel" of the churches in Revelation 2:1-29, Revelation 3:1-22]. The point practically conceded by Episcopalians, the impossibility of establishing the " succession" — case of the ordination of English "bishops" by Scotch presbyters, testimony of Hooker, concession and argument of Archbishop Whately, Sec. 2.— The Rite of Confirmation What understood by it, claimed to be of divine authority, The use of the word "confirm" in the New Testament, The laying on of hands urged in support of the claim shown to be connected with imparting the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, Examination of the passage in Hebrews 6:1-2, The Saviour appointed no such rite, Objections to the rite, Sec. 3.— The Claims of the "Bishop" to the Right of Supervision and Discipline The two cases of discipline appealed to hy Episcopalians examined : that in Corinth, that in Ephesus, CHAPTER IV. The Constitution* of the Church as established by the Saviour axd the Apostles Sec. 1.— The Officers of the Church I. Those which were designed to be temporary : (1.) The Apostles, (2.) The Seventy Disciples, (3.) Prophets, (4.) Deaconesses, II. Permanent officers mentioned in the organization of the church in the New Testament: (1.) Those appointed to the office of Ministers, under the names of (a) preachers, (6) bishops or overseers, (c) pastors, (d) teachers, (e) evangelists, (2.) Rulers, (3.) Deacons, (4.) Evidence that the permanent pastoral relation was intended, Sec. 2. — The actual Organization and Government of the Church as described in the New Testament (1.) Presbyters had the right of ordaining, aeq. Proof from 1 Tim. to. 14, pp. (2.) The churches were intrusted with the right of administering discipline. Proof from Acts 20:17, Acts 20:28, from 1 Peter 5:2-3, from Hebrews 13:7; from 1 Thessalonians 5:12, Sec. 3. — The Primitive Churches were organized without a Prelate, and without three " Orders of Clergy" Sec. 4. — Conclusion ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 1A.01. REASONS WHY THE ARGUMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH SHOULD BE ... ======================================================================== THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. CHAPTER I. REASONS WHY THE ARGUMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH SHOULD BE CONFINED TO THE SCRIPTURES. In the discussion pursued in this volume, the argument will be confined wholly to the Scriptures, for the following reasons: 1. The whole subject of the organization and government of the church is one of mere revelation. It is connected with a revealed religion, and there can, therefore, be no authority in the case, except that which is derived from the declared will of God. It is claimed for the church, by all the parties in the controversy, that it is a divine institution; and the advocates of Episcopacy, with one voice, maintain that their ministry is of divine appointment. It never occurs to them to affirm that the arrangement of the clergy into " three orders" is a mere matter of expediency, or is adopted because experience has shown that this is the best arrangement, or because other methods have failed in promoting the spirituality of the church, or even because it has unbroken tradition in its favour. It is urged that the arrangement is of divine authority, and it is adopted primarily because it is believed to be founded on the Bible. So uniform are the claims on this point, that, if this were abandoned, the whole fabric would fall, and the claim of being the only arrangement which God has made for the government of the church, which is now set up by the advocates of prelacy, must then be given up; for, if it were a mere matter of expediency, any other system founded on expediency would be equally proper and binding. Such being the case, it is clear that the whole argument should be confined to the Scriptures. If the religion with which the ministry is connected were a matter of mere human origin or human appointment, then an appeal to the Bible as a supposed revelation would be impertinent and improper. If it were a religion of the state, then all that would be needful would be to appeal to the statutes of the land. If it were a question of expediency, then the appeal should be to what experience has shown to be the best methods of government, and to the different degrees of probable advantage which could be urged in favour of different systems. If it were to be settled by mere custom, or by antiquity — as it may occur that the claim to title to lands is to be settled, or as it may be necessary to determine some usage or right under a civil government — then it would be proper to appeal to antiquity, and to call in the aid of the Fathers. But none of these things exist. It is not a human institution y nor is it a mere creature of the state; nor is it a thing of expediency; nor is it a simple question about antiquity: — it is a question whether God has appointed the Episcopal orders of the ministry to govern the churches; and this question can be settled only by an appeal to the Scriptures. 2. No authority has been given to the "Fathers" to determine this question. There is no evidence that they were authorized by the Head of the Church, either individually or by councils, to determine what should be the arrangement in the governinent of the church; nor is there any evidence that they were to be regarded as the infallible expounders of what the will of the Author of the Christian system was. It was not promised that they should have any special wisdom to arrange matters in the church; to appoint officers; to settle controversies, or to appoint orders in the ministry which should be regarded as commissioned by God. If the importance which has been attached to their views in this matter had been contemplated by the Savior, it is remarkable that he left no intimation that their sentiments would be entitled to such deference, or that their declarations should be authoritative in the churches. If it had been intended that councils should be regarded as having authority to settle this, then there is every reason to suppose that some intimation of this would be furnished in the discourses of the Savior. It is needless, however, to say that no such authority from the New Testament can be adduced. 8. There is evidence in the New Testament itself, that the appeal should be confined to the Scriptures, and that Christ meant that the inquiry should be limited to them. This evidence is found in such facts as these: The account of the manner in which he organized the church looks as if he designed to arrange the whole subject himself, so as to leave no ground for the necessity of an appeal to coming generations of men. He set apart an order of men with great solemnity, and invested them with great authority, for the purpose of preaching the gospel and organizing the church. He taught them personally more than three years, and in such a way as to make them fully acquainted with his views and designs. He gave them full authority in the case to "bind and loose;" to establish and dissolve; with no intimation that this duty was to devolve on any of their successors. The instructions which he gave, were given to them, not to a fancied order of successors; to those whom he had trained under his own eye, not to those who were to be trained under theirs. He never intimated that they would be unable to complete the arrangement, and to settle the church on a permanent basis; or that it would be necessary for them to leave any part of the arrangement to be perfected in future times. Those men, thus appointed, actually undertook the work, fully believing that they were competent to it, and acting just as if they were empowered to complete the arrangement. They went forth and preached; they founded churches; they appointed officers y they gave directions in regard to the rites and observances of worship; and they undeniably left the impression everywhere that they regarded themselves as invested with the fullest authority to organize the church. A record has been preserved, containing a full account of what was done by them in establishing churches; and to what can we so naturally look as to that, to know in what manner the Savior designed that it should be done? There is no intimation in that record, or in any of the writings of these apostles, that they left any thing to be done by those who should succeed them. There is no hint that their successors were to complete or to perfect the plan; or that they were to give information about what the apostles had done. Any one who reads the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, cannot fail to be convinced that the writers supposed they were giving all the information which was needful for the guidance of mankind about the organization of the Christian church. 4. The " Fathers" of the church were not in circumstances so favourable to give the proper information as the apostles themselves. The " Fathers" comprise a succession of men who lived in the first centuries of the Christian era — usually supposed to include those who lived in the first four or five centuries. Subsequent to that period no one appeals to the "Fathers" in proof of what was the early constitution of the Christian church. Yet, within that time, what extraordinary advantage had they for knowing what was done by the apostles? Why should we appeal to them, rather than to the record which the apostles themselves made of what they had done? They were not inspired men; most of them lived in places remote from the fields where the apostles laboured; and not a few of them, undeniably, several generations after the apostles. Why should we go to them to know what order the apostles established in the church? Why should we dip up water from the Ganges or the Mississippi where they pour their floods into the ocean, after they have worn the shores and mingled with the streams flowing into them for thousands of miles, to know what the water is at the fountains? He who could stand near those fountains, and drink the water there, would never think of wandering by the course of the turbid river to examine it as it flows along, or as it mingles with the ocean, to know what were its qualities. 5. It is impossible to settle the question by an appeal to the " Fathers." The attempt has been made in this controversy for centuries, and with no prospect of coming any nearer to a termination. To whatever cause it may be traced, it is a simple matter of history, that no witnesses of facte have ever been less satisfactory than the so-called Christian Fathers. No set of writers has ever lived, from whom so contradictory statements are derived; who can be appealed to with so much plausibility on both sides of a question, and whom it is so easy to set in array against each other. As this will be conceded by all who have ever read them, or who have ever looked into the controversies on the subject of the organization of the church, it is unnecessary to adduce any proof of it. This remark can be made without, in the least, impeaching the piety of the "Fathers," or undervaluing the services which they rendered to the cause of truth, or displacing them from the position which they ought to hold in the affections and grateful remembrance of mankind. Whatever may be the fact about the actual contradictions, or want of consistency, of any of the "Fathers," it can be traced to other causes than to a want of piety or general excellence of character. Much may be said, on each of these points, with more plausibility and probability than would be desirable when speaking of good men, but it is not necessary to say this in order to see their entire unfitness to decide the Episcopal controversy. In the management of this controversy hitherto, it is impossible for any one, who has any suitable regard for the authority of the Bible, not to feel pain at the manner in which the argument has been conducted. By common consent, almost, the writers on both sides have turned from the New Testament, where the controversy might have been brought to a speedy issue, to listen to the decisions of the " Fathers" and as might have been expected, have "Pound no end, in wandering mazes lost." It was the policy of the friends of prelacy to do so; and it was the folly of their opponents to suffer them to choose the field of debate, and to weary themselves in an effort to fix the meaning, to secure the consistency, and obtain the suffrages of the " Fathers/’ Full well was it known by the friends of Episcopacy in other times, that the New Testament could furnish only the most slender support for their claims. In the tinies of the papacy, it had always been defended by an appeal to the "Fathers." The system had risen there, sustained not even professedly by the authority of the Bible, but by the traditions of the elders. The ranks and orders of the papal priesthood could be defended only by the authority of a church which claimed infallibility, and which might dispense, therefore, with the New Testament. The Reformers came forth from the bosom of the papacy with much of this feeling. They approached this subject with high reverence for the opinions of past times; with a deference for the Fathers, nourished by all the forms of their education, by all existing institutions, and by the reluctance of the human mind to break away from the established customs of ages. On the one hand, the advocates of Episcopacy found their proofs in the common law of the church — the institutions which had existed " time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary;" and, on the other hand, the opponents of prelacy were equally anxious to show that they had not departed from the customs of the Fathers, and that the defence of their institutions might be found in times far remote, and in records which received the veneration and commanded the confidence of the Christian world. Into this abyss both parties plunged. In this immense chaos of opinions and interpretations — into these moving, disorganized, josthng elements, where, as in the first chaos, light struggled with darkness, and confusion reigned, they threw themselves, to endeavour severally to find support for their opinions. " Whatsoever time, or the heedless hand of blind chance," says Milton, " hath drawn down from of old to this present, in her huge drag-net, whether fish or sea-weed, shells or shrubs, unpicked, unchosen, those are the Fathers." With those who, according to Mosheim,* deemed- it not only lawful, but commendable, to deceive and lie for the sake of truth and piety, how could any point be settled that involved controversy? With men who held to every strange and ridiculous opinion; to every vagary that the human mind can conceive;*}* it would be strange if both sides in this controversy did not find enough that had the appearance of demonstration, to perplex and embarrass an opponent. In examining this controversy, as it was conducted in former times, no one could help being amused or pained at the perfect complacency with which a passage from one of the Fathers is adduced in defence of either side of the question, and the perfect ease with which, by a new translation, or by introducing a few words of the context, or, more frequently, by an appeal to some other part of the same author, not studious himself of consistency, the passage is shown to mean just the contrary; and then again a new version, or yet another quotation, would give it a new aspect, and restore it to its former honours. J; Thus, the Fathers became a mere football between * Murdock’s Mosheim, yoI. i. p. 159. f See Tillemont’s Ecclesiastical History, passim. J See the Letters of Dr. Miller, and Dr. Bowden on Episcopacy, passim. the contending parties; and thus, in this controversy, the weary searcher for truth finds no solid ground. Eminently here, " he which is first in his cause seeineth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him." Proverbs 18:17. To this wearisome and unsatisfactory toil he is doomed who will read all the older controversies on Episcopacy. There he, O’er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies." The following very striking remark of Bishop Jeremy Taylor — himself one of the brightest ornaments of Episcopacy — expresses undoubtedly the true view in regard to the value of the Christian Fathers as instructors and guides: — " It must be acknowledged," says he, "that the writers of the ancient dispensation were such as those should be who were looking onward toward the bright day of gospel splendour; while the early Christian doctors were just such as one might expect to find in those who were looking onward toward that deep night of superstition which covered Europe during the Middle Ages. The dawn is seen to be gleaming upon the foreheads of the one class of writers, while a sullen gloom overshadows the brows of the other."* * Quoted in the Biblical Repository for January, 1824, p, 105. Were we to adduce the most striking instance of the plastic nature of the proof adduced from the Fathers, we should refer to the epistles of Ignatius. They seem to he a plain, straight-forward account of the existence of Presbyterianism in his time. They are substantially such a description as a man would give, writing in the inflated and exaggerated manner in which the Orientals wrote, of Presbyterianism as it exists in the United States. Yet it is well known that, with the utmost pertinacity, those letters have been adduced as proving the divine origin of Episcopacy. And so confident have been the assertions on this subject, that not a few non-Episcopalians have given them up as unmanageable, and have stoutly contended, what may be very true, that no inconsiderable part of them are forgeries. Any man can see what a hopeless task is before him if he endeavours to settle this controversy by the authority of the Fathers. The waste of time, and talent, and learning, on this subject, is fitted deeply to humble the heart. And the passion has not ceased. Even now, men high in oflice and in rank, leave the New Testament and appeal to the Fathers. Episcopacy is discarded, not principally because the New Testament is a stranger to it, but because Jerome was not a prelatist; it is rejected, not because it cannot be made out from the Bible, but because it is a matter of debate whether the Fathers teach it or not. But, apart from all that might be said to impugn the authority of the Fathers on certain points, there are other circumstances which show, in the most ample manner, that such a controversy cannot he settled by an appeal to them. One is, the great number of the authorities to be examined, and the amount of writing with which a man must become familiar who relies on this testimony — putting it wholly out of the power of the great mass of Christians, and even of ministers of the gospel, to determine what was the organization of the church, if the appeal is to be made to them. In the works of the Fathers to which I have access, embracing those of the first five centuries of the Christian era, there are no less than fifty-four folio volumes, besides a considerable number of smaller size. How could the mass of Christians hope to obtain sufficient familiarity with those numerous and massive tomes, to be able to educe from them a correct view of the constitution of the primitive church? How different is such an appeal, in regard to the facility of coming to any satisfactory conclusion, from that which all men may make to the small volume of the New Testament! — A second circumstance is this: those volumes are all in languages now unspoken. There is of necessity, therefore, much difficulty in arriving with certainty at the exact meaning of the writers. There is much ambiguity; much to perplex the scholar; much which may be plausibly interpreted in different modes, and which may, by a new translation, or by being presented in a different connection, be adduced on both sides of a question. Besides, how are the mass of Christians all over the world to have access to those volumes? Can it be presumed that they are sufficiently familiar with the Greek and Latin lau ^liases to be able to settle a controversy of this nature? — A third circumstance is this: there is much that is vague in statement; unsettled in definition; loose in narrative or declamation among those writers, as there must be alwa}-s among so voluminous authors. It is undeniable, too, that they not unfrequently contradict each other and themselves. — A fourth circumstance may be adverted to: it is the remarkable difference in regard to simplicity, clearness, directness, apparent honesty, and all that gives value to written testimony, between the character of the writings of the Apostles and the Fathers. This difference I cannot better express, than in the language of one emi’ nently qualified to express it, and who has noticed the difference with no reference to^the point now under discussion. It is the testimony of Neander.* " The first authors which succeeded the apostles are the so-called Christian Fathers, who began at the apostolic times, and should have been the scholars of the apostles. In this kind of writers, a particular * Geschicbte d. Christhchen Religion und Kirche, 1. 100:1009. thing deserving attention is, the remarkable difference between the writings of the apostles and the writings of the apostolic Fathers who lived even so near to their times. The transition from one class of writers to another, is usually gradual; here it is sudden. There is here no gradual transition, but a spring, [or leap — ein Sprung,^ which is sufficient to turn the attention to the recognition of the special efficiency of the Divine Spirit in the souls of the apostles. " On this subject, also, the following remarks of Archbishop Whately will commend themselves to every candid mind; and they are of the more value as they come from one who has been honoured with the highest office in the gift of the Episcopal Church: " For when referred to the works of the orthodox ancient Fathers, they [men] find that a very large portion of these works are lost; or that some fragments or reports of them by other writers alone remain: they find again that what has come down to us is so vast in amount that a life is not sufficient for the attentive study of even the chief part of it, they find these authors by no means agreed, on all points, with each other, or with themselves, and that learned men again are not agreed in the interpretation of them; and still less agreed as to the orthodoxy of each, and the degree of weight due to his judgment on several points; nor even agreed by some centuries as to the degree of antiquity that is to* make the authority of each decisive, or more or less approaching to decisive. " Every thing in short pertaining to this appeal is obscure — uncertain — disputable — and actually disputed — to such a degree, that even those who are not able to read the original authors may yet be perfectly competent to perceive how unstable a foundation they furnish. They can perceive that the mass of Christians are called on to believe and to do what is essential to Christianity, in implicit reliance on the reports of their respective pastors as to what certain deep theological antiquaries have reported to them, respecting the reports given by certain ancient Fathers, of the reports current in their times concerning apostolical usages and institutions! And yet, whoever departs in any degree from these, is to be regarded at best in an intermediate state between Christianity and heathenism! Surely the tendency of this procedure must be to drive the doubting into confirmed (though, perhaps, secret) infidelity, and to fill with doubts the most sincerely pious, if they are anxiously desirous of attaining truth, and unhappily have sought if from such instructors/’* In setthng an important question, how different is the argument derived from such writings, from an * Kingdom of Christ Delineated, Essay ii. # 21. appeal to the New Testament! That is one small volume; simple in its character and statements; easily perused; with no ambiguity, no pomp of rhetoric, no prejudice in favour of an existing custom; with no contradiction between one writer and another, and no inconsistency in the statements of the same writer at different times and in different circumstances. It contains not, moreover, the language of conjecture; it does not depend for its authority on human reasoning; and it is undiluted in any of its statements by the reasonings of philosophy or by tradition. If it should be said here, that experience has shown that it is impossible to settle this controversy by an appeal to the Scriptures; that men differ as much about the meaning of the sacred writers on the constitution of the church as they do about the testimony of the Fathers; and that, though the churches have had the Bible for eighteen hundred years, the Christian world is still wholly divided in opinion on the subject, — I reply, (1.) That whatever may be the reasons why men have varied so much in their interpretation of the New Testament in the case, it is still true that it is easier to come to a determination of the question by an appeal to that than by an appeal to the Fathers. To the eye of common sense it is clear, that the testimony of a small volume like the New Testament, written at the time when the church was organized, and by the men who did it, can be more easily arrived at than those of a succession of voluminous writers such as the Fathers are, extending through a period of several hundred years. I reply, (2.) That one main reason, and perhaps the only reason, why the sentiments of men have been divided in the case, and why the whole controversy has not been long since settled is, that they are constantly leaving the New Testament and appealing to the Fathers. The argument has never been confined, on either side, to the Bible. Each party has felt itself bound, either in self-defence or to meet its opponent, to appeal to the Fathers. The war has raged there. The triumphs or defeats have been on that field; and, in the whole range of the controversy, it is believed there is not a single volume, on either side, that makes the appeal solely and exclusively to the Bible. And if this be so, then it should not be said that experience has shown that it is impossible to settle this inquiry by an appeal to the Scriptures. Were the volumes of the Fathers all burned and forgotten, and were all the influence which they have exerted over this controversy removed, it would require but a brief period to determine whether Episcopacy is founded on the Bible. G. That the appeal should be made to the Scriptures alone is now conceded by Episcopalians themselves. It was long, indeed, before the advocates for prelacy were willing to concede, in so many words, that the controversy was to be determined by the Bible; and that it is conceded in principle is a point gained of inestimable importance, and will bring the controversy to a termination whenever it is honestly and fully applied. That it is conceded is clear from the admissions of one who, as a prelate of the Episcopal Church, has a right to express the prevalent sentiment in that church, and whose words may be regarded as having the force of authority. The sentiment, also, should be allowed to have greater weight because the tract in which it occurs has been issued by the "Protestant Episcopal Tract Society/’ and may be supposed, therefore, to express the present views of the whole. Episcopal Church, at least in the United States. The language of Dr. Onderdonk, in the tract referred to,* is the following: " The claim of Episcopacy to be of divine institution, and, therefore, * obligatory on the church, rests fundamentally on the one question: Has it the authority of Scripture? If it has not, it is not necessarily binding. This one point should be kept in view in every discussion of the subject; no argument is worth taking into the account that has not a palpable bearing on * "Episcopacy tested by Scripture." I quote now, and shall hereafter, from the tract published at the " Protestant Episcopal Press," in connection with other articles on the subject, and called "Episcopacy Examined and Re-examined." New York, 1836. the clear and naked topic — the scriptural evidence of Episcopacy." P. 3. The simple and honest avowal of a sentiment like this from such a quarter, should be hailed by every friend of the truth as placing the whole of this discussion on a proper basis. It is a subject of sincere congratulation that it is now conceded that we may bring to this subject the great principle of the Reformation, that all religious opinions are to be tested by the Scriptures. It indicates a healthy state of things in the Episcopal Church in this country. It will save endless disputes about words, and much useless toil in endeavouring to give consistency and sense to the Fathers. This mode of reasoning, too, will soon decide the controversy. Hereafter, let it be held up as a great principle from which, neither in spirit nor in form, we are ever to depart, that if the peculiar doctrines of Episcopacy are not found in the Scriptures, they are to be abandoned, or held, as Cranmer held them, as matters of mere expediency. Let this truth go forth, never to be recalled; and let every man who attempts to defend the claims of prelates appeal to the Bible alone. On this appeal, with confidence, we rest the issue of this case. For reasons such as have now been stated, it is proposed to conduct the following investigation solely with reference to the testimony of the Scriptures. By the results of such an investigation the Protestant community must ultimately abide. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 1A.02. THE CLAIMS WHICH ARE ADVANCED BY EPISCOPACY ======================================================================== CHAPTER II. THE CLAIMS WHICH ARE ADVANCED BY EPISCOPACY. Episcopacy is a religion of claims. It advances certain pretensions relating to important points in the government and organization of the church, which, if well founded, are binding on all churches, and which, in their tendency, go to unsettle the claims of all others. It is not an argument, on the part of the Episcopalian, drawn from expediency, or human prudence, or a conventional arrangement among men; nor is it an argument which can admit other churches to be on the same basis with themselves, or other ministers to be the commissioned servants of God. If Episcopacy be of divine origin; if it be the form prescribed in the New Testament for the organization of the church; if it was instituted by the Redeemer and the apostles, — then, whatever other consequences may flow from it, or however inconsistent the advocates of Episcopacy may be in carrying out these principles, the regular result of the claim is, that the Episcopal Church is the only true church, and that all other churches are of human origin. This consequence follows inevitably. These remarks are not made with a view of exciting prejudice in any minds against the system, but merely to show the nature of the claims which are thus advanced. It is well known that these consequences are not allowed by many Episcopalians; and there is much gained on the score of charity in the fact that the advocates of a system are not always consistent with their own principles. Yet any one can see that the claims of any system to be exclusively scriptural or of divine authority in its origin leads, in fact, as a necessary consequence, to the conclusion that all others are mere human and unauthorized arrangements. In pursuance of this thought, I remark, then, that the burden of proof lies wholly on the friends of Episcopacy. They set up a claim — a claim which they affirm to be binding on all the churches of every age. It is a claim which is specific, and which must be made out, or their whole pretensions fall. In what predicament it» may leave other churches, is not the question. It would not prove Episcopacy to be of divine origin, could its friends show that Presbyterianism is unfounded in the Scriptures; or that Congregationalism has no claims to support; or that Independency is unauthorized; or that lay ordination is destitute of direct support. The question, after all, might be, whether it was the design of the apostles to establish any particular form of church government any more than to establish a fixed code of civil administration? The specific point to be made out by Episcopalians is, That there is scriptural authority for that which is claimed for bishops. This is not a claim which can be defended by any doubtful passages of Scripture, or by any circuitous mode of argumentation. As it is expected to affect the whole constitution of the church; to constitute, in fact, the peculiarity of its organization; and to determine, to a great extent at least, the validity of all its ordinances and its ministry, we have a right to demand that the proof should not be of a doubtful character, or of a nature which is not easily apprehended by the ordinary readers of the New Testament. It is a point of essential importance in this controversy, that the burden of proof lies on the friends of Episcopacy. It is theirs to make out this specific claim. To decide whether they can do so, is the object of the present inquiry. The claims of Episcopacy, as a peculiar institution, are stated by Bishop Onderdonk, in the tract above referred to, in the following words: "Episcopacy declares that the Christian ministry was established in three orders, called, ever since the apostolic age, Bishops, Presbyters, or Elders and Deacons; of which the highest only has the right to ordain and confirm, that of general supervision in a diocese, and that of the chief administration of discipline, besides enjoying all the powers of the other grades. The main question being thus concerning the superiority of bishops, and the rights of the next order being restricted only so much as not to be inconsistent with those of the hisrhest, we need not extend our investigation of Scripture beyond what is requisite for this grand point. If we cannot authenticate the claims of the episcopal office, we will surrender those of our deacons, and let all power be confined to the one office of presbyters." P. 11. The same view of the main point of the controversy is given by Hooker, in his Ecclesiastical Polity, b. vii. It will be seen, therefore, that the main point of the discussion, in the estimation of Episcopalians, relates to bishops or prelates, and that the claim set up for them extends to several points. One is, the right of ordination; a second, that of confirmation; a third, that of general supervision; a fourth, that of the general administration of discipline. As all that is peculiar to Episcopacy is involved in these claims, it is proposed to examine them in order, to ascertain whether these important matters in the organization of the church are intrusted in the New Testament to prelates. If the claim ill regard to each of them cannot be made out from the New Testament, it is worthless; for " no argument is worth taking into account that has not a palpable bearing on the clear and naked topic — the scriptural evidence of Episcopacy." These points must be made out separately by Episcopalians, to wit: — that " bishops" have the sole right of ordination • that the rite called " confirmation" is directed in the Scriptures to be administered by them; that they have a general supervision of the churches within a certain district; and that the general administration of discipline is intrusted to them. If these are not made out, it will follow, by the admission above, and by the nature of the case, that presbyters have the right of ordination; that the ministers of the gospel are equal in authority and rank; and that the church, as organized by the Savior and his apostles, was not episcopal in its form. "We enter now, therefore, upon a particular examination of each of these topics. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 1A.03. EXAMINATION OF THE PARTICULAR CLAIMS OF EPISCOPACY ======================================================================== CHAPTER III. EXAMINATION OF THE PARTICULAR CLAIMS OF EPISCOPACY. Sect. 1. — The Exclusive Claims of the "Bishop" to the Right of Ordination. The claim in regard to the superiority of the "order of bishops" to that of presbyters or elders, rests on two points: — one is, that the peculiarity of the apostolic office consisted in the right of ordination; and the other, that, supposing this were so, "there was continued, as had been begun in the apostles, an order of ministers superior to the elders." Tract, p. 16. If either of these points cannot be made out, the claim is invalid. For, if it were demonstrated that there was intrusted to the apostles the right of ordination as the peculiarity of their office, it would by no means follow that that right was to be continued in the church. It might be a temporary arrangement, a thing valuable in the organization of the church, but whose necessity would expire when the church was fairly established. Even on the supposition, therefore, that the right had ever existed, it would be necessary to show from the New Testament — for no testimony of the Fathers will do here — that the Lord Jesus meant that such a peculiarity of the apostolic office should be continued. But if it shall appear that the right of ordination never was a peculiarity of the apostolic office, but that the apostles were called for a specific purpose of a different kind — a purpose which ceased, of course, when they died — then it will follow thaf all the claims of "bishops" as their " successors," are void. It is proposed, therefore, to examine the New Testament with particular reference to each of these inquiries: — first, whether the right of ordination is represented as the peculiarity of the apostolic office; and, secondly, whether there is any proof in the New Testament that it was designed that they should have any "successors" in their office. The question then is, Has a bishop the sole power of ordaining? Is the right of setting apart to the office of preaching, and administering the sacraments, confined in the New Testament exclusively to this order of ministers? The Episcopalian claims that it is. We deny it, and ask him for the explicit proof of a point so simple as this, and one which we have a right to expect he will make out, with very great clearness, from the sacred Scriptures. The first proof of this point adduced by Episcopalians is, that the apostles had the sole power of ordaining. This is a highly important point in the discussion, or, rather, the very hinge of the controversy. The argument as stated in the tract of Dr. Onderdonk, (pp. 14-16,) rests on the assumption that the apostles ordained. " That the apostles ordained, all agree." Now, if this means any thing to the purpose, it means that they ordained as apostles, or that they were set apart to the apostolic office for the purpose of ordaining. Having made this assumption, the writer adds, that a distinction is observed in the New Testament between "the apostles and elders," " the apostles and elders and brethren." He next attempts to show that this distinction was not made because they " were appointed by Christ personally;" nor because "they had seen our Lord after his resurrection j" nor "because of this power of working miracles;" — and then adds: " It follows, therefore, or will not at least be questioned, that the apostles were distinguished from the elders because they were superior to them in ministerial power and rights." This is the argument; and this is the whole of it. On the making out of this point depends the stupendous fabric of Episcopacy. Here is the cornerstone on which rests the claims of prelates; this the position on which the stupendous and mighty superstructure has been reared. Now, the only way of ascertaining whether this claim be well-founded, is to appeal at once to the New Testament. The question, then, is, Whether the apostles were chosen for the distinctive and peculiar work of ordaining to sacred offices? This the Episcopalian affirms. This we take the liberty of calling in question. The evangelists have given three separate and full accounts of the appointment of the apostles. One is recorded by Matthew 10:1-42; another by Mark 3:1-35; the third by Luke 6:1-49. They were selected from the other disciples, and set apart to their work with great solemnity. The act was performed in the presence of a great multitude, and after the Savior had passed the night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12. The directions given to them on the occasion occupy, in one part of the record, (Matt.) the entire chapter of forty-two verses. Those directions are given with very great particularity, embracing a great variety of topics, evidently intended to guide them in all their ministry, and to furnish them with ample instruction as to the nature of their office. They refer to times which would follow the death of the Lord Jesus, and were designed to embrace the whole period of their peculiar work. Now, on the supposition of Episcopalians, that the peculiarity of their work was to ordain, or that " they were distinguished from the elders because they were superior to them in ministerial powers and rights," it cannot but be regarded as unaccountable that we find not one word of this here. There is not the slightest allusion to any such distinguishing " powers and rights." There is nothing which can be tortured into any such claim. This is the more remarkable, as, on another occasion, he sent forth seventy disciples at one time, (Luke 10:1-16) usually regarded by Episcopalians as the foundation of the second order of their ministers; and -there is not the slightest intimation given that they were to be inferior to the apostles in the power of ordaining, or in superintending the churches. What explanation will the Episcopalian give of this remarkable omission in the instructions of the primitive "bishops?" This omission is not the less remarkable in the instructions which the Lord Jesus gave to these same apostles after his resurrection from the dead. At that time we should assuredly have expected an intimation of the existence of some such peculiar power. But not the slightest hint occurs of any such exclusive authority and superintendence. Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18, and Luke 24:47-49, have each recorded these parting instructions. They tell us that he directed them to remain in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high, and then to go forth and preach the gospel to every creature; but not a solitary syllable occurs about any exclusive power of ordination; about their being a peculiar order of ministers; about their transmitting the peculiarity of the apostolic office to others. What is the explanation of this fact? How is it to be accounted for, if the peculiarity of their office consisted in " superiority of ministerial powers and rights," that neither at their election and ordination, nor in the departing charge of the Savior, nor in any intermediate time, do we ever hear of it — that even the advocates for the powers of the "bishop" never pretend to adduce a solitary expression that can be construed into a reference to any such distinction? I proceed now to observe that there is not anywhere else, in the New Testament, a statement that this was the peculiarity of the apostolic office. Of this any man may be satisfied who will examine the New Testament. Or he may find the proof in a less laborious way by simply looking at the fact that none of the advocates of Episcopacy pretend to adduce any such declaration. The apostles often speak of themselves; the historian of their doings (Luke*) often mentions them; but the place remains yet to be designated, after this controversy has been carried on by keen-sighted disputants for several hundred years, which speaks of any such peculiarity of their office. This point, then, I shall consider as settled, and * In the Acts of the Apostles. shall feel at liberty to make all the use of it to which it can be fairly applied in the argument. I might here insist on the strong presumption thus furnished, that this settles the inquiry. We should be very apt to regard it as decisive in any other case. If two men go from a government to a foreign court, and one of them claims to be a plenipotentiary, and affirms that the other is a mere private secretary, or a consul, we expect that the" claimant will sustain his pretensions by an appeal to his commission or instructions. If he maintains that this is the peculiarity of his office, we expect to find this clearly stated in the documents which he brings. If he is mentioned by no name that designates his office — as the Episcopalian admits the " bishop" is not; if his commission contains no such appointment; and if we should learn that specific instructions were given to him at his appointment, and again repeated in a solemn manner when he left his native shores, — we should look with strong suspicions on these remarkable claims. Would not any foreign court decide at once that such pretensions, under such circumstances, were utterly unfounded? Let us, then, proceed to inquire whether it is possible to ascertain the peculiarity of the apostolic office; for it must be conceded that there was something to distinguish the apostles from the other ministers of the New Testament. Here, happily, we are not left in the dark. The sacred writers themselves have given an account which cannot be easily mistaken, and it is a matter of amazement that it ever has been mistaken. The first account which I adduce is from the lips of the Savior himself. In those solemn moments when he was about to leave the world, when the work of atonement was finished, and when he gave the apostles their final commission, he indicated the nature of their labours and the peculiarity of their office in these words: — " And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day: — And ye are witnesses of these things." Luke 24:46-48. The object of their peculiar appointment, which he here specifies, was, that they should be witnesses to all nations. (Comp. Matthew 28:18-19.) The u things’ ’ of which they were to bear witness he mentions distinctly. They were his sufferings in accordance with the predictions of the prophets, " thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer;" and his resurrection from the dead: "and to rise from the dead the third day." These were the points to bear "witness" to which they had been selected) and these were the points on which they, in fact, insisted in their ministry. I would next remark that this is expressly declared to be the " peculiarity" of the apostolic office. It was done so at the election of an apostle to fill up the vacated place of Judas. Here, if the peculiar design had been to confer " superiority in ministerial rights and powers/’ we should expect to be favoured with some account of it. It was the very time when it was natural and proper to give a statement of the reason why they filled up the vacancy in the college of apostles, and when they actually did make such a statement. Their words are these: — " Wherefore, of those men which have companied with us, all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day when he was taken up from us, must one he ordained to be a witness WITH US of his resurrect ion." Acts 1:21-22. This passage I consider to be absolutely decisive on the point before us. It shows, first, for what purpose they ordained the newly-elected apostle; and, second, that they were ordained for the same purpose. Why do we hear nothing on this occasion of their "superiority of ministerial rights and powers?" Why nothing of their peculiar prerogative to ordain? Why nothing of their " general superintendence" of the church? Plainly because they had conceived of nothing of this kind as entering into their original commission and the peculiar design of their office. For this purpose of bearing testimony to the world of the resurrection of the Messiah, they had been originally selected. For this they had been prepared by a long and intimate acquaintance with the Savior. They had seen him; had been with him in various scenes fitted to instruct them more fully in his designs and character; had enjoyed an intimate personal friendship with him, (1 John 1:1) and they were thus qualified to go forth as "witnesses" of what they had seen and heard; to confirm the great doctrine that the Messiah had come, had died, and had risen, according to the predictions of the prophets. — I add, here, that these truths were of sufficient importance to demand the appointment of twelve honest men to give them confirmation. There was consummate wisdom in the appointment of witnesses enough to satisfy any reasonable mind, and yet not so many as to give it the appearance of tumult or popular excitement. The truth of the whole scheme of Christianity rested on making out the fact that the Lord Jesus had risen from the dead, (eomp. 1 Corinthians 15:1-58) and the importance of that religion to the welfare of mankind demanded that this should be substantiated to the conviction of the world. Hence the anxiety of the eleven to complete the number of the original witnesses selected by the Savior; and hence their care that the person chosen should have the same acquaintance with the facts which they had themselves. It is worthy also of remark, that, in the account which the historian gives of their labours, this is the main idea which is presented. Acts 2:32 : "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are icitnesses." Acts 5:32 : "And we are witnesses of these things." Acts 10:39-42 : " And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly; not to all the people, hut unto WITNESSES chosen before of God, even unto us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify — Sia/iapropatr^oc —that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead." In this place, also, we meet with another explicit declaration that this was the object of their original appointment. They were " chosen" for this, and set apart in the holy presence of God to this work. Why do we not hear any thing of "their superiority in ministerial rights and powers?" Why no intimation of the power of " confirming," and of " general superintendence?" I repeat, that it is not possible to answer these questions except on the supposition that they did not regard any such powers as at all entering into the peculiarity of their commission. Having disposed of all that is said in the New Testament of the original design of the appointment to the apostolic office, I proceed to another and somewhat independent source of evidence. The original number of the apostles was twelve. The design of their selection we have seen. For important purposes, however, it pleased God to add to their number one who had not been a personal attendant on the ministry of the Savior, and who was called to the apostleship four years after his crucifixion and resurrection. Now, this is a case, evidently, which must throw very important light on our inquiries. It is independent of the others. As he was not a personal observer of the life arad death of Jesus, as he was not an original " witness" in the case, we may expect in the record of his appointment a full account of his " superiority in ministerial rights and powers." If such superiority entered into the peculiarity of the apostolic office, this was the very case where we should expect to find it. His conversion was subsequent to the resurrection. He was to be employed extensively in founding and organizing churches. He was to have committed to his apostolic care almost the entire pagan world. (Comp. Romans 11:13; Romans 15:16; Galatians 2:7.) His very business was one that seemed to call for some specific account of " superiority in ministerial rights," if any such rights were involved in the apostolic office. How natural to expect a statement of such rights, and of an account of the " general superintendence" intrusted to him as an apostle! Let us look, therefore, and see how the case stands. We have three distinct accounts of the appointment of the apostle Paul to the apostleship, in each of which the design of his appointment is stated. In his discourse before the Jews, (Acts 22:14-15,) he states the charge given to him by Ananias at Damascus: " The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his WITNESS unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard^ Again, in his speech before Agrippa, (Acts 26:16,) Paul repeats the words addressed to him by the Lord Jesus in his original commission: " I have appeared unto thee for tin’s purpose, to make thee a minister — Oizypiryv — and a witness, both of those things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee." Again, in the account which is given of his past and future work, (Acts 23:11,) it is said: " As thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." This is the account which is given of the call of Saul of Tarsus to the apostolic office. But where is there a single syllable of any " superiority in ministerial powers and rights," as constituting the peculiarity of his office? We may respectfully ask all the advocates of Episcopacy to point to us a shadow of any such episcopal investment. We think their argument demands it. And if there is no such account, either in the original choice of the twelve, or in the appointment of Matthias, or in the selection of the " apostle to the Gentiles," it is right to insist with firmness on a satisfactory explanation of the causes which operated to produce the omission of the very gist of their office, according to Episcopacy. Some reasons should be suggested, prudential or otherwise, which made it proper to pass over the very vitality of the original commission. But we have not done with the apostle Paul. He is too important a " witness" for us, as well as for the purpose for which he was appointed, to be dismissed without further attention. It has been remarked already that he was not a personal follower of Jesus of Nazareth, and was not present at his death and ascension. It may be asked, then, how could he be a " witness" in the sense and for the purposes already described? Let us see how this was provided for. I transcribe the account from his own statement of the address made to him by Ananias. Acts 22:14 : " The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldst hear the words of his mouth." That he had thus seen him, it is not necessary to prove. See 1 Corinthians 15:8; Acts 9:5, Acts 9:17. The inference which I here draw is, that he was permitted to see the Lord Jesus in an extraordinary manner, for the express purpose of qualifying him to be invested with the peculiarity of the apostleship. This inference, sufficiently clear from the very statement, I shall now proceed to put beyond the possibility of doubt. Let us turn, then, to another account which Paul has given of his call to the apostleship, 1 Corinthians 9:1-2 : "Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?’’ I adduce this passage as proof that to have seen Jesus Christ was considered as an indispensable qualification for the apostleship. So Paul regarded it in his own case. It is adduced also for another purpose, viz. to strengthen my main position, that the apostles were designated to their office specifically - as witnesses to the character and resurrection of Christ. If this was not the design, why does Paul appeal to the fact that he had seen the Savior, as proof that he was qualified to be an apostle? And we may further ask, with emphasis, If the apostles, as Episcopalians pretend, did, in virtue of their office, possess "superiority in ministerial powers and rights why did not Paul once hint at the fact in this passage? His express object was to vindicate his claim to the apostleship. In doing this he appeals to that which I am endeavouring to show constituted the peculiarity of the office — his being " witness" to the Savior. In this instance we have a circumstance of which Paley would make much in an argument if it fell in with the design of the " Horae Paulinae." We claim the privilege of making as much of it upon the question whether the peculiarity of the apostolic office was "superiority of ministerial powers and rights." I have now examined all the passages of Scripture which state the design of the apostleship. It has been shown, if I mistake not, that the ground of the distinction between the " apostles and elders," "the apostles and elders and brethren," was not that the former had superiority of " ministerial powers and rights." We might leave the argument here; for, if Episcopalians cannot make out this point to entire satisfaction, all that is said about successors in the apostolic office, and about perpetuating the apostleship, must be nugatory and vain. But there is an independent topic of remark here, and one which bears on the subject, therefore, with all the force of a cumulative argument. This is stated in the following words: that " there was tontinued, as had begun in the apostles, an order of ministers superior to the elders." Tract, p. 16. This the author of the tract representing the arguments of Episcopalians on the subject attempts to prove, on the ground that " there is no scriptural evidence that mere elders (presbyters) ordained," (pp. 16-23,) and that "the above distinction between elders and a grade superior to them in regard especially to the power of ordaining, was so persevered in as to indicate that it was a permanent arrangement, and not designed to be but temporary." Pp. 23, 24. In the inquiry, then, whether this distinction was continued or persevered in, we might insist on what has been already shown as decisive. If the original distinction was what it has been shown to be, that the design of selecting and appointing the apostles to their office was that they might be " witnesses" of the life, the teachings, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of the Savior, then it could not be persevered in without (as in the case of Paul) a personal, direct manifestation of the ascended Savior, to qualify every future incumbent in the apostleship. 1 Corinthians 9:1. No modern "bishop," it is presumed, will lay claim to this. The very supposition that any such revelation was necessary would dethrone every prelate and prostrate every mitre in Christendom. But we have, as before remarked, an independent train of arguments on this point. It is evident that the whole burden of proof here lies on the Episcopalian. He maintains that such an original distinction existed, and that it was perpetuated. Both these positions we deny. The first has been shown to be unfounded, and has thus virtually destroyed the other. Let us proceed, however, to the comparatively needless task of showing that the position, that there was an arrangement by which an order of men " superior to the elders" was continued in the church, is equally unfounded. The argument in support of the position, that there was to be an order o? men of substantially the same rank as the apostles, and superior to another grade of ministers in the church, can be made out only by substantiating oue or both of the following positions: either (1) that it is expressly stated in the New Testament that the " order" was continued, or was to be continued; or (2) by an induction of particulars, showing that though there was no formal statement on this point, yet that the order was, in fact, continued. Either of them, I admit, would settle the question in favour of Episcopacy; if both fail, then it is equally clear that the claim is unfounded. It is proposed to examine both these points by the New Testament. First, then, there is no express statement in the New Testament that such a " superior order" of ministers was to be " continued" in the church, or that the apostles were to have " successors" in the peculiarity of their office. This point is so clear that even Episcopalians do not pretend to affirm it. There is nothing to which they refer as conveying this idea. Neither in the instructions of the Savior himself when he called them to their office, nor in any declaration which fell from his lips during his ministry, nor in any thing that the apostles themselves said, either before or subsequent to the resurrection of the Savior, is it declared that the peculiarity of the apostolic office was to be continued by a " succession" of men extending into future times. This assertion is made with entire confidence, and it is not and cannot be denied by the advocates of Episcopacy. The only declaration in the New Testament that has any resemblance to such a position, or that is ever even remotely referred to by Episcopalians on this point, is the promise of the Savior in Matthew 28:20 : " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." But, assuredly, this passage will not demonstrate that the peculiarity of the apostolic office was to be perpetuated, or that the apostles were to have successors in their office, or that there was to be an order of men continued in the church superior in rank and power to a certain other order of men. It does not prove this for the following reasons: (1.) There is no declaration in this promise, express or implied, that the peculiarity of their office was to be continued. That, certainly, is not the point of the promise, whatever may be its real import. The point of the promise is, the presence of the Savior to the end of time with those who were to go and preach the gospel. (2.) There is no allusion to any such fact as that they were to be "superior" to another order of men, or that an order of men superior to others was to be continued in the church. No mention is made of any such " orders" of men; there is no intimation that there would be. (3.).The promise is one that is adapted to all authorized preachers of the gospel, whatever rank or order they may sustain. According to the Savior’s commission, the promise extends to all those who should be called by him and commissioned to go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Matthew 28:19. It was to such persons (Matthew 28:20) that the promise of his presence was made by the Savior; and wherever any persons have evidence that they are authorized by him to engage in that work, they have a right to apply this promise to themselves. But is this work to be confined to prelates, the pretended " successors" of the apostles? Are no others authorized to go and disciple the nations; to baptize in the name of the Trinity, and to teach men to observe the commandments of God? Assuredly, this will not be pretended, for no Episcopalian ever supposed that " bishops" only were authorized to become missionaries to the heathen. But, if this text will not support the pretensions to a " succession" in the peculiarity of the apostolic office, which it neither expresses nor implies, then there is no express declaration in the New Testament that an order of men was to be " continued" in the ministry "superior" to another order. And if this be so, we have here one of the most remarkable facts that has ever occurred in the institution of any office whatever; a fact so remarkable as to render it incredible that it should ever have occurred. A brief glance at the circumstances of the case will illustrate this. They are these: According to the belief of Episcopalians, this "order" of the ministry — to wit, that of ’’bishops" as the successors of the apostles, — was to continue forever. It was intended by the Savior that at nc time should the church be without an order of men who should be properly the " successors of the apostles." According to their belief, that arrangement was to take place in- all lands where the gospel was preached. No matter what might be the form of civil government there prevailing — whether a republic, a democracy, an aristocracy, or a monarchy — there was to be but one form in which the church was to be organized; and in every land there was to be an order in the ministry who should be properly the " successors of the apostles." According to their belief, the correct organization of the whole church was dependent on the observance of the distinction between this "superior grade" and an inferior grade in the ministry; and there could be, in fact, no properly organized church unless there was an order of men who should be properly " the successors of the apostles." According to their belief, the validity of all ordinations everywhere depended on this, and no one could be authorized to preach the gospel unless there had bee a laid on him the hands of those who were properly the "successors of the apostles." According to their belief, the validity of all sacraments depended on this, and no one could properly administer the rite of baptism or the Lord’s supper unless he had derived his authority from those who were properly " the successors of the apostles." According to their belief, the proper government of the church everywhere depended on this, and none would have a right to administer discipline except those who were properly the " successors of the apostles." According to their belief, if these things are not so, and if there is no such " succession" of men in the church, the churches are unauthorized assemblies, without a valid ministry; with no sacraments properly administered; with none empowered by the great Head of the church to proclaim salvation, to offer pardon, to minister consolation, or to bury the dead. With these consequences full in view, we turn, then, to the original commission of these men whose " successors" were to be intrusted with so much power, and the continuation of whose office was to involve the desting of countless millions of mankind. We go and listen to the Savior when he called them on the banks of Gennesareth. We examine all the instructions that he gave them in three years of his most faithful ministry. We listen to his voice when he was about to ascend to heaven, and when he gave them his parting counsel and issued his great commission. Strange to tell, in all this, not one word do we hear of any such tremendous results depending on the fact that there were to be those who should be " successors" in the peculiarities of their office, nor is there even a hint that they were to have any such successors. We turn then to another fact — a fact which must have been before the eyes of the Redeemer. It is the arrangement made in regard to the priestly office in the Old Testament. There every thing was ordered in the most exact manner. There is no ambiguity. There is no reason for doubting that Moses intended that the ministry which he instituted should be arranged in three orders, or that it was designed that there should be a " successor" to the one of "superior order" — the high-priest. Every thing relating to that officer, and to the "succession," is specified with the utmost particularity, and the arrangement entered into the essential structure of the constitution of the Jewish commonwealth. Can any one believe that the Savior intended that there should be similar distinctions in his church, essential to its very existence, and yet that there should not be a single word in regard to it in his own statements of the nature of the ministry? They may explain this who can; but if such results were to be dependent on the fact that an order of men was to be continued in the church, who should be the " successors" of the apostles in the peculiarity of their office, and yet not one word of this ever occurred in the account of its organization, then the church of the Lord Jesus is the most singularly organized body that ever pretended to have a constitution. Leaving this matter to be explained by Episcopalians as it may be — a work which remains yet to be attempted — the fact is all that is of essential importance to us now. That fact is, that there is no intimation in the instructions or counsels of the Savior that he ever designed that the peculiarity of the apostolic office should be transmitted to a body of men who should be their " successors." The second point of the inquiry, then, is, Whether the recorded facts in the doings of the apostles themselves are such as to show that this was intended? It is certainly undeniable that it might be so. Though there were not in the original commission of the apostles themselves, or in any declaration of the Savior, an express statement that this order of men was to be continued in a regular " succession," yet it must be admitted that such might have been the organization of the church under them, and such their uniform practice, as to show that this regular succession was contemplated, and is still indispensable to the existence of the church. It is conceivable that in every case where a vacancy occurred in the apostolic college, they should forthwith ordain a "successor;" or that they should, in some sufficiently intelligible and formal way, appoint men over others, with the powers and functions of their own office; or that, having ordained certain men to the ministry, they should uniformly address them as apostles, and as invested with the functions of the apostolic office; or that, in every country where churches were organized in sufficient number, they should constitute some one with the right of confirmation, and with the general charge of governing; the churches, and with instructions to transmit his peculiar authority to some " successor" of the same rank. In either of these cases it is admitted that there would be a sufficient indication that the church was to be constituted and governed in this manner — however we might explain the want of any such statement in the original commission. The defect in the original commission would be practically supplied, and the authority for the superior "apostolic" order in the church could not, with propriety, be called in question. The advocates for Episcopacy, conceding the want of the express statement in the original commission on this point, suppose that they find evidence of such an arrangement in the subsequent organization of the church; or such evidence that the apostles intended that their own "order" or rank in the ministry should be continued as to amount to a proof that this was the intention of the Savior. That evidence is found, they think, not in any express declaration of the apostles themselves, but in such supposed acts as to show that there was the same authority transmitted which they had, as apoties, and that this was to be a permanent arrangement. The evidence consists in the alleged fact that certain individuals are mentioned with such appellations, and designated to perform such offices, as to show that they belonged to an order of the clergy " superior" to the presbyters, and were iu the same rank as the apostles. To examine this claim, therefore, is essential to a correct understanding of the subject, and this examination will settle the question. This must be done by an investigation of the cases of the particular individuals who are claimed to be the successors of the apostles. It is proposed to take up these cases in the order in which they are usually presented by Episcopalians, and to inquire, What is the evidence that they succeeded the apostles in €ie peculiarity of the apostolic office, so as to show that it was intended that this should he a permanent arrangement in the church? The first case is that of Matthias, Acts 1:15-26. The argument which is relied on in his case is, that one of the first acts of the apostles, after they received the apostolic office, was to ’’transfer the very same power which they had received from Christ;" (Bishop McCoskry;) and that Matthias was so selected, and such power conferred on him, as to prove that he was to be ranked among the apostles, and to indicate that this was to be a permanent arrangement. It is supposed to be the first step in the doings of the apostles, indicating that their order was to be continued in the churches, and that it was not to be allowed to become extinct by the death of those sustaining the office. Now, in regard to the case of Matthias, the following remarks will show the bearing of this example on the argument: 1. He was undoubtedly chosen to be an apostle in the proper sense of the word. This is implied in the whole transaction, and is, indeed, expressly affirmed. Peter states, in his argument for going into the election, that one of their number had committed suicide, and that it was proper that his place should be supplied by an election. The propriety of this he argues by a quotation from Psalms 69:25 : " Let his habitation be desolate, and let no mand well therein; and his bishopric let another take;" that is, let his office, or charge — htiaxoi&p — be conferred on another. The word is applied to any oversight or care of a thing, and in the New Testament refers to having the care or oversight of the church, without reference to any particular rank in doing it. See Acts 20:28, and Philippians 50:1. 1, where it is applied to presbyters. On the ground of this ancient prediction, Peter argued that it was necessary and proper to elect one with suitable qualifications to fill the office with which Judas had been invested, or to accomplish what he was chosen to accomplish as an apostle. That it was understood that he was to be an apostle, with the rank, title, and prerogatives of an apostle, is clear. He was to be in the office what Judas would have been, if he had not, by transgression, fallen. Accordingly, it is expressly stated that " he was numbered with the eleven apostles," (Acts 1:26) and the apostles are twice referred to afterwards, in their collective capacity, in such a manner as to lead to the supposition that Matthias was with them. Thus it is said, (Acts 2:14) " But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice;" and in Acts 6:2, " Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them," implying that at that time Matthias was recognised as one of the number of the apostles, or that the apostolic college was full. 2. I am willing to admit that all this was done under the full influence of inspiration, and by the sanction of the Holy Spirit. It is true that the presence of the other ten apostles on the occasion is not mentioned; that the question was submitted, not particularly to them, but to the whole of the assembled church, (Acts 1:15) that probably the whole church acted in the selection of the successor of Judas, and voted on the occasion, (see Acts 1:15, comp. Acts 1:23, Acts 1:26) and that Peter seems to have been led to the conclusion that such an election was proper by a course of reasoning on the declaration in Psalms 69:1-36; but I see no reason to doubt that he acted in accordance with the will of the Great Head of the church, and under the guidance of the Holy Grhost. This would seem to be fairly implied in the general promises which the Redeemer made to the apostles in regard to the organization of the church. John 14:26; Matthew 16:19; Matthew 18:18. Whatever inferences may follow from this fact, the fact itself should be cheerfully conceded. But, if these points are conceded, the question then is, What is the exact bearing of this case on the question, whether it was intended that the arrangement should be " permanent" in the church, and that there should be a regular "succession" of men invested with the functions of those who sustained the apostolic office? It is important, then, to look at this case just as it is presented in the New Testament; and the following facts, which no one will dispute, comprise all that is said in regard to it, and embrace all that can be construed into an argument in regard to the succession. (1.) It was an election to a vacancy, not to a succession in the office. The reason which Peter gives for the election at all is that it was proper because a vacancy had occurred by the death of Judas, not because it was necessary to keep up the " succession." One had been removed who had been chosen to fill a specific place and to accomplish a particular object, and it was important that his place should be filled. If it were possible to perpetuate the apostolic office in its peculiarity — as we have seen that it is not — this reasoning of Peter would be forcible to demonstrate that the number twelve was to be continued, and that when a vacancy occurred, it was to be supplied by election; but it is of no force whatever to demonstrate that there must be a "succession" of an unlimited number, and that the office was to be transmitted by embracing hundreds or thousands in the "apostolic college" in every successive age. The argument of Peter is, that Judas was " numbered with them, and had obtained part in the same ministry" with them; that he had fallen from this office, and that it was predicted that another should take " his" place; and that, such being the case, it was proper Jo appoint another, having the proper qualifications, who might be, as Judas would have been had he lived, a " witness of the resurrection" of the Savior. In all this there is not one word about a "succession;" not an intimation that it was to be a permanent arrangement; not a hint that the original number was ever to be enlarged or to have any other qualifications than the original apostles had — the qualifications which made them competent to bear witness of the resurrection of the Savior. There is all the difference imaginable between the power to fill a vacancy in an office, and a power to perpetuate an ORDER of men — and especially if that "order’’ is to be indefinitely enlarged. (2.) It was an election by the church, and not particularly by the apostles. Indeed, it is only from the probability that the apostles icould be present on such an occasion that there is any reason to believe that they were there, for they are not mentioned. The address of Peter was made to the " disciples," who are said to have been "about a hundred and twenty," (Acts 1:15) and it is manifest from the narrative that the votes in the case were given by them. No intimation is furnished that any others voted than those before whom the proposition of Peter was made y and it is morally certain that if the vote had been given only by the apostles, such a fact would have been stated. This account shows that the apostles did not mean of themselves to appoint successors; but, so far as it goes, it shows that the selection was made by the body of the communicants in the church. If they had been intrusted with a special commission to continue their " peculiar order," and to " transfer their authority," as a permanent arrangement, it is scarcely credible that the execution of this should have been left to the body of communicants. At all events, this has much more of a democratic aspect than is found now in Episcopacy. In the whole of the speech of Peter, he never breathes a note of either himself or his fellow-apostles conferring apostolic power on Matthias, or on any one else. He submitted the nomination in the most anti-Episcopal manner to the whole of the disciples, and then referred the final decision to the Lord. "They appointed two, Joseph, called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias." The fair and obvious construction of this is, that it was done by the " hundred and twenty disciples" to whom Peter had submitted the proposition respecting the necessity of electing one to fill the vacancy. (3.) The purpose for which Matthias was chosen is specifically mentioned. It was that he might be, in the proper sense of the word, as explained above, an apostle — a "witness" of the resurrection of the Savior. " Wherefore, of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us — must one he ordained TO be A witness with us of his resurrection/’ (Acts 1:21-22.) Here the same object is referred to which is specified by the Savior as implied in the nature of the apostolic office — to be his witnesses to the world. In order to divest this of all doubt as to what was intended in the case, Peter specifies all the qualifications which were necessary in the election. He who was to be chosen was to have just such qualifications as to fit him to be a competent "witness" of the resurrection of the Savior. In order to that, it was indispensable that he should have been with him; that he should have been familiar with his person and his instructions, that he might thus be qualified to bear witness to his identity after his resurrection. Accordingly, Peter says that it was necessary that he should have been with them " all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among them, beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day when he was taken up from them," (Acts 1:21-22) thus embracing the entire period of his public ministry, his crucifixion, and the forty days in which he appeared to his disciples after his resurrection. It was to bear witness to these things, as we have seen, that the apostles were originally chosen; and it was for this specific purpose that Matthias was selected in the room of one who would have been abundantly qualified for this had he lived. In all that Peter says on this subject, there is not an intimation of the necessity of any other qualification than this; there is no hint that he ought to be endowed with uncommon talents, eloquence, or learning; there is no allusion to any power, control, or jurisdiction that he was to exercise over the churches; there is no suggestion that he was to perform the ceremony of " confirmation/ ’ or that he was to take the jurisdiction over a particular district or "diocese;" nor is there any allusion to any such fact as that he was to transmit his power and authority to " successors." The purpose was specific; it was just that for which all the apostles had been called by the Savior. These are the simple facts in regard to the election of Matthias. It is to be remembered now that this is the only case of an election to the apostolic office recorded in the New Testament. The only other apostle, respecting whose authority and rank there is no dispute, was Paul. He was called directly from heaven, without any arrangement, election, designation, or ordination by the other apostles ’, and he was qualified for the peculiarity of the apostolic office by having been permitted, in a miraculous manner, to see the Savior after his resurrection. "Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?" 1 Corinthians 9:1. When James, the brother of John, was put to death by Herod, (Acts 12:1) there was no election to supply his place, nor is there any mention that as the apostles died their places were supplied. The purpose of the original appointment of twelve — a competent number to establish the important truth of the resurrection of Jesus — had been accomplished when they died; and it was alike useless and impossible to continue the succession — useless because the twelve had testified to the world the fact of his resurrection in such a manner as to secure the permanent establishment of the Christian religion; and impossible because the original witnesses of the resurrection of the Redeemer died. How could an order of men be kept up in the world from age to age, qualified to be "witnesses" of his resurrection? — It is left, then, to the judgment of all to determine with what propriety the case of Matthias is referred to as an evidence that it was designed that there should be a permanent arrangement in the church to perpetuate the apostolic office, or to continue the appointment of an order of men of " superior qualifications and rank" in the ministry. If the very first link fails, all the others will be likely to fail also. The next case on which reliance is placed by the advocates of Episcopacy is, that of Barnabas. The argument in support of his claims to the apostleship is based mainly on the fact that the name apostle is given to him. Acts 14:14 : "Which when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of, they rent their clothes." See the tract "Episcopacy tested by Scripture," p. 18, and Bishop McCoskry’s Sermon, p. 24. In connection with the fact that the name apostle is given to Barnabas, it is urged by the author of the tract that the transaction recorded in Acts 13:1-52, by which Paul and Barnabas were designated to a particular work, and in the performance of which they are called "apostles," was not an "ordination" in the peculiar sense of the word, but a mere designation to a special missionary service; and that, as the term "apostle" belonged of right to Paul before this, so it is to be inferred that the same designation belonged to Barnabas, and to each of the others who were there named — " Simeon, and Niger, and Lucius, and Manaen." Tract, pp. 16, 17. The argument is, that if this were not an "ordination," the name "apostle" was not given to them in virtue of this transaction, but must have appertained to them before. As this is a point of some importance, and as it is an argument much insisted on by Episcopalians, that because the name apostle is given to certain men in the New Testament, therefore they were of a grade superior in rank to other " clergy," and that the "order" was designed to be perpetuated, it is important first to examine the meaning of the word "apostle," and then to inquire in what sense it is applied to Barnabas. The word irx&eroXoq —apostle, meaning one sent forth, a messenger — occurs in the New Testament eighty-one times. It is applied to the following persons: — (1.) To the Savior himself, as sent from God — the Great Apostle to the world. Hebrews 3:1. Compare here the numerous places where the Savior says he was " sent" from God into the world. (2.) To the original number whom the Savior chose to be his apostles to the world. Matthew 10:2; Mark 6:30; Luke 6:13; Luke 9:10; Luke 11:49; Luke 17:5; Luke 22:14; Luke 24:10; Acts 1:2, Acts 1:26; Acts 2:37. Acts 2:42-43; Acts 4:33, Acts 4:35-37; Acts 5:2, Acts 5:12, Acts 5:18,, Acts 5:29, Acts 5:34, Acts 5:40; Acts 6:6; Acts 8:1, Acts 8:15, Acts 8:28; Acts 9:27; Acts 11:1; Acts 14:4; Acts 15:2. Acts 15:6, Acts 15:6, Acts 15:22-23, Acts 15:33; Acts 16:4; Romans 16:7; 1 Corinthians 12:28-29; 1 Corinthians 15:7; Ga 50:1. 17 19; Ephesians 2:20; Ephesians 3:5; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Thessalonians 2:6, 1 Thessalonians 2:11; 2 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 2:1; 2 Peter 3:2; Jude 1:17; Revelation 18:20; Revelation 21:14. (3.) To Paul, reckoned as an apostle, and especially endowed for this purpose by having had a miraculous view of the Savior after his ascension. Acts 14:14; Romans 1:1; Romans 11:13; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 9:1-2; 1 Corinthians 15:9; 2 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Ga 50:1. 1; Eph. i. 1; Co 50:1. 1; 1 Timothy 1:1; 1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:1, 2 Timothy 1:11; Titus 1:1. (4.) To Barnabas in one instance only, Acts 14:14. (5.) To certain "brethren" who accompanied Titus when he was sent by Paul to Corinth, and who are called "the messengers of the churches" — axoc-oXoi t/./.X^mcuv — the ajostles of the churches. The number and names of these persons are imknown, but the only rank which they sustained was that of being sent from one church to another. 2 Corinthians 8:23. (6.) In a similar sense it is applied in Php 2:25 to Epaphroditus, sent by the church at Philippi to Rome, to supply the wants of Paul when a prisoner there. (7.) It is applied to any one who is sent to perform any office whatever. "The servant is not greater than his Lord; neither is he that is sent (oud£ a-oaroXoq — neither the apostle) greater than he that sent him." John 13:16. These passages show the sense in which the word is used in the New Testament, and the true force of any argument that may be derived from its use. It means properly one who is sent, and may be used with reference to one who is sent for any purpose, and may be applied, therefore, to any minister of religion, or to any one sent for a specific object, who is not even a minister of religion. The mere use of the word, therefore, proves nothing in respect to the matter under consideration. The argument relied on by the Episcopalian is, that the fact that the word is applied to an individual proves that he was an apostle in the strict and proper sense. But, in order to the validity of this argument, it is necessary to believe that the word is used in no other sense in the New Testament; and this would prove, not only that Barnabas was an apostle properly so called, but that Epaphroditus was, and that all the messengers whom Paul sent with Titus were; and that any one who was ever sent for any purpose was called an "apostle" in the strict and proper sense. If the Episcopalians, therefore, insist on it that the fact that the name "apostle" was given to Barnabas or Silas proves that they were apostles, and that the "order" was intended to be "continued," then we insist on it that the church at Philippi sent a prelatical bishop — Epaphroditus — to "minister to the wants of Paul," and that Paul sent a whole company of "apostles," or prelatical bishops, on a general exploring tour chrough Greece, or more likely on a visit to a particular church there. 2 Corinthians 8:23. But, as this consequence will not be conceded by Episcopalians, it follows that the argument on which they rely, derived from the fact that the name " apostle" is given to Barnabas, is worthless. In fact, it is known to be worthless by Episcopalians themselves. Dr. Onderdonk himself practically concedes it in the following judicious observation, Tract, p. 13: — "A little reflection and ’practice will enable any of our readers to look in Scripture for the several sacred OFFICES, independently of the names there or elsewhere given to them." The truth is, in regard to this word, and to all others, that the specific sense in which it is used is to be determined by the connection and the circumstances. Let us, then, inquire in regard to the case of Barnabas, whether there is any thing in the connection and circumstances where the term is applied to him, which shows that he was an apostle in the strict and proper sense, or that it was intended that the "order" should be perpetuated through him. The only instance in which the word apostle is applied to Barnabas, as has already been remarked, is in Acts 14:14 : — " Which when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of, they rent their clothes." Now, to see the fair and proper meaning of the word, as here applied to Barnabas, we may advert to the following considerations: — (1.) There is no account that Barnabas was ever elected, ordained, or appointed, in any way, to the apostolic office. There is a particular account of the election of Matthias, and of the manner in which Paul was selected and set apart to be an apostle; but there is no intimation that Barnabas was ever chosen in any manner for that office. (2.) Barnabas is repeatedly mentioned in the New Testament, but in no other instance as an apostle. He first appears in Acts 4:36, where it is said that he came with other converts having property and laid it at the apostles’ feet. He is then mentioned (Acts 11:22) as having been sent by the "church in Jerusalem" to Antioch, on occasion of a revival of religion there, and an account of his success as a preacher is there given. He is then referred to as having voluntarily gone to seek the apostle Paul at Tarsus, to induce him to come to Antioch. At this time, Paul and Barnabas laboured together a whole year at Antioch, but there is no intimation that he was ordained to the apostleship. Acts 11:26. He is then mentioned as going up to Jerusalem with Paul in a time of famine to carry to afflicted Christians there the benefactions of the church at Antioch. Acts 11:30. In Acts 12:25, it is said that, having accomplished this, Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem to Antioch, taking with them John Mark. Subsequently, Barnabas and Paul are mentioned as travelling companions, and Barnabas is not adverted to except in connection with Paul. Acts 13:1-2; Acts 14:12; Acts 15:2, Acts 15:12, Acts 15:37; 1 Corinthians 9:6; Galatians 2:1, Galatians 2:9, Galatians 2:13; Colossians 4:10. In all this, however, there is no intimation that he was ever selected and ordained to the apostolic office. In the numerous instances in which he is mentioned, the name apostle is never given to him but once. (3.) The reason why the name was given to him on that occasion, it is not difficult to understand. It was not because he was in the proper sense of the term an " apostle," but in the same sense in which Epaphroditus was the "apostle" of the church at Philippi, (Php 2:25,) and as the "brethren" sent with Titus were the "apostles" of the churches, (2 Corinthians 8:23;) that is, they were the messengers of the churches. We find the following account of an important transaction in relation to Barnabas before this name is given to him at all. In the church at Antioch there were "certain prophets and teachers, as Barnabas, and Simeon, and Lucius, and Manaen, and Saul." The rank which they together sustained was that of "prophets and teachers;" and the only title which appears to have been conferred on Barnabas was that of a "prophet and teacher." That also appertained to Paul, though from many other places we also know that before this he was entitled to the proper name of an apostle. As these "prophets and teachers" ministered to the Lord and fasted, "the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia." Acts 13:1-5. Now, two things are manifest in this account. The first is, that this was not an ordination to the ajiostolic office. This is perfectly apparent from the face of the transaction, for (cr) Paul was an apostle before; (&) the persons engaged in the ordination, if it were an ordination, were not themselves apostles; (c) the purpose for which they were set apart is particularly specified, and that is a distinct design from the apostolic office. Indeed, so clear is this, that Dr. Onderdonk has admitted that this was not an ordination at all. Tract, pp. 16, 17: "If it was not an ordination," says he, "as it certainly was not, it was a mere setting apart of those two apostles (?) to a particular field of duty/’ "That this transaction at Antioch related only to a special missionary ’work/ will be found sufficiently clear by those who will trace the progress of Paul and Barnabas through that work from Acts 13:4-51, Acts 14:1-26, where its completion is recorded." " This call, therefore, this separation, this work, related only to a particular mission, and this laying on of hands was no ordination." The second thing apparent from this account is, that this setting apart to a particular work laid the foundation for the appropriate designation of Barnabas and Paul as "apostles/’ in the sease that they were the messengers of the churches. They were designated to a particular "missionary work." They were "sent forth" to accomplish this. They are designated as thus sent forth, or as apostles or messengers of the church, by the inspired historian, (comp. Php 2:25; 2 Corinthians 8:23,) and all the circumstances of the case are met by this supposition. (4.) This view is confirmed by a fact which can be explained on no other supposition, that the name apostle is never given to Barnabas subsequent to his fulfilling this missionary appointment with the apostle Paul. He is repeatedly mentioned after this, but in no case as an apostle. No instance is referred to of his performing any other functions than those of a travelling companion of the apostle Paul as a preacher and a beloved brother; nor is there an intimation that he sustained any other "rank," or belonged to any other "order" than that which appertained to all who were preachers of the gospel. With what propriety, then, is he pressed into the service of Episcopacy? And what must be the real strength of that cause which is constrained to rely on such an instance to prove that there was such "an arrangement persevered in as to prove that the apostolic order was to be permanent’ ’ in the church to the end of the world? The next case relied on by Episcopalians is " James, the brother of our Lord." Tract, p. 15. " James, the Lord’s brother," is once mentioned as an apostle. Ga 50:1. 19. But it should be remembered that there were two of the name of James among the apostles, in the specific sense of the term, viz. James the brother of John and son of Zebedee, and James the son of Alpheus. Matthew 10:3; Luke 6:15. Nor should it be forgotten thatthe word brother was used by the Hebrews to denote a relation more remote than that which is designated by the ordinary use of the word among us, and that Alpheus was probably a connection of the family of our Lord. What proof, • then, is there that he was not referred to in the passage before us? Silvanus and Timothy are the next mentioned. As their claim to be considered apostles rests on the same foundation, so far as the name is any evidence, these cases will be disposed of by considering that of Timothy at length in a subsequent part of the argument. The other cases are those of Andronicus and Junia. The foundation for their claim to be enrolled as apostles is the following mention of them by Paul, Romans 16:7 : — " Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, who are of note among the apostles," olrtviq eiffiv tTtitnijfwi £v roTq arzoGroXots. On this claim I remark: (1.) Admitting that they are here called apostles, the name, as has been proved, does not imply that they had any " superiority of ministerial rights and powers." They might have been distinguished as messengers, like Epaphroditus. (2.) It is clear that Paul did not mean to give them the name of aj^ostles at all. If he had designed it, the phraseology would have been different. Compare Romans 1:1, 1 Corinthians 2:1; Philippians 50:1. 1. (3.) All that the expression fairly implies is, that they, having been early converted, (Romans 16:7,) and being acquainted with the apostles at Jerusalem, were held in high esteem by them; that is, the apostles regarded them with confidence and affection. The next point of proof, "that the distinction between elders and a grade superior to them, in regard especially to the power of ordaining, was so persevered in as to indicate that it was a permanent arrangement," — and a point much insisted on by Episcopalians, — is drawn from the charge given by the apostle Paul to the elders of Ephesus. Acts 20:28-35. The point of this evidence is this: Paul charges the elders at Ephesus to "take heed to themselves," — " to take heed to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers — to feed the church of God — to watch against the grievous wolves that would assail the flock/’ etc. In all this, we are told, there is not a word respecting the power of ordaining, nor any thing which shows that they had the power of clerical discipline " No power is intimated to depose from office one of their own number, or an unsound minister coming among them." They are to " tend" or "rule" the flock as shepherds; " for shepherds do not tend and rule shepherds." This is affirmed to be the sole power of these elders. In connection with this, we are asked to read the epistles to Timothy — the power there given "personally to Timothy at Ejrfiesits," (Tract, p. 23,) or as it is elsewhere expressed, " Compare now with this sum total of power assigned to mere elders, or presbyters, that of Timothy at Ephesus, the very city and region in which those addressed by Paul in Acts xx. resided and ministered." P. 25. It is said by Episcopalians that in those epistles the " right of governing the clergy and ordaining, is ascribed to him personally;" and numerous undisputed passages are adduced by them to show that Timothy is addressed as having this power. 1 Timothy 1:18; 1 Timothy 3:14-151Ti_4:6; 1 Timothy 1:3; 1 Timothy 5:19-21, etc. etc. Now, this argument proceeds on the following assumptions, viz. 1. That Timothy was called an apostle, and was therefore invested with the same powers as the apostles, and was one of their successors in the office. 2. That he was, at the time when Paul gave his charge to the elders at Miletus, bishop of Ephesus. 3. That the "elders" summoned to Miletus were ministers of the gospel of the second order, or, as they are now usually termed, priests, in contradistinction from bishops and deacons. If these points are not made out from the New Testament, or if any one of them fails, this argument for Episcopacy will be of no value. The first claim is, that Timothy is called an "apostle," and was, therefore, clothed with apostolic powers. The proof on which this claim is made to rest is contained in 1 Thessalonians 1:1, compared with 1 Thessalonians 2:6. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are joined together in the commencement of the epistle, as writing it to the church at Thessalonicay and in ch. 2:6, the following expression occurs: "Nor of man sought we glory — when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ." This is the sole proof of the apostleship of Timothy, of which so much is made in the Episcopal controversy, and which is usually appealed to as of itself sufficient to settle the question. Perhaps there is no point in this controversy ’asserted with more confidence, or more relied on by Episcopalians, than that Timothy was an "apostle," and was "bishop" or prelate of Ephesus. It is of importance, therefore, to show how this matter is in the New Testament; and having disposed of this case, the argument about the immediate " successors" of the apostles is at an end. Now, without insisting on the point which has been made out, that the apostolic office was conferred not to impart "superiority of ministerial rights and powers," but to bear "witness’’ to the great events in the life and teachings of the Savior, the claim will be disposed of by the following considerations: 1. The passage in 1 Thessalonians 2:6 does not fairly imply that Timothy was even called an apostle. For it is admitted (Tract, p. 15) that "it is not unusual for St. Paul to use the plural number of himself only." It is argued, indeed, that the words "apostles," and "our own souls," (v. 8,) being inapplicable to the singular use of the plural number, the "three whose names are at the head of the epistle are here spoken of jointly." But if Paul used the plural number as applicable to himself, would it not be natural for him to continue its use, and to employ the adjectives connected with it in the same number? Besides, there* is conclusive evidence that Paul did not intend to include the "three" named at the head of the epistle in this expression in ver. 6. For in the verses immediately preceding the following language occurs: " We had suffered before, and were shamefully treated, as ye know, at Philippi," etc. Now it is capable of demonstration that Timothy was not present at that time, and was not subjected to those sufferings at Philippi. Acts 16:12, Acts 16:19; Acts 18:1-4. It follows, therefore, that Paul did not intend here to imply that "the three named at the head of the epistle" were apostles, and that he intended to speak of himself alone in ver. 6. That this is so, is evident from chap. iii. In ver. 1 of that chapter Paul uses the plural term also: "When we could no longer forbear, ice thought it good to be left at Athens alone." Comp. ver. 5. "For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, /sent to know your faith." From this it is clear that Paul, when he uses the plural here, refers only to himself, and that Timothy and Silas are associated with him in chap, 1. 1, not as having apostolic authority, but for the mere purpose of salutation or kind remembrance. 2. Our next proof that Timothy was not an apostle is, that he is expressly distinguished from Paul as an apostle; that is, in the same verse Paul is careful to speak of himself as an apostle, and of Timothy as not an apostle. Thus, Acts 1:1, "Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother" Again, Co 50:1. 1: "Paul an apvstle of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother." Now the argument is this, that if Paul regarded Timothy as an apostle, it is remarkable that he should be so careful to make this distinction, when his own name is mentioned as an apostle. Why did he not also make the same honourable mention of Timothy. The distinction is the more remarkable from the next consideration to be adduced, which is, that Paul is so cautious on this point — so resolved not to call Timothy an apostle — that when their names are joined together, as in any sense claiming the same appellation, it is not as apostles, but as servants. Philippians 50:1. 1: "Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ." See, also, 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1. These considerations put it beyond debate that Timothy is not called an apostle in the New Testament. The second claim for Timothy is, that he was bishop — that is, prelate — of Ephesus. This is commonly assumed by Episcopalians as an indisputable or conceded point. Indeed, so confident are they of this, that it is not deemed necessary by them to suggest any arguments in the case, but it is adverted to as if it were among undoubted historical facts. Thus, in one of the latest publications on Episcopacy, Dr. McCoskry says, "The apostle places him [Timothy] over the church at JEj)hesus, and gives him the power to ordain elders and deacons in the churches, as is evident from his instructions to him." Now this point should be made out, for it is not. one of those which we are disposed by any means to concede. It is to be remembered, too, that it is a point which is to be made out from the New Testament, for our inquiry is, Whether Episcopacy can be defended "by Scripture." Let us see how this matter stands. It may be proper here to remark, that the subscription at the close of the Second Epistle to Timothy* is admitted on all hands to be uninspired, and of no authority in the argument. Assuredly, Paul would not close a letter by seriously stating to Timothy that he wrote "a second epistle" to him, informing him that he was " ordained the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians," and that it was "written from Rome when Paul was brought before Nero the second time." None of the subscriptions at the close of the -epistles in the New Testament are of any authority whatever; several of them are undoubtedly false; and where they happen to be correct, the correctness is to be made out from other considerations than the fact that they are found there. Now, how does the case stand in the New Testament with respect to Timothy? What testimony does it afford as to his being "bishop of Ephesus?" A few observations will show what is the real strength of the proof relied on by Episcopalians in the case: 1. It is admitted that he was not at Ephesus at the time when Paul made his address to the- elders at Miletus. Acts 20:17-35. Thus, Dr. Onderdonk (Tract, p. 25) says, "Ephesus was without a * "The second epistle unto Timotheus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians, was written from Rome, when Paul was brought before Nero the second time" bishop when Paul addressed the elders, Timothy not having been placed over that church till some time afterward/’ Here, then, was one diocese, or one collection of churches, which is admitted to have been constituted without a prelate. The presumption is, that all others were organized in the same way. 2. The charge which Paul saves to the elders proves that Timothy was not there; and proves further, that they, at that time, had no prelatical bishops, and that they previously had had none. The}- are charged to take heed to themselves and to all the flock; "to feed" or "to rule" the flock etc. But not one word is to be found of their having then any prelatical bishop; not one word of Timothy as their episcopal leader. Not an exhortation is given to be subject to any prelate; not an intimation that they would ever be called on to recognise any such officer. Not one word of lamentation or condolence is expressed, that they were not fully supplied with all proper episcopal authority. Now, all this is inexplicable on the supposition that they were then destitute, and that it was desirable that they should be supplied with an officer " superior in ministerial rights and powers." Nay, they are themselves expressly called bishops, without the slightest intimation that there were any higher or more honourable prelates than themselves. Acts 20:28 : "Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made, you bishops" -*—&mffx6izouq, 3. It is admitted by non-Episcopalians that Timothy subsequently was at Ephesus, and that he was left there for an important purpose by the apostle Paul. This was when he went to Macedonia, 1 Timothy 1:3 : " As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies." This is the only intimation in the New Testament, that Timothy was ever at Ephesus at all, except in the incidental statement in Acts 19:22, that he was one of those who had there, in connection with Erastus, "ministered" to Paul: "So he [Paul] sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus. " It is absolutely certain from this that Timothy was not "bishop" of Ephesus at that time; and if the fact that he was at Ephesus would prove that he was, the statement would prove that Erastus was also. Lt is important, then, to ascertain whether, when he was left there by Paul on his going into Macedonia, he was left there as a, permanent bishop? Now, in setthng this, I remark, it is nowhere intimated in the New Testament that he was such a bishop. The passage before us (1 Timothy 1:3) states, that when they were travelling together, Paul left him there, while he himself should go over into Macedonia. The object for which he left him is explicitly stated, and that object was not that he should be a permanent prelatical bishop. It is said to be — u to charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither to give heed to fables and endless genealogies;" that is, manifestly, to perform a temporary office of regulating certain disorders in the church; of silencing certain false teachers of Jewish extraction; of producing, in one word, a harmonizing effect which the personal iufluence of the apostle himself might have produced, but for a sudden and unexpected call to Macedonia. Acts 20:1. Hence, it is perfectly clear that the apostle designed this as a temporary appointment for a specific object, and that object was not to he prelate of the church. Thus he says, 1 Timothy 4:13, " Till I come, give attention to reading;" implying that his temporary office was then to cease. Thus, too, referring to the same purpose to return and join Timothy, he says, 1 Timothy 3:14-15 : " These things I write unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly; but, if I tarry long, that thou mightest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God;" implying that these directions were particularly to serve him during his appointment to the sp>ecific business of regulating the disordered affairs caused by false teachers, and which might require the discipline of even some of the bishops and deacons of the church, ch. v. vi. These directions, involving general principles indeed, and of value to regulate his whole life, had, nevertheless, a manifest special reference to the cases which might occur there, in putting a period to the promulgation of erroneous doctrines by Jewish teachers. 4. The claim that Timothy was bishop of Ephesus is one that must be made out by Episcopalians from the New Testament. But this claim has not been made out, nor can it ever be. There is nowhere in the New Testament a declaration or an intimation that he was constituted bishop of Ephesus. No assertion, so far as the New Testament is concerned, could possibly be more gratuitous than that he was " bishop of Ephesus;" and the wonder is, that such an assertion was ever made as depending on the authority of the New Testament, or that it should continue to be persevered in. Probably, the real ground of confidence in those who continue to make this assertion is the subscription at the close of the Second Epistle to Timothy — a subscription whose age and author are unknown, and which is destitute of every shadow of authority. 5. The Epistle to the Ephesians shows further, that at the time when that was written, there was no prelatical bishop at Ephesus. Though, in that epistle, the apostle gives the church various instructions about the relations which existed, there is not the slightest hint that Timothy was there; nor is there the least intimation tuat any such officer ever had been, or ever would be, set over them. The evidence from this epistle deserves more notice than has been usually bestowed upon it, and, taking all the circumstances of the case into consideration, is decisive on the question whether the church there had an Episcopal bishop. The circumstances are these: (1.) If Timothy was there as a " bishop" when the epistle was written, it is remarkable that there is no allusion to him in the epistle. A total want of all mention of him would have been an act of discourtesy such as we should not expect from the apostle Paul. (2.) If he had been formerly there and was then absent, it is no less remarkable that no allusion is made to the absent " bishop" of the church. It is difficult to account for it that there is no kind reference to his labours and fidelity y no expression of a wish that the church might soon enjoy his labours again. (3.) If the church was deprived of its bishop, or had none, and this " grade of officers" was essential to the proper organization of the church, then it is equally remarkable that there is no allusion to this fact, and no exhortation to take the proper measures to complete their organization by securing.the services of one of the " successors of the apostles." (4.) Very specific instructions are given in the epistle to a great variety of persons, but none in relation to the " bishop," or their duties to him. Thus, we have special exhortations addressed to the church, Ephesians 4:1-32; to husbands and wives, Ephesians 5:21-23; to children and fathers, Ephesians 6:1-4; to servants, Ephesians 6:5-8; to masters, Ephesians 6:9; but not one word in regard to the prelate or their duty to him. If it be said here that the same thing is true in regard to all ministers, and that they are not alluded to, the answer is obvious. Paul had given them a solemn charge personally when at Miletus, (Acts 20:17-35,) and it was not necessary to allude to the subject in the epistle. He had said to them all which it was desirable to say, and no reference, therefore, is made to the subject in the epistle. Now, if it cannot be made out that Timothy was bishop of Ephesus, then, in reading Paul’s charge to the elders at Miletus, we are to regard them as intrusted with the care of the church at Ephesus. It is not necessary to our argument at present to inquire whether they were mere ruling elders, or presbyters ordained to preach as well as to rule. All that is incumbent on us is, to show that the New Testament does not warrant the assumption that they were subject to a diocesan bishop. We affirm, therefore, simply, that Paul addressed them as intrusted with the spiritual instruction and government of the church at Ephesus, without any reference whatever to any person, either then or afterward placed over them, as superior in ministerial rights and powers. And this point is conclusively established by two additional considerations: — first, that they themselves are expressly called bishops, tztaxoTzouq — a most remarkable appellation, if the apostle meant to have them understand that they were to be under the administration of another bishop of superior ministerial powers and rights; and, second, that they are expressly intrusted with the whole spiritual charge of the church: " Feed the church of God" — Tcotfiabsat ttjv ixx/.r^iriav x.t.X. But every thing in this case is fully met by the supposition that they were invested with the simple power of ruling.,No one can deny that the word here used in the instructions of Paul to the elders of Ephesus involves the idea of ruling or governing. Itproperly means to feed, pasture, guard, defend, tend, as applied to a flock, and refers to all the care which a shepherd would extend over his flock. This includes not merely the feeding, properly so called, but the attention implied in protecting them, guiding them, saving them from danger, from enemies, &c. This language, when transferred to the shepherd of souls, the minister of the church, means that he is to exercise a similar care over the flock intrusted to him, the church. The mere business of counsel and instruction, of preaching and exhortation, does not meet the full sense of the word, any more than the mere business of feeding a flock would embrace all that the word means when applied to a shepherd. See Passow Lex. The word is used in the New Testament in the following places, and translated in the following manner, In Matthew 2:6, Revelation 2:27, Revelation 12:5; Revelation 19:15, it is rendered rule; and in Luke 17:7, John 21:16, Acts 20:28, 1 Corinthians 9:7, 1 Peter 5:2, Jude 1:12, Revelation 7:17, it is rendered feed. In two of these places (Luke 17:7, 1 Corinthians 9:7) it is applied to the literal care of a flock; and in the others, where it is applied to a people, it involves the idea of government or control over them. The idea which would have been conveyed to the elders of Ephesus by the language employed by Paul would be, that they were to exercise the same care over the church which a shepherd does over his flock, or which a governor does over his people, or which the commander of an army does over his army. Every thing involved in control, care, discipline, government, would be fairly and obviously conveyed by the use of the term. It is the same language which the Savior used when he addressed Peter, one of the apostles, in regard to the rule which he was to exercise over the church, (John 21:16,) and which he afterward himself addressed to the " elders" of the church, ranking himself with them as an elder. (1 Peter 5:2,) — in both places rendered I’feed;" and is language which would not suggest the idea that there was a superior "grade" of ministers over them, and which would not have been used if there had been such a grade. The difficulty implied in the use of this word here by Paul, as addressed to the elders at Ephesus, has been felt by all Episcopalians. Dr. Onderdonk (Tract, p. 24) asserts, in order to meet the difficulty, that the authority of the elders at Ephesus extended only to the " laity, or church members, while Timothy, their bishop, had authority over the clergy. But where is the proof of this? No such intimation is found in the address of Paul. The authority given them was " to feed, rule, or govern the church" of which they were the " bishops’’ — l-iffxarzouq. Let us now state the results of our investigation, and dispose of the case of Timothy. It has been shown that he was not an apostle. It has been further shown that there is no evidence that he was bishop of Ephesus. We have thus destroyed the claim of the permanency of the apostolic office, so far as Timothy is concerned. And we now insist that they who wish to defend Episcopacy by " Scripture" should read the two epistles to Timothy, without the vain and illusory supposition that he was bishop of Ephesus. With this matter clear before us, how stands the case in these two epistles? I answer, thus: — (1.) Timothy was left at Ephesus for a special purpose — to allay contentions, and prevent the spreading of false doctrine. The object for which he was left there is so explicitly stated, that there need be no occasion for ambiguity or doubt: u I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither gave heed to fables and endless genealogies." 1 Timothy 1:3-4. The object was not to perform the rite ot’ confirmation, nor to take the general oversight of a diocese, nor to ordain ministers, nor to administer discipline. None of these things, which are now understood to be the proper functions of prelatical bishops, are alluded to or hinted at. It was to make use of his influence, under the authority of the apostle, to prevent the propagation of error, and to maintain the truth — a work which would fall in with the proper functions of any minister of the gospel. In this, assuredly, there was nothing that claimed peculiarly episcopal authority and rank, for it is not even now claimed as one of the peculiar rights of Episcopal bishops. (2.) It is not intimated or implied that Timothy was ordained, constituted, or appointed there at all. The language is, " I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia." The fact in the case was, that Paul and Timothy had been labouring there conjointly. Neither of them was bishop of the place. Paul was himself called to go to Macedonia, but he felt that it was important for one of them to remain at Ephesus for a time, and he " besought" Timothy to do it. Had it not been for this request of Paul, Timothy would have gone with him as a matter of course y that is, if he was the "bishop" of Ephesus, he would have gone off with the apostle — would have left his diocese — would have travelled to another part of the world; and it was only by the earnest exhortation of the apostle Paul that this "prelate" was induced to remain and attend to the appropriate functions of his episcopate. If Timothy was such a " bishop" as this, he set a bad example to his " apostolical successors." There are very few Presbyterian pastors who would have needed the exhortation of an apostle to remain and attend to the proper duties of his own charge. (3.) This arrangement, as appears from the epistles, and as proved above, was to be temporary. Thus, Paul says that he lef0t him there, not to be a permanent bishop of the church, but " that he might charge some that they teach no other doctrine." So far as the terms of this commission go, as soon as he had in a proper way delivered this charge, and so settled matters that there would not be danger that the erroneous doctrine would be taught, he would be at liberty to change the place of his labours. That this was designed to be a temporary arrangement, and not a permanent appointment to the office of a prelate, is further manifest from another statement in the epistle itself, (1 Timothy 3:14-15:) " These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou majest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God." Here it is evident that, whatever was the reason why the apostle was separated from him on this occasion, he expected that the cause would soon cease, and that their united labours would soon be resumed as before. Timothy was young and inexperienced, and Paul gave him such directions as would aid him in the work which was for a time intrusted to him. But suppose that Timothy was the permanent bishop of Ephesus, how incongruous and improper would it have been for Paul to say that he had given him instructions that would be adapted to direct him during his own temporary absence, and that he hoped soon to return to him again. — The same thing is implied in 1 Timothy 4:13, of this same epistle: "Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine." Why is the phrase " til 50:1 come" inserted, if Timothy was the established prelatical bishop over Ephesus? How can it be explained, except on the supposition that Paul regarded their separation as temporary, and that he supposed they would again resume their joint labours as they had done before, without either of them having any especial jurisdiction over Ephesus or any other "diocese"? (4.) Timothy, as appears from the epistles, was intrusted with the right of ordination, and with the authority of government in the church, just as all ministers of the gospel are. He is charged, indeed, to "lay hands suddenly on no man," (1 Timothy 5:22;) to " commit the things which he had heard of Paul among many witnesses, to faithful men who should be able to teach others also," (2 Timothy 2:2;) to "put the brethren in remembrance of these things," (1 Timothy 4:6;) to " charge some that they taught no other doctrine," (1 Timothy 1:3;) not to "receive ah accusation against an elder, but before two or three witnesses," (1 Timothy 5:19;) and not to "rebuke an elder, but to entreat him as a father." 1 Timothy 5:1. These are all the specifications to be found in the epistles to Timothy, showing that Timothy had the right of ordaining or of governing the church intrusted to him at all, and there is not a syllable in them that contains any thing peculiar to the supposed office of a prelatical bishop, or that implies that Timothy had any such office. They are just such directions as would be given to any minister of the gospel authorized to preach, to ordain, to administer the ordinances of the church and its discipline — just such as are, in fact, given now to men who hold to the doctrine of ministerial parity. The " charges" which are given to Presbyterian and Congregational ministers at their ordination are almost uniformly couched in the same language which is used by Paul in addressing Timothy; nor is there any thing in those epistles which may not be, and which is not in fact, often addressed to ministers on such occasions. With just as much propriety might some antiquary hereafter — some future advocate for Episcopacy — collect together the charges now given to ministers, and appeal to them as proof that the Presbyterian and Congregational churches in this country were Episcopal, as to appeal now to the epistles to Timothy to prove that he was a prelate. 5.) The work which Timothy was to perform, even in Ephesus, is accurately defined: " Watch thou in all things; endure afflictions; do the work of an evangelist; make full proof of thy ministry." Here Timothy is expressly addressed as an evangelist. This was his appropriate business; this, his office. There is no direction to exercise any of the peculiar functions of a prelatical bishop; there is that he should be faithful in performing the work of an evangelist. How remarkable, if he was a " successor’’ of the apostles in the peculiarity of their office, that the apostle should limit his instructions to his faithfully performing the comparatively humble duties of an evangelist I (6.) The epistles themselves contain evidence of the falsehood of the supposition that there was an order of men superior to the presbyters in " ministerial powers and rights. " There are but two orders of ministers spoken of or alluded to in them — bishops and deacons. Let the emphatic remark of Dr. Onderdonk here be borne in mind, (Tract, p. 12:) " All that we read in the New Testament concerning ’bishops,’ is to be regarded as pertaining to the ’middle grade;" i.e. nothing in these epistles or elsewhere, where this term is used, ha? any reference to a rank of ministers superior in ministerial powers and rights," The case, then, by the supposition of the Episcopalians, is this: Two epistles are addressed by an apostle to a successor of the apostles, designated as such, and both of which are intended to perpetuate the same rank and powers. These epistles are designed to instruct Timothy in the organization and. government of the churches. They contain ample information, and somewhat protracted discussions, on the following topics: The office of a presbyter; the qualifications for that office; the office of the deacons; the qualifications for that office; the qualifications of deacons wives; the proper discipline of an elder; the qualifications of those who were to be admitted to the office of deaconesses; the duties of masters and servants; the duties of laymen; the duties of Christian females. Nay, they contain directions about the apostle’s cloak and parchments, (2 Timothy 4:13;) but, from the beginning to the end, not one syllable occurs respecting the existence of a grade of officers in the church superior " in ministerial rights and powers;" not a word about their qualifications, or about the mode of ordaining or consecrating them, or about Timothy’s fraternal intercourse with his brother prelates; nothing about the subjection of the priesthood to them, or about their peculiar functions of confirmation and superintendence. In one word, taking these epistles by themselves, no man would dream that there were any such officers in existence. I ask, now, whether any candid reader of the New Testament can believe that there were any such officers, and that two epistles could have been written, in these circumstances, without the slightest allusion to their existence or powers? Credat Judseus Apella* Can there be found now, among all the charges which Episcopal bishops have given to their clergy, any two in which there shall not be found some allusion to the " primitive and apostolic order" of bishops in the churches? It remains far our eyes to be blessed with the sight of one Episcopal charge, reminding us in this respect of the charges of Paul to Timothy. The remarks of Archbishop Whately in relation to this are so forcible and appropriate, that it may be proper to insert them here. " It is plainly recorded, "says he, " that they (the apostles) did establish churches wherever they introduced the gospel; that they ordained elders in every city, and the apostles again delegated this office to others; that they did administer the rite of baptism to their converts; and that they celebrated the communion of the Lord’s supper. And besides the general principles of Christian faith and morality which they sedulously set forth, they have recorded the most earnest exhortations to avoid ’ confusion’ in their public worship; to do ’ ail things decently and in order; to ’ let all things be done to edifying/ and not for vain-glorious display; they inculcate the duty of Christians ’ assembling themselves together’ for joint worship; they record distinctly the solemn sanction given to a Christian community; they inculcate due reverence and obedience to those who ’ bear rule’ in such a community, with censure of such as walk 1 disorderly’ and ’ cause divisions;’ and they dwell earnestly on the care with which Christian Ministers, both male and female, should be selected, and on the zeal, and discretion, and blameless life required in them, and on their solemn obligation to < exhort, rebuke, and admonish:’ yet with all this, they do not record even the number of distinct orders of them, or the functions appropriated to each, or the degree, and kind, and mode of control they exercised in the churches."* (7.) One other consideration may be added here, which is conclusive as to the question whether Timothy was the permanent prelatical bishop of Ephesus. It is, that it is certain that he did not remain permanently in that city. The only evidence that he was ever there at all is the statement in the Acts of the Apostles, (Acts 19:22,) that he, in connection with Erastus, had then " ministered" * Kingdom of Christ Delineated, Essay II. $ 10. unto Paul, and the statement in 1 Timothy 1:3, that when Paul went into Macedonia, he left him there for a temporary purpose. I now remark, that there is the most conclusive proof that he did not long remain there. He was with the apostle at Rome during his first imprisonment, and united with him in the letters to the Colossians, Philippians, and to Philemon. Co 50:1. 1; Php 1:1; Philemon 1:1. He was with him in Corinth when the Epistle to the Romans was written. Romans 16:21; comp. Romans 16:1, Romans 16:23; 2 Timothy 4:20. He had been recently imprisoned, probably at Rome, when the Epistle to the Hebrews was written. Heb«. 13:23. There is proof that he was not at Ephesus when the Second Epistle to him was written, for in ch. 4:12, Paul informs him that he "had sent Tychicus to Ephesus" — a kind of information which Paul would not have given if Timothy had been there himself at the time y and from the following verse it is evident that at the time when this epistle was written, Timothy was supposed to be at Troas: "The cloak which I left at Troas, when thou comest, bring with thee/’ How little does all this look as if Timothy were the permanent bishop of Ephesus! A man who is never mentioned as being there but for a temporary purpose; who received no charge, even in a letter addressed to him there, but such as might be given to any minister of the gospel; who is repeatedly mentioned as being elsewhere united with Paul in his toils and trials; and of whom there is no intimation that he ever did return, or ever would return, for any purpose whatever! Such is the strong case on which so much reliance is placed in sustaining the enormous fabric of Episcopacy in the world! We may now take our leave of the case of Timothy. The case of Titus, the next in order, can be despatched in fewer words. The argument in defence of the claim respecting Titus does not vary materially from that used in reference to Timothy. The only point which requires a moment’s examination, in addition to what has been said in the case of Timothy, is the purpose for which he was left at Crete. Titus 1:5 : " For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city as I have appointed thee." The claim of Episcopalians here is, that this* indicates such a perseverance in the " distinction between elders and a grade superior to them," as proves that it was "to be a permanent arrangement." In other words, Titus was to be a permanent bishop of Crete, Buperior to the elders " in ministerial rights and powers." This claim it is necessary for them to establish from the New Testament. If there are any intimations that it was not designed to be permanent, they will be fatal to the argument. We affirm, then, in opposition to this claim, that the case is fully met by the supposition that Titus, in Crete, was an extraordinary officer, like Timothy at Ephesus, appointed for a specific purpose. For, (1.) The appointment itself looks as if this was the design. Paul had himself commenced a work there, which, from some cause, he was unable to complete. That work he left Titus to finish. As it cannot be pretended that Paul had any purpose of becoming the permanent bishop of Crete, so it cannot be that Titus’s being left to complete what Paul had begun is proof that he expected that Titus would be permanent bishop. An appointment to complete a work which is begun by another, when the original designer did not contemplate a permanent employment, cannot surely be adduced in proof of a permanent office. If I am employed to complete an edifice which is commenced, it does not suppose that I am to labour at it all my life; still less, that I am to. have successors ^n the undertaking. This passage, to most unbiassed minds, would imply that Paul expected Titus, after having completed what he had left him to do, to leave the island of Crete, and accompany him in his travels. (2.) That this was the fact — that he had no expectation that Titus would be a permanent bishop of Crete, superior in " ministerial rights and powers" — is perfectly apparent from the direction in the same epistle, (Titus 3:12) " When I shall send Artemas unto thee, oi Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me at Nicopolis." Here we find conclusive proof that the arrangement respecting Titus in Crete was designed to be temporary. To suppose the contrary is to maintain a position in the very face of the directions of the apostle. Every thing in the case shows that he v~as an extraordinary officer, appointed for a specific purpose; and that when that work was effected, which the apostle supposed would be soon, he was to resume his station as his travelling companion and fellow-labourer. (3.) That this was the yeneral character of Titus — that he was regarded by Paul as his companion, and as a very valuable assistant to him in his travels — is further apparent from 2 Corinthians 2:12-13; 2 Corinthians 7:6-13. In the former of these passages he says, that he expected to meet him at TroaSy and intimates that his presence and help were very necessary for him: "When I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother." In the latter place, (2 Corinthians 7:6-13,) we find him the companion of the apostle Paul in Philippi: " Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all." Again, (2 Corinthians 12:18,) we find him employed on a special embassy to the church in Corinth, in respect to the collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem: "I desired Titus," [that is, to go to them to receive the collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem,] and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you?" Comp. Romans 15:26. And again, we find him on a mission to Dalmatia, (2 Timothy 4:10) " Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia." Assuredly, these various migrations and employments do not appear as if he was designed by the apostle to be the permanent prelatical bishop of Crete. (4.) It is to be presumed that Titus regarded the apostolic mandate to come to him at Nicopolis, (Titus 3:12) that he left Crete in accordance with Paul’s request; and as there is no intimation in the New Testament that he ever returned there, and as indeed there is not the slightest proof anywhere that he permanently resided there, or that he died there, we come to the conclusion that he was employed for a temporary purpose, and that, having accomplished it, he resumed his situation as the companion of Paul. Comp. Galatians 2:1. It must be admitted, on all hands, that the Episcopalian cannot prove the contrary. Since, moreover, our supposition meets all the circumstances of the case, and we are able to show that this was the general character of the labours of Titus, we may dismiss his case also. The last argument of Episcopalians to prove the "apostolical succession" is derived from the epistles to the seven churches of Asia. Revelation 2:1-29, Revelation 3:1-22. This argument is embodied in the following position, "Each of those churches is addressed, not through its clergy at large, but through its t angel/ or chief officer; this alone is a very strong argument against parity in favour of Episcopacy." "One of those churches is Ephesus; and when we read concerning its angel, ’thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars/ do we require further evidence that what Timothy, the chief officer there, was in the year 65, in regard to the supreme right of discipline over the clergy, the same was its chief officer when this book was written, in 96?" The singular number, it is added, is used emphatically in the address to each of the angels, and "the individual called ’the angel’ is, in each case, identified with his church, and his church with him." The force of this argument can be founded only on the supposition that the epistles to those churches are addressed to an individual called "the angel of the church," and that this individual could be no other than a prelatical bishop. It is indispensable that each of these points should be made out, or the argument is worthless. It will not do to argue, because Timothy was once left by Paul in Ephesus, in the year "65," that therefore there was a "bishop" there in "96." We have seen that Timothy did not long remain there; that he was subsequently with the apostle Paul; and there is not the slightest intimation in the New Testament that in that interval of thirty-one years a " successor’’ was appointed. Whence, then, is the ground of the inference that thirty-one years afterward, thiu individual, addressed as "the angel of the church," was the " successor" of Timothy? The argument from the "angels" of the seven churches, so strenuously urged and defended by Episcopalians, involves also the following assumptions: — (1.) That there was an inferior body of clergymen, called " clergy at large." t Assuming this point, it would not be difficult to make out an argument from the address "to the angel." But this is a point to be proved, not to be assumed. Where is there found, in the New Testament, an intimation of the existence of an order of "clergy at large" in these churches? In the epistles themselves, there is not the slightest hint of the existence of any such personages distinct from " the angels." Nay, the very style of address is strong presumption that there were not any such inferior clergymen. The only mention which occurs is of the angel and the church. We hear nothing of an intermediate order; nothing of any supremacy of "the angel" over "the clergy at large;" not the least intimation of any duty to be performed by the supposed prelatical "angel," toward the inferior presbyters. Why is all reference to them omitted, if they had any existence? Is it customary, in addressing " bishops" now, to omit all reference to their duties over the inferior " clergy at large"? This is a point of too much consequence to be left unguarded; and accordingly the rights and duties of the order which is regarded’ as superior a in ministerial rights and powers" are sedulously marked out and inculcated. (2.) It must be assumed, in this argument, that there were in each of those cities more churches than one; that there was a circle or confederation of churches, which would answer to the modern notion of a "diocese," over which "the clergy at large," of inferior "ministerial rights and powers," might exercise a modified jurisdiction. If this is not assumed, the argument has no force; since, if there was but one church in each of those cities, the "angel" was not a bishop in the Episcopal sense, but a pastor in the ordinary acceptation of the term. Now this is a point which, in an argument like this, should not be assumed. It should be proved, or at least rendered highly probable, from the New Testament. But there is not the slightest hint of any such divided and scattered diocesam organization. In each instance, the church is addressed as one and undivided. "The angel of the church," not the churches, "of Ephesus," Revelation 2:1; "The angel of the church in Smyrna," Revelation 2:8; "the angel of the church at Thyatira," Revelation 2:18; "the angel of the church in Sardis," Revelation 3:1, &c. In every instance the address is the same. The point of inquiry now is, whether in this address the Savior meant to intimate that there was a plurality of churches —an ecclesiastical, diocesan organization? This is a point for Episcopalians to prove, not to assume. The presumption is directly against the Episcopalians. It is, that the apostles would not organize separate churches in a single city; and that, if it were done, they would be specified as the churches. Accordingly, we learn that the apostle organized "a church" at Corinth. 1 Corinthians 1:1-2. Thus, also, at Antioch. Acts 13:1. Thus, also, at Laodicea. Colossians 4:16. And in the address of Paul to the elders at Miletus, respecting one of the very churches under consideration, that at Ephesus, it is mentioned not as the churches of Ephesus, but as the church. Acts 20:28 : "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." When Paul addressed this same church in an epistle, it was directed, not to the churches, but to the saints at Ephesus. Ephesians 1:1. But where there were distinct churches organized, there is a specific mention of the fact of the plurality; thus Acts 15:41 : " Paul went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming (i.e strengthening, establishing) the churches;" Romans 16:4 : "the churches of the Gentiles;" 1 Corinthians 16:1 : "the churches of Galatia;" 1 Corinthians 16:19 : "the churches of Asia;" 2 Corinthians 8:1 : "the churches in Macedonia." See also, 2 Corinthians 8:19, 2 Corinthians 8:23; 2 Corinthians 11:8; Ga 50:1. 22; Revelation 1:4. Now, if it is neither proved that there was a body of " clergy at large," nor that there were separate churches in each of those cities, I ask, what is the force of the argument from this case? How does it bear on the point at issue? What has it to do with the subject? (3.) A third assumption, in supposing that this argument is of any force, is, that a "successor" to John himself had already been appointed at Ephesus, and that he had actually taken his place. John passed a large part of his long life there. It was from Ephesus that he was banished to Patmos. If there was a prelate at Ephesus, it is morally certain that John was himself the man Indeed, it is inconceivable, almost, that any other should have been raised to the episcopal "throne" in Ephesus, while John was himself there, or should have the right to the peculiar title of " the angel" of the church. It is equally improbable that in the brief interval between the banishment of the apostle and the time of addressing those epistles to the churches in the Book of Revelation, another person should have been appointed to supersede the exiled apostle. And it is equally improbable also that, if it had been so, no special allusion should have been made to this circumstance in the letter addressed to the church at Ephesus. All thgse circumstances are so remarkable as to render it morally certain that no such individual as a "prelatical bishop," or a "successor of the apostles/’ was addressed under the title of "the angel of the church." In reference to the term " angel" as used in the Apocalypse, I have only to remark, further, that the interpretation which makes it refer to a prelatical bishop is so unnatural and forced, that many Episcopalians are compelled to abandon it. Thus Stillingfleet, than whom an abler man, and one whose praise is higher in Episcopal churches, is not to be found among the advocates of prelacy, says, of these angels: " If many thiDgs in the epistles be directed to the angels, but yet so as to concern the whole body, then, of necessity, the angel must be taken as a representative of the whole body; and then, why may not the word angel be taken by way of representation of the body itself, either of the whole church, or, which is far more probable, of the concessors, or order of presbyters, in that church? We see what miserable, unaccountable arguments those are which are brought for any kind of government from metaphorical or ambiguous expressions, or names promiscuously used." Irenicum. Archbishop Whately also abandons the common views of Episcopalians on the subject; and the views of Presbyterians, who regard it as applicable to the pastor of a single church, are sustained by his high authority. He says, "It seems plainly to have been the general, if not the universal, practice of the apostles, to appoint over each separate church a single individual as a chief governor, under the title of 11 angel" (i. e. messenger or legate from the apostles) or "bishop," t. e. superintendent or overseer. A church and a diocese seem to have been for a considerable time co-extensive and identical. And each church or diocese, (and consequently each superintendent,) though connected with the rest by theties of faith and hope and charity, seems to have been (as has been already observed) perfects independent as far as regards any power of control."* With one or two additional remarks, I shall dismiss this point. The first is, that it cannot be argued from the term angel, given to those ministers, that they were Episcopal bishops. That term, as is well known, has no exclusive applicability to a prelate. It is nowhere else applied to the ministers of religion; and its original signification, "a messenger," or its usual application to celestial spirits, has no special adaptedness to an Episcopal bishop. Without any invidiousness, it may be observed that prelates have not usually evinced any such extraordinary sanctity as to appropriate this title to themselves by prescriptive right. The other remark is, that the supposition that these angels were pastors of the churches — presbyters on a parity with each other and with all others — will fully meet every thing * Kingdom of Christ Delineated, Essay II. § 20. which is said of them in the book of Revelation, for, (1) It is an appropriate appellation to designate them — as messengers sent by God to communicate his will to his people — as appointed to make known his truth; (2) there is no reason to suppose that there was more than one church in each of the cities referred to, and it is indispensable for the friend of prelacy to prove that there was, before he can assume that this term was not used to designate a pastor in the ordinary sense of that term; (3) it is a term which would designate the respect in which the office was to be held; (4) it would impress upon those to whom it was applied a solemn sense of their responsibility; and (5) it would be more appropriately applied to the pastor of a single church than to a prelatical bishop — to the tender, intimate, endearing relation of a pastor with his people — to the blending of sympathy, interest, and affection, where he is with them continually, meets them each week in the sanctuary, administers to them the bread of life, goes into their abodes when they are afflicted, and attends their kindred to the grave, —than to the union subsisting between the people of an extended diocese and a prelate — to the formal, unfrequent, and, in many instances, stately and pompous, visitations of a diocesan bishop — to the cold and distant connection between a people scattered into many churches, who are visited at intervals of a year or more by one claiming "a superiority in ministerial rights and powers/’ robed in lawn, and with the crosier and mitre, as emblematical of office, state, and power, and one who must be a stranger to the ten thousand tenderties of endearment which bind the hearts of a pastor and his people together. The appellation thus given to a pastor of a church speaks the sentiments of our hearts, as respects the union of a pastor and people. And while I would not allow myself to speak with disrespect of the episcopal office, it cannot but be felt that the language of the Savior, addressed through the mild and gentle John to the churches of Asia, breathes far more of the endearing " identity" of the pastoral relation, than it does of the comparatively cold and distant functions of one who, in all other lands but this, has been invested with his office by the imposing ceremony of enthroning, and who has borne, less as badges of affection than of authority, the crosier and the mitre. As a proper conclusion, in regard to the claims of " bishops" to a superiority of rank among the clergy, it may be proper to state, in few words, what is the meaning of the term as it is used in the New Testament: The word. Itzmjxotzty — episcope — whence the word episcopal is derived, occurs but four times in the New Testament. It is translated visitation in Luke 19:44, and in 1 Peter 2:12; bishopric, Acts 1:20; and in this place, office of a bishop. The verb from which it is derived (J.m vo 50:1. pp. 658-666. as a mere matter of expediency, not as a ceremony of human prudence, but as directed by the word of God. It is claimed, also, that it is a rite not to be performed by all the ministers of religion, but exclusively by prelates as the successors of the apostles, and as being one of the objects for which there is continued in the church, from age to age, a rank of clergy of superior " order." It is only with reference to this question that it is proposed now to examine it. Were it a mere matter of human prudence — a regulation which experience had shown to be useful — a decent and solemn form of admission into the church adopted by Episcopalians — no more objection could lie against it than against any of the forms adopted by other denominations in admitting members to their communion. All churches have found it desirable to prescribe some method by which the profession of faith shall be indicated, or by which candidates shall be admitted to their fellowship; and, in itself considered, the method of admitting them by what is called "confirmation" — by a public presentation before the church and congregation — by reverent kneeling — and by the imposition of the hands of a pastor, and by prayer — would be as solemn and appropriate as any other method, and might be adopted without endangering either the orthodoxy or the spirituality of any church. But when the claim is set up to scriptural authority in the case, the subject assumes quite another aspect. Then it is taken out of the inquiries relating to human prudence and expediency, and placed on the basis of obligation. Then, if this claim is substantiated, it is binding not only on Episcopalians, but on all who profess to be Christians; and then also the churches which do not admit the regulation are guilty of renouncing one of the rites appointed by the Redeemer, and the individuals who are connected with those churches are excluded from one of the important means of grace appointed by him to promote the spirituality and the comfort of his people. For the vindication, then, of those churches, and for the purpose of showing that those who have been admitted to the church without the imposition of the hands of a "bishop/’ are not guilty of violating the rules of the great Head of the church, I propose to demonstrate that this claim of scriptural authority for the rite of confirmation is wholly unfounded. Before proceeding to examine the authorities relied on, it may be proper to remark that no argument can be derived from the use of the English word "confirm" in the New Testament. It is said of Paul and Barnabas that they went to " Lystra, and to Iconium, and to Antioch, confirming — • litLffTTipilovres — the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith. " Acts xiv. 22. And again of Paul, that " he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming — l-iarypi^wv — the churches." Acts 15:41. So of Judas and Silas it is said, that " being prophets themselves," they M exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed — hcsonjpgeut — them." Acts 15:32. The word here used occurs in no other places in the New Testament than those just referred to, and means, properly, to " set or place firmly upon, to let lean upon." (Robinson’s Lexicon.) The essential idea in the word is that of strengthening or imparting strength, confirming or upholding that which is feeble, &c. The word as so used has no reference to any particular rite of religion. Nothing is said or intimated of the act of confirmation being done by the imposition of hands, nor is there the slightest reason to suppose that this was practised in the cases referred to. All that the word fairly implies is, that it was done by instruction, counsel, exhortation, and prayer. The truth was, that these were young converts; that they were surrounded by enemies, and exposed to temptation; that they had as yet but a slight acquaintance with the gospel; and that it was therefore important that they should be further instructed and established in the faith of Christianity. There is not the slightest evidence that they had not been admitted to all the privileges of the church before, or that any ceremony whatever was now performed in confirming or strengthening them. Whatever may be adduced in favour of this rite, these passages will not be claimed in its defence by intelligent Episcopalians. But these are all the passages in the New Testament, where the English word " confirm" is used, where it could possibly be supposed to have reference to this rite; and these are never adduced by intelligent Episcopalians as furnishing any support for it. In examining the claim for the scriptural authority for confirmation, and the question whether it should be retained in the church as a religious rite, I submit the following remarks: — (1.) In the New Testament, the act of laying on of hands, appealed to in support of this claim, was uniformly connected with imparting the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit. That the apostles did lay their hands on the disciples which they made, or on young converts, is indisputable; but the design was specific, and is mentioned in each case. And yet there are but two instances of the " laying on of hands" on converts to the Christian faith referred to in the New Testament, in both of which there need be no possible danger of mistaking the object and the effect, and in neither of them is the effect stated which is claimed for the rite of " confirmation." The first occurs in Acts 8:14-17 : "Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John; who, when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost: for as yet he was fallen upon none of them; only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost." Now, the only material question in regard to this passage as a proof-text for the rite of con-firmation is, whether it refers to " the ordinary grace of the Holy Spirit which is necessary to enlighten and aid Christians in the spiritual life," (Bishop Hobart,) or whether it refers to the gifts of the Holy Spirit which were manifested in some visible or outward mode. If it refer to the former, it is a legitimate proof-text to be used in defence of this rite; if to the latter, then it proves nothing to the purpose, unless it be maintained that the Holy Spirit is always miraculously imparted to those who receive " confirmation" from the hand of the bishop. That the imposition of the hands referred to was accompanied with an imparting of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous or public manner, is evident from the narrative, (a) It is that which the language used would naturally express. Thus, it is said, " As yet he teas fallen upon none of them," — language which naturally suggests the remarkable occurrences on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended in a public and visible manner, conferring the miraculous endowment of being able to speak foreign languages. It is not such language as would properly denote the ordinary influences of the Spirit in converting the soul, or that tl ordinary grace which is necessary to enlighten and aid Christians in the spiritual life." (6) That it was accompanied with some remarkable power or outward manifestation — something of the nature of miracle, either enabling them to work miracles or to speak with new tongues — is manifest from the effect which it had on Simon Magus, who witnessed it: " And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost." Acts 8:18-19. Now, it is evident that there must have been some visible manifestation, some outward power, which Simon supposed would be of value to him in carrying on a system of fraud and deception — something which he would be willing to " purchase" if possible, as constituting a valuable capital in exerting an influence over men. Whatever this was, it must have been something besides the " ordinary grace which is necessary to enlighten and aid Christians in the spiritual life." It must have been more than is conferred now in the rite of confirmation; for what power or influence is conferred now by the " apostolical bishop" in this rite which a man who wished to exert an influence over his fellow-men would desire to purchase? What would excite greater wonder than for a man with the spirit and design of Simon Magus — wishing to obtain some powerful agency not possessed by others for the purpose of fraud and imposture — to approach a prelate after he had administered this rite to a company, of disciples " properly instructed," and deliberately propose to purchase this remarkable power? Would such a prelate understand precisely what it was that he desired to purchase? It need only be added, on this passage, that whatever was conferred on the disciples of Samaria, from any thing that appears in the narrative, was conferred on them all. There is no reason whatever to suppose, as Bishop Hobart does, (p. 6,) that these remarkable endowments were conferred on one part, and that on the other the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit only were bestowed. Of any such distinction, the sacred writer has not thought proper to give us any information; and that there was such a distinction should not be assumed in an argument to defend the scriptural authority of this rite. The only other case appealed to in defence of this rite is in Acts 19:1-7, where the narrative is equally clear and decisive. It is that of the disciples at Ephesus. When Paul came there, he asked them whether they had received the Holy Ghost? They replied, " We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." They had been baptized, they said, "unto John’s baptism;" and after now being bajitized " in the name of the Lord Jesus," it is added, " and when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them y and they spake with tongues and prophesied." Here it is expressly affirmed that the miraculous endowment of speaking foreign languages was conferred on them, and evidently on them all, for there is no distinction made among them. There is no intimation whatever that it was a rite designed merely to confirm them in " the ordinary grace which is necessary to enlighten and aid Christians in the spiritual life," or that it was to be continued as an ordinance in the church. So far as these cases go, they demonstrate merely the fact that the Holy Ghost, in his miraculous influences, was conferred by the laying on of the hands of the apostles, and by them only. These are the only cases in the New Testament, the only facts appealed to, to show that the "rite of confirmation" is scriptural in its character and authority, and is to be continued in the church. There is no intimation whatever that it was a mere rite of religion for establishing Christians in the belief of the truth, or for admitting members to the communion, or that there would be any special efficacy or benefit in the imposition of the hands of the " successors"’ of the apostles. Now, it is a matter of simple justice to demand that, if these cases are appealed to, it should be just as they occurred. It should be to prove, that by the "laying on of the hands" of the "bishops," there will be imparted some remarkable gift of the Holy Ghost which can properly be spoken of as "falling upon" those who receive it, and which is so visible and manifest, that a bad man might deem it desirable to " purchase" it, if he could, in order to exert an influence over his fellow-men; and that there is, in fact, imparted, in each case, the "gift of tongues" and the power of " prophesying." These texts would be entirely pertinent and unanswerable to prove those points; but how do they prove another and quite a foreign thing — a thing that has no resemblance to this — that the "bishop" has the right of laying on his hands to impart the "ordinary grace which is necessary to enlighten and aid Christians in the spiritual life"? They prove one thing only — that in certain cases the laying on of the apostles’ hands was accompanied with the miraculous gift of the Holy Ghost. Is this conferred by the laying on of the bishop’s hands? If so, the passages, as proof-texts, are in point; if not, why are they adduced? Whatever may be the force of other arguments in favour of the rite of confirmation, it is respectfully insisted on that these texts — referring to the only facts on the subject in the New Testament — prove nothing. (2.) There is no evidence that the passage so often appealed to by Episcopalians in support of confirmation in Hebrews 6:1-2, has any reference to that rite as now practised, or that it furnishes any authority for it: " Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." This passage is often referred to, as the quotations already made are, as if it were indisputable that it must refer to that rite of religion, and as if it needed no further proof than a mere reference to it in order to remove all doubts on the subject. But a few considerations will show that it cannot with propriety be adduced as a proof-text to demonstrate that the rite of confirmation is to be of perpetual observance in the church. First, the laying on of hands was practised among the Hebrews, and by the apostles themselves, on a great variety of occasions, and with no exclusive reference to the rite of confirmation. It occurred in the following cases: when a blessing was imparted to any one, (Genesis 48:14, Genesis 48:18) when prayer was offered for one; and when sacrifice was offered, accompanied with the confession of sin. In the latter case, the hands were laid on the head of the victim, and confession was made that he who had sinned deserved punishment. Leviticus 16:21; Leviticus 24:14; Numbers 8:12. It was also done on solemn consecration to office, as in setting apart the highpriest to his office. In the New Testament, the custom is referred to in the following cases: — (a) The Redeemer laid his hands on children to bless them, and on the sick when he healed them. Matthew 19:13; Mark 5:23; Matthew 9:18. (b) The apostles, in like manner, laid their hands on others in healing the sick. Acts 28:8. (c) In ordination to office, 1 Timothy 5:22; Acts 6:6; and (cl) In imparting the Holy Spirit, in the cases already referred to. Acts 8:17, Acts 8:19. Now, in not one of these cases is the precise thing intended which is denoted by the laying on of the hands of a prelatical bishop in confirmation, as connected with the "ordinary grace which is necessary to enlighten and aid Christians in the spiritual life." That rite corresponds neither with the act of a patriarch in imparting a blessing to his children; nor to the offering of a sacrifice; nor to the consecration of a priest; nor to the act of Christ’s blessing little children; nor to the healing of the sick; nor to an ordination to office; nor to the imparting of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous manner. It is a new idea, wholly unknown to any use of the phrase as employed in the New Testament. By what authority is this new idea attached to a scriptural phrase? and by what form of reasoning is it, then, urged that this rite is of divine appointment, and is to be observed in the churches as of divine obligation? Further: if the phrase had been so used in the New Testament, and there were any instances in which it could be shown that it was employed as it is now by Episcopalians, it is natural to ask, On what principles of interpretation it is held that this must be the manner in which it is used in Hebrews 6:2? The apostle is speaking of certain elementary truths or principles of the Christian religion. In the enumeration he speaks of the doctrine of " baptisms, and of the laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead." He refers to these things as important to be held in regard to the faith and the order of the Christian church. The doctrine of the laying on of hands is an important and elementary principle; a doctrine that is to be held. But why shall we infer that it must refer to "confirmation"? Why may it not refer to the laying on of hands in healing the sick, or in ordination, or in the bestowing of the miraculous endowments of the Holy Spirit? Were not these important and well-understood things, which it was desirable to maintain, and which were conceded to be so important that it was not necessary to dwell further upon them? Why, of all the cases in which the laying on of hands was used, is this selected as being indubitably what the apostle intended in the case? Again, if it be supposed that the order in which these things are mentioned is such as to demand that it shall be understood of some rite of religion that immediately succeeded baptism, then I observe, that it should be held just as it was. The apostles did lay their hands on young converts after they were baptized, and the Holy Ghost was imparted to them. Acts viii. xix. But it was the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost which was imparted; and the passage before us should be used only to demonstrate that. That fact was of sufficient importance for the apostle to mention it in this connection as one of the great things connected with the Christian religion — a thing so well understood then, that he did not think it important to dwell upon it. It should be further added, that the Savior appointed no such institution of his religion for perpetual observance in the church. He instituted baptism and the Lord’s supper, and required them to be observed at all times; but there is no intimation that he designated any such rite as that of " confirmation" to be observed in his church. This consideration is important to show that he did not design that this should be a permanent ordinance of his religion. Since he so particularly specified baptism and the supper, it is inconceivable that he should have wholly omitted any reference to the rite of " confirmation, " if he had intended that it should be observed permanently in the churches. The sum of all that is said on this passage is, that if it is to be understood as referring to the imparting of the Holy Spirit by the imposition of hands after baptism, it should be employed just as it was — just in the sense in which it was then understood The only instances in which it was used in such a connection, were in imparting the Holy Spirit in a miraculous manner. If Episcopal bishops claim this now as the true doctrine, if they mean to be understood as having the power of imparting the Holy Spirit in a miraculous manner, then, and not otherwise, the text in Hebrews 6:2, is pertinent proof. But when they advance this claim, it will be easy to test its validity. These are all the texts of Scripture which are relied on to demonstrate the scriptural authority of the rite of " confirmation." Whether they demonstrate this, may be left to the conclusion of any candid mind. Let it be remembered, that the Savior appointed no such rite to be of perpetual observance in the church; that though he instructed his apostles to "lay hands on the sick," assuring them that they should "recover," (Mark 16:18,) he gave no instructions to them to "lay hands" on the newly-baptized to "confirm" them; and that in the only instances where the subject is referred to in the New Testament, it is with exclusive reference to the conferring of miraculous gifts, and it will be easily seen with what propriety the appeal is made to the New Testament, to show that to the "bishop" appertains the authority to administer the rite of "confirmation." (3.) If the above be a fair interpretation of the only texts in the Scriptures which are relied on in support of the rite of "confirmation," then it is obvious that there is great impropriety in appealing to them with a view to giving a scriptural sanction to this ceremony. It is among the means of giving a wholly unscriptural prominency and importance to the office of a "prelate," and of preserving the opinion that he is of a rank elevated above the inferior clergy. The use of those texts, and the habit of appealing to them as authority, has the tendency, if it is not designed to do it, to leave the impression, that the "bishop" has the power, in some mysterious way, and in a manner which no one of the "inferior clergy" has, and which the ministers of no other denomination are invested with, of imparting the Holy Ghost. It is true, we may be told, that there is no such claim as that the miraculous influences of the Holy Ghost are imparted; or that the only meaning is, that this is a method by which the "ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit adapted to enlighten and edify Christians are conferred;" or that it is a mere ceremony or mode by which the candidate himself "confirms" his purpose to be the Lord’s; but there will be at the same time an appeal to Scripture in support of it, and only to texts which speak of the conferring of extraordinary endowments. If these texts relate to the matter, and are, as they are adduced to be, proof-texts in support of the rite, then they carry along also the impression that there must be still some unusual influences of the Holy Spirit conveyed through the hands of the bishop. Such an effect is unavoidable on the mass of minds; and it may be doubted whether the prelate himself would be solicitous to avoid it. He will be regarded as a man invested with functions which appertain to no other man. He has a power of conferring that which no other man can confer. He stands between God and man, to be the medium of conveying important influences which are intrusted to no other mortal. There will be supposed to be influences of a valuable kind to be obtained only by the laying on of his hands, and to attempt to impart which would be an act of the highest presumption in any one of the inferior clergy. It cannot be doubted, therefore, that the right of confirmation is one of the arrangements adapted to give an unscriptural pre-eminence to the office of the Episcopal bishop. It is fitted to keep up the impression of a superior sanctity in the man who holds this office, and to exalt the episcopate over the body of the inferior clergy. Associate with an office the idea that there are peculiar endowments to be obtained only through that, and especially the idea that the Holy Spirit, even in "the ordinary influences necessary to enlighten and aid Christians in the spiritual life," is conveyed in this way, and there is a degree of sanctity attached to the office in the public estimation which can be secured by the possession of no personal moral worth, and which will soon be felt to be an equivalent for the want of moral worth. The office becomes sacred, no matter what the man is; the ministrations of that office convey rich blessings to the soul, though the incumbent may himself be wholly destitute of the graces of the Holy Spirit. The tendency of the doctrine, therefore, is to give a pre-eminence to the office of the prelate; to sustain him in a usurpation over the "inferior clergy;" to keep up the idea that the Holy Ghost is conveyed to the soul by some action of the diocesan, and independently of any piety in him, or any personal religion on the part of the recipient; and, therefo re, that they who are "confirmed" in this manner, and on whom the Holy Spirit has thus been conferred, can be in no danger in regard to their eternal salvation. It is a part of the system of the Papacy, and is essentially papal in its nature, and in ite whole tendency on the individual and on the church of Christ. Apart from the entire want of all scriptural authority in favour of the rite of "confirmation," there are other considerations which go to demonstrate that, as one of the methods of exalting the "bishop" and of supporting prelacy, it is wholly a device of human origin. It is an institution adapted, and probably originally intended in the progress of corruption in the church, to humble the pastor and exalt the prelate. It is a perpetual aggression on the respect which is due to the pastor of a church, the man who, under God, is instrumental in the conversion of those who are to be "confirmed." If the "rite" is to be administered at all, ejery consideration of propriety and of justice demands that it should be done by the pastor himself. Those who are candidates for "confirmation" he has trained up under his care. He has instructed and guided them from childhood. If they are converted, he has been the means of their conversion. He has imparted to them the knowledge of salvation, and has been the instrument in qualifying them to become members of the church of Christ. In all this, there has been no supposition of his incompetency to do all, by the divine blessing, which was required to fit them for the kingdom of heaven. But now a time approaches in which he is to be superseded. He is to be set aside as disqualified for performing the duty of admitting them to the church, and the work is committed to the hands of a stranger — a prelatical bishop. The man who was deemed qualified to teach them from childhood, and to guide them, under the Great Shepherd, beside the living waters of salvation, and who is not disqualified to break unto them the bread of life — the man bound to them by the tenderties of the pastoral relation, and by all the associations and intimacies resulting from such a charge, is to be set aside, and is to give place — to whom? To a man in relation to whom none of these associations exist; a man whom they may never have seen before, and whom they may never see again; a man with no possible claim to take any supervision over them, except the abstract claim of office; and a man who, when the rite is performed, is never to perform toward them any pastoral supervision whatever. Possibly, too — for such cases are not uncommon — he may be a man far inferior in moral worth, in spirituality of mind, in talent, age eloquence, and learning, to the pastor himself; a man of vitally different views on the subject of spiritual Christianity from him a man whose coming is barely tolerated by the pastor, and that only in virtue of his office. But admitting that he has in all cases the highest degree of personal respectability; that there centres in him always all the excellencies which may endear the most venerable bishop to the religious community, — still it may be asked, what there is in the character and teaching and lives of the great mass of the Episcopal clergy and of other pastors which renders them incapacitated for so simple an office as that of invoking the blessing of G-od on those whom they have been instrumental in converting? Why should such men be held up to the community as disqualified to perform a function which, if appropriate at all, properly belongs to them? Why should it be announced that they are not qualified to admit their own members to their own churches in their own way? Why shall this work be reserved to be performed by a stranger? Why shall the whole community be told periodically, that the regular pastor of a people is disqualified for laying his own hands on the youthful members of his charge, and imploring for them the divine blessing? Is this in accordance with the obvious spirit of the New Testament? And is it improper to ask here —would it be uncourteous to put it to the conscience and heart of the great body of the clergy in the Episcopal Church — how they can bear to be periodically displaced from their station over their flocks, and be required to yield to another the performance of a duty — if it be a duty — which properly belongs to them? If there be an advantage in this arrangement to them, it must consist in its tendency to produce great humiliation of mind, and in keeping before their eyes, and the eyes of their people, for the purpose of preventing the growth of spiritual pride, the idea that they are only of "the second or inferior order" even in their own churches. To the rite of "confirmation" as a mere mode of admission to a church, or as a method of making a profession of religion, there can be no reasonable objections. Every denomination has a right to adopt such methods of signifying a purpose to make a profession of religion, not inconsistent with the principles of the Bible, as shall be deemed best adapted to edification. The method adopted in "confirmation" might be used by a Presbyterian, or a Methodist, or a Baptist, without violating any of the principles which they entertain about the proper methods of admission to the church of Christ. With such a view, it may be left to be adopted or not, as a sense of propriety may lead them to determine. But when it is urged as a matter of scriptural authority; when it is claimed that it should be confined to a prelatical bishop; when texts are referred to which can have no reference to any thing like "confirmation" as now understood; when the effect of appealing to such texts is to keep up the idea of some superior sanctity in the "bishop," and of some mysterious power of imparting the Holy Ghost; and when the whole tendency is to debase and degrade the pastoral office — to displace the pastor and represent him as disqualified from performing a simple rite in relation to his own flock — to remove him to make way for a stranger, — then the whole subject assumes a different aspect. It makes an invasion on the constitution of the Christian church, and becomes a part of that great usurpation which, under the Roman hierarchy, asserted a domination of the prelate over the whole "inferior clergy," and of the priesthood over the whole world. Nothing can be more flimsy and futile than an attempt to show, from the New Testament, that a "bishop" has the exclusive authority for administering the rite of confirmation; and perhaps there is no device in the hierarchy better fitted to foster a sense of superiority in " ministerial rank and dignity," and to nourish the worst feelings of ambition in the human heart, than the consciousness of possessing this power to displace the pastors from their office periodically from an extended circle of churches, and to make an annual journey where every step is a practical proclamation of their superior "rank," and where every church becomes a memento of this domination. Sect. 3. — The Claims of the Bishop to the Right of Supervision and Discipline. These points might be examined separately, but as the same principle applies to both, it will be more convenient to consider them in connection. The claim that the bishop has the right of supervision, and of administering discipline over the churches of a diocese, is one that ’is essential to Episcopacy. It is a claim which asserts not only that the general care of the churches within a given district devolves on the "bishop," but that neither the individual church nor the pastor of the church has the right to administer discipline on the members. It asserts that this power is placed in the hands of one man, who is comparatively a stranger, and who alone has the right of determining the amount of punishment that is to be inflicted on the offending members of a particular church. The authority which is urged for this mighty power is, that the apostles, in virtue of their office, thus infficted discipline; and that to the prelate, as being a "successor" of the apostles, this power belongs, therefore, as a matter of course. I have examined the claim of the prelate to be regarded as the "successor" of the apostles, and here the argument might be left; for if prelates are in no proper sense the "successors" of the apostles, then it will follow that even if the apostles did exercise discipline, the bishops have no claim to the prerogatives of discipline in the churches. But, in order wholly to disprove this asserted right, I shall proceed to consider the question, whether the apostles themselves claimed the power of administering discipline, and were,* therefore, superior to the presbyters. The inquiry will be pursued with reference to the question, whether they administered discipline in virtue of their office, and if they did, whether the administration of discipline was confined to them. If it was not, but was exercised either by the presbyters or the churches, then the claim of the "bishop" is invalid. The argument, that the apostles inflicted discipline on the churches, is thus stated by Dr. Onderdonk, Tract, p. 12: "In 1 Corinthians 4:19-21; 1 Corinthians 5:3-5; 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 7:12; 1 Corinthians 10:8; 1 Corinthians 13:2, 1 Corinthians 13:10; and 1 Timothy 1:20, are recorded inflictions and remissions of discipline performed by an apostle, or threatenings on his part, although there must have been elders in Corinth, and certainly were in Ephesus." The two cases referred to are those of Corinth and of Ephesus. They will be examined separately, as they are the only cases referred to in the New Testament. The purpose for which these cases are adduced by Episcopalians is, to show that the apostles were superior to presbyters in power and rights, and the alleged proof is, that they administered discipline. To bear on the case, therefore, the passages must prove not only that they exercised discipline, but (1) that they did it as apostles, or in virtue of their apostolic office; (2) that they did it in churches where there were presbyters; and (3) that neither the churches nor presbyters ever administered discipline themselves. Now in regard to these passages referred to for proof, the following general remarks may be made: (1.) There were certainly, in all, fourteen apostles; and if we may credit Episcopalians, and reckon Timothy, and Barnabas, and Silvanus, and Apollos, and Andronicus, and Junia, and Titus, and perhaps half a dozen others, there were somewhat more than a score invested with this office; yet it is remarkable that the only cases of discipline referred to, as going to prove the superiority of the whole college of apostles, are those in which the apostle Paul only was concerned. (2.) There are accounts in the New Testament of perhaps some hundreds of churches; and yet, we meet with no instance of the kind of discipline relied on, except in the single churches of Corinth and Ephesus. It is incredible that there should have been no cases of discipline except in those churches. But if there were, the presumption is, that they were settled without the intervention of an apostle. (3.) These very cases, as will presently be shown, occurred in churches where Titus and Timothy were present, — both regarded by Episcopalians as "apostles" and " bishops," — and thus were acts of manifest disrespect for the authority of those prelates. And if the fact that the discipline was administered where there were presbyters proves that the apostle Paul was superior to them, the same fact proves that he was superior likewise to Timothy and Titus. The course of the argument, then, from this would be, that Paul was disposed to assume the whole power into his own hands, and to set aside the claims alike of bishops and presbyters. The two cases alleged as proof that the apostles only had the power of administering discipline are those at Corinth and Ephesus. Paul wrote fourteen epistles to eight churches. In all these epistles, and in all the numerous churches of which he had the charge, (2 Corinthians 11:28, "the care of all the churches,") these are the only instances in which he was called, so far as appears, to exercise discipline. We now inquire, Whether he did it for the purpose of showing that the apostles only had this power? The first case alleged is that at Corinth. The argument in regard to this church is thus stated by Dr. Onderdonk, in his " Answer," pp. 103, 104, " There must have been elders in Corinth when the epistles "were written to them. We prove this by the language of Paul: ’As a wise master-builder I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon/ We prove it by the language, hyperbolical, indeed, in the number, but decisive o£ the fact: ’ Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ.’ We prove it by the language in reference to the right of the clergy to be maintained by theii flocks: ’ If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather V We prove it by the fact that the ’ Lord’s supper’ was celebrated in that church, which required an elder at least. We prove it by the language resj>ecting some of the Corinthian teachers: ’ Are they mi7iisters of Christ... I am more. "Yet without noticing these elders in the matter, so far as the epistles show, though they doubtless were noticed and consulted as much as courtesy and their pastoral standing made proper — without putting the matter into their hands, or even passing it through their hands, Paul threatens, inflicts, and remits discipline among the people of their charge. This is a ’ ministerial’ act; and Paul’s doing it himself, instead of committing it to the elders, shows that he, an apostle, was superior to them in ministerial powers and rights. The conclusion is unavoidable if the fact be sustained. Let us, then, look to the fact — our readers, we trust, will accompany us patiently. " ’ But / will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. What will ye? Shall come to you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness 1 Corinthians 4:19-21. " Here is ’ power’ and a ’ rod’ to be exercised under Good’s ’ kingdom’ or sovereignty, and by one man, an apostle, if those who were ’ puffed up’ did not humble themselves. Here is church discipline threatened, not by or through the elders, but by an apostle individually, and with the rod in his hands. " I For /verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged (in the margin determined} already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.’ 1 Corinthians 5:3-5. " Here is an act of church discipline nothing less than excommunication; and who inflicts it? The elders at Corinth? By no means. Paul does it. The apostle ’ judges’ and determines to ’ deliver to Satan’ the unworthy Christian — and to do it when that church and ’ his spirit’ were assembled together, himself being in that sense present when his sentence was executed. Who read his sentence in the assembly we are not informed; probably one of the elders. Who ejected the man personally, if that mode of executing the sentence was added to the reading of it, we are not told. It is enough that the ’judgment,’ the decision, the authority for the discipline, was that of an apostle alone, and evinced his superiority, in ministerial functions, to the elders of that church. The excommunication led, of course, to the exclusion of the man from the friendship and kind offices of the brethren; and this is called his ’ punishment inflicted of many/ in the passage we are next to quote. , " ’ Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. To whom ye forgive any thing, /forgive also; for if /forgave any thing, to whom / forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person 0/ Christ.’ 2 Corinthians 2:6, 2 Corinthians 2:10. " Here is a remission of discipline, not by the elders, but by an apostle; he pronounces the punishment to be ’ sufficient.’ The brethren forgive the scandal of the man’s conduct, he having become penitent; and Paul forgives him, by removing the sentence. They forgave as men and fellow-Christians — he forgave ’ in the person of Christ.’ " With such illustrations of an apostle’s power to threaten discipline, to inflict discipline, and to remit discipline, we shall understand the force of the other passages in the epistles to the Corinthians. " ’ Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our core for you in the sight of God might appear unto you.’ 2 Corinthians 7:12. ’ But though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, (which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction,) I should not be ashamed.’ 2 Corinthians 10:8. ’I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present the second time; and being absent, now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that if I come again / will not spare. Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present /should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.’ 2 Corinthians 13:2, 2 Corinthians 13:10." This is the ichole of the argument from the care in the church at Corinth. This argument I proceed now to examine, and in reply would observe, That there were elders, teachers, ministers, instructors in Corinth, is placed beyond a question by the nature of the case. This fact I do not intend to call in question. Further, if there were elders there, there wi:s also, according to Episcopalians, an " apostle," a prelatical bishop, there — to wit, Timothy. That Timothy was there at the time referred to, is shown by a quotation from the epistle itself, relating to this very time, and in immediate connection with the case of discipline. 1 Corinthians 4:17 : " For this cause [that is, on account of your divided and contending state] have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church." Now, as it will not be pretended by Episcopalians that Timothy was not an " apostle" and a prelate, and as it is undeniable that he was at that time at Corinth, the argument will as well apply to set aside his right to administer discipline in the case, as that of the elders. Borrowing, then, the words of Dr. Onderdonk, I would say: " Yet without noticing" this apostle " in the matter, so far as the epistles show — though" he was " doubtless noticed and consulted, as much as courtesy and" his apostolical " standing made proper — without putting the matter into" his "hands, or even passing it through" his " hands — Paul threatens, inflicts, and remits discipline. This is a ministerial act. And Paul’s doing it himself, instead of committing it to" Timothy, "shows that he, an apostle, was superior to" him " in ministerial power and rights." Now, no Episcopalian will fail to be at once deeply impressed with the fallacy of this reasoning in regard to Timothy. And yet, it is manifestly just as pertinent and forcible in his case as it is in regard to the elders of Corinth. It cannot be pretended that a difference existed, because the "elders" were permanently located there, and Timothy not: for the argument relied on is. that the apostles were superior a* apostles, and then it made no difference on this point whether they were at Corinth, or at Crete, or at Antioch; they were invested with the apostolic office everywhere. The conclusion which I derive from this instance, and from the fact which has now been stated, is, that there was some peculiarity in the case at rinth, which rendered the ordinary exercise of discipline by presbyters difficult; which operated equally against any interference by Timothy; and which called particularly for the interposition of the founder of the church, and of an inspired apostle —of one clothed with authority to inflict a heavy judgment, here denominated ’delivering unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh." | 1 Corinthians 5:5.) — a power which could be exercised by none then in Corinth. The next inquiry is. whether there are any reasons for this opinion ’ The following appear to be entirely satisfactory: — (1.) Paul had established that church. ’Acts 19:1-11) and his interference in cases of discipline would be regarded as peculiarly proper. There would be a natural and obvious deference to the founder of the church, which would render such an interposition in the highest degree appropriate. This view is confirmed by the fact that he puts his authority in this very case on the deference which was due to him as their spiritual father: " For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus / have begotten you through the gospel. "1 Corinthians 4:15. (2.) The circumstances of the church at Corinth were such, evidently, as to render the ordinary exercise of discipline by their own elders, without counsel from abroad and the judgment of one who would be respected, impossible. They were rent into parties; were engaged in violent contention; and the authority, therefore, of one portion of the "teachers" and "instructors" would be disregarded by the other. Thus, no harmonious sentence could be agreed upon, and no judgment of a party could restore peace. An attempt to exercise discipline would only enkindle party animosity, and produce strife. See 1 Corinthians 1:11-17. So great, evidently, was the contention, and so hopeless the task of allaying it by any ordinary means, that even Timothy, whom Paul had sent for the express purpose of bringing them into remembrance of his ways, (1 Corinthians 4:17,) could have no hope, by his own interference, of allaying it. It was natural, therefore, that it should be referred to the founder of the church, and to one who had the power of punishing th>e offender. (3.) It is material to remark, that this was not an ordinary case of discipline. It was one which required the severest exercise of authority, and in a form which was lodged only with those intrusted with the power of inflicting diseases, or, as it is termed, " of delivering to Satan for the destruction of the flesh/’ 1 Corinthians 5:5. Such cases would inevitably devolve upon the apostles, as clothed with miraculous power; and such, beyond all controversy, was this instance. It therefore proves nothing about the ordinary mode of administering discipline. This offence had reached such a degree of enormity — it had been suffered to remain so long, and had become so aggravated — that it was necessary to interpose in this awful manner, and to decide it. Yet, (4.) The apostle supposes that they ought to have exercised the usual discipline themselves. This is evident from a comparison of the following passages: 1 Corinthians 5:9, 1 Corinthians 5:10-12, with 1 Corinthians 5:2. In these verses it is supposed that they did themselves usually exercise discipline. Paul (1 Corinthians 5:9) gave them the general direction not to keep company with fornicators; that is, to exercise discipline on those who did. In 1 Corinthians 5:11, he asks them — in a manner showing that the affirmative answer to the question expressed their usual practice — whether they did not "judge those that were within?" that is, whether they did not ordinarily exercise discipline in the church? And in 1 Corinthians 5:2, he supposes that it ought to have been done in this very case; and as it had not been done by them, and the affair had assumed special enormity, he exercised the miraculous power intrusted to him, by inflicting on the offender a grievous disease. 1 Corinthians 5:4-5; comp. 1 Corinthians 11:30. (5.) This case of discipline in the church was, after all, in fact, administered by the church itself, and not by the apostle Paul. This is conclusive from 1 Corinthians 5:3-5 : " For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one unto Satan." They were to be assembled for the purpose of administering discipline, and the act was in reality to be administered by the church. The apostle did not assume the authority to do it independently of the church, or without their concurrence; and though the offence was so great and glaring that there was no doubt as to the propriety and the necessity of administering the discipline, yet even Paul would not do it, though in a church founded by himself, in a way which would invade their own proper prerogatives. It is to be remembered, too, that this was a case where bodily pains were to be inflicted by miraculous agency, for the offender was to be delivered " unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh;" and that even in this case the apostle would not visit a member of the church with this punishment without the concurrence of the church itself. Even Paul, an apostle, and the spiritual father of the church, did not claim the authority to remove an offender except through their agency. The church was to take up the case, to act on it, to pass the sentence, to excommunicate the man. And again, when the sentence was to be remitted, and the offender was to be restored, it was to be by the church itself. Even an apostle did not assume the prerogative of saying that the offender should -he reinstated in the church; he did not by his own authority restore him to his former good standing: he placed himself before the church as a pleader, and asked them to do it: " Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many, [not of one, as the apostle, but by the collective church.] So that contrariwise ye OUGHT rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things." 2 Corinthians 3:6-9. Here the church is consulted at every step, and without its action nothing is done. In judging in the case, in excluding the member, and again in admitting him to the communion, the church acts throughout. The apostle does nothing himself. I would respectfully ask whether this is the method of administering discipline by those who claim to be the " successors" of the apostles in the " Protestant Episcopal Church"? When discipline is to be administered, is it the practice for the " bishop" to make a representation of it to the " church" in which the offence was committed, and to ask, or even to enjoin, the church to "gather together with his spirit," and to deliver the offender to the just measure of punishment? And again, when he judges that the "punishment inflicted of many" is " sufficient," does he present himself at the door of the assembled church, and "beseech" them to receive the offending member again? I apprehend that in this respect there has been an entire departure from the "apostolic" rule and example. The matter of fact is, that in all instances of discipline in the Episcopal Church, the bishop is the ultimate arbiter, and if a case is brought before him, he has the sole right of decision, and neither church nor pastor, nor both, can set his verdict aside. (6.) It is evident that other churches did, in ordinary cases, exercise discipline without the intervention of an apostle. Thus; the church in Thessalonica — where Episcopacy, with all its zeal, has never been able even to conjecture that there was a diocesan bishop — was directed to exercise discipline in any instance where the command of the inspired apostle was not obeyed: " And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed." 2 Thessalonians 3:14. (7.) The circumstances of the early churches were such as to make the apostolic intervention proper, and even indispensable, without supposing that it was to be a permanent arrangement. These churches were ignorant and feeble. They had had little opportunity of learning the nature of Christianity. In most cases, their founders were with them but a few weeks, and then left them under the care of elders ordained from among themselves. (Comp. Acts 13:1-52, Acts 14:1-28, et passim.) Those elders would be poorly qualified to discharge the functions of their office, for they would be but little elevated, in character and learning, above the mass of the people. The churches must have been imperfectly organized, unaccustomed to rigid discipline, exposed to many temptations, easily drawn into sin, and subject to great agitation and excitement. Even many subjects in morals and religion, which may now be considered as settled, would appear to them open for debate, and parties, as at Corinth, would easily be formed. Comp. Acts 14:1-27, Acts 15:1-41) Romans 14:1-23; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13. In these circumstances, how natural was it for these churches to look for direction to the inspired men who had founded them; and how natural that such persons should interpose and settle important and difficult cases of discipline. In view of these obvious considerations, are we to suppose that the fact that the apostle Paul in two cases — and two such cases only are recorded —directed an extraordinary act of discipline, is to be regarded as proof that this power appertained only to the apostolic office, and was to be a permanent arrangement in the church? It is rather a matter of wonder that but two cases of apostolic interference are mentioned during the long and active life of Paul) and this is evidence of great weight that the churches were expected to exercise discipline, and actually did so, on their own members. These views are confirmed by what is known to take place in organizing churches in heathen countries at the present day. In a conversation with me, the Rev. Mr. Winslow, one of the American missionaries then stationed at Ceylon, incidentally remarked that the missionaries were obliged to retain the exercise of discipline in their own hands; and that, although the mission had been established more than fifteen years, yet it had never been intrusted to the native converts. He further observed that the missionaries had been endeavouring to find persons to whom they could intrust the discipline of the church, as elders, but that as yet they had not found one. The native converts were still so ignorant of the laws of Christianity, they had so little influence in the church, they were so partial to each other, even when in fault, that thus far discipline — though somewhat frequent acts were necessary — was retained in the hands of the missionaries. Substantially the same thing must have occurred in the early churches in Asia Minor, in Syria, and Greece. Will Episcopalians infer that, because modern missionaries have found it necessary to retain the power of administering discipline in their own hands, therefore they are diocesan bishops, and that they do not contemplate that the churches under their care shall be other than prelatical? If not, the argument in the case of the church in Corinth should be allowed to have no weight. I have now done with this instance of discipline. I have shown that all the circumstances of the case can be accounted for without any such conclusion as that to which Episcopalians are desirous of conducting it. I turn, therefore, to the other case of discipline referred to — that in the church at Ephesus. The case is thus stated in 1 Timothy 1:20 : " Of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." The argument of Episcopalians is stated by Dr. Onderdonk in the following words: —" There I certainly were’ elders in Ephesus when Paul wrote the first epistle to Timothy. We prove this fact from the language: ’ That thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine.’ Teachers, then, there were in that church, public teachers, authorized teachers, and such are not the ruling elders or deacons of parity, nor (except under the bishop’s license) the deacons of Episcopacy; therefore both these parties, the only ones concerned with the Tract, must agree that they ’ certainly’ were elders or presbyters. We prove it by the apostle’s condemnation of Hymeneus and Alexander, for ’ making shipwreck concerning faith,’ i. e. making shipwreck in teaching the faith, teaching it publicly and with authority; and these teachers were elders, for the reasons just given. We prove it also from the fact that there were elders at Ephesus when Paul said to them, in Acts xx.: ’ Grievous wolves shall enter in among you, also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things;’ Paul thus declaring that the false teaching at Ephesus would be by elders, and would ocour afterward, it not having occurred as yet. That the false teaching would be by elders, seems decisive in favour of the assertion that the false teaching there was by elders, as we have just maintained; that the false teaching was yet to occur, when there were already elders in Ephesus addressed by Paul, in Acts xx, is proof that that church had its elders when this evil indoctrination had occurred, which was the case when Paul first wrote to Timothy, as our extracts from that epistle show. This latter argument we consider final: the epistle enumerates, as errors then existing there, ’ fables, endless genealogies, swerving from charity and faith to vain jangling, questions and strifes of words, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called;’ pwff^w?, perhaps gnosticism, as Hammond argues. This was the state of things at Ephesus when Paul wrote the epistle. But when he addressed the ’ elders,’ in Acts 10:1-38, he spoke of nothing of the sort as having existed, or as existing then, but only as to exist at a future time. If, then, there were elders there before these mischiefs appeared, there ’ certainly were* when they were afterward developed — i. e. when Paul wrote the first epistle to Timothy. "Well, then, is the discipline of the church at Ephesus intrusted to these elders? Nothing like it. As in the case of the Corinthians, that ’ power was given by the Lord’ to an apostle, and only an apostle exercised it. It is the apostle who inflicts the discipline) the elders do not appear in the matter. And discipline is a ministerial function, and excommunication its highest exercise." (Answer, p. 13.) In reply to this argument, I make the following observations: — (1.) It occurs in a charge to Timothy — that Timothy, who, on the supposition of Episcopalians, was an apostle co-ordinate with Paul himself; Timothy, the prelate of Ephesus. If Timothy was an apostle, and a diocesan bishop, and if the exercise of discipline pertained to an apostle and bishop, why did Paul take the matter into his own hands? Why did he not refer it to Timothy, and repose sufficient confidence in him to believe that he was competent to fulfil this part of his episcopal office? Would it now be regarded as courteous for the " bishop" of the diocese of Ohio to interpose and inflict an act of discipline on some Hymeneus or Alexander of the diocese of Pennsylvania? And would there be as cordial submission of the bishop of the diocese of Pennsylvania as there was of the bishop of the diocese of Ephesus? If Timothy was at Ephesus, and if the case of discipline occurred at the time which Dr. Onderdonk supposes, this case appears very much as if Paul regarded Timothy as neither an apostle nor a prelate. (2.) If the exercise of the authority in this case of discipline by Paul proves that the presbyters at Ephesus had no right to administer discipline, for the same reason it proves that Timothy had not that right. By the supposition of Episcopalians, Timothy was there, as well as the presbyters. The assumption of the authority by Paul as much proves that it did not belong to Timothy as that it did not belong to the presbyters. (3.) This was a case similar to that which occurred at Corinth. It was an act of discipline which supposed the infliction of the judgment of God by a miraculous agency: "Whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." Compare this account with the record of the case in Corinth, (1 Corinthians 5:5,) and it is evident that this was not an ordinary act of discipline, but was such as implied the direct infliction of punishment by the Almighty. That such inflictions were intrusted to the hands of the apostles, I admit; and that Paul, not Timothy, inflicted this, proves that the latter was neither an apostle nor a prelate. (4.) It is supposed by Episcopalians that this occurred at Ephesus, and while Timothy was there. But what evidence is there of this? It is neither affirmed that the transaction was at Ephesus, nor that Timothy was present. The argument of Episcopalians proceeds on the assumption that Timothy was bishop there when the epistle was written, and that the case of discipline occurred there. The only possible pretence of proof of this would be the subscription at the end of the second epistle. But that subscription has no authority whatever; and it is not to be assumed, but proved, that Timothy was there in the capacity of a prelate, or there at all, when this epistle was written to him. The demonstration, that a bishop only exercised discipline, it must be admitted, rests on slender grounds, if this be all. (5.) But if this case did occur at Ephesus, what evidence is there that it occurred at the time that Episcopalians suppose? The account in the Epistle to Timothy by no means fixes the time of the transaction. "Whom I have delivered (napiSiDxa) unto Satan." It was already done; and the presumption is, that it was done when Paul was himself present with them. It is morally certain that it was not an act of discipline then to be performed. My readers have now the whole case before them. Episcopacy affirms that prelates only have the power of administering discipline. It affirms that the churches are prohibited from exercising it on their own members; that those appointed to preach the gospel, to administer the sacraments, and to be pastors of the flock, — and who may therefore be supposed to understand the cases of discipline and best qualified to administer it, — have no right to exercise this act of government over their own members, but that this exclusive prerogative belongs to a stranger, and a foreigner — a prelatical bishop — whom the churches seldom see, and who must be, in a great degree, unacquainted with their peculiar wants and character. All power of discipline in an entire diocese of some hundreds of churches is to be taken away from the churches themselves, and from the pastors, and committed to a solitary, independent man, who, from the nature of the circumstances, can have little acquaintance with the case, and possess few of the qualifications requisite for the intelligent performance of this duty. And does the reader ask, What is the authority for this assumption of power? Why are the churches and their pastors disrobed of this office, and reduced to the condition of humble dependants at the feet of the prelate? Let him, in astonishment, learn. It is not because there is any command to this effect in the New Testament; it is not because there is any declaration implying that it would be so; it is not by any affirmation that it ever was so. This is the reason, and this is all: — The apostle Paul, in two cases, and in both instances over the heads of presbyters, (and over the head of " Bishop’’ Timothy, too,) delivered men "to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that they might learn not to blaspheme;" and therefore, Episcopal bishops only have power to administer discipline in the Christian church; and therefore, all the acts of discipline exercised by Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists are null and void. The disposal of such antecedents and consequents may be safely left to all who hold that " no argument is worth taking into the account that has not a clear and palpable bearing on the naked topic — the scriptural evidence of Episcopacy." Tract, p. 3. But I have not done with this subject. I shall yet show, (ch. iv. § 2, 2,) not only, that there is no evidence that the apostles exclusively exercised discipline, but that there is positive proof that all the acts of discipline were in fact exercised by the presbyters and the churches. I have now examined the essential point in Episcopacy; for, if the claims which are arrogated for prelatical bishops are unfounded, the system, as a system, is destroyed. I have examined the solitary passage urged directly in its favour, "the apostles and elders," "the apostles, and elders, and brethren;" and the claims set up in favour of their exclusive right to administer discipline and to administer the rite of confirmation. I have shown, if I mistake not, that none of the passages of the New Testament relied on furnish support for the stupendous claims set up in favour of the prelate. If they do not, then, by the uniform admission of Episcopalians, and by the special concession of Dr. Onderdouk, there is no authority for Episcopacy in the Scriptures, and it must be regarded as wholly an arrangement of human origin. "If we cannot," says Dr. Onderdonk, (Tract, p. 11,) "authenticate the claims of the episcopal office," [the office of the prelate,] "we will surrender those of our deacons, and let all power he confined to the one office of presbyters." It is submitted to the reader whether we are not now prepared to avail ourselves of this concession, and to draw the conclusion that " the claims of the episcopal office" are not made out, and that the ministers oi the gospel should be regarded as equal in grade and honour. If so, the controversy should be considered as at an end. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 1A.04. THE CONSTITUTION OP THE CHURCH AS ESTABLISHED BY THE SAVIOUR AND THE APOSTLES ======================================================================== CHAPTER IV. THE CONSTITUTION OP THE CHURCH AS ESTABLISHED BY THE SAVIOUR AND THE APOSTLES. Having thus examined all the scriptural arguments which are adduced by Episcopalians in favour of the peculiar organization of their church, the argument might be left here, for, if the positions which have been taken are correct, the principal object contemplated is accomplished. If there is no scriptural authority for prelacy; none for an apostolical succession; none for confirmation; none for the right which the " bishop" claims for administering discipline, — then it follows that there is nothing in the system which makes it binding on the churches of the Redeemer, and that the whole arrangement of the Episcopacy is one of human origin. But it is often objected by Episcopalians, that all the efforts of those who doubt the claims of the " Episcopate" are employed to demolish that system without proposing any substitute in its place; and that, while so much zeal is evinced to prove that their claims are not founded on the authority of Scripture, nothing is done to show what was the plan on which the church in the New Testament was organized. It is proposed, therefore, to collect and arrange the scattered notices on this point in the New Testament, and to inquire whether it was the design of the Savior to prescribe any form of church government which should be universally binding on his church. The first point will relate to the officers referred to in the New Testament; the second, to the actual organization and government of the churches. Sect. 1. — The Officers of the Church. The officers referred to in the New Testament, in the organization of the church, may be divided into two great classes. 1. Those which were intended to be temporary; and, 2. Those which are so mentioned as to show that they were designed to be permanent. I. Those which were designed to be temporary. Under this class are to be ranked, (1.) The apostles, properly so called, who were appointed by the Savior to be his companions, to be witnesses of what he taught, and to be witnesses of his resurrection. This has been demonstrated in ch. ii. This office, from its nature, was temporary, and was confined to those who had been with him during his public ministry, and whom he had specially called for this purpose, with Matthias, who was chosen to fill the vacated place of Judas, (Acts 1:1-26) and Paul, who was called to the special work of the apostleship among the Gentiles, and permitted to see the Savior in a miraculous manner after his ascension, in order that he might have the appropriate qualification of an apostle. 1 Corinthians 9:1-27. This office was one in which, from the nature of the case, there could be no succession, unless the " succession’ ’ was kept up by a miraculous manifestation of the Savior to each one in the "succession," as in the case of the apostle Paul, to qualify him to be a " witness" that the Kedeemer was risen from the dead. In reference to this point, I may briefly sum up all that has been shown to be contained in the New Testament. The case stands thus: (a.) There is no command in the New Testament to the apostles to transmit to others the peculiarity of the apostolic office. If the peculiarity of the office was to be transmitted, it was required that such a command should be given. But it has not been pretended that any such command has been discovered. (6.) There is no affirmation that it would be thus transmitted. No one has been able to find an affirmative on that point. And we may ask here whether it is credible that the apostles were bishops of a superior order, and that it was designed that all the church should be subject to an order of men " superior in ministerial rank and power," deriving their authority from the apostles, and yet not the slightest command thus to transmit it, and not the slightest hint that it would be done? (c) It was imjyossible that the peculiarity of the apostolic office should be transmitted. I have shown, not by assumptions, but by a large array of passages of Scripture, what that peculiarity was: to bear witness to the great events which went to prove that Jesus was the Messiah, and that he rose from the dead. The peculiarity of that office, as specified by Jesus Christ, by the chosen apostles, by Paul, and by the whole college, could not be transmitted; for no prelate is, or can be, a witness, in the sense and for the purpose for which they were originally designated, unless he can make the affirmation which Paul did in proof that he was an apostle: " Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? 1 Corinthians 9:1. (rf) I have examined the case of Timothy, of Titus, of Barnabas, and of the " angels" of the churches — the slender basis on which, in the absence of direct command to continue the succession, and direct affirmation that it would be continued, the whole fabric of Episcopacy has been reared. The conclusion to which we have come is, that, while this was a most important and wise arrangement in the organization of the church, there is not the slightest evidence that the Redeemer intended that it should be perpetual; that it is impossible to make out the fact of such a "succession;" and consequently that the whole claim that the " bishop" is the " successor" of the apostles (1) is a usurpation of authority in the church. The organization of the Christian church is complete without any such " succession" — or such officers — as really as it is without the "order" of "deaconesses," and without the "order" of the "seventy disciples." (2.) There were special ministers sent out for a temporary purpose by the Lord Jesus himself, " After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come." Luke 10:1. These persons were (a) evidently appointed for a different purpose from the apostles. The apostles, as has been shown, were to be with him, to hear his instructions, to be witnesses of his miracles, his sufferings, his death, and his resurrection, and then to go and proclaim those things to the world; and, having done this, the apostolic office was to cease. The object of the appointment of the " seventy" is expressed, and we have no right to go beyond that in interpreting their commission. They were to " go two and two into every city and place, whither he himself would come" This was the extent of their commission. It was to proclaim the coming of Jesus of Nazareth, and prepare the way for his personal preaching there, evidently by calling the minds of the people to his claims, to the. remarkable character of his preaching, to his power in working miracles, and to the evidence that he was the Messiah. There is no commission to go out of Judea, as the Savior evidently did not design himself to go out of Judea; and there is no commission to the appointment as a permanent office. (b) They were appointed to a temporary office. This appears from the nature of the commission, and from the fact that there is no reference in the New Testament to any persons who claimed to be the "successors" of the "seventy." There is no record of their number having been filled up when one of them died, nor is there any intimation whatever of the permanency of their office. We never hear them alluded to as having a fixed office in the church; nor in the appointment of any class of ministers is there any intimation that they were to succeed the " seventy" disciples. In the accounts of the churches which were organized by the apostles there is no allusion to them, nor does it appear to have ever occurred that any reference was to be had to them in the organization of a church. If this be so, — and that it is, no one acquainted with the New Testament will deny, — then the appointment of the " seventy disciples" should not be urged as an argument to prove that the ministry was established in " three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons." Between the appointment of the seventy, as the record is made in Luke, and the office of a "priest" in the Episcopal Church, there is no resemblance whatever. There is no evidence, as has been remarked, that it was to be permanent; there is no intimation that they were to be subject to the " bishops" — the apostles; or that they might not ordain, or might not administer the rite of confirmation, or that they might not administer discipline, or that they might not take the oversight of a " diocese." All this is language unknown to the New Testament; and the simple and obvious account of the appointment of the " seventy" is, that they were employed by the Savior to prepare tl?e way for his personal ministry in the places where he proposed to go. (3.) There were in the apostolic church, also, "prophets" who, unless they were classed under the denomination of " teachers," were designed only to be temporary in the duration of their office. Acts 13:1 : " There were in the church at Antioch certain prophets and teachers;" 1 Corinthians 15:32 : "And Judas and Silas being prophets also themselves." 1 Corinthians 12:28 : " God hath set some in the church — secondarily — prophets" 1 Corinthians 12:29 : " Are 2l prophets?" Ephesians 4:11: "And he gave some prophets." 1 Corinthians 14:3 : " He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort." 1 Corinthians 14:5, " I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied; for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues." 1 Corinthians 14:22, " Tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not; but prophecy serveth not for them that believe not, but for them that believe." 1 Corinthians 14:29 : "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge."’ There is some evidence that the persons here referred to were under the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and that they were therefore appointed in an extraordinary manner in the circumstances in which the church was placed when newly founded, and when it needed special guidance and direction. There is no evidence whatever that the office of " prophet" was intended to be permanent. (4.) Under this denomination of officers that were not designed to be permanent, may be ranked also the office of deaconess. Romans 16:1 : " I commend unto you Phebe, our sister, which is a servant —dtdxovov — of the church which is at Cenchrea." Comp. 1 Timothy 5:3, 1 Timothy 5:9-11; Titus 2:3-4. Deaconesses appear to have been commonly aged widows, sustaining a fair reputation, and qualified to guide and instruct those who were young and inexperienced. The " apostolical constitutions" say: " Ordain a deaconess who is faithful and holy, for the ministries toward the women." Book iii. Pliny, in his celebrated letter to Trajan, says, when speaking of the efforts which he made to obtain information respecting the opinions and practices of Christians, ’* I deemed it necessary to put two maid-servants, who are called ministrse, [deacon esses,~ to the torture, in order to ascertain what is truth." The reason for their appointment in the early churches of the Gentiles was probably the fact, that in the East, females are kept secluded from men, and are not permitted to mingle freely in society, as is the case in the "Western nations. It became necessary, therefore, to appoint aged and experienced females to instruct the young of their sex, to visit the sick, and to distribute to them the alms of the church. From the nature of the case, however, the necessity of this office would not exist in those countries where these customs did not prevail; and there is no reason to suppose that it was designed to be permanent in the church.* II. Permanent officers mentioned in the organization of the church in the New Testament. These officers are: (1.) Those designated by various terms, denoting that they were set apart or appointed to preach the gospel, to impart instruction, and to take the over- * It may be a question, however, whether it would not be well to revive this order in the church. There is a large cla?a of females in most churches, especially in cities, who cannot, in any proper sense and to any suitable degree, be under the supervision of a pastor. They are those who have bad little early training in religion, who are not connected with pious families, many of whom are employed as domestics, and who peculiarly need instruction in the doctrines and duties of religion. Some of them are too old to be in Sabbath-schools, and many of them could not be well collected in Bible classes; but they could with great propriety be placed under the care of more aged and experienced females in the church, whose special duty it should be to visit them, to counsel them, to instruct them, and to aid them in the divine life. sight of the flock. This class of persons is mentioned under different appellations — as preachers, bishops, pastors, teachers, evangelists; but all of them in such a connection and form, that it is evident that the arrangement was intended to be permanent, (a) The office of preacher was designed to be permanent, for the Savior gave direction to his apostles to " go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," assuring them that he would be " with them alway, even unto the end of the world.’’ Matthew 28:19-20. Comp. Romans 10:14-15; 2 Timothy 4:2. That the office was designed to be permanent, is made certain from the instruction which Paul gives to Timothy: " And the things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." 2 Timothy 2:2. (6) The office of bishop, or overseer of the flock, in the true scriptural sense — as a pastor of a particular church — was designed to be permanent also. " The name ’ bishop/ which now designates the highest grade in the ministry," says Dr. Onderdonk, (Tract, p. 12,) " is not appropriated to that office in Scripture. That name is given to the middle office or presbyters; and ALL that we read in the New Testament concerning ’ bishops’ is to be regarded as appertaining to that middle grade. It was after the apostolic age that the name ’ bishop’ was taken from the second order and appropriated to the first." The »ffice of "bishop," as it was used in the "apostolic age," — denoting an "overseer," — is designed to be permanent in the church. This is evident from the fact that instructions were given which implied this, " If a man desireth the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop, then, must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine." 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:7-9; Acts 20:28; Php 1:1. (1.) The appointment of bishops in the churches by the apostles, and the instructions to Timothy in regard to their qualifications, prove that it was understood that the arrangement was to be permanent. No such instructions are given in regard to the qualifications of "apostles," or of prelates, as the " successors of the apostles," or of those who were to succeed the ’’ seventy disciples," or of those who were to succeed the "prophets." Those things were, therefore, of a temporary character; this was a fixed arrangement. (2.) The office of pastor — another name for the office of " bishop" — was designed to be permanent, for the same reason that instructions are given which imply this, and that the office is mentioned in such a connection as to show that this was designed, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, jmstors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work 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 aperfeet man." Ephesians 4:11-12. This passage proves that some at least of these offices were to be permanent in the church. That it was designed that the pastoral office should be one of them, is apparent from the fact that the word is applied to the office in such a way as to show that it was a permanent arrangement. The word " pastor," indeed, in the sense in which it is used in Ephesians 4:11, does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament, nor have our translators rendered the same word pastor elsewhere. It occurs often in the sense of shepherd, and is uniformly elsewhere so rendered. Matthew 9:36; Matthew 25:32; Matthew 26:31; Mark 6:34; Mark 14:27; Luke 2:8, Luke 2:15, Luke 2:18, Luke 2:20; John 10:2, John 10:11-12, John 10:14, John 10:16; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 2:25. But the verb (irotfia&at) is so used as to denote that the office was to be of a permanent characterJohn 21:16 : " He saith to him, Feed — iroipuuve — my sheep." This was indeed addressed to Peter; but that he understood it as contemplating a permanent arrangement in the church, is apparent from his own instructions given to the elders of the church: " The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, feed — xotjidvaTe — the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof [exercising the office of a bishop — 1-iax.o-ouvTsq] — not by constraint, but willingly." 1 Peter 5:1-2. Comp. 1 Corinthians 9:7. («?) The office of teacher was designed to be permanent. Ephesians 4:11 : " He gave some teachers. 11 "And God hath set some in the church — thirdly, teachers.’ 1 1 Corinthians 12:28; Galatians 6:6 : " Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teacheth in all good things/’ Romans 12:7 : " Or he that teacheth on teaching." Comp. Acts 13:1; 1 Corinthians 12:29; 2 Peter 2:1. (e) The office of an evangelist, or of a publisher of the gospel, was designed to be permanent in the church. Ephesians 4:11: "He gave some era^e//s^." 2 Timothy 4:5: " But watch thou in all things, do the work of an evangelist." Comp. Acts 21:8. All these offices relate to the preaching of the gospel, and to the proper care and oversight of the church, and might evidently be united in the same person. There is no incompatibility in the offices themselves which would prevent this, aDd there is every reason to suppose that they were thus united. Nay, there is positive evidence that in the case of Timothy and of some of the apostles they were thus uuited. They are not incompatible now; and there is the same evidence that they were intended to be permanent that there is that the church itself was designed to be permanent. (2.) There were riders, or ruling elders, in the church, who are so mentioned as to make it probable that it was designed that there should be in every church such officers to direct and govern its affairs . That the permanent officers already referred to were authorized to exercise government over the church, in addition to the duty of preaching, of pastoral supervision, and of teaching, is evident from many places in the New Testament, as well as by the names by which they are designated; but there is also evidence that there was, in some churches at least, a distinct class of men to whom the government of the church was especially confided. In cases where a church was established where there had been a synagogue, it seems most probable that the apostles would make use of the existing organization in its government, and engraft the Christian church on that religious community which they found already in existence. On this point, the following remarks of Archbishop Whately seem so well founded, that they must commend themselves to every one as founded in truth: — " It appears highly probable — I might say morally certain — that wherever a Jewish synagogue existed that was brought — the whole or the chief part of it — to embrace the gospel, the apostles did not there so much, form a Christian church (or congregation; ecclesia) as make an existing congregation Christian; by introducing the Christian sacraments and worship, and establishing whatever regulations were requisite for the newly-adopted faith; leaving the machinery (if I may so speak) of government unchanged; the l rulers of synagogues/ elders, and other officers (whether spiritual or ecclesiastical, or both) being already provided in the existing institutions. And it is likely that several of the earliest Christian churches did originate in this way; that is, that they were converted synagogues, which hecame Christian churches as soon as the members, or the main part of the members, acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah. " The attempt to effect this conversion of a Jewish synagogue into a Christian church seems always to have been made, in the first instance, in every place where there was an opening for it. Even after the call of the idolatrous Gentiles, it appears plainly to have been the practice of the apostles Paul and Barnabas, when they came to any city in which there was a synagogue, to go thither first and deliver their sacred message to the Jews and * devout (or proselyte) Gentiles/ according to their own expression, (Acts 13:16,) to the ’men of Israel and those that feared God/ adding, that ’it was necessary that the word of God should first be preached to them.’ " And when they found a church in any of those cities in which (and such were, probably, a very large majority)’ there was no Jewish synagogue that received the gospel, it is likely that they would still conform, in a great measure, to the same model.’’* * Kingdom of Christ Delineated, Essay II. g 9. But there is also express mention in the New Testament of permanent officers appointed to rule the church, as distinct from the teachers and pastors. 1 Corinthians 12:28 : "And God hath set some in the church, first, apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that, miracles;" that is, those who had the power of working miracles; "then gifts of healing," or those who had the power of healing the sick; "helps, governments, diversities of tongues." The idea here is, undoubtedly, that there were those who were appointed in the church to the business of ruling — as there were for prophesying, or for teaching, or for healing the sick. Whether it refers to a distinct class of men who were set apart to this work, and who were to be a permanent " order" in the church, cannot, from this passage, be determined with certainty, and is not now material. All that is necessary to be observed is, that there were those who were distinct from the " apostles," and the " prophets," and the " teachers," whose office it was to administer the government of the church. The same thing is apparent from 1 Timothy 5:17 : " Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." The plain meaning of tnis passage is, that while there were " elders" who laboured in " the word and doctrine," that is, in preaching, there were also those who did not labour in "word and doctrine," but who yet were appointed to " rule" in the church. (3.) There were in the church, as it was organized by the apostles, those who administered the office of deacons; and this office is so mentioned as to make it evident that it was designed to be permanent. Acts 6:1-6. The office, as there designated, was to take the charge of the poor, and to administer to them the alms of the church. This office is subsequently referred to in such a way as to show that it was not designed to be a temporary appointment. Thus, the church of Philippi was organized with such a class of officers, and that class remained at the time when the apostle addressed them from Rome: " Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deaco?is." Philippians 50:1. 1. So in 1 Timothy 3:8-10, the qualifications of "deacons" are so mentioned as to show that this was to be a permanent office in the church: " Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also be first proved, then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless." " Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that use the office of a deacon well, purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." 1 Timothy 3:12-13. It is to be remembered that, in the epistles to Timothy and Titus, the apostle was addressing those who were ministers of the gospel, and who were especially and expressly intrusted with the organizing of churches, and the appointment of officers over them, (1 Timothy 1:3-4; Titus 1:5) and it will contribute to illustrate what has been said about the permanent offices of the church, to remark that in these epistles there are no instructions given about appointing any to be the " successors of the apostles" or to the apostolic office y none in regard to the appointment of those who should succeed the " seventy disciples j" none in reference to the institution of " prophets;" and none in reference to the appointment of " deaconesses;" unless 1 Timothy 5:3, 1 Timothy 5:9-11, and Titus 2:3-4, should be regarded as such. This circumstance is an additional consideration to show that those were not designed to be permanent offices in the church, but that they were temporary in their nature. It is scarcely conceivable that in formal letters to two ministers of religion, occupied mainly with instructions respecting the officers and the government of the church, there should have been such an omission if those offices had been designed to be of a permanent character. (4.) There is evidence in the New Testament that it was intended that there should be a permanent relation between a minister of the gospel and a particular church y or that the pastoral relation should exist. The evidence of this is found in the following considerations: — (a) The name pastor, already adverted to, which naturally implies the existence of the correlative pastoral charge — as the name " shepherd" naturally implies that there is a flock. (b) The duty enjoined on the churches to provide for the wants of the ministers of religion, also, naturally implies the existence of this relation. It could scarcely be inculcated as a duty to support the ministry in general, or those to whom they sustained no special relation; and the duty is, in fact, enjoined on them to support those who laboured especially for their benefit. Galatians 6:6 : " Let him that is taught in the word communicate [impart] unto him that teacheth in all good things." 1 Corinthians 9:7 : " Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?" 1 Corinthians 9:11 : " If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?" 1 Corinthians 9:14 : " Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." (c) Such permanent officers or pastors were appointed in the church at Ephesus. In the discourse of the apostle Paul to the " elders" of the church there, when assembled at Miletus, he addresses them as appointed to watch and guard and govern the church, evidently with the understanding that they had been appointed to their oflice as a permanent relation between them and the church there. " Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock." Acts 20:28-29. (d) The church at Philippi was likewise organized with those who are addressed as sustaining a permanent relation to the church. " Paul and Timotheus — to the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the BISHOPS (gov I-lgxotzok; — comp. the account of the " elders" of Ephesus, Acts 20:288, "over which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops" — l-MTzu-oos,^ and deacons." Phii. 1. 1. The office of " bishop," or pastor, therefore, in the churches at Philippi and Ephesus, was a permanent office. (e) The same thing evidently existed in the churches in Crete. Thus Paul says to Titus, " For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee." Titus 1:5. This relation, therefore, was to be constituted in every city where there was a church, and as this instruction was given to one who was himself a minister of religion, and who was set apart for the purpose of aiding in the organization of Christian churches, it follows that this was designed to be a permanent relation. It is clear, therefore, that it was contemplated that there should be permanent officers in the church, and it is not difficult to determine what they were; nor to ascertain from the New Testament what officer? were appointed only for a temporary purpose. Sect. 2. — The actual organization and government of the church, as described in the New Testament. If the above views are correct, then but one inquiry now remains. It is, in what way was the government and discipline of the church actually administered? Who appointed and ordained to the office of the ministry? Who administered discipline? Was this done solely by the " prelate"? Was ordination performed by him alone? Had he alone the right to admit members to the church, and to exclude them from it? — The positions which have been already taken on this subject will be strengthened by a brief view of the actual statements in the Xew Testament. I observe, then, 1. That presbyters had the right of ordaining. If this can be made out, then it will be an additional consideration to show that the main point claimed for the superiority of bishops is unfounded. I proceed now, therefore, to show that there is positive proof that presbyters did ordain. I have shown, in the course of the argument, that they exercised the office of discipline — one of the things claimed peculiarly for bishops; and I now proceed to prove, that the office of ordaining was one which was intrusted to them, and which they exercised. If this point is demonstrated, then it will follow still further, that the peculiarity of the office of the apostles was not that they ordained, and that the clergy of the New Testament are not divided into " three orders," but are equal in ministerial rank and power. The argument is indeed complete without this; for, unless Episcopalians can show, by positive proof, the claims of their prelates to the right of ordination and discipline, the parity of the clergy follows as a matter of course. I am a Presbyterian. But my argument does not require that I should go largely into a defence of the form of church government which I regard as most in accordance with the principles of the New Testament. The leading object of this " Inquiry" is to disprove Episcopacy; and the conclusion which will be reached on this point is one in which all who are not Episcopalians will coincide. All Protestant denominations, with the single exception of the comparatively small sect of Episcopalians, are agreed in maintaining the doctrine of the parity of the clergy, and the maintenance of this is the essential feature in which they differ from the advocates of Prleacy. If the claims of Episcopacy in regard to the "three grades" are disproved, it follows that the clergy are on an equality. If it is shown that the doctrine of the New Testament is that presbyters are to ordain, it is a sufficient disposal of the " feeble claims of lay-ordination," and of all other claims. It will follow, that a valid ordination is that which is performed in accordance with the direction that presbyters should ordain. It will follow also, as has been remarked, that Episcopal ordination is valid, not because it is performed by a prelate, but because it is in fact a mere Presbyterian performance. See pp. 123-126. In proof of the point now before us, therefore, I adduce 1 Timothy 4:14: "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." This passage, which, to the common sense of mankind, affirms the very thing under discussion, it is evidently material for Episcopalians to dispose of, or their claim to exclusive rights and privileges are forever destroyed. I shall, therefore, examine the passage, and then notice the objections to its obvious and common-sense interpretation, alleged by Episcopalians. I observe then, (1.) That the translation is fairly made. Much learned criticism has been exhausted, to very little purpose, by Episcopalians, to show that a difference exists between " with" (jierd) in this place, and " by" (did) in 2 Timothy 1:6. It has been said, " that such a distinction may justly be regarded as intimating, that the virtue of the ordaining act flowed from Paul, while the presbytery, or the rest of that body, if he were included in it, expressed only consent." Tract, p. 22. But it has never been shown, nor can it be, that the preposition "with" does not fairly express the force of the original. The same observation may be applied to the word " presbytery/’ (jrpsffjSoriptov^) It denotes properly an assembly or council of elders, or presbyters — Versammliuuy od. Rath der Aelteren. Passow. In Luke 22:6, it is applied to the body of elders which composed the Sanhedrim, or Great Council of the Jews, and is translated " the elders of the people:" to rtpzaftuTipur; too kaob. See also, Acts 22:5 : "the estate of the elders." The word occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, except in the passage under consideration. Dr. Onderdonk has endeavoured to show, that it means " the office to which Timothy was ordained, not the persons who ordained him; so that the passage would read, ’with the laying on of hands to confer the presbyterate,’ or presbytership, or the clerical office;" and appeals to the authority of Grotius and Calvin, in the case. Tract, pp. 19, 20. In regard to this interpretation, I observe, (a) That if this be correct, then it follows, that Timothy was not an apostle, but an elder, — he was ordained to the office of the presbyterate, or the eldership. Timothy, then, is to be laid out of the college of apostles, and reduced to the humble office of a presbyter. When prelacy is to be established by showing that the office of apostles was transmitted, Timothy is an apostle; when it is necessary to make another use of this same man, it appears that he was ordained to the presbyterate, and he becomes an humble presbyter, —a " nose of wax" of great convenience to the argument of Episcopacy. But, (b) If the word " presbytery" (TzpEafturipwv) here means We presbyterate, and not the persons, then it doubtless means the same in the two other places where it occurs. In Luke 22:66, then, we receive the information that "the presbyterate," "the presbytership," or "the clerical office" of the people, that is, the body by which the people conferred " the presbyterate," came together with the scribes. In Acts 22:5, we are informed, that the "presbyterate," or "the clerical office," would bear witness with the highpriest to the life of Paul. Such absurdities show the propriety of adhering, in interpretation, to the obvious and usual meaning of the words, (c) The word is fixed in its meaning, in the usage of the church. Suicer (Thesaurus) says, it denotes " an assembly, congregation, and college of presbyters in the Christian church." In all the instances which he quotes from Theodoret, (on 1 Timothy 4:14,) from Chrysostom, (Homil. xiii. on this epistle,) from Theophylact, (in loc.) and from Ignatius, (Epis. to Antioch, and to the Trallians,) there is not the slightest evidence that it is ever used to denote the office, instead of the persons, of the presbytery. (d) As the opinion of Grotius is referred to by Dr. Onderdonk, I will quote here a passage from his commentary on this place. " The custom was, that the presbyters who were present placed their hands on the head of the candidate, at the same time with the presiding officer of their body," cum coetus sui principe. " Where the apostles, or their assistants, were not present, ordination took place by the presiding officer (Praesidem) of their body, with the concurrence of the presbytery," — consentiente presbyter io. It is particularly surprising that the authority of Calvin should have been adduced as sanctioning that interpretation which refers the word presbytery to office, and not to persons. His words are, " They who interpret presbytery, here, as a collective noun, denoting the college of presbyters, are, in my judgment, right." My first argument, then, is, that the word " presbytery," denoting the persons who composed the body, or college of elders, is the proper, obvious, and established sense of the passage. (2.) It is evident, from this passage, that whoever else might have been engaged in this transaction, a material part of it belonged to the presbytery or eldership concerned. " Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy; WITH THE LAYING ON OF THE HANDS OF THE PRESBYTERY." Here it is evident, that the presbytery bore a material part in the transaction. Paul says, that the gift which was in Timothy was given him hyprojihecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. That is, that some prophecies relating to Timothy (comp. 1 Timothy 1:18, " according to the prophecies which went before in thee") had designated him as a proper person for the ministry, or that it had been predicted that he would be employed in the ministry; but the prophecy did not invest him with the office — did not confer the gift. That was done — that formal appointment fulfilling the prophecy — by the imposition of the hands of the presbytery. It was necessary that that act of the presbytery should thus concur with the prophecy, or Timothy would have remained a layman. The presbyters laid their hands on him, and he thus received his office. As the prophecy made no part of his ordination, it follows that he was ordained by the presbytery. (3.) The statement here is just such a one as would be given now in a Presbyterian ordination; it is not one which would be made in an Episcopal ordination. A Presbyterian would choose these very words to give an account of an ordination in his church; an Episcopalian would not. The former speaks of ordination by a presbytery; the latter, of ordination by a bishop. The former can use the account of the apostle Paul, here, as applicable to ordination, without explanations, comments, new versions, or criticisms; the latter cannot. The passage speaks to the common understanding of men, in favour of Presbyterian ordination — of the action of a presbytery in the case; it never speaks the language of Episcopacy, even after all the torture to which it may be subjected by Episcopal criticism. The passage is one, too, which is not like that which speaks of the " apostles and elders," "the apostles, and elders, and brethren/ ’ the only direct passage on which Episcopacy relies, and which has no perceptible connection with the case; but it is one which speaks on the very subject — which relates to the exact transction, and which makes a positive affirmation of the very thing in debate. (4.) The supposition that this was not a presbyterial transaction renders the passage unmeaning. Here was present a body of men called a presbytery. We ask Episcopalians, why they were there? The answer which they give is, not for the purpose of ordination, but for " concurrence/’ Paul, the prelate, say they, is the sole ordainer. We see Timothy kneeling before the presbytery. We see them solemnly impose their hands on him. We ask, Why is this? "Not for the purpose of ordination," the Episcopalian replies, " but for concurrence. Paul is the ordainer." But we ask, further, Had they no share in the ordination? "None at all." Had they no participation in conferring the gift designated by prophecy? "None at all." Why, then, are they present? Why do they lay their hands on him? For "concurrence" — for form, for nothing! It was empty pageantry, in which they were mistaken when supposing that their act had any thing to do in conferring the gift; for their presence really meant nothing, and the whole transaction could as well have been performed without as with them. (5.) If this ordination was the joint act of the presbytery, we have here a complete Scriptural account of a Presbyterian ordination. It becomes then, a very material question, how Episcopalians dispose of this passage of Scripture. Their difficulties and embarrassments in relation to it will still further confirm the obvious interpretation which Presbyterians suggest and hold. These difficulties and embarrassments are thus exhibited by Dr. Onderdonk, He first doubts whether this transaction was an ordination. Tract, pp. 18, 19. To this I answer, (1.) That, if it were not, then there is no account that Timothy was ever ordained- (2.) That there is no specific work mentioned in the history of the apostles to which Timothy was designated, unless it was ordination; (3.) That it is the obvious and fair meaning of the passage; (4.) That, if this does not refer to ordination, it would be easy to apply the same denial to all the passages which speak of the " imposition of hands," and to show that there was no such thing as ordination to the ministry, in any case; (5.) That it accords with the common usage of the terms — " imposition of hands" — £i:!.0£(jt<; zwv %£tpaJv — in the New Testament. The phrase occurs but four times: — Acts 8:18; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6; Hebrews 6:2. In all these places, it evidently denotes conferring some gift, office, or favour, described by the act. In 2 Timothy 1:6, it denotes, by the acknowledgment of all Episcopalians, ordination to the ministry. Why should it not here? (6.) If, as Dr. Onderdonk supposes, it refers to " an inspired designation of one already in the ministry to a particular field of duty," (Tract, p. 19,) then, (a) I ask, why we have no other mention of this transaction? (6) How is it to be accounted for, that Paul, while here evidently referring Timothy to the duties and responsibilities of the ministerial office in general, should not refer to his ordination, but to a designation to a particular field of labour? His argument to Timothy, on such a supposition, would be this: "Your office of a minister of the gospel is one that is exceedingly important. A bishop must be blameless, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, etc. (Chap, iii.) In order to impress this more deeply on you, I refer you — not to the solemnity of your ordination-vows — but, I solemnly remind you of an inspired separation of one already in the ministry to a particular field of duty." I need only observe here, that this is not a mode of argument which looks like Prul. But, Secondly. Dr. Onderdonk supposes that this was not* a Presbyterian ordination. Tract, pp. 1921. His first supposition is, that the word " presbytery" does not mean the persons, but the office, p. 19. This has been already noticed. He next -supposes (pp. 20, 21,) that if " the presbytery" here means not the office given to Timothy, but a body of elders, it cannot be shown "of whom this ordaining presbytery was composed," p. 21. And he then proceeds to state, that there are "seven modes" in which this "presbytery" might be composed. It might be made up of "ruling elders;" or, it might be composed of the "grade called presbyters;" or, as Peter and John called themselves "elders/’ might be made up of "apostles;" or, " there may have been ruling elders and presbyters; or, presbyters and one or more apostles; or, ruling elders and one or more of the apostles; or, (ruling elders, and presbyters, and apostles," p. 21. Now, as Dr. Onderdonk has not informed us which of these modes he prefers, we are left merely to conjecture. We may remark on these suppositions, (1.) That they are mere suppositions. There is not the shadow of proof to support them. The word " presbytery" — -pzafib-lpiov — does not appear to be such a difficult word of interpretation, as to make it necessary to envelop it in so much mist in order to understand it. The argument here is such as a man always employs when he is pressed by difficulties which he cannot meet, and when he throws himself into a labyrinth, in the hope, that amidst its numerous passages, he may escape detection, and evade pursuit. (2.) If this " body of elders" was made up of " ruling elders," or, u of the grade called presbyters," then the argument of Episcopacy is overthrown. Here is an instance, on either supposition, of Presbyterian ordination, which is fatal to the claims that bishops only ordain. Or, if it be supposed that this was not an ordination, but " an inspired separation of one already in the ministry to a particular field of duty," it is an act equally fatal to the claim of prelates to the general " superintendence" of the church; since it is manifest that these 11 elders" took upon themselves the functions of this office, and designated " the bishop of Ephesus" to his field of labour. Such a transaction would scarcely meet with Episcopal approbation in the nineteenth century. But in regard to the other supposition, that a part or all the " presbytery" was composed of apostles, I remark, (1.) That it is a gratuitous supposition. There is not an instance in which the term " presbytery/’ or " body of elders," is applied in the New Testament to the collective body of the apostles. (2.) On the supposition that the " presbytery" was composed entirely of apostles, then how does it happen that, in 2 Timothy 1:6, Paul appropriates to himself a power which belonged to every one of them in as full right as to him? How came they to surrender that power into the hands of an individual? Was it the character of Paul thus to assume authority which did not belong to him? We have seen, already, how, on the supposition of the Episcopalian, he superseded " Bishop" Timothy in the exercise of discipline, in Corinth, and in his own "diocese" at Ephesus; we have now an instance in which he claims all the virtue of the ordaining act where his fellow-apostles must have been equally concerned. But if & part only of this " presbytery" was composed of apostles, and the remainder presbyters either ruling elders, or " the second grade," I would make the following inquiries: — Was Timothy ordained as a prelate? So the Episcopalians with one voice declare — prelate of Ephesus. Then it follows, that Timothy, a prelate, was set apart to his work by the imposition of the hands of elders. What was then his prelatical character? Does the water in the cistern rise higher than the fountain? If laymen were concerned, Timothy was a layman still; if presbyters, Timothy was a presbyter still. And thus all the power of prelates, from him of Rome downward, has come through the hands of humble presbyters — just as all non-Episcopalians believe, and just as history affirms. Or was he ordained as a presbyter? Then his Episcopal character, so far as it depends on his ordination, is swept away; and thus we have not a solitary instance of the consecration of a prelate in all the New Testament. "Which of these suppositions Episcopalians would be disposed to receive as the true one, is not known. All of them cannot be true; and whichever is preferred is equally fatal to the argument, and involves a refutation of the claims of prelacy. The only other reply with which Episcopalians meet the argument for Presbyterian ordination from this passage, is the supposition that the virtue of the ordaining act was derived from the apostle Paul. The passage on which they rest the argument for this is 2 Timothy 1:6, "That thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee, by the putting on of MY hands." On this passage I observe, (1.) Paul does not deny that other hands were also imposed oa Timothy, nor that his authority was derived also from others in conjunction with himself. (2.) That by the supposition of Episcopalians, as well as Presbyterians, other hands were, in fact, imposed on him. (3.) It was perfectly natural for Paul, in consequence of the relation which Timothy sustained to him as his adopted son, (1 Timothy 1:2) as being selected by him for the ministry, (Acts 16:3) and, as being his companion in his travels, to remind him, near the close of his own life, (2 Timothy 4:6) that he had been solemnly set apart to the work by himself — to bring his own agency into full view — in order to stimulate and encourage him. That Paul had a part in the act of the ordination is admitted; that others also had apart — the " presbytery" — has been proved. (4.) The expression which is here used is just such as the aged Presbyterian minister would now use, if directing a farewell letter to a son in the ministry. He would remind him, as Paul does in this epistle, (2 Timothy 4:6) that he was-about to leave the ministry and the world; and if he wished to impress his mind in a peculiarly tender manner, he would remind him also, that he took part in his ordination; that under his own hands he had been designated to the work of the ministry; and he would endeavour to deepen his conviction of the importance and magnitude of the work, by the reflection that he had been solemnly set apart to it by & father. Yet who would infer from this, that the aged Presbyterian would wish to be regarded as & prelate? I have now considered all the objections that have been made to the obvious interpretation of this passage, and it may now be submitted to any candid mind as a full and unqualified statement of an instance of Presbyterian ordination. Whichever of the half-dozen suppositions — assuming a hue, chameleon-like, from the nature of the argument to be refuted — that Episcopalians are compelled to apply to the passage is adopted, we have seen that they involve them in all the difficulties of an unnatural interpretation, and conduct us, by a more circuitous route, only to the plain and common-sense exposition of the passage, as decisive in favour of Presbyterian ordination. It has thus been shown that there was one Presbyterian ordination, in the case of Timothy, and this should be allowed to settle the question. As there is no other undisputed case of ordination referred to in the New Testament, and as we may presume that on an occasion of the kind here referred to, every thing essential to a valid ordination would be observed, it demonstrates that presbyters had and have the right to ordain. 2. The churches were intrusted with the right of admin iste ring disc ipline. It has been shown at length, in the examination of the claims of the " bishop" to administer discipline, and to exercise supervision, (ch. iii. § 3,) that this claim is not sustained by the authority of the New Testament. In further confirmation of these views, and to show the nature of the organization of the Christian church, I shall now show, that the churches were intrusted with this right, and were required to exercise it themselves. In support of this, I adduce the following passages of Scripture: —Acts 20:17-18, Acts 20:28 : " From Miletus Paul sent to Ephesus, and called for the presbyters (tow? n p e a ft ’uri pouq) of the church; and when they were come to him, he said unto them, Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops, (j.izt.£tv) the church of God." It would be easy to show, that the word translated feed includes the whole duty which a shepherd exercises over his flock, including all that is needful in the supervision, government, and defence of those under his care. Proof of this may be found in the following passages of the New Testament, where the word occurs in the sense of ruling or governing, including, of course, the exercise of discipline; for how can there be government, unless there is authority for punishing offenders? Matthew 2:6; John 21:16; 1 Peter 5:2; Revelation 2:27. ("And he shall rule them (xoiiiavlt aorobq) with a rod of iron j" an expression which will be allowed to imply the exercise of discipline; Revelation 12:5; Revelation 19:15; comp. Psalms 2:9; Psalms 23:1; Psalms 27:12; 47:13.) The Iliad of Homer may be consulted, passim, for this use of the word; see particularly 1:263; 11.85. 1 Peter 5:2-3 : " The presbyters (npEGpuzlpoui) who are among you I exhort, who am also a presbyter. Feed (notftdvare) the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight {iTtHrxoTzduvzeq, discharging the duty of bishops) thereof, not by constraint, but willingly/ ’ Here the very work which is claimed for prelates is enjoined on presbyters, and the very name which Episcopal bishops assume is given to presbyters, and Peter ranks himself as on a level with them in the office of exercising discipline, or in the government of the church. It is perfectly obvious, that the presbyters at Ephesus, and the presbyters whom Peter addressed, were intrusted with the pastoral care to the fullest extent, for they were required to engage in all the work requisite in instructing, directing, and governing the flock. And it is as obvious that they were intrusted with a power and an authority in this business with which presbyters are not intrusted by the canons of the Episcopal Church. It is respectfully asked, whether the bishop of Pennsylvania or New Jersey would now take 1 Peter 5:2-3, for a text, and address the " priests," or " second order of clergy," in these words, without considerable qualification: — "The presbyters who are among you I exhort, who am also a PRESBYTER. Feed {Tzoi;xdvars) the flock of God, discharging the duty of bishops over it, (^7T£v yyoutilvuiv u/jlwv, YOUR RULERS." Hebrews 13:17: " Obey them that have the rule over you." UelOeffOs ToZg yyouffiuotq 6/j.wv. That bishops are here referred to, no one will pretend. Yet the office of ruling certainly implies that kind of government which is concerned in the administration of discipline. 1 Thessalonians 5:12 : " We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord." xai 7tpo’iffTa/xivou<; u/iibv £v xupiw. 1 Timothy 5:17 : " Let the presbyters that rule well (izpoeaTWTsq) be counted worthy of double honour." There can be no question that these passages are applied to presbyters. We come, then, to the conclusion, that the terms which properly denote government and discipline, and on which alone any claim for the exercise of authority can be founded — the terms expressive of governing, of feeding, of ruling, of taking the oversight — are all applied to presbyters; that the churches are required to submit to them in the exercise of that office; and that the very term denoting Episcopal jurisdiction is applied to them also. We ask for a solitary passage which directs apostles or prelates to administer discipline; and the case of discipline, therefore, may be left to the common sense of those who read the New Testament, and who believe that presbyters had any duties to perform. But further: The churches were authorized to administer discipline in connection with the presiding officers y and such an account is given of this matter as to lead to the inevitable conclusion that the churches were always consulted, and that discipline was never administered by an independent foreign minister, such as an Episcopal bishop is. The case of the church of Corinth, the one on which Episcopalians most rely, has already been considered, and it has been proved that even there the apostle Paul did not assume the authority of excluding a member* without the concurrence and action of the church. Of a similar character is the following direction given to the church at Thessalonica: "And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. "2 Thessalonians 3:14. In this case the church was directed to administer discipline itself, if there was a member in it who was disobedient to the inspired command of the apostle. The direction is not, to observe him, and to report him to the apostle or " bishop," but to proceed themselves to the act of discipline, and so to exclude him as to have no company with him. And of the same nature is the direction of the Savior himself, in the solemn command which lays the foundation for the only authority for administering discipline at all in the churches: " Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. x\nd if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church; but if he neglect to hear the church 7 let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.’ ’ Matthew 18:15-17. In regard to this passage, it may be observed, (1.) That it is to be presumed that the Savior designed to embody the principles of discipline here so that they might be applied in all ages of the world, and so that this, in all circumstances, would be an adequate direction. There is not anywhere in the New Testament a more formal direction given on the subject of discipline, and it can hardly be presumed that, on such an occasion, the Savior would have omitted what he designed should be an essential and a permanent principle. (2.) The apostles had been chosen and ordained before that direction was given, (Matt, x,) and if he had designed that they alone should have the power of administering discipline, it is unaccountable that there is no intimation whatever that so important a function was conferred on them. The direction, " Tell it to the church," (efrre ry ixxXrjffia,’) is not one which would be understood as referring to the apostles, as being, in fact, " the church." It is a direction which would naturally be understood as referring to the assembly of the faithful. (3.) Equally unaccountable is it that no reference is made to the "successors" of the apostles, as having the power to administer discipline, and that this should be left to be a standing subject of mistake in all ages of the world. Even now, to the apprehension of the great body of plain Christians, this direction cannot possibly be made to mean that when an offence is committed, the brother who is injured must tell it to " the bishop" as the "successor of the apostles," and that if the offender will not hear him, he is to be regarded asa " heathen man and a publican." (4.) This direction of the Savior is not complied with in Episcopal churches, nor under their arrangement is it possible that it should be. The " bishop," intrusted with the administration of discipline, is not " the church," nor does " the church" ever have an opportunity of deciding on the case as the Savior contemplated. The whole authority to administer discipline is claimed by the "bishop" by divine right, as one of the prerogatives of his office; and u the church" is excluded from all participation in saying, either collectively or by representatives, whether the offender shall or shall not be regarded "as a heathen man and a publican." The church has no option in the case. The authority thus claimed by the bishop is a part of a system of usurpations on the prerogatives conferred by the Savior on others. "We have seen that he has usurped the prerogative of being regarded as the peculiar " successor" of the apostles y that he has usurped the exclusive power of ordaining — thus depriving presbyters of a right conferred on them in the New Testament; that he has usurped the right of "confirmation" — if it should exist at all in the church — thus practically declaring that the pastor is disqualified from admitting his own members to the communion, and claiming that there is some heavenly influence imparted through his hands which can be conferred by no other minister of religion; and we now see that this system of usurpation is completed by depriving the church and the eldership wholly of the right of administering discipline over an offending member, thus claiming that the whole of this tremendous power should be lodged in his hands. The standing, the influence, the character of each one of the thousands of a " diocese" is thus lodged ultimately in the hands of one man — a man who is a stranger; who is bound to them by none of the tenderties of the pastoral relation; and who has the sole power to decide the case without appeal. Now, we may ask, where any thing like this is to be found in the New Testament? Did the Savior contemplate that the voice of the church should never be heard in the discipline of its own members? On what basis is it that this power is claimed, thus depriving the churches of rights and prerogatives indubitably conferred on them by their Great Head? It is a part of a great system of usurpation which began when ambition began in the church y which has been fostered to give authority to the- higher " orders" of the priesthood; and which finds its appropriate place only in the corruptions of the papacy. Sect. 3. — The ’primitive churches were organized without aprela te, and loitho u t "three orders of clergy. ’ ’ In support of this, I shall adduce the case of one church at least that was not organized on the principles of Episcopalians, with three orders of clergy. I refer to the church at Philippi: "Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons," — o’jv l-w/.o-ois /.at dtazovocq. In regard to this church, I make the following observations: — (1.) It was organized by the apostle Paul himself, in connection with Silas, and was, therefore, on the " truly primitive and apostolic" plan. Acts xvi. (2.) It was in the centre of a large territory, the capital of Macedonia, and not likely to be placed in subjection to a diocesan of another region. (3.) It was surrounded by other churches; as we have express mention of the church at Thessalonica, and the preaching of the gospel at Berea. Acts xvii. (4.) There is mention made of but two orders of men. What the deacons were, we know from the appointment in Acts 5:1-6. They were designated, not to preach, but to take care of the poor members of the church, and to distribute the alms of the saints. As we have there, in the original appointment of the office, the express and extended mention of its functions, we are to infer that the design was the same at Philippi. The other class, therefore — the " bishops" — constitute the preaching order, or the clergy — those to whom were committed the preaching of the word, the administration of the sacraments, and the discipline of the church. Now, either these bishops were prelates, or they were che pastors, the presbyters of the church If Episco palians choose to say, that they were prelates, then it follows, (a) that there was a plurality of such prelates in the same diocese, the same city, and the same church y which is contrary to the fundamental idea of Episcopacy. It follows, also, (&) that there was entirely wanting, in this church, the " second order" of clergy; that an Episcopal church was organized, defective in one of the essential grades, with an appointment of a body of prelates without presbyters y that is, an order of " superior" men, designated to exercise jurisdiction over "priests" who had no existence. If it be said that the " presbyters," or " second order," might have been there though Paul did not expressly name them, then we are presented with the remarkable fact, that he specifies the deacons, an inferior order, and expresses to them his Christian salutations; that he salutes also the "saints" — or the private members of the church — and yet entirely disregards those who had the special pastoral charge of the church. Paul thus becomes a model of incivility. In the epistles to Timothy, he gives him directions about every thing else, but no counsel about his brother " prelates;" in the epistles to the churches, he salutes their prelates and their deacons, but becomes utterly regardless of the "second order of clergy," the immediate pastors of the churches. But if our Episcopal brethren prefer to say that the "bishops" here mean not prelates, but presbyters, we, so far, shall agree with them; and then it follows, (a) That here is an undeniable instance of a church, or rather of a group of churches, large enough to satisfy the reasonable desire of any diocesan bishop for extended jurisdiction, organized without prelate or bishop. None is mentioned; and there are but two orders of men, to whom the care of the " saints at Philippi" is intrusted, (b) If there was a prelate there, then we ask, why Paul did not refer to him with affectionate salutations? Why does he refer to "the second and third orders of clergy," without the slightest reference to the man who was " superior to them in ministerial rank and power"? Was Paul jealous of the prelate? Or have we here another instance of indecorum and incivility? (c) If they had had a prelate, and the see was then vacant, why is there no reference to this fact? Why no condolence at their loss? Why no prayer that God would send them a man to enter into the vacant diocese? (7) Episcopalians have sometimes felt the pressure of these difficulties to be so great, that they have supposed the bishop was absent when this epistle was addressed to the church at Philippi, and that this was the reason why he was not remembered in the salutation. Of this solution, I observe only, that it is mere assumption. But, even granting this assumption, it is an inquiry of not very easy solution, why Paul did not make some reference to this fact, and ask their prayers for the absent prelate. One can scarcely help being forcibly reminded, by the ineffectual efforts of Episcopalians to find a prelate at Philippi, of a remarkable transaction mentioned in 1 Kings 18:27-28 : "Either he is talking; or he is pursuing; or he is in a journey; or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked/’ It is scarcely necessary to remark, that if a single church is proved to have been organized without the " three orders of clergy," the parity of the ministry is made out by apostolic appointment, and the Episcopal argument is at an end. I may add, that this view of the organization of the church in Philippi is confirmed by an examination of the organization of the church in its immediate neighbourhood, in Thessalonica. In the two epistles which Paul directed to that church, there is not the slightest reference to any prelatical bishop; there is no mention of " three orders of clergy;" there is no hint that the church was organized on that plan. But one order of ministers is mentioned, evidently as entitled to the same degree of respect, and as on an entire equality. They were clearly of the same rank, and engaged in discharging the functions of the same office. " And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love, for their work’s sake." 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13. Will the advocates of Episcopacy be kind enough to inform us why there is no mention of the prelate, whether present or absent? We are here prepared to estimate the force of the undeniable fact, that there is no distinction of grade or rank in the names which are given to the ministers of the gospel in the New Testament. It is admitted by Episcopalians themselves, that the names bishop, presbyter, etc, in the Bible, do not denote those ranks of church-officers to which they are now applied, but are given indiscriminately to all. On this point, we have the authority of Dr. Onderdonk. " The name ’ bishop/ " says he, "which now designates the highest grade of the ministry, is not appropriated to this office in Scripture. That name is given to the middle order, or presbyters;and ALL. THAT WE READ IN THE NEW TESTAMENT concerning ’bishops/ (including, of course, the words ’ overseers’ and ’ oversight/ which have the same derivation,) is to be regarded as pertaining to this middle grade." Tract, p. 12. " Another irregularity of the same kind occurs in regard to the word ’elder.’ It is sometimes used for a minister, or clergyman of any grade, higher, middle, or lower; but it more strictly signifies a presbyter." Tract, p. 14. In accordance with this fact, which is as remarkable as it is true, we have seen that Peter applies to himself the name presbyter, and put himself on a level with other presbyters. " The presbyters which are among you, I exhort," (not I command, or enjoin, as a prelate would do,) "who am also a presbyter." 1 Peter 5:1. And in 1 Peter 5:2 he exhorts them (the elders, or presbyters) to ’.’ feed the flock of God, taking the oversight," (i-HTzo-ouvzeg, exercising the office of bishop,) " not by constraint." Now let these conceded facts be borne in mind. The term presbyter is applied by the apostle Peter to himself, and " all that we read of in the New Testament concerning l bishops,’ is applied to the middle grade." The apostles address each other, and their brethren, by no words or names that indicate superior rank, grade, or authority. This fact can be accounted for only on the supposition that they regarded themselves, as ministers, as on a level. If they meant to teach that one class was superior in rank and power to others, they would not have used terms always confounding such distinctions, and always proceeding on the supposition that they were on an equality. It will not be pretended that they could not employ terms which would have marked the various grades. For if the term " bishop" can now do it, it could have done it then; if the term presbyter can now be used to denote " the middle grade," it could then have been so used. It is clear, also, that if such had been their intention, they would have thus employed those terms. That the sacred writers were capable of using language definitely, Episcopalians will not doubt. Why, then, if they were capable, did they choose not to do it? Are prelates now ever as vague and indefinite in their use of the terms "bishop" and "presbyters," as were the apostles? It is remarkable, also, that the mode of using these terms in the New Testament is precisely in accordance with the usage in Presbyterian and Congregational churches. They speak indiscriminately of their ministers, just as the sacred writers did, as " bishops," as " pastors," as "presbyters" or " elders," as " teachers," as " evangelists." They regard their ministers as on an equality. Did not the sacred writers do the same? It is as remarkable, that the mode of using these terms in the Episcopal churches is NOT that which occurs in the Bible. And it is as certain, that, were they thus to use those terms, it would at once confound their orders and ranks, and reduce their ministers to equality. Do we ever see any approximation in their addresses, and in their canons, in this respect, to the language and style of the New Testament? Do we ever hear those of the "second order" — or priests — mentioned as bishops? Do we ever hear the term presbyter or elder applied to their bishops? Would it not confound all the arrangements in the Episcopal Church, if the terms were thus indiscriminately applied? And yet, it is to be presumed that the terms used in the New Testament to designate any office may be used still. It cannot be improper to call things by their true names, and to apply to all ranks and orders of men the terms which are applied to them by the Spirit of inspiration. And as the indiscriminate use of these terms is carefully avoided by the customs and canons of the Episcopal Church; as there seems to have been a presentiment in the formation of those canons that such indiscriminate use would reduce the fabric to simple "parity" of the clergy; and as these terms cannot be so used without reducing these "ranks and orders" to a scriptural equality, we come to the conclusion, that the apostles meant to teach that the ministers of the New Testament are equal in ministerial rights and powers. Sect. 4. — Conclusion. I have now gone through this entire subject. I have examined, I trust, in a candid manner — I am sure with the kindest feelings toward my Episcopal brethren — every argument which they have to adduce from the Bible in favour of the claims of their bishops. Those arguments have been disposed of, step by step. These are all the arguments which Episcopacy has to urge from the Bible. There is nothing that remains. The subject is exhausted. Episcopacy rests here; and it is incumbent on Episcopacy to show, not to affirm, that our interpretation of those passages is not sustained by sound principles of exegesis. The burden of proof still lies on them. They assumed it, and on them it rests. They affirm that enormous powers are lodged in the hands of the prelate — every thing pertaining to ordination, to confir1mation, to discipline, to the superintendence of the Christian church. They claim powers for the " bishop" which would degrade every presbyter in the world y which would reduce him to the condition of a subordinate officer, and which would strip him of the right of transmitting; his own office, and of administering discipline among his own flock. They arrogate powers which go to deprive all other presbyters, except Episcopal presbyters, of any right to officiate in the church of God; rendering their ordination invalid, their administrations void, and their exercise of the functions of their office a daring and impious invasion of the rights of the priesthood, and a violation of the law of Christ. The foundation for these sweeping, and certainly not very modest, claims, I have examined with all freedom. The argument for prelacy may be summed up in a word. It consists in the text — the solitary text — " the apostles and elders," " the apostles, and elders, and brethren," joined to a circuitous train of reasoning, remote from common apprehension, and too abstruse for the guidance of the mass of men. Step by step, I have followed the defenders of this system in their circuits; argument after argument I have endeavoured patiently to displace; and at the conclusion, I may ask any person of plain common sense to place his finger on that portion of the book of God which is favourable to prelacy. This argument for the authority of prelates having been met and disproved, I have produced an instance of express Presbyterian ordination, in the case of Timothy. Two churches we have fouad which were organized without prelates. We are thus, by another train of argument, conducted to the same result — that prelates are unknown in the New Testament. And, to make the argument perfectly conclusive, it has been shown that the same titles are applied indiscriminately to all. This argument may be summed up in still fewer words. The Episcopal claims are not made out; and, of course, the clergy of the New Testament are equal. The Episcopalian has failed to show that there were different grades; and it follows that there must be parity. In conducting this argument, I have endeavoured to show that the claims of Episcopalians are unfounded, and at the same time that there were arrangements in regard to the constitution, government, and officers of the church, which were designed to be permanent. The general principles of church organization were laid down as binding. The details were not prescribed; they were left, like the subject of civil government, to be modified by circumstances from age to age. The gospel was to be preached in all lands and in all times; the church was to be located under different forms of civil government, and among people of different habits and customs; the organization of the Christian community was to be such as would be consistent and proper under a civil government of the monarchical, the aristocratic, or the republican form. Those regulations in detail which would be fitted to the customs of the Oriental world, might be little adapted to habits which might exist toward the setting sun; and rites, and customs, and modes of worship and of discipline which would have been appropriate to the times when the apostles lived, might be illadapted to some future age of the world. The same great principles of truth and worship might receive new influence and power under some modified form in a future age; and the external arrangements of the church might be left, as the subject of human government is, somewhat to the developments of time and experience. Truth is always the same. The doctrines of religion were not, indeed, susceptible of being modified — for truth is always the same. But the details of worship, and order, and discipline in the church did not require or admit of the same explicitness which were requisite in regard to the doctrines of the Trinity and the atonement. The following remarks of Archbishop Whately on this subject seem to me to be so weighty and important, as to demand the profound attention of all who would understand the constitution of the Christian church: — "Among the important facts which we can collect and fully ascertain from the sacred historians, scanty and irregular and imperfect as are their records of particulars, one of the most important is that very scantiness and incompleteness in the detail — that absence of any full and systematic description of the formation and regulation of Christian communities that has been just noticed. For we may plainly infer, from this very circumstance, the design of the Holy Spirit, that those details, concerning which no precise directions, accompanied with strict injunctions, are to be found in Scripture, were meant to be left to the regulation of each church, in each age and country. On any point in which it was designed that all Christians should be, everywhere and at all times, bound as strictly as the Jews were to the Levitical law, we may fairly conclude they would have received directions no less precise, and descriptions no less minute, than had been afforded to the Jews. " It has often occurred to my mind that the generality of even studious readers are apt, for want of sufficient reflection, to fail of drawing such important inferences as they often might, from the omissions occurring in any work they are perusing; from its not containing su*h and such things relative to the subject treated of. There are many cases in which the non-insertion of some particulars which, under other circumstances, we might have calculated on meeting with in a certain book, will be hardly less instructive than the things we do meet with. "And this is much more especially the case when we are studying works which we believe to have been composed under divine guidance. For, in the case of mere human compositions, one may conceive an author to have left out some important circumstances, either through error of judgment or inadvertency, or from having written merely for the use of a particular class of readers in his own time and country, without any thought of what might be necessary information for persons at a distance and in after-ages y but we cannot, of course, attribute to any such causes omissions in the inspired writers. On no supposition whatever can we account for the omission, by all of them, of many points which they do omit, and of their scanty and slight mention of others, except by considering them as withheld by the express design and will (whether communicated to each of them or not) of their heavenly Master, restraining them from committing to writing many things which naturally, some or other of them at least, would not have failed so to record. "No such thing is to be found in our Scriptures as a catechism, or regular Elementary Introduction to the Christian religion; nor do they furnish us with any thing of the nature of a systematic creed, set of articles, Confession of Faith, or by whatever other name one may designate a regular, complete compendium of Christian doctrines; nor, again, do they supply us with a liturgy for ordinary public worship, or with forms for administering the sacrainents, or for conferring holy orders; nor do they even give any precise directions as to these and other ecclesiastical matters — any thing that at all corresponds to the rubric, or set of canons."* I here close this inquiry into the organization and government of the apostolic church. As there is nothing in the Bible which Episcopacy can add, the whole subject here should be allowed to rest. The entire scriptural argument is exhausted; and here the inquiry ends. In conclusion, I may remark, that I speak, I believe, the language of the great body of those who are not Episcopalians — and the language expresses the convictions of my intellect and the feelings of my heart — when I say, that we have no unkind emotions toward those who believe that Episcopacy is founded on the word of God, and is the form of church government best adapted to promote the cause of the Redeemer of the world. We do not forget the former services which the Episcopal church rendered to the cause of truth and of the world’s redemption. We remember the bright and ever-living lights which her clergy and her illustrious laymen have in other times enkindled in the darkness of this world’s history, and which continue to pour their pure and steady lustre on the literature, the laws, and the customs of Christian * Kingdom of Christ Delineated, Essay II. g 8. nations; and we trust the day will never come when the bosoms of Christians in any denomination will cease to beat with emotions of lofty thanksgiving to the God of grace that he raised up such gifted and holy men, to meet the corruptions of the papacy, and to breast the wickedness of the world. We have no unkind emotions toward any branch of the true church of God. We strive to cherish feelings of affectionate regard for them all, and to render praise to the common Father of Christians, for any efforts which are made to advance the intelligence, the purity, and the salvation of mankind. In our views of the nature of mind and of freedom, we can have no uncharitable emotions toward any denomination of true Christians. " There are diversities of organizations, but the same Spirit." We have no expectation that all men, in this world, will think alike; and we regard it as a wise arrangement that the church of God is thus organized into different sections and departments, under the banner of the common Captain of their salvation. It promotes inquiry; it prevents complacency in mere forms and ceremonies; it produces healthy and vigorous emulation y it affords opportunities for all classes of men to arrange themselves according to their preferences and their habits of thought; and it is not unfavourable to that kindness of feeling of which the Christian can cherish, and should cherish, when he utters in the sanctuary the article of his faith, " I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints." The attachment of a soldier to a particular company or squadron need not diminish his respect for other divisions of the armies of his country, or extinguish his love for her liberty. His being joined to a company of infantry need not make him feel that cavalry is useless, or involve him in a controversy with the artillery. We ask only that Episcopacy should not assume arrogant claims y that she should be willing to take her place among other denominations of Christians, entitled, like them, to all the tender and sympathetic affections of the Christian brotherhood, and willing that they should walk in the liberty wherewith Christ has made his people free. We ask, that while we cheerfully concede this, she also should concede to all those who " love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," the right to be accredited as being true churches of the Lord Jesus, and as having a valid ministry and valid ordinances.* We * This right is conceded in form by the author of the "Tract" so often noticed in this argument — Dr. Onderdonk. "An apparently formidable, yet extraneous difficulty," says he, "often raised, is, that Episcopal claims unchurch all nonEpiscopal denominations. By the present writer this consequence is not allowed." P. 6. But is it ever conceded in any other way, or ever acted on? Is there any recognition of the ministers of other denominations as having a right to preach the gospel? Is there any introduction of them to the pulpits of Episcopal churches? Would such an introduction by any of the "inferior clergy" be tolerated or connived at by the diocesan bishop? To ask these questions is to answer them. But another question may be asked here: it is, How can many of shall have no contest with our Episcopal brethren for loving the church of their choice, and the church in which they seek to prepare themselves for heaven. We shall not utter the language of unkindness for their reverencing the ministerial office in which the spirits of Cranmer and Leighton were prepared for their eternal rest. Content that other denominations should enjoy like freedom, when they do not arrogate to themselves unholy claims, and attempt to "lord it over" other parts of "God’s heritage," we shall pray for their success, as for that of all other Christians, and rejoice in their advancement. But the moment they cross this line — the moment they make any advances which resemble those of the papacy — the moment they set up the claim of being the only " primitive and apostolical church" — and the moment they speak of the " invalid ministry" and the "invalid ordinances" of other churches, and regard them as " left to the uncovenanted mercies of God" — that moment the language of argument and of Christian rebuke should be heard from every other denomination. There are minds which can investigate the Bible as well as the advocates for Episcopacy; there are pens which can compete the clergy of the Episcopal Church be satisfied with occupying such a position in regard to their ministerial brethren of other denominations, as to have the fair interpretation of their conduct to be that they regard them as wholly unauthorized to preach the gospel? Do they really believe this? If they do not, does not Christian candour, fairness, independence, and justice, require them in act and word to avow it? with any found in the Episcopal Church; and there are men who will not be slow to rebuke the first appearance of arrogance and of lordly assumption, and who will remind them that the time has gone by when an appeal to the infallible church will answer in this controversy. Arrogant assumptions do not suit the present state of intelligence in this land, or the genius of our institutions. While the Episcopal Church shall seek, by kind and gentle means, to widen its influence, like the flowing of a river, or like the dews of heaven, we shall hail its advances, when she departs from this course, and utters the language of authority and denunciation, — when she endeavours to prostrate other churches, as with the sweepings of the mountain torrent, — she will be reminded, by a voice uttered from all the institutions of these times, that Episcopacy has had its reign of authority in the dark ages and at the Vatican; and that the very genius of Protestantism is, that one church is not to utter the language of arrogance over another, and that not authority or denunciation, but SCRIPTURAL EXPOSITION, is to determine which is in accordance with the book of God. We have no war to wage with Episcopacy. We know, we deeply feel, that much may be said in favour of it, apart from the claim which has been set up for its authority from the New Testament. Its past history, in some respects, makes us weep; in others, it is the source of sincere rejoicing and praise. We cannot forget, indeed, its assumptions of power, or hide from our eyes the days of the papacy, when it clothed in sackcloth the Christian world. We cannot forget the days in its history, when, even as a part of the Protestant religion, it brought " a numb and chill stupidity of soul, an inactive blindness of mind, upon the people, by its leaden doctrine;" we cannot forget "the frozen captivity" of the church, " in the bondage of prelates;"* nor can we remove from our remembrance the sufferings of the Puritans, and the bloody scenes in Scotland. But we do not charge this on the Episcopacy of our times. We do not believe that it is essential to its existence. With more grateful feelings we recall other events of its history. We associate it with the brightest and happiest days of religion, and liberty, and literature, and law. We remember that it was under the Episcopacy that the church in England took its firm stand against the papacy; and that this was its form when Zion rose to light and splendour from the dark night of ages. We remember the name of Cranmer — Cranmer, first, in many respects, among the reformers; that it was by his steady hand that, under God, the real church of the Savior was conducted through the agitating and distressing times of Henry the Eighth. We remember that Godgave this distinguished pre- * Milton. late access to the heart of one of the most capricious, cruel, inexorable, blood-thirsty, and licentious monarchs that has disgraced the world; and that for the sake of Cranmer and his church, he conducted Henry as "by a hook in the nose," and made him faithful to the Archbishop of Canterbury when faithful to none else; so that, perhaps, the only redeeming trait in the character of Henry is his fidelity to this first British prelate under the reformation.* The world will not soon forget the names of Latimer and Ridley, and Rogers and Bradford; names associated in the feelings of Christians with the long list of ancient confessors " of whom the world was not worthy," and who did honour to their nature and to mankind by sealing their attachment to the Son of God in the flames. Nor can we forget that we owe to the Episcopal Church that which fills our mind with gratitude and praise, when we look for examples of consecrated talent, elegant literature, and humble piety. While men honour elevated Christian feeling — while they revere sound learning — while they render tribute to * It may be proper here to remark, that Cranmer by no means entertained the modern views of the scriptural authority of bishops. He maintained "that the appointment to spiritual offices belongs indifferently to bishops, to princes, or to the people, according to the pressure of existing circumstances. He affirmed the original identity of bishops cutd presbyters; and contended that nothing more than mere election or appointment is essential to the sacerdotal office, without consecration or any other solemnity." Le Bas’ Life of Cranmer, vo 50:1. p. 197. clear and profound reasoning — they will not forget the names of Barrow and Taylor, of Tillotson, Hooker, and Butler; and when they think of humble, pure, sweet, heavenly piety, their minds will recur instinctively to the name of Leighton. Such names do honour to the world. When we think of them, we have it not in our hearts to utter one word against a church which has thus done honour to our race and to our common Christianity. Such we wish Episcopacy still to be. There are minds and hearts, we doubt not, which will find more edification in the forms of worship in that church than in any other. To all who hold essential truth, we bid God-speed y and for all such we lift our humble supplications to the God of all mercy, that he will make them the means of spreading the gospel around the globe. We have never doubted that many of the purest flames of devotion which rise from the earth ascend from the altars of the Episcopal Church, and that many of the purest spirits which the earth contains minister at those altars, or breathe forth their prayers and praises in language consecrated by the use of piety for centuries. We have but one wish in regard to Episcopacy. We wish her not to assume arrogant claims. We wish her not to utter the language of denunciation. We wish her to fall in with the spirit of the age. Our desire is that she may become throughout —what we would fain hope she is increasingly becoming — the warm, devoted friend of revivals and of missionary operations. She is consolidated; wellmarshalled; under an efficient system of laws; and pre-eminently fitted for powerful action in the field of Christian warfare. We desire to see her, — with her dense, solid organization; with her unity of movement; with her power of maintaining the position which she takes; and with her eminent ability to advance the cause of sacred learning and the love of order and of law, — accompanying other churches in the conquests of redemption in an alienated world; and whatever positions may be assigned to other denominations, we will cherish the hope that the Episcopal Church is destined yet to consecrate her wealth and power to the work of making a perpetual aggression on the territories of sin and of death. THE END. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 2.00. SCENES & INCIDENTS IN LIFE OF PAUL ======================================================================== Scenes & Incidents in Life of Paul by Albert Barnes Summary: Contents Preface Early Training of the Apostle Paul Saul, A Persecutor Conversion of Saul of Tarsus Paul’s Obedience to the Heavenly Vision Residence of Paul in Arabia Saul Brought to Antioch Saul and Barnabas Sent Forth Paul and Silas at Philippi Paul at Athens Paul at Corinth Paul at Ephesus Paul at Miletus Paul in the Temple at Jerusalem Paul Before the Sanhedrim Paul in the Castle at Jerusalem Paul before Felix Paul before Festus Paul before Agrippa The Voyage to Rome Paul at Malta Paul in Rome Paul’s First Trial Before Nero Paul’s Anticipation of Death Death of the Apostle Paul ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 2.01. PREFACE ======================================================================== Scenes and Incidents in the Life of the Apostle Paul By Albert Barnes PREFACE. The design of this Volume is indicated, perhaps, with sufficient clearness, by its title. It is intended to illustrate some of the doctrines and duties of Christianity, and the nature of its influence in its first contact with the world, from the example of the most illustrious of the agents employed in its propagation. The work is founded on the principle that the nature of true religion is fairly illustrated in the lives of its friends; and that more can be learned of its nature from the example of those whose lives are conformed to its requirements, than from a creed or a mere abstract statement of its doctrines. It is assumed, therefore, that the example of a good man, in the various situations in which he is placed in the world—the manner of his acting amid the trials, the duties, and the temptations-of life—may incidentally illustrate the nature of religion, and that these accumulated records constitute a treasure of great value to the Church,—an argument of great force, in fact, in favour of the Divine origin of the religion itself. This constitutes the value of religious biography. The most illustrious instance of this principle undoubtedly is found in the example of the Founder of Christianity Himself. The one who stands next to Him will probably be conceded by every one to be the Apostle Paul. In the plan of the work it has been supposed that, from the character of this Apostle, and from the manner in which he was brought into contact with the world, there would be much of this nature that would always be of value to the Church; for he was made, in common with the other apostles, "a spectacle" (Marg. theatre; Gr. Otarpov—seen as those were who acted on a stage) "unto the world, and to angels, and to men" (1 Corinthians 4:9), and he "obtained mercy" that in him "first"—jrpwroc, eminently—"Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting" (1 Timothy 1:16). Amid the trials which Paul had to meet in endeavouring to propagate the Christian religion, it could not but occur that he would often be placed in circumstances which might present very difficult points of inquiry as to what was proper to be done, and in which his conduct would furnish an important illustration of what is required by Christian duty. It was supposed, also, that the events of his life might do much to illustrate the nature of Christianity as it came in contact with different classes of mind, and that an important argument for its truth and its power might be found in its influence over those minds in turning them to God, and that those scenes might thus furnish valuable illustrations of human nature as the ministers of the Gospel are called to meet it from age to age. The contact of Christianity with the world now is substantially the same as in the age of the Apostles: the qualifications of the Christian ministry for its great work are substantially the same in every age and land as those which were found in Paul. This work does not aspire to be a biography. Such notices of the personal history of Paul, however, are given as, it is hoped, may furnish a just and connected view of his character and life. For the notices of this kind which occur, I am largely indebted to the very valuable work of Messrs. Conybeare and Howson.1 I have made free use of that book so far as the facts in the Life of Paul are concerned. ALBERT BARNES. 1 "The Life and Epistles of St. Paul. By the Rev. W. J. Conybeare, M.A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; and the Rev. J. S. Howson, M.A., Principal of the Collegiate Institution, Liverpool." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 2.02. EARLY TRAINING OF THE APOSTLE PAUL ======================================================================== EARLY TRAINING OF THE APOSTLE PAUL. Special men raised up at special times, and for special work.—Saul of Tarsus; his writings; their character; their influence.—His first appearance in history.—Inquiries as to his early Life.—The character and position of his father.—Importance of a father’s influence.—Saul’s father, a Pharisee.—Though a Jew, a Roman citizen.—Saul’s Birthplace.— Tarsus, a Grecian city.—His Training at Jerusalem.—Gamaliel, a man of candour; of learning; of reverence for law; of zeal against apostates. —The moral character of SauL—His consent to the death of Stephen. "And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said th1s, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting unto his death." Acts 7:58-60; Acts 8:1 GROUND PLAN OF JERUSALEM. THAT a young man, "whose name was Saul," was present at the martyrdom of Stephen, is the first mention in history of a man who ultimately will be found to have exerted as wide an influence on human affairs as any one of the race that shall have lived. "The life of a great man, in a great period of the world’s history, is a subject to command the attention of every thoughtful mind." Indeed, there is nothing more worthy of consideration than such a life; for there is nothing on which the progress of the world more depends, or which enters more into the great changes that mark the world’s history. It is, in a great measure, by raising up and endowing great minds that God secures the advance of human affairs, and the accomplishment of His own plans on earth. All minds have their origin in God; and great minds seem to be created by Him as "He creates great oceans, great mountains, great worlds," as proofs of His own greatness,—and under an arrangement, also, not less fitted to the relations of things, and to His own purposes, than are such great oceans, mountains, and worlds. The earth’s history has made progress not merely by slow developement, by quiet and steady growth, by the silent accumulations of experience and observation digested into rules to guide and govern the future, but (in connexion with these things) by bringing upon the stage from time to time some mind qualified by high original endowment to give a new impulse to human affairs; to lift up the race to a higher level; and to perform, in a single generation, what might have been otherwise the slow work of centuries, or what might not have been done at all. Some great thought is to be suggested, containing "the seeds of things," some new discovery is to be made, or some new invention to be struck out, which shall at once place the world far in advance of what it was, and shall materially and permanently affect the affairs of mankind. Such a mind is created for the occasion ; though to human view it seems to be made by the occasion. It appears just at the time when it is needed, accomplishes the work which is needed, and then passes away. But not so the invention, the discovery, the great thought that has marked the age. These become the property of mankind,—the enlarged "capital" which constitutes a basis for the new enterprize of the world. Saul of Tarsus was one of those men. Christianity needed such a mind; and the world had reached a point where it needed such a mind. Christianity was in such a state that it was desirable—may we not say, indispensable—that there should be some such mind employed in its propagation and its defence. Saul of Tarsus has exerted more influence in spreading Christianity, in explaining and vindicating its doctrines, in adapting it to the world (if the expression may be allowed) and the world to it, in developing its great principles, in giving to it systematic form, in settling and establishing the faith of mankind for all coming time, than any other of the apostles, or perhaps than all of them combined. One of the entire books of the New Testament—" The Acts of the Apostles "—is to a great extent a mere record of his travels, sermons, and labours; no less than thirteen, and probably fourteen out of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were written by him, or at his dictation. The character of those books, also, is as remarkable as is their relative place in the New Testament. They are not historical;—for the historical records of Christianity—the life of the Author, and the history of the early propagation of Christianity, are found elsewhere. They are not a collection of public discourses, or orations in defence of the new system of religion,—for we have none of those except what are preserved by the fellow-traveller of Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles. They are, in the main, an explanation and defence of the doctrines of Christianity; the most full, able, and comprehensive, that we have in the New Testament. They are an inspired exposition of the great plan of the Author of the Christian system, which He did not Himself choose fully to unfold, but which He left to be explained by him who was called to be a disciple and an apostle after His own death. A full defence and an illustration of what was intended to be accomplished by that death—by the atonement—could not be so well made before He died as afterwards, since the statement could be made more clear, and could be more easily comprehended after the great facts had occurred on which ’the statement was to rest, than before. That statement He chose should be made, in the main, by Saul of Tarsus—a man who, so far as we know, had never seen Jesus of Nazareth; a man, therefore, who could testify to nothing from his personal observation ; a man who had not had the advantage of the long training, under His own eye, which had been afforded to the immediate apostles whom the Lord Jesus had chosen. It is remarkable that they were not selected to be the instruments in explaining His religion; and yet, perhaps, a reason for this may be found in the character, the training, the learning of Saul of Tarsus. Certain it is, however the fact may be accounted for, that if we were to take from the New Testament all that was written by Saul of Tarsus, we should remove no small part of that which has gone to form the religious opinions of mankind. Certain it is that we should leave the system as it is in the remaining books of the New Testament, difficult of explanation, arrangement, and comprehension. It could, indeed, by no means be said that the system could not be comprehended, or that knowledge enough could not be derived from the Gospels, from the Acts of the Apostles, and from the Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude, to answer the great question, "What shall I do to be saved?" but it would still be true that we should feel the need of some such full and comprehensive exposition of those doctrines as we have now in the epistles of Paul, and that the faith of mankind in the doctrines of Christianity (or the shape which that faith would take) would be far different from what it is now. One thing is clear—that there has been no one of our race who has done so much to determine the tltcological opinions of mankind as Paul has done. A similar remark may be made in regard to the influence of his opinions on the world at large. He has already influenced more minds than Plato ever did; in the end, he will have influenced far more than Plato, and Bacon, and Kant, and Locke, combined:— than all the Greek, the Persian, the Egyptian, the Roman priests and sages united. In his own day he came in contact on more points with the mind of the world than any other living man. He travelled farther than Herodotus had done; he sought more than any other man the great central points of influence in the world; and at Jerusalem, at Damascus, at Antioch, at Ephesus, at Philippi, at Athens, at Corinth, at Rome, he left impressions of his presence and power such as no other man made, and destined to be of longer continuance than any opinions which influenced the men of that generation. He came in contact with human bigotry, superstition, philosophy; with the pride, the wickedness, and the voluptuousness of the world; with heathen customs and laws sanctioned by ages; and more than any other man, he contributed to the inauguration of a new system of things, the results of which are to be seen in the yet future history of mankind, extending onward to the consummation of all things. As he appears before us, as described in Acts 7, he is a young man; and in an attitude fitted to rivet the attention, yet painful to contemplate. It is a scene of fury, rage, and violence. A man guilty of no crime,— who had done nothing to provoke this outburst of wrath, —who had merely stood up for the defence of a new system of religion,—who had said nothing which prophets had not said before,—who had affirmed that he had seen, whether in reality or in fancy, "the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God,"—was assailed by a mob (stopping their ears, as if they would not hear such blasphemy), was dragged violently out of the city, and stoned to death. It was the first martyrdom under the Christian religion. Saul of Tarsus was there;—why, we know not. He looked calmly on. He took no part in the affray. He threw not a stone. He said not a word. If he was a young man of violent passions, he restrained them. If he sympathized with these murderers, he said nothing to encourage them. If there was then that in him which at some future time might manifest itself in a form of persecution more violent than this, it was held in check. So far as the record goes, there was not a word, a look, an action, which could lead any man to infer that in a few days he would himself be one of the most furious of persecutors, and would surpass all living men in the energy, the fire, the zeal, and the ability, with which he would endeavour to extinguish the new religion. Yet he was manifestly regarding this deed of violence with interest and with approbation; he approved the thing, whatever might be his views of the mode. Those who were engaged in the act of persecution knew him. They understood somehow that his heart was with them, so that they might safely lay down their "clothes" at his feet,—the outer "garments" laid aside on such an occasion. Many years afterwards he refers to this scene, and says, as if he had at the time been a real participator in the persecution of Stephen, "I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him" (Acts 22:20). Even if the matter ended here, and we knew no more of that young man, we could not but feel an interest in inquiring, Who was he? what had been his training? what were the principles which he held? why had he such a real and well-understood sympathy with these murderers? and why was he then restrained from expressing that sympathy by joining with them in those deeds of violence and blood? The question also would probably occur to our minds, What would he be likely to do, if such scenes were to be often repeated? What is left to us of his early history, as gathered from intimations made in his subsequent life, may perhaps enabfe us to answer each of these questions. Let us place ourselves, therefore, at this "stand-point" —this his first appearance in history—and see if we can find anything in his early training which will account for the fact that he sympathized at heart with this work of death, and nevertheless was restrained then from all active participation in it; which may explain the reason why he so soon became an active persecutor himself; and which, at the same time, under the overruling providence of God, and in the accomplishment of the Divine purposes, was secretly fitting him for the great work that he was to do as the most eminent among the apostles. There are three things bearing on this subject among the incidental intimations which we have in respect to the early history of Saul, viz.:—the character and position of his father; his own early training in a Grecian city; and his subsequent training under Gamaliel at Jerusalem. I. The character and position of his father. In a speech which he subsequently made in his own defence (Acts 23:6), he says, with emphasis, and as if he attached much importance to the assertion, "I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee!’ Of his father’s name, indeed, we know nothing. Of his rank, as we shall see presently, we have information which may be of importance in determining some things in regard to Paul himself. But we are now to inquire what would be the influence of his being trained up under the guidance of a father who was a strict and conscientious Pharisee. It would, indeed, assist us much in estimating the character of Saul of Tarsus, if some knowledge had been- left us of his early training under the influence of a mother. But it is remarkable that in all his writings he makes no mention of her. He speaks of himself as set apart by God " from his mother’s womb" (Galatians 1:15-16); but this is the only allusion to his mother which occurs. We have notices of a sister, for we read of his "sister’s son" who rendered him important aid in a time of peril (Acts 23:16), and of some more distant kinsmen who were converted to the Christian faith (Romans 16:7; Romans 11:21); but we know nothing of that relative upon whose influence on the opinions and conduct so much commonly depends. It is, doubtless, true that the influence of a mother, as it is the earliest, is also the most material and important of the things which go to form the character of a man. It is, doubtless, true that a large proportion of those who have become eminent for piety and usefulness have been able to trace that effect to the example, the prayers, the instruction, the influence of a pious mother. The instances are innumerable where the influence of such early training has gone into the entire subsequent life, and where a mother, kept by her position and the proprieties of life from open and active service in the Church, has sent forth a son as her representative, imbued with her spirit, taught by her life, and converted in answer to her prayers, to accomplish great effects on the theatre of human affairs, giving direction to talent and influence of inestimable advantage to the Church and the world. It would be very easy to refer to a long catalogue of illustrious names, among the most illustrious in the Church, —embracing (if not beginning with) the great name of Augustine,—the value of whose influence, and consequently the value of the influence of a mother, no one can now estimate. It is needless to state on what this depends. She, the mother, has the first moulding of the mind of the child. She is constantly with him. She wins his heart by a thousand tender offices and kindnesses. She hears his little stories of trouble when perhaps the father would not; she listens to all his statements if he is injured, or fancies himself to be so; she comforts him in what seem to him to be great sorrows; she opens her ears and her heart to things which, perhaps, even he would not regard as of sufficient importance to trouble his father with; she teaches him to kneel down and pray; she watches beside him by day and by night when he is sick; in her heart he has always a sanctuary and a home,—a place to which he may flee, and where he will be sure to find sympathy and pity, whoever may despise him, or wrong him, or ridicule him, or neglect him. We are not to be surprised, therefore, that God has committed early religious training, in a great measure, to a mother; nor that, in so many instances, we can trace eminent piety and usefulness in subsequent life directly to her influence and prayers. But it is also to be said that there are cases where the influence of a father is much more direct and material in forming the character. It may be exerted in a more advanced period of boyhood, but may be such as effectually to mould all the future of the man. The mind of the father may be more comprehensive and better informed than that of the mother; the elements of his character may be more decided; there may be more that the son would wish to incorporate into his own future life. Firm, calm, thoughtful, sagacious, his example comes prominently before the mind of the boy just at the time when the real character is forming in reference to the world. The nursery character has been formed. The lessons of religion in childhood have been learned. For domestic life—for home—for boyhood—the character is moulded and matured. But the character requisite for the great world—for the profession—for the warfare of life—for the race of ambition—for wealth —for permanent distinction—is now to be formed, and the boy may now come wholly under the influence of the father with reference to the opinions and conduct that shall go to make up that struggle and warfare. If his principles coincide with those of the mother, all will be well; if they differ, he may now counteract much or all of her teaching; and even when they do coincide, he may do more than she has done in making the future man what he is to be. Of the character of Paul’s father in this respect— whether as coinciding with that of the mother, or not— whether as fitted to carry out the early lessons which she inculcated, or not—whether as being more adapted to mould such a mind as that of Saul of Tarsus when a boy, or not,—we can now know nothing. We know only that Paul himself referred with emphasis, and, it would seem, with a significant emphasis, to the fact that he was "the son of a Pharisee." What would this lead to? Can we find any influence from this which will serve to explain the position in which he first appears? What was a Pharisee? A man in whom the sentiment of religion, or religiosity, was most deeply imbedded; a man who was a firm believer in revelation; a man who was a stern advocate for the authority of law, and consequently of government; a man who, by theory at least, was opposed to irregular outbreaks of passion; a man who professed to aim at strict morality, and to be guided by its rules; a man who was a zealous propagandist in religion; a man who was bigoted in his attachment to his own opinions, to the traditions of the fathers, to all that pertained to religion, in its forms, its ceremonies, its doctrines; a man who was intolerant of the opinions of others, but who, if he carried out his principles, would be a persecutor only in accordance with law, and not under the force of popular excitement . Such was the paternal influence under which Saul of Tarsus was trained; whom we now see, not actively employed in persecution, but "keeping the raiment" of those who, regardless of all forms of law, were engaged in a furious work of death. There was another thing pertaining to his father, which may do something to explain what occurred in the subsequent life of Paul. It was the relation which he sustained to the Roman government. Though he was a Jew, most pure in his descent, so that Paul could say afterwards of himself that he was "an Hebrew of the Hebrews" (Php 3:6), yet (as was not then uncommon for a foreigner) his father had obtained the rights of a Roman citizen; and therefore, when appealing to the Roman authority as a protection from persecution by his own countrymen, he could say, "I was free born,"—or, I was born with this right of protection by the Roman law, (Acts 22:28) In what way this right had been obtained by his father, whether, as in the case of the "chief captain," to whom Paul appealed in the case just referred to, it had been "purchased," or whether it had been bestowed (as is most probable) on account of some service rendered to the Roman cause during the civil wars, is unknown, and cannot now be determined. In whatever way it had been acquired, it evidently was regarded as an honourable distinction for a Jew; it was a ground of protection in time of danger; and it gave a security (similar to what is now derived from a "passport" in foreign lands) in any part of the Roman empire. Paul more than once appealed to this as a ground of protection; and in virtue of this, he ultimately took his own cause away from Hebrew tribunals, and even from proconsular tribunals, and carried it at once up to the Emperor himself, Acts 16:37; Acts 22:25-29; Acts 25:10-11. II. His birthplace. Another fact to be noticed as to the training of Saul, and as bearing on the work to which he had been designated in the Divine purposes, was that he received his early education in a Grecian city. Tarsus in Cilicia, on the banks of the river Cydnus, by which it maintained an extensive commerce, was a distinguished seat of Greek philosophy and literature, and, from the number of its schools and learned men, is ranked by Strabo (xiv. pp. 673, 674), with Athens and Alexandria. Though now a poor and decayed town inhabited by Turks, not numbering more than thirty thousand, yet it was, in the time of Paul’s youth, a busy haunt of commerce. St. Basil has recorded that "Tarsus was a point of union for Syrians, Cilicians, Isaurians, and Cappadocians." It was the resort of Greek and Roman merchants; and the youthful Saul, on the wharves of the Cydnus, would mingle with men, in different costumes, from almost every part of the then known world. He was indeed a Jewish boy, and would doubtless be trained and educated in Jewish schools, and under Jewish influence. But there is another kind of education than that which a boy obtains in school. It is the education of the place; of associates; of playmates; of the language which is spoken around him; of the books which he reads. You cannot separate the one from the other. You cannot tell how much of the one or the other has gone into the character of *he educated youth; but often that which is derived from without is more important than that which is inculcated at the fire-side and in the school. Under the direction of a father who was a Hebrew, Saul would be taught Hebrew letters and Hebrew learning; in accordance with wise Jewish maxims, he was taught, as we know, a "trade,"—in his case, that of a "tent-maker" (Acts 18:3);1 but still he was among a Greek people; he would mingle with those who spoke the Greek language; and, directly or indirectly, he would become, to a greater or less extent, acquainted with Greek literature. The ready and appropriate manner in which he afterwards referred to Greek poets (Acts 17:28; Titus 1:12; 1 Corinthians 15:33), shows that in early life he was not a stranger to Greek learning. It is easy to see the bearing of this on his future life as an apostle. The Greek was spoken in almost all the countries in which he was to travel. His public discourses were mostly to be in that language. All that he would write, to be preserved to the Church and to the world, was to be in that language. He was to meet Greeks everywhere; to preach to them, to explain to them, and to defend before them, the new system of religion. He was to stand amidst their sages; he was to "encounter" their philosophers in the very seat of their influence and power (Acts 17:18); and what is most material, he was (as we have seen) more than any others of the apostles, to make a permanent record of the doctrines of the Christian religion. It cannot have been without design on the part of Him who directs all things by His Providence, that the early years of Saul should have been spent where that language, learning, and philosophy prevailed. 1 "It was a custom among the Jews that all boys should learn a trade. •What is commanded of a father towards his son?’ asks a Talmudic writer. ’To circumcise him, to teach him the law, to teach him a trade.’ Rabbi Judah saith, ’He that teacheth not his son a trade, doth the same as if he taught him to be a thief;’ and Rabban Gamaliel saith, ’He that hath a trade in his hand, to what is he like? he is like a vineyard that is fenced.’ And if in compliance with this good and useful custom of the Jews, the father of the young Cilician sought to make choice of a trade, which might fortify his son against idleness or against adversity, none would occur to him more naturally than the profitable occupation of the making of tents, the material of which was hair-cloth, supplied by the goats of his native province, and sold in the markets of the Levant by the well-known name of cilicium."—Conybcarc and Howson, vol. i. p. 46. III. There is a third thing to be noticed in regard to the early life of Saul—his training under Gamaliel. He himself tells us (Acts 22:3), that he was "brought up"—avarc0pajujul1>oc, nurtured, educated—in Jerusalem "at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers." This language would imply that he had been placed there at quite an early period of his life. The same thing is implied also in another expression which he uses (Acts 26:4), when he says, "My manner of life from my youth" — U Viot1jtoq—" which was at the first,"—av apxvQi from the beginning—"among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews." At the age of thirteen, a Jewish maxim required that children should be taught the "law." We know the reason for which he was sent to Jerusalem. It was the act of a Jewish father, a " Pharisee," designing that his son should be trained up in the most perfect knowledge of the law, and placing him, for that purpose, under the instruction of the most celebrated Jewish teacher of his time,—for Gamaliel was to the Jews what Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and Fonaventura, were among the Schoolmen, and as the titles "Angelic doctor," and "Seraphic doctor," were conferred on such illustrious men, so the title "the Beauty of the Law," had been conferred on Gamaliel. Possibly, also, it might have been the wish of his father to separate him, at the forming period of his life, from influences in a Greek city that might tend to weaken his attachment to the Hebrew faith. We know what the character of Gamaliel was; and we can estimate what would be the nature of his influence on the mind of a young man like Saul of Tarsus. (a.) Gamaliel was a man characterized by candour and coolness of judgment. A remarkable instance of this occurs in his defence of the Apostles, as recorded in Acts 5:34-40. The Sanhedrim were determined to condemn the apostles to death, and it required no small degree of firmness to stand up even to argue the case, and to subject oneself to the charge of being their friend; but the character of Gamaliel, his ability, his position, commanded respect; and his counsel was eminently prudent, wise, sensible. He stilled the rage of the Sanhedrim; he secured the discharge of the persecuted men. He was, indeed, a Pharisee. But he was not trammelled by the narrow prejudices of his party. He dared to act from principles of justice and truth. As such a man he had secured in an eminent degree the confidence of his countrymen, and we are not surprised to be told that he was "had in reputation among all the people" (Acts 5:34). He was of the class to whom Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus belonged:—a man thoroughly religious; thoroughly a Jew; thoroughly, and on principle, a Pharisee, as opposed to other Jewish sects; yet a man of noble principles, and well fitted as an instructor to form a mind to large and liberal views. (b.) Tradition has described him as a man who was distinguished above most of his countrymen by his attainments in Greek learning, and by his respect for it. If so, his own mind would be liberalized by those studies; and the influence of that fact on one who had been trained in his childhood in a Greek city, and who had known something of Greek authors, may be -readily imagined. No one can fail to see what may have been the effect of this on one who was to spend so large a portion of his active public life in the very centres of Greek philosophy, learning, and power. (c.) As a Pharisee, most eminent, he had a high regard for authority. He was a teacher of law. He was an expounder of law. He was a Jew to the heart’s core. But, as opposed to all the excitements of passion, to all tumults springing out of such excitements, to unjust and tyrannical measures prompted by mere will and by popular feeling, he was a man who would stand firm to the principles of law and of order. (d.) He did not, as far as we know, become a Christian. With all his candour, with all his learning, with all that there was of liberal influence on his mind, derived from Greek literature, it could not be aff1rmed that Gamaliel would never justify persecution. There is even a prayer on record which is supposed to have been written by him, or to have received his sanction, and which, if it was his, shows that he approved the destruction of apostates.1 But if ever he were to be engaged in persecution, we know that it would be only as justified by law, and conducted by public authority. It is easy to trace the influence of these traits of character on the whole of Saul’s public life—alike as a Jewish persecutor, and as a defender of the faith which he at first laboured to destroy. We can see how he would be likely to sympathize in heart with persecutors; how confidence could be reposed in him in that respect; how he would abstain from acts of open violence and lawlessness,—and yet how, under the sanction of law, he might become (as he was) one of the most violent and dreaded of the enemies of the Church. There is always danger to a young man in regard to his morals when, for the sake of education, or in the pursuit of wealth or honour, he leaves the restraints and influences of the domestic circle. Saul of Tarsus would be exposed to such perils in leaving the home of his 1 "Lightfoot’s Exercitations on Acts 5:34; Otho’s Lexicon Rabbinicum, sub voc. Gamaliel. The prayer is given in Mr. Home’s Introduction to the Scriptures, 8th ed. vol. iii. p. 261, as follows: ’Let there be no hope to them who apostatise from the true religion; and let heretics, how many soever they be, all perish as in a moment. And let the kingdom of pride be speedily rooted out and broken in our days. Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, who destroyest the wicked, and bringest down the proud.’ This prayer is attributed by some to ’Samuel the Little,’ who lived in the time of Gamaliel . There is a story that this Samuel the Little was the Apostle Paul himself, ’Paulus’ meaning ’ little,’ and ’Samuel’ being contracted into ’Saul.’ See Basnage, bk. iii. ch. i. §§ 12, 13."—Conybeare and Hawson, vol. i. p. 56. childhood; in being separated from a father’s presence and immediate authority; in visiting even Jerusalem. Many young men, religiously trained, are ruined in such changes; but more young men—great as is the absolute number of those who are ruined—are safe. Their early vi1tue, their religious principles, their respect for law and for religion, are successful and triumphant in the new scene of trial. Saul of Tarsus was of that number. In his old age, and when he regarded it as possible that he would soon be put to death,—looking back to this period,—he could say of his moral character all through his youth, "Touching the righteousness which is in the law, BLAMELESS" (Php 3:6). Such had been the influence of his early training. Such was he, as he now appears in the persecution of Stephen ;—a Jew; a Pharisee, a young man, conscientious, religious, moral; one restrained now, as he ever would be afterwards, from deeds of lawless violence, yet ready to engage most furiously in persecution whenever it could be done under the authority of law. It was not so done in the case of Stephen, for this was the violence of a mob; yet his heart was there. In how many things done by others, of which we secretly approve, are we restrained from active participation, either by prudence, or the principles of our education, or because they are not done in the manner which we approve; and yet our heart is there! The raiment of the evil-doers would be safe in our keeping! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 2.03. SAUL, A PERSECUTOR ======================================================================== SAUL, A PERSECUTOR. Sanction obtained.—Young men less apt to persecute than the old are.— Reasons for this.—Saul an exception.—Persecution at Jerusalem.—Intended persecution at Damascus.—Persecutions common to science and religion.—Causes of persecution: war of opinions; existence of vested interests; depraved passions of the human heart; natural aversion to holiness.—Effects of persecution: nothing good or true is destroyed; it serves as a test; it works out adequate results. "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem." Acts 9:1-2. THE rage of Saul of Tarsus in persecution was like pent-up fires when they burst forth, or floods that break through their barriers. No sooner could the sanction of law be obtained for the persecution of Christians, than he became the most furious of persecutors. From his character, and from his conduct in regard to the death of Stephen, we have reason to believe that he never engaged in the work of persecution without the approval of those in power, and without a commission to do it. Thus, when it is said Acts 8:3 (before he had received a sanction to prosecute the work in Damascus)) that he "made havoc of the Church, entering into every house, and, haling men and women, committed them to prison," it is fair to infer that he had obtained leave from the public authorities to do so. In fact, this is more than implied in the language used—"committed them to prison,"— since it cannot be supposed that he would do this on his private responsibility. It is certain that when he entered on his great work of persecution,—when he went forth to a foreign city to lay waste the Church formed there,—he had the express sanction of the high priest. We are now, therefore, to contemplate Saul of Tarsus as a persecutor under the sanction and authority of law. He was a young man. He had finished his education, and was about to enter on the public work of life. We may find something of interest in this fact itself. That a young man, an educated young man, should engage in the work of persecution strikes us at once as contrary to what we expect to find at that period of life, and in one that had been brought under the liberalizing influence of education. It is at the same time anomalous, unnatural, and shocking; and it is all the worse, when by a vigorous self-discipline such an one restrains himself from the outbreak of passion until he can give indulgence to it under the forms and the protection of law. Young men, if I apprehend human nature aright, are not as likely to be engaged in persecution for opinion’s sake as those of more advanced years. In them we naturally expect a frank concession of the right of others to think for themselves, and to utter freely their sentiments. We look for generous impulses; for that which is noble and magnanimous; for a readiness to fly to the aid of the injured; for high and chivalrous deeds, even verging on disregard of law, and outside of settled creeds, if so the wronged may be rescued, and truth may be advanced. We expect to find them in the foremost ranks in the defence of great rights, and ranging freely the regions of imagination beyond the fixed boundaries of thought, if perchance beyond these limits of creeds and systems they may find new and unexplored spheres of truth,—as the young are in advance in visiting unknown lands and seas, if they may make new discoveries there,—disregarding the old barriers within which all is explored, if perchance they may lay open something new to mankind ;— as the astronomer in a clear night directs his glass into regions of space beyond the defined bounds of the universe, if perchance he may discover a planet, star, or nebula on which the eye of man has never looked. In religion, as in other things, we are not much surprised when we find men advanced, or advancing in life, intolerant in regard to the opinions of others, or disposed to repress freedom of inquiry and of speech, even by persecution. Candour and liberality are not always taught by age; for age is conservative, and may be narrow and bigoted. The ideas of such men are fixed, and are commonly unchangeable. Their opinions have often been adopted after much examination, and when they seemed to themselves to have the whole field before them. They have grown with their growth, and strengthened with their strength. They are a part or themselves; are what they themselves are; are all that is now of value to them. Too old, or too feeble, or too much in love with ease and repose, they become incapable of pursuing inquiries into truth, or become envious of those who possess superior energy and power, and who purpose to carry the torch of inquiry into regions which their fathers never explored. Moreover, they do not keep up with the world in the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge; they fall behind; they have not before their minds the facts and principles on which a new generation is forming its opinions; and they regard that as heresy which may be only the natural result of enlarged thought, and an attempt to adjust the old forms of belief to new disclosures of truth. Pride, bigotry, obstinacy, envy, ignorance, may combine to induce them to look with distrust on new views, and to feel that such as advance those views are showing them personal disrespect, or doing them a personal wrong. They have not themselves the patience which they once had in the discussion of a new subject, or in examining opinions long held in the world; nor, as they advance in years, have they the fondness which they once had for new opinions—opinions verging on heresy or tending to paradox; nor do they now, as they once did, aim to secure a reputation for independence of thought by attacking the opinions which are commonly held by mankind. They are also more liable to be irritated by opposition or contradiction than they formerly were, for at their time of life they desire not to have the foundations of the belief which they cherish, and on which they have built their personal hopes in regard to the future, called in question. Unable, moreover, or indisposed so to apply their minds as to keep pace with the progress of all around them, or to appreciate the real advances which are being made, they look upon every new idea as a dangerous innovation, and often regard the waning of their own power, and the inevitable decline of their own influence, as an evidence that the world is going backward; while the views and feelings which spring out of these circumstances of declining years, they mistake for a love of pure and unchangeable standards of belief. Hence the almost universal opinion among aged men that the world is growing worse,—that superstition, crime, and error are more prevalent than in their early years. Young men are often sceptical, or semi-sceptical; they are often unsettled in their opinions; they question with a daring spirit the correctness of doctrines long held to be true; they employ themselves (and sometimes with a hazardous proximity to error and unbelief) in adjusting the new discoveries in science to the received articles of the creed; they start new and bold theories, and in these ways they seem to be engaged in pulling down what the world with inf1nite toil has reared. But the very nature of this process tends to make one young man liberal towards another; for he cannot deny to others the liberty he claims for himself—nor, in persecuting them, can he engage in a practical warfare with himself. Old men are confirmed believers or unbelievers; and in them is concentrated no small part of the bigotry and illiberality of the world. The Sanhedrim at Jerusalem that condemned the Saviour was composed in a great part of the "elders" of the nation—aged men. The "Council" that condemned Stephen was made up of the same old men; the General of the Inquisition, and the principal functionaries of the "holy office," were commonly men of advanced years; and, in all ages, from the same source originates most of the opposition which is made to new suggestions in theology, and most of the alarm which is expressed in view of changes in the forms of established belief. Yet few men, young or old, have been so furious in persecution as was Saul of Tarsus; and the fact that he, so young, entered on the work of persecution in the maimer in which he did—"breathing out threatenings and slaughter"—is one of the things that strike us as most remarkable in his career. He "made havoc of the Church, entering into every house, and, haling men and women," he tore them from their homes, and "committed them to prison" (Acts 8:3). He engaged in this work under the influence of conscience, as a service which he felt he was bound to render to God, putting forth all his energies because he thought that he "ought to do many things"—these things— "contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 26:9). He "punished" that is, scourged them "in every synagogue "—in the very places of public worship; he used every effort to make them "blaspheme" or revile the sacred name of their Redeemer; he became "exceedingly mad against them," and drove them from town to town—away from their own homes "to strange cities;" he was present when they were sentenced to death, and he "gave" his "voice against them" (Acts 26:9-11). Three times the fact is especially adverted to, that his fury raged against women as well as men (Acts 8:3; Acts 9:2; Acts 22:4), thus making war on all that is tender and delicate in domestic relations, and spreading everywhere the terror of his name. It was not without reason that, in later years, he remembered with deep repentance how he had "persecuted the church of God and wasted it" (Galatians 1:13; 1 Timothy 1:13; 1 Corinthians 15:9). The Sanhedrim at Jerusalem claimed jurisdiction in religious matters over the Jews in foreign climes. In Damascus the number of Jews was very great; and as the Christians on the persecution of Stephen had been scattered abroad everywhere, it was possible, nay, probable, that some of them had fled to that city; and having fled there, it was possible, nay, probable, that they would spread their sentiments there as they had done in Jerusalem. It was important to prevent this, and Saul obtained a commission to do it. Judaea and expiring Judaism had no agent who would be more likely to accomplish the task. The manner in which new views and opinions in philosophy and religion have been received in our world is one of the most remarkable things in history. The tears, the public tears of Pericles, the dictator of Athens, were necessary to save a feeble woman, Aspasia, suspected of philosophy; but all his eloquence could not save his friend Anaxagoras, who was condemned to imprisonment (which was changed in old age to perpetual exile) for having taught that there was an intelligent Cause of all things. Socrates was persecuted, and condemned to death, for teaching the same thing, and for (as was alleged) "corrupting the youth of Athens" by his views of religion. Aristotle had difficulty in saving his own life, and fled in a stealthy manner to Chalcis, in order, as he said, to save the Athenians a new crime against philosophy. Plato was twice thrown into prison, and once sold as a slave. (Cousin, i. 305). In later times, Galileo was imprisoned for maintaining that the sun is the centre of the system of the universe, and that the earth and other planets revolve around it. The Saviour of the world was put to death on a cross, and His followers were compelled to flee from their country for announcing that fact there, and were subjected to every form of torture for announcing it in the lands to which they were driven. In Jerusalem, Derbe, Lystra, Philippi; in the Coliseum and the gardens of Nero at Rome; in the vallies of Piedmont, in the Netherlands, Spain, Venice, Italy, France, England, Scotland, Goa,—in all these places the pure religion of Christ has somehow encountered the opposition of men, and secured a triumph only as the result of a baptism of blood and fire. In every case of persecution, whether in science or religion, the CAUSES are to be sought in something peculiar in the views advanced, as bearing on received opinions and on the state of the world; but there are general principles involved, which demand only a slight modification to enable us to understand why Christianity has been, from the beginning, compelled to make its way through scenes of suffering. (1.) There is, first, the war of opinion; the conflict of sentiments; the tenacity with which men hold their views; and the feelings which are aroused when, from any cause those views are attacked. A man’s opinions are a part of himself, and they become as dear to him as life or liberty. They constitute for all valuable purposes, and in the estimation of his friends and of the world, the man. They are the measure of his reputation and of his influence. They are the result of all his experience, his studies, his observation in the world; they are what he has accumulated in his progress through life that is of special and permanent value. They are what gives him a standing among his neighbours. To attack them is, therefore, to attack himself; to overthrow tliem is to take away all which he has that constitutes his claim to notice while living, or to remembrance when dead. In the nature of the case, therefore, all new views in philosophy or religion encounter whatever there may be in the community as the result of experience, thought, study. Hence, the progress of opinion is slow, and new sentiments make their way only by many conflicts. This remark has additional force, if the matter in any way affects important interests, and especially if it is connected with religion, and involves our conscience and our immortal hopes. To attack such things is to assail that which must be dearest of all to the heart of man ; for to destroy or change opinions long cherished, on which the hope of eternal happiness is founded, may be to leave man in a world indisputably wretched with no hope of a better. Religious opinions, therefore, have been among the slowest to make progress in the world; the strife in regard to these has been more bitter than in regard to any others; and freedom of speech on religious subjects has been among the last of the victories secured by the conflicts of past ages. (2.) There are vested interests connected with opinions. There are institutions sustained by law, which are founded on forms of belief; there are endowments which are identified with modes of faith; there are orders of men whose position and influence are dependent on the received articles of a creed; there are customs and usages connected with society that grow out of forms of doctrine; there is often a connexion between Religion and the State so close that to assail the one is construed as rebellion against the other. All the religions of ancient, as well as most of the religions of modern times, were sustained by law. One nation indeed recognized the religions of other nations, and the gods of all people might find a place in the Pantheon; but then it was a great principle that while each country recognized the religion of other lands, it allowed no attack on its own. When, therefore, Christianity, in violation of this universally admitted principle, attacked and denounced all forms of idolatry, that is, all the religions of the world,—when it refused to recognize any of the Pagan gods as entitled to homage,—when it demanded practically that every altar, Jewish and Pagan, should be overthrown,—that every temple of worship should be closed, that every lire on Jewish and heathen altars should be put out for ever, that every priest, Jewish, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, should be disrobed, and be no longer acknowledged as an authorized minister of heaven,—that augurs, soothsayers, and vestal virgins should be dismissed for ever, —it arrayed against itself all the malice of an enraged and mighty priesthood, and all the power of the State; and the result is well known. (3.) There were, and have been, few of the false religions of the world which did not, under the sanction of religion, sustain, and pander to, some of the foulest corruptions of the human heart. There is scarcely a form of human passion, however debasing or vile, which has not been countenanced by the forms of religion, and the indulgence of which has not been connected with the prevalence of an existing form of worship. One leading feature of the plan of that mighty Agent who has tyrannized over mankind—the Prince of darkness—has been to secure the sanctions of religion for the indulgence of gross and licentious passions; and to do this, so as not to shock the moral sense of mankind, has been the consummation of the highest forms of superstition that the world has known. This purpose had a foundation and a form under every Pagan system of worship; it has had its culmination in that corrupt and debased Christianity that has spread its influence over a large part of the earth. Hence to attack vice, as true Christianity always does, is to attack the system which upholds it; to endeavour to carry a pure morality over the world was to array against itself the power of all the religions of the earth. (4.) To all this, another cause—more potent than all these, and giving strength to all these—is to be added. It is undeniable—(History will not allow us to deny it any more than will the Bible)—that there is in the human heart by nature a fixed aversion to such lwlij1ess as that which enters into the character of God, and such as He requires of man; that the scheme of salvation by a Redeemer is repulsive to the mass of mankind; that the preaching of the Cross is an "offence" to one class, and a "stumbling-block" to another; that the doctrines of human depravity, of salvation by grace, of justification by faith, of a just and changeless future retribution, grates hard on the natural feelings of mankind; that the requirement to renounce the world and to lead a holy life—a life of prayer, and self-denial, and benevolence—finds no response in the unconverted human heart; that to demand of men, as the first condition of eternal life, that they shall renounce all confidence in their own morality and good works, give up all trust in their own righteousness, and sit down humbly at the foot of the cross, depending solely for salvation on the blood of One who was crucified, is to array against those who promulgate this doctrine all that there is of accumulated self-love as derived from a life of outward integrity, or from dependence on the forms of religion, and all that there is of pride in the human heart. It is not difficult, therefore, to account for the fact of persecution as pertaining to the history of the world; it is not difficult to see how all these things were concentrated in such a mind as that of Saul of Tarsus. It is a very interesting and material inquiry in regard to the real progress which the world has made in morals, in liberty, in philosophy, in religion,—What has, on the whole, been the EFFECT of persecution on these great interests? Has it, on the whole, tended to retard the progress of society, or has it been connected with its advancement? Would the world have been in as good a condition now, if persecutions had never occurred, as it actually is at the present time? Has persecution, with all that there has been of pain, and sorrow, and tears, and scenes of horror, been really a calamity to mankind—to the race at large—for which there has been no adequate compensation? Could those things which have been secured by it have been as soon or as well secured, if secured at all, -without it? Has the world gained enough in liberty and religion to be an equivalent for all the cost? The world is now old enough, and the results have been sufficiently marked, to enable us, in part at least, to answer these questions. (1.) It has become, as the result of these trials, a settled principle that nothing which is good and true can be destroyed by persecution, but that the effect ultimately is to establish more firmly, and to spread more widely, that which it was designed to overthrow. There is, manifestly, some principle in human nature which leads men to look with attention and favour on that which is persecuted and opposed; there is a deep conviction that a right has been violated; there is that which awakens the original sympathies of our nature in favour of the suffering and the wronged; there is something in the patient endurance of the persecuted which leads men to inquire in regard to the sentiments held; there is something, be it what it may, which makes the persecuted more firmly attached to their principles, and more eloquent in their defence. It is not known that any opinions on any subject have been driven from the world by persecution; or that any doctrine, on the whole, has spread less extensively as the consequence of an attempt to suppress it by violence. It has long since passed into a proverb that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." In a special manner the principle has been settled in regard to Christianity, that it cannot be driven from the world by persecution. Imperial power has done all that it could do to destroy it; every device of human ingenuity has been resorted to in order to extinguish it; there can be no new engines to prolong torture, or to render it acute, more ingenious and effective than those which have already been employed; and it may be assumed now—it is assumed— that if Christianity 1s to become extinct in the world, it must be by some other means than by persecution. (2.) In like manner, persecution becomes a test of the reality of religion; of its reality as a system; of its reality in regard to the sufferers. It is not, indeed, a direct demonstration of the truth of religion. It is undeniable that the advocates of other systems than Christianity have borne persecution patiently. Pagans, Philosophers, Mohammedans, Buddhists, sceptics, infidels, atheists, have adhered to their opinions on the rack or at the stake. Does this prove that their opinions were well founded, and that they were suffering for the truth, or that all other systems were false but theirs? These questions may be answered in the negative; and yet it may be still true that the mass of men will somehow see in the endurances of Christian martyrs an argument for the Divine origin of their religion. It was no forced or unphilosophical utterance, when the Roman centurion said, in view of the sufferings of Jesus of Nazareth, "Truly this was the Son of God." His manner of suffering was so in accordance with what might be expected in a favourite of the Most High; His sufferings were so in unison with His teachings and His life, that the impression was one which would force itself upon a candid and liberal mind, that all this could be accounted for only by the supposition that He was what He claimed to be. The history of the Christian martyrs has impressed the world with the same conviction in regard to the truth of their religion. The number has been so great,—they have borne their sufferings so patiently,—they have been persons of so varied character, rank, age, sex, condition, yet all manifesting the same spirit,—they have met death so calmly,— so many of them have been distinguished for intelligence, —and so many of them, in the early stages of martyrdom, were simple witnesses of what they affirmed to be true, and bore testimony to what is properly the subject of testimony (facts which they said they had observed— that the general impression on mankind is, and must be, that sufferings so varied, so protracted, so meekly borne, could be only in the cause of truth, and that beneath all this there was truth. (3.) Once more; the results of persecution are worth all which they cost. The results of the imprisonment of Galileo are more than a compensation for all that he suffered. The results of the discovery of America are more than a compensation to the world for all that Columbus endured in arousing the world to a belief that there might be such a "new world;" for all the perils of a voyage in unknown seas; for his struggling with sailors in mutiny; for the denial of his rights; and for his neglect and poverty, after he had disclosed the new continent to mankind. The sacrifices made at Bunker Hill, at the Valley Forge, and in all the perils and privations of the war of Independence, have been already more than repaid in the prosperity of this great nation Thus, also, the happiness which has been conferred on the world by Christianity since the fires of persecution were first kindled against it, and that which the world will yet enjoy when it shall be diffused over all the earth —the blessings which it scatters here, and the bliss of heaven hereafter—have been and will be, more than a compensation for all the sufferings of all the martyrs. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 2.04. CONVERSION OF SAUL OF TARSUS ======================================================================== III. CONVERSION OF SAUL OF TARSUS. Conversion of great minds and weak.—Saul of Tarsus converted.—Undeniableness of the change.—Nature of it.—A new direction given to the character.—As before, so after conversion, Saul evinced respect for law; conscientiousness; zeal for God; desire of proselytism; energy of purpose.—Sincerity of the change; evinced by sacrifices involved.—Manner of the change.—The narrative accepted by Christians.—Answers to sceptics.—Not a falsehood; not an imposture; not fanaticism; not enthusiasm; not self-deception; not desire for posthumous fame. "And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus; and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven; and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished, said, Lord, What wilt thou have me to do? . . Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God." Acts 9:1-20. DAMASCUS. THE conversion of a great mind may be an event more important than the capture of a city, or the founding of an empire. The city may not be materially affected in its order or its prosperity by a change of masters; and the empire that is founded will decay. It is mind that effects the great changes in human things; and the influence of a single mind may be such that, while all other things change and decay, that will never die. The cities and empires founded by Semiramis, Cyrus, Alexander, Tamerlane, have long since ceased to exist; the influence of Plato still lives. Changes of a radical character in truly great minds do not often occur; perhaps rarely, except on the subject of religion,—or that which constitutes a transition from sin to holiness; from infidelity to faith; from a high purpose of ambition to a desire of serving the Redeemer; from schemes of conquest to plans of charity; from some absorbing worldly passion to zeal for doing good. Augustine, Chrysostom, Origen, Martin Luther, Henry Martyn, furnish examples of such changes. They were men, who in worldly pursuits would have been great, but who abandoned what was brilliant in prospect for another service—a service which equally demanded all their powers; a service which (while such was no longer the leading purpose of their lives) would make them widely known,—would make them "great" in the new department of effort, as they would have been in another sphere if their course of life had not been changed. There are minds, indeed, of a lower order, in relation to which we can argue almost nothing from any change, except their own imbecility, flexibleness, weakness. There are minds that are naturally weak, vacillating, unsettled; with no strength of purpose or character; with no great aim in life; with no strong prejudices of education or of feeling to be conquered; with no deeplyrooted principles to resist any change. Such minds are swayed, as the tops of the ears of corn, and the sunace of the lake are moved, by every passing breeze. The fickle multitude—the masses of men—are often thus swayed. Sudden excitement, popular frenzy, bursts of passion, eloquent appeals, move them easily in one direction, to be moved as easily in another, when the gale shall set from an opposite quarter. A change in such minds on the subject of religion may be real, and may be of infinite and eternal importance to the individual; but we draw no great conclusions from the turning of such minds in regard to the falsehood of the system abandoned, or the truth of that which is adopted. We may not doubt its genuineness; we may not be disposed to underrate its value; but we do not see in it an argument as to the truth or falsehood of the opinions abandoned or of those embraced. It is not so when a change, radical, entire, permanent, occurs in one of great strength of character, of high intellectual endowments, of fixed principles; in one who has established a reputation ; in one who has a high social position; in one to whom an honourable career lies open; in one who sees before him in the line which he is pursuing what would gratify any purpose of ambition,—but who voluntarily abandons all this for a life of poverty, shame, self-sacrifice, peril, and toil, with no hope of an earthly reward. Such a change in the governing purpose of the life (especially if it involves persecution, contempt, suffering; if it demands a breaking away from old friends and old pursuits; if it is accompanied with a radical revolution of character and life), from a career of vice to a career of virtue,—from harshness, severity, and cruelty, to gentleness, benignity, and charity,—cannot but arrest attention as to its cause. Hence it is natural and not unphilosophical, to ask what is the force of an argument derived from the fact of such a change in regard to the falsehood of that which is given up, and the truth of that which is embraced. Such changes of life and opinion have an important effect on the world. They are not like death, which simply arrests influence by removing the man; they are the transfer of so much power to the other side of an "equation." A commander, if killed in battle, is simply removed. As his country loses nothing but the withdrawing of so much talent and generalship from its armies (though that may be much), so the enemy gains nothing by any new accession of experience and generalship to its own side. If, however, such a man abandons his standard; if he proves false to his country; if, from being loyal, he becomes disloyal; if he goes over and joins the ranks of the foe, his country not merely loses his service, as it would if he had been shot down, but the enemy gains that which may decide the battle, and determine the war. Saul of Tarsus might have been struck dead by the flash which blinded him, and then there would have been only so much withdrawn from the persecuting power. But he was not killed; he was carried over "to the other side of the equation." Luther might have been struck dead by the flash which killed his companion by his side, instead of being convicted of sin, as he was, by that display of Divine power and sovereignty; and then there would have been simply but just so much undeveloped talent withdrawn from the world. He became a Christian man; and all his influence and power were transferred to Christianity. Saul of Tarsus entered on his career with uncommon advantages. He was endowed by nature with talents fitted to conduct him to eminence in any cause in which he might embark. He was a bold, ardent, impetuous, independent, indefatigable young man. He was a patriot in the highest sense in which that term could be used in Judea. He possessed uncommon talent for reasoning; he was capable of the severest invective; he had the power of withering sarcasm ; he understood the force of cutting irony; he was able to soar into the highest regions of imagination ; and though with some decided defects as a public speaker, yet so eloquent was he that he was numbered by Longinus among the celebrated Grecian orators. He was a Jew to the heart’s core; an Hebrew of the Hebrews, body and soul; as bigoted and furious as any Jew ever was. He was a religionist of the highest order; and never had the sentiment of religion, as he understood it, acquired a more stern dominion over a man’s soul, than over his. He was a young man of irreproachable morals, true to the highest standards of virtue which had then been set up in the world. The influence of such a man must have been vast. His ambition, his energy, and his eloquence must have placed his name among those whose lives have most deeply affected, for good or for evil, the destiny of mankind. Amidst the ruins of the empire of Herod the Great,—the fragments of empire over which he once ruled, now crushed beneath the Roman yoke,— and amidst the revolutions which were occurring in the Roman empire itself, there was as fine a field for the display of talent as the world has ever furnished. Being a Roman citizen, every department of effort and of influence was open to him; and as Agrippa, a Jew, had played his part in the conflicts of Octavianus, Lepidus, and Antony, no one can tell what part Saul of Tarsus might have been destined to fill; for we have no reason to suppose that he would have hesitated to avail himself of the opportunities for distinction which were thus accessible to him. At the time to which our attention is now called, he had embarked on a great enterprize, in his view essential to the preservation of true religion, and to the salvation of his country. A new religion had appeared,—a religion which, in the apprehension of such a mind as that of Saul, was not to be despised. It had elements of greatness and power which were not to be overlooked. The highest authority in the nation had been called into requisition to suppress it; the Author of the new religion had been put to death; the Sanhedrim had prohibited the promulgation of its doctrines in the most solemn manner. But in vain. It gained strength by every new attempt to crush it. It threatened the extinction of the national religion; the entire abolition of the sacred rites of the temple; the subversion of laws and customs hallowed for ages. Saul saw whither all this was tending, and his great powers were summoned to the suppression of the new faith. A blow had been struck in Jerusalem by the death of Stephen, and by the persecutions connected with that. The "disciples" had been "scattered abroad," and it was hoped that the " pestilent heresy" might be suppressed altogether there. Yet a light, lurid like a meteor, was seen to gleam in the North. From Damascus, whither the new doctrines had been carried, they might spread as well as from Jerusalem; and it was of importance to suppress them there also. Saul was commissioned to do it, and was on his way to carry out the purpose. Suddenly, according to his own account of the matter, a light appeared in his path, above the brightness of the sun. It bewildered him; blinded him; smote him to the earth. A voice addressed him, "Why persecutest thou me?" It said, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" (Acts 26:14-18) This is the brief account in the New Testament of one of the most remarkable changes which ever occurred in a human mind, and connected materially—perhaps, essentially—with one of the most marked and important of the revolutions that have taken place in the progress of human events,—the establishment of the Christian religion in the world. A time had arrived when, on the supposition that the religion was true, it had become necessary to summon some such well* endowed and disciplined mind to accomplish the object contemplated by it. There is every mark of reality, genuineness, and thoroughness in this conversion, whatever may be said about the cause of it—a point which we shall afterwards have occasion to examine. I mean, when I speak of the "reality, the genuineness, and the thoroughness," of his conversion, that it was sincere; that it was not feigned. No one who gives credit to the history at all, or to any history, can doubt that a change occurred, in Saul’s views, purposes, feelings, and aims, and that it extended its influence over his entire subsequent life. He ceased to be a persecutor; he became the friend of the cause which he had persecuted. He sought no longer to destroy the religion which he had opposed; but he laboured most earnestly to spread it abroad throughout the world. The injury which he had done to the cause he endeavoured to counteract. He could not indeed undo the wrong that he had done; he could not bring back to life those who had been put to death when he "gave" his "voice against them;" he could not blot out the record of the sorrows which he had caused, and the tears which he had made to flow. When murder has been committed, no change in the murderer can recall the murdered man to life; when sentiments of infidelity have been scattered abroad, no act of the penitent sceptic can gather them up again; when morals and faith have been corrupted, no tears, no efforts of him who has done it, can rescue and restore the victims; when innocence has been ruined, the conversion of the betrayer and the seducer does not recall the seduced and the wronged from the low haunts of vice, or from the grave. But the penitent and regenerated man may, in some degree, repair the evil which he has done to society. Saul did this; he lived to diffuse the Christian religion with a zeal corresponding to that which he had exerted to destroy it. And this fact is as clearly attested as any other fact of ancient history. That Caesar crossed the Rubicon, or fell in the Senate House, is not more certainly established than this. The question as to the sincerity, the reality, the genuineness of the change involves two inquiries:— What was the change itself? What was the evidence that it was real, genuine, sincere? (1.) What was the change? It was substantially that which always occurs in conversion. It was a change in the governing purpose of the soul; in the great aim and object of the life;—a change of the will, of the heart, of the affections. It was a change from a hatred of the new system, to the love of it; from a rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, to a cordial reception of Him as such; from trust in his own righteousness for salvation, to reliance on the merits of the Saviour; from zeal in serving God under Judaism, to zeal in serving Him under the form of Christianity; from pride and self-confidence, to humility and a renunciation of self; from the bigoted and narrow spirit of a Pharisee, to a love and charity which embraced all mankind, because all were made of " one blood," and because Christ had died for all. It is material in understanding this case in itself, and as an illustration of the nature of regeneration or the new birth, to remark that the change was in the will, the affections, the governing purpose of the man; not immediately on his intellect, his mental capacity, his distinguishing characteristics. In conversion, the same great elements of character, the same mental peculiarities, remain as before. It is only the new direction which the powers take that constitutes the change. The individuality of every man that has been converted is preserved; the mental characteristics are retained ; the constitutional powers are intensified, and turned in a new direction. John and Peter, Luther and Melancthon, carry with them into their religious life what distinguished them in their former life. From what Luther and Melancthon were as Christians, there is no difficulty in determining what they had been in their mental characteristics before they became such. Of Saul of Tarsus, therefore, as of every other man who is converted, we have two views of constitutional character, or of the individual,—that before his conversion, and that after his conversion. From the one we could anticipate what the other would be; from the other we could re-construct his character, and show what he was, as the naturalist can the animal from a single fossil bone. Of all which characterized Paul as an apostle, we should find the elements in his character as a Pharisee and as a persecutor. In all (save the heart, the purpose, the will), that made him great as a defender and propagator of Christianity, we should find that which would have made him great in acting his part on the theatre of human affairs, if he had lived and died a Pharisee. (a.) There was, before his conversion, a stern regard for law—a respect for law so great that it would not permit him to take an active part even in persecution unless under legal sanction and authority. That regard for law ran through all his life as a Christian apostle— in his maintenance of his rights as a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37; Acts 22:25; Acts 25:2); in his demanding of the Jewish high-priest that he should not cause him to be smitten contrary to the law (Acts 23:3); in his willingness to be punished—even to die—if he had been an offender (Acts 25:11); and in the respect which he everywhere and always enjoined for civil rulers, and civil government, even when Nero was on the throne (Romans 13:1-7). (b.) There was, before his conversion, a most rigid conscientiousness — that conscientiousness which attended him even in the work of persecution, when he "verily thought" that he "ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 26:9); which justified him in saying, when arraigned before the Sanhedrim, "I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day" (Acts 23:1); and which enabled him, even after his conversion, to say of his early life, "touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless" (Php 3:6). So thoroughly was this conscientiousness carried into his life after his conversion that he could say to his countrymen, "And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men" (Acts 14:16), and could make the solemn asseveration in the review of his life,—" For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world" (2 Corinthians 1:12). (c.) There was before his conversion a zeal for God,— a zeal which made him willing to make any sacrifice to promote what he regarded as the Divine honour. The change in his conversion was not in the intmsity of his zeal; it was in its direction. Under both systems there was the same underlying constitutional ardour,— an ardour which might, indeed, become under either system more intense, and which was in either, so intense and characteristic that knowing what it was in the one, we might infer what it would be in the other. (d.) As a Pharisee, there was, before his conversion, an intense spirit of propagandism—for this was of the very essence of the religion of the Pharisees, who compassed sea and land to make one proselyte (Matthew 23:15). After his conversion, this also took another direction; his zeal for propagating the new faith sprang from a higher motive, and he had the consciousness that this would be for a better influence on the character; but there was still the same earnest desire to bring men to the same faith with himself;—a conformity to be secured by all his powers and endowments, and by every measure of effort which he was capable of putting forth. There was essentially the same man, acting in a different form. (e.) Paul was, before his conversion, daring, energetic, ready for any lofty enterprize; a man who would shrink from no danger, and be turned back by no obstacles in accomplishing an object; a man who would encounter any peril, by land or by sea, in carrying out his purposes. We recognize the same man, with his energies turned into a new channel, when we hear him recount the events and endurances of his life (2 Corinthians 11:24-27). (2.) If we are asked, then, what evidence we have that there was really such a change in the will, the purpose, the affections of the man, as might be properly designated by the words conversion, regeneration, a new creature, a new man, we do not point to any thing in his mental characteristics, but to the course of his subsequent life. How do we judge, in any such case, of a man’s sincerity, and of the genuineness of his professions? There is, there can be, no better criterion than when he sacrifices much by the change; when he gives up brilliant prospects with nothing now before him as an equivalent; when he is compelled to part with old friends, or to make bitter foes of them; when he abandons all that had been instilled into his mind by a careful education; when he departs from the sentiments cherished by father, mother, friends; when he submits to poverty, contempt, and scorn; when he exposes himself to fines, or scourging, or imprisonment; when his career is to be one of peril and toil, with no prospect of earthly recompense; when death, perhaps in its most horrid form, is to be the consequence of the change. Saul of Tarsus gave up hopes and prospects perhaps; as brilliant as any ever cherished by an aspiring young man; he subjected himself to the bitter hatred and scorn of his kindred; he embraced a religion then the most unpopular of any on the earth; he exposed himself to every form of persecution; he became poor, an outcast, and a wanderer; he set before him one great object of life—if " by all means he might save some;" he shunned no danger, was appalled by no obstacle, asked no reward, was checked by no opposition; he avowed his principles everywhere,—seeking to assert and defend them in places of intelligence, influence, and power,—where men were best qualified to judge of truth, and where a sensitive and noble-minded man would feel it most keenly if his sentiments where held in contempt,—when confronted with philosophers at Athens, and when arraigned on trial for his life before Nero; never wavering, never shrinking, never breathing out one sigh of regret, never concealing his new views; exulting, triumphing, rejoicing to the end of life that he had abandoned all for Christ (Php 3:8). Such a change could not be otherwise than sincere, real, genuine. It has never been doubted, however it may be explained. A very material point here occurs as to the bearing of this change on the evidences of the truth of the Christian religion. Beyond all question—all possibility of debate—if this change actually occurred in the form and manner recorded in the New Testament, the Christian religion is true. If Jesus of Nazareth actually appeared to Saul of Tarsus, then it follows that He had risen from the dead; that He had ascended to heaven; that He still lived; that He still reigned. If it were admitted that Christ rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven, then there would be, with no class of men, any further ground of doubt as to the fact that He was from God. The evidence in the case, therefore, in favour of the truth of the Christian religion, would not be the mere fact that Saul was converted, but it would be the fact that he was converted in the manner stated by himself, and the proof thus furnished that Christ was actually raised from the dead. There are two classes of men who have a deep interest in the point thus suggested;—those who already believe it true; and those who doubt it. To the former of these—to Christians—the account of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus is a straightforward account. There is nothing in it to stagger their faith; there is nothing which is not in unison with their views of the rank, the dignity, and the power of Christ, or with what, in their apprehension, would be likely to occur, or might occur. Christ, in their view, is Divine. He is, in a sense in which the language can be applied to no other being, "the Son of God," the "brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of his person." To Him, as the Son of God, as Mediator between God and man, has been given "all power in heaven and in earth." That power he manifested, when on earth, by curing diseases, by casting out devils, by raising the dead. Risen from the grave, and seated at the right hand of God, He is now invested with all the power, and encompassed with all the glories of heaven. There, as Mediator, He administers the affairs of the universe, so far as they bear on the interests of redemption. He has control over all the agencies necessary to carry forward His work on earth, and to secure the reconciliation of the world to God. In the narrative, therefore, of His appearance to Saul of Tarsus, there is nothing inconsistent with the faith of Christians in regard to Him ;—with what He did personally when on earth,—with His real rank and dignity,—or with the purpose for which He was raised. His appearing again on earth, with visible splendour and glory, to convert a great mind engaged in persecution, and to make that mind instrumental in carrying forward the work for which He had commissioned His apostles, while at the same time furnishing a visible proof to mankind of the reality of His ascension, was in harmony with all that the Christian believes of Him. The glory, the splendour, the exceeding brightness of the light,—"above the brightness of the sun," and that at mid-day,—is in accordance with all that the believer regards as appropriate to the Son of God in the glories of heaven. To the other class—to unbelievers—the subject presents itself under a different aspect, and is to be disposed of in a different manner. It should be disposed of,—and disposed of in such a way as to be satisfactory to any candid mind. There are such ways as the following in which men seek to dispose of it; there are, as far as I can see, no other, save that which admits the narrative to be true, and the religion to be from God. First. That the whole narrative is false. Such a supposition would, of course, dispose of it. But it would be impossible to prove this. In the narrative itself there is no essential absurdity; there is nothing contradictory to what is affirmed elsewhere of the rank, the power, and the purpose of the Redeemer; there is nothing which does not seem material in explaining the undoubted facts which occurred in the life of Saul of Tarsus. Some such change did occur in his life, as we have already seen; and this statement will, better than any other, explain the fact. Second. That the whole was on the part of Saul an imposture,—a story fabricated to impose on mankind;— in other words, that he knew and believed the claims of Jesus to be unfounded, but yet resolved to pretend that the impostor had appeared to him as if risen from the grave, and had commissioned him to go and proclaim Him to the world as the Messiah. If a man should adopt this theory, it would be natural to ask, how he could explain conduct so strange,—so unlike what commonly influences the human mind! What motive could Saul have had in devising this story? What reason had he to believe that he could make his countrymen or the world believe it? How could he hope to convince those who were travelling with him on the career of persecution, that this had occurred? How could he so deceive them, or so induce them to be silent concerning the whole affair, as to prevent their testifying that nothing of the kind had occurred? And, if successful in this, what could he hope to gain by this change in his opinions and pursuits, and by an attempt to propagate such an imposture, in compensation for what he would be compelled to surrender—his bright prospects—his friends— his principles of early training—and for what he could not but foresee must be encountered in poverty, toils, and persecution? They who can believe that Saul of Tarsus meant to make use of one imposture, by adding another to it for his own purposes, will furnish to the world one of the best evidences that all credulity is not with such as believe that he acted under the convictions of truth, and was sincere in his change. Third. That he was a fanatic; and that his change, and all which was consequent on it, could be accounted for on this supposition. But, apart from the fact that such a supposition is quite contrary to all that is recorded respecting his character—that is, the whole account of him, given in the Acts of the Apostles, and traced in the Epistles ascribed to him,—the question would still occur which involves the whole difficulty, Hoiv came he to be fanatical in this cause at all? How did he suppose that he would find in his becoming a follower of Jesus of Nazareth a suitable field for fanaticism? Men become fanatics on an opinion already embraced; they do not embrace an opinion for the sake of being fanatics, or because any one department of human effort is particularly favourable to fanaticism. Men become fanatics on the subject of slavery; on the subject of abolition; on some particular doctrine of religion; on the subject of human rights; on some point of reformation; on some real or imaginary wrong ;—but it is an abuse of language —it is contrary to fact—to say that they embrace such views because they are fanatics, or with a design to display their fanaticism. Moreover, if it should be admitted that this was a characteristic of the Apostle Paul, still it is to be said that of all the religions ever proposed to mankind, the pure and simple Gospel of Jesus was the least adapted of all to any such purpose. As a Jew—a Pharisee—Saul would have found his early religion far more appropriate for the developement of such a trait of character than the Gospel of Christ. Fourth. That he was an enthusiast. Admitting here, for the time, that this was the character of Saul of Tarsus,—or admitting that he ever became an enthusiast—still the question would be, How would this account for his conversion? What new elements were there in the Christian religion, as it appeared then, which could not be found in the religion wherein he had been trained, to induce an "enthusiast" to embrace it? Here, also, it is to be remarked that men become enthusiasts in the faith which they hold; in the doctrine in which they have been nurtured; in the objects which they have to accomplish: they do not embrace a new form of faith in order to furnish a new field for enthusiasm. Enthusiasm, like fanaticism, so far as it exists at all, would rather be a reason for not changing, than for changing; and, indeed, one of the most serious obstacles to the conversion of men to Christianity is the fact that they are fanatics and enthusiasts in some form of superstition or idolatry, and that this cannot be overcome so as to allow the conscience and the sober reason to operate freely. If Saul of Tarsus was converted under the influence of mere enthusiasm, it must be regarded as a solitary instance in the whole history of conversion to a new form of belief. Fifth. That he was himself deceived; that a flash of lightning blinded him, or that a meteor crossed his path; and that through fear, through an ardent imagination, and through the conviction of conscience, he thought that this was Jesus of Nazareth, and that He seemed audibly to address him, to rebuke him, to call him to a different life. It cannot be denied that conscience, when a man is doing wrong, might take this direction; that a peal of thunder, a flash of lightning, the explosion of a meteor, might arrest the attention of a sinner, and fill him with apprehensions of a judgment to come, and be so far, as in the case of Luther, a means of his conversion. But it is to be observed, in the first place, that this mode of accounting for what occurred, would supersede all the others which have been suggested, and would make any further argument in regard to them unnecessary. Then, it is to be observed further, that we are to take in the entire statement:—that the immediate effect was to produce blindness (which indeed would not be improbable); that Saul was restored from that state by the hands of a Christian disciple in Damascus (Acts 9:17); that this disciple professed to have been sent by an express command addressed to him in a "vision," (Acts 9:10); that he had come in obedience to that, and a miracle was performed on Saul’s restoration to sight, as if "scales" had fallen from his eyes (Acts 9:18). Now, here is more than one man. This was not a mere effect of a flash of lightning, or of a meteor. It required a distinct agency in arresting Saul; and at the same time another distinct and remote agency in preparing one to meet him, to restore him to sight, and to acquaint him with the purpose for which he had been arrested. Sixth. There is still another supposition. It is that Saul of Tarsus had sagacity enough to see what could be made out of Christianity, so that if he abandoned his old religion, and embraced this, he would more certainly achieve what was the great and leading purpose of his ambition,—a remembrance after he was dead; an influence that would increase and grow in all coming ages; a reputation that would convey his name down to the end of the world. This, in fact, would be true, as a result of his embracing the new religion. As a persecutor —a Jew—his name would have perished,—or, if remembered, it would have been only, as the names of persecutors are, remembered to be execrated in future ages, and to become more and more infamous as the world advances. But as a Christian and an apostle, the name of Paul will go down to the latest periods of the world’s history, and will be mentioned only with honour. But to suppose that he saw all this,—that he acted on this supposition,—that the change in his opinions and life was produced by this anticipation,— that he was willing to give up fame, comfort, reputation, during his life, for the sake of posthumous honour and applause,—that because he saw all this, he was willing to encounter the poverty, obloquy, shame, toil, and persecution, which he must have foreseen would follow such a change,—is to attribute to him a measure of sagacity that no man ever yet possessed. There remains, then, only the supposition that the change in Saul of Tarsus was real, and that the account of his conversion in the Acts of the Apostles is true;—a supposition, which demonstrates at the same time the truth of Christianity,—the power of the Gospel in changing the most obdurate heart,—and the wisdom of the Saviour in calling a man of such endowments into His service. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 2.05. PAUL'S OBEDIENCE TO THE HEAVENLY VISION ======================================================================== IV. PAUL’S OBEDIENCE TO THE HEAVENLY VISION. Saul of Tarsus addressed by a voice from heaven.—Such communications still possible, but no longer to be expected.—Haw does God now teach us His will? By the revelations of His word; the dictates of reason; the voice of conscience; the events of providence; the preaching of the gospel; casual appeals; the influences of the Spirit.—What does God enjoin on us? The forsaking of sin; faith in Christ; preparation for death; consecration to the service of God.—Duty of obeying His call.— Results of neglecting it.—Results of heeding it. "Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." Acts 26:19 DAMASCUS: VIEW OF THE PRESENT CITY. WISHING to make a profitable use of the history of Saul’s conversion, I shall here refer to the manner in which God addresses mankind, or indicates His will to them; the purposes for which He addresses or calls them; and the importance of obeying such a "call " or " vision." The will of God was made known to Saul of Tarsus by a direct communication from the Redeemer Himself. The "vision" which appeared to him was such that he could not doubt that it was Divine. He who spoke announced Himself to be the Saviour of the world, and the purpose for which He thus addressed Saul was distinctly made known to him: "I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" (Acts 26:16-18) Thus, also, God could address each one of the human race as an individual and by name, and thus indicate to us His will as to what we should believe and do. He could speak to us by dreams or visions, as He did to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Eliphaz; He could address us by a voice, as He did Samuel; He could send a special messenger to us, as He did to Ahaz, to Ahab, to David, and to Hezekiah; He could direct an angel to convey a message to us, as He did to Daniel, to Zacharias, and to the Virgin Mary; He could call us to His service by an internal voice which we could not disregard, as He did Jeremiah and Ezekiel; or He could speak to us in His majesty and glory, as He did to Isaiah in the temple, to Saul on the way to Damascus, or to John in Patmos. The Father of spirits could thus keep up a constant communication with men in such a way that they could not doubt that He addressed them, and in such a way that in yielding they could not doubt that they were obeying His will. There were reasons, however, why this should not be the usual method by which He addressed mankind. Such a mode of address, while it might have the advantage of determining at once the question of duty, would render in a great measure useless the faculties with which He has endowed us, and would change almost entirely the order of things now existing on the earth. To a great extent it would render useless the faculty of reason, designed to aid us in investigating truth; it would take away the stimulus to human effort in the search after what is right; it would render man indolent and unconcerned until the voice should come with a distinct announcement of the will of God; it would destroy not a few of the motives which now prompt us to action; it would be a departure from the great principles on which men are governed in other things than religion; it would materially affect the whole subject of moral government, and make the progress of the world dependent rather on supernatural impulses than on settled and regular laws. We are, therefore, to put these things out of view, in reference to the question how the will of God is to be ascertained. Even on the most momentous questions of our existence, on the truths most important to be known, in situations most perplexing, in doubts and difficulties most appalling, in the most fervid, earnest aspirations of the soul after knowledge of the truth, we are to lay aside all expectations of a voice from heaven; of a vision; of a dream; of the sending of an angel to instruct us, to warn us, to point out the path of duty, to teach us what to do. But is there no way in which the mind of God is now indicated to us? Is it impossible for God now so to communicate His will to the soul of an individual that he shall be in no danger of error as to what he should do? Are there no leadings of the hand of God, no methods by which He reveals His will, no appeals which He makes to the soul, no warnings, no admonitions, no invitations, no encouragements? Are there no promises addressed to man in his pilgrimage that he may regard as a voice direct from God to him? Has God so withdrawn from the world, or has He so bound Himself by the physical laws which He has imposed on created things, and so limited the exercise of His omnipotence within those laws, that He has reserved to Himself no way now of making known to an individual traveller to another world what He would have him to do? As we cannot rely on dreams, and visions, and voices, and the visitations of angelic beings to guide us, what methods are there by which our Maker makes known His will to us? There is, first, His holy Word, the volume of Revelation, containing the standing and permanent intimations of his will. The Bible does not—for it could not—address each one of the race by name, but it gives directions and counsels adapted to our common nature, and applicable to all the situations in which man can be placed :—directions and counsels applicable to the aged and the young; to princes and their subjects; to masters and servants; to parents and children; to those in affluence and those in poverty; to those in health and those in sickness; to those inquiring what man shall do as the great business of this life, and what he shall do to prepare for the life to come. On the great truths most desirable for every man to know, and on the question which man so often asks, how he may be saved, the communications are as explicit, and are as distinctly adapted to each one, as though they were an original communication from God to him alone; and in the various circumstances of human life, with all the endless variety of these circumstances, it is probable that a case has never occurred in relation to which some principle could not be found by a careful study of the Bible that would be a true and certain indication of the will of God. There is, secondly, the rational nature which God has given us,—in like manner, within its proper limits, furnishing a safe intimation of the will of God. This rational nature is often, indeed, put sadly out of place, and abused by mankind. But we cannot suppose that God would so endow man with reason as to lead him astray; or so that its just decisions would be contrary to truth; or so that in its fair applications it would beguile, mislead, and destroy. Nor can we suppose that He would so constitute man in his rational nature that any direct statements from Himself by a revelation would be contradictory to what man’s reason compels him to regard as true: for there is but one God, and under the government of that one God the deductions of reason,— that reason with which He has endowed us,—can no more contradict the higher truths which He might directly reveal, than the revelations of the natural eye would contradict the revelations of the telescope. In its proper place, reason is as true to its Maker as was the voice which addressed Isaiah in the temple, or the "vision" which appeared to Saul of Tarsus. It never lends its voice in favour of irreligion, vice, or crime. When, indeed, reason attempts to penetrate the counsels of the Almighty without the aid of revelation, and to intrude into the mysteries of the Divine nature beyond what is revealed,—when it attempts to form a system of religion which shall supersede that of revelation,—when it attempts to supply the place of all communications from heaven, it always errs, for it has departed from its appropriate sphere. But it does not err when it speaks of the obligations of virtue, justice, and truth; when it directs the mind up through His works to God Himself; when it appeals to man in favour of God and religion by considerations drawn from the immortality of the soul, and the solemnities of a future existence; when it presses upon man the duty of preparing for another world. If a man will honestly consult his own reason on points like these, he will have no more doubt what is the will of God than Saul of Tarsus had when the "vision" appeared to him on the way to Damascus. Whatever may be the feelings of men on the great subject of religion, we are sure that we always have their reason with us when we urge them to forsake their sins and to give themselves to the service of their Maker. There is, thirdly, the voice of conscience;—true also to its Author and Lord; true to the purpose of indicating His will in the sphere in which He has appointed it to operate. Its province, indeed, is often mistaken; and hence, like reason, man makes it an unsafe guide. It is not given to him to be a revelation, nor to supersede the necessity of a revelation, for it communicates no new truth. In its own place, however, it is a method by which God communicates His will to man, and is as true to its office as the magnet to the pole. It urges to the performance of duty; it condemns that which is wrong. It prompts us to do that which ought to be done, when interest would seem to lead in another direction, when the decisions of reason would be too slow, or when passion would drive us on to vice and ruin; and, when we have done that which is right, it expresses approbation in a manner which we cannot but regard as the voice of God Himself. It can never be made to lift its voice in favour of the neglect of religion; of impenitence; of the indulgence of guilty passions; of disregard of the counsels which require us to prepare for eternity. It is among the most admirable of the arrangements of the Divine administration,—an arrangement which cannot be explained except on the supposition that there is a God, and that God is the friend of virtue, and the enemy of vice; the friend of truth, and the enemy of error; the friend, and not the enemy of the soul. It is a way in which God is speaking to hundreds of millions of men at each moment; and in such a manner, that if they would follow His counsels according to the laws of this arrangement, we may again affirm that they would be in no more danger of erring than was Saul of Tarsus when he yielded obedience to the heavenly vision. There are, fourthly, the events of Divine Providence; often among the clearest methods by which God communicates His will to men. The sparrow falls not to the ground without God; and the minutest events in a man’s life are under His direction. Every one may find in his own life, if he chooses, not a few events that were designed to indicate to him what was the will of God. The Providence which commits to his care an aged and helpless parent,—which entrusts to him an unprotected sister,—which lays at his door the afflicted, the wounded, the dying,—which consumes the dwelling of his neighbour, leaving a family unprotected in the cold of a winter’s night,—which directs to his dwelling him who has fled from oppression, and who pants for freedom,— so speaks to him that he is in no danger of mistaking, in such a case, the Divine will. The Providence, too, which has given to a man talents fitted to promote the progress of society and the welfare of mankind, or wealth that may extensively promote the interests of humanity and religion, or learning adapted to enlighten and guide others,—or which opens a world of sorrow, oppression, and sadness to his access,—is an intimation of the Divine will that need not be mistaken. The Providence, also, that takes away an endeared object of earthly affection which stood between the heart and God, and which seized upon the affections with idolatrous power, is to the soul an intimation of the will of God as clear as if the lesson were written with a sunbeam. So a man in one pursuit in life finds his plans blasted, sees some unexpected obstacle always in his way, encounters obstructions thrown across his path which he can neither anticipate nor remove; and he may find in these things an intimation that he is in a wrong path as clear as was that in the case of Saul the persecutor when he was arrested by the Saviour on his way to Damascus. Such checks and restraints have been laid in every man’s life; and, if they were heeded, it would never be difficult for a man to ascertain the way-marks which the Great Director of human affairs has set up to guide us. There are, fifthly, the calls of the Gospel; the admonitions of the living preacher; the counsels and entreaties of the Christian pastor. The Christian ministry is God’s "great ordinance" for securing the reconciliation of men to God; for calling them to repentance and salvation; for applying great permanent truths and principles to the ever-varying circumstances of human existence. The voice of the minister of religion, so far as his appeals accord with the revealed truth of God, and so far as those appeals are adapted to the particular circumstances of a people, may be—and, so far as I can see, should be—regarded as the message of God Himself to the soul;—a message, here, again, we may say, as distinct, and as little capable of misapprehension, as was the voice that addressed Saul of Tarsus. This statement will not be misunderstood. We who are ministers of the Gospel do not claim to be inspired. We make pretensions to no superiority in mental, moral, or spiritual excellence above our fellow-men. We arrogate no power of peculiar insight into Divine things. We sustain no peculiar relation to God. We assert for ourselves no peculiar sanctity or immunity on account of our office; and no power, in virtue of the office, to impart grace to the souL But, regarding the ministry as an appointment of God, and as a wise arrangement for bringing His truth before the minds of men, we believe that it is designed as a means of keeping up a communication between God and the world, and as a method of expressing the Divine will, not only in respect to abstract truth, but to the duty of individual men; as an arrangement intended to convey the calls and the warnings of the Creator to the world; and as in fact one of the most important means by which He addresses the children of men. When in obedience to His commission, the minister of religion brings before a man truth, undoubted truth,—when he presents it in such a form as to be adapted to the particular circumstances, to the time of life, to the state of mind, to the peculiar temptations of that man, to the enquiries which are awakened in his soul from other sources in regard to truth and duty,—we know not why this should not be regarded as in fact a method by which God Himself addresses that man, as really as Saul of Tarsus was addressed from heaven. A sixth method in which God speaks to men is by the voice of a stranger. So it was when the eunuch of Ethiopia was addressed by Philip, and directed to Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. So to thousands the Apostle Paul went as a stranger, and announced the message of life and salvation. And so, now, in a stagecoach,—on a steam-boat,—on a rail-road car,—in a remote hut where a traveller may tarry for a night,— on the ocean,—in a foreign land,—in a hospital, far away from home and friends, from mother, sister, daughter, pastor,—in a Christian sanctuary which may be casually attended,—the voice of a stranger may be heard; and shall it be deemed extravagant to believe that the feet of the stranger may have been guided in order that he might speak to that soul about the way of salvation? And there is still a seventh method, universal in its nature, by which God addresses the children of men. It is by the influences of the Holy Spirit: a teaching and a guidance superadded to all the others, and without which which none of them would be effectual. This is not a new revelation, for it imparts no new truth. It is not inspiration. It is a silent secret influence on the soul, prompting it to duty; awakening the conscience; alarming the fears; restraining from sin; seasonably recalling truth to the memory; inclining the heart to prayer; disposing the soul to meditate on death, judgment, and eternity, and prompting to the formation of better plans and purposes; "convincing," according to the language of the Saviour, "of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." It is an arrangement to which the world owes all its religion, and no small part of the restraints of virtue and law, and of the promptings of humanity. I believe that God thus communicates, in some measure, His will to every human soul; that this is a "light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world." Life, if we would mark it, is made up of thousands of suggestions from some unseen quarter, prompting us to duty; starting some thought of what is wise, and right, and just, and good; inclining us to thoughtfulness, to meditation, to prayer; making the soul dissatisfied with its present course, and drawing it along in the path of duty, benevolence, and peace. Sometimes these suggestions come to the soul with the gentleness of the evening zephyr—and in the evening; sometimes with the fury and violence of the storm—and in the storm; sometimes when we are alone; sometimes in the crowded place of business; sometimes when we are made sad by affliction; sometimes under the preaching of the Gospel; and sometimes when there are no apparent causes giving a new direction to the thoughts. And shall we doubt that there if such an influence really abroad in the world,—an influence which converts men from the error of their ways, and which prompts to great and generous deeds? Can any one on any other supposition than this explain how it was that Saul of Tarsus, that Augustine, that Luther, that Bunyan, that John Newton were converted? Can any mere philosopher explain how it was that John Howard, an English gentleman of affluence, was led to conceive and execute the purpose of spending his life in breathing the pestilential air of the dungeons of Europe, that he might relieve the sufferings of the prisoners? Is it fanaticism to suppose that God pitied the prisoner whose "soul was bound in affliction and iron," and that He meant in this way to open the heart of humanity to a much-neglected portion of the race, and so moved by His Spirit the heart of Howard that he was not "disobedient unto the heavenly vision?" Can any mere philosopher explain how it was that the minds of Clarkson and Wilberforce were directed to the evils of the African slave-trade, and how they were led to identify themselves with the great cause of universal emancipation? Is it fanaticism to suppose that God looked down with an eye of pity on injured Africa, and that He meant thus to awaken in the souls of men everywhere a sense of the wrongs done to an entire quarter of the globe? And can we be in danger of error in supposing that the same Spirit breathed into the hearts of Morrison, and Schwartz, and Henry Martyn, a desire for the conversion of the world, and made them willing to go forth and publish salvation to those who were "sitting in the region and shadow of death?" And can we be wrong in supposing that God by His Spirit appeals now to the sinner; that He awakens him to a sense of his condition; that He makes him dissatisfied with the world and with sin; that He creates a desire in his soul to find a better portion than earth can give; that He calls him to virtue, to religion, and to a new life, by a voice as real as that which addressed Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus? But to what does God call us in these various methods by which He appeals to us? Is it possible to ascertain what is His purpose and design with regard to iut Is the voice so distinct, that we may know what is the will of God,—so clear, that in following it we may be sure we shall not be in danger of falling into a mistake? Is it possible for us in our own case to obtain an answer to the question which Saul of Tarsus asked with so much sincerity and solemnity respecting himself: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" (Acts 9:6). Let us learn from the example of Saul of Tarsus; let us see whether the answer to the question may not be as clear in our case as it was in his. First, as in his case, so now, God calls the sinner to forsake the ways of sin. He summoned Saul of Tarsus to abandon his purposes of persecution;— and in like manner He calls on the wicked to "forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts" (Isaiah 55:7). This would involve the forsaking of every form of transgression; of every purpose of life that is at variance with the law of God. Whatever may be the form of wickedness; whatever pleasure or profit may attend it; whatever honour may be supposed to result from it, yet the voice of God calls on men to abandon that course of life, and to turn to the ways of virtue and truth. Be it the persecution of the friends of God, as in the case of Saul,—be it unbelief,—be it worldliness,— be it ambition,—be it low sensuality,—be it the love of pleasure,—be it a life of gaiety,—no matter in each case what may be the sacrifice involved in relinquishing it, and no matter what the number or the social position of those whose friendship must be lost, or whose hatred incurred,—the course required is a plain course; the command is a plain command. Everything combines in the summons which God thus addresses to the soul,— His word; our reason; our conscience; the dealings of God’s Providence; the influences of His Spirit; the voice of the pastor, and the voice of the stranger. No man in reference to this can make a mistake as to the will of God; no man can take a single additional step in the course of iniquity without knowing that he does it in the face of God’s great message to his soul. Secondly. He calls men to faith in that Saviour in whom Saul of Tarsus was called to believe, and whom he was commissioned to make known to the world. Saul had sought to make his way to heaven witlwut a Saviour; he had despised the Redeemer’s cross, His sacrifice, His tomb; he had rejected all the evidences which had been furnished to the world that Jesus came from God; all the proofs drawn from His marvellous power, His wisdom, and His goodness, that He was sent from heaven; all the evidences in His life and His death that He was the promised Messiah. All that Saul had done in relation to Him might be traced to the simple fact that he was an unbeliever; all would have been different if he had been a believer in Jesus. Thus the sinner is addressed now. He has lived, and is living without a Saviour. He has refused to receive Christ as a Redeemer. He has been determined not to feel or acknowledge his need of a Saviour. He has by his conduct identified himself with those who rejected and crucified Jesus. His whole life has been that of an unbeliever. God now calls him to believe in Jesus Christ as a Saviour; as his Saviour;—to receive Him; to rely on Him; to live to Him; to love Him; to follow Him. Here, too, all the methods of God’s appeals to men combine in enforcing the call. To secure this, all the various methods whereby God speaks to the soul have been originated and arranged. His word; reason; conscience; Providential dealings; the warning voice of a pastor, or of a stranger; the influences of the Spirit of God,—all these are in the same direction and all tend to the same end—to call men to embrace the Lord Jesus as their Saviour. Thirdly. God calls men to prepare for another world; to be ready to give up their account to Him. It is impossible, in respect to this, to misinterpret the Divine will. In the voice which comes to men from the Bible, from reason, from conscience, from the events of Providence, from the pulpit, from the stranger, and from the influences of the Holy Spirit, there is, in this respect, no uncertain sound; no ambiguity. In all the voices that come to men from heaven by day or by night, there is none that calls them to a life of gaiety or ambition; that calls upon them to make "gold" their hope, or to "say to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence." Hear what was said in ancient "visions" to the children of men:—"God speaketh once, yea, twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream; in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed, then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that He may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man" (Job xxxiii. 15—17). How often now does God thus speak! How often does He admonish men that they are mortal, and call upon them to prepare for another life! Does one day pass in the life of any man, in which death is not, if he would heed it, brought before his mind by his Maker; in which there is not some distinct admonition to be prepared to die? Will any man be able to allege, when he is called before God, that he has never been fairly warned; that he has not been summoned to prepare for the future world; that he has not been urged to flee from the wrath to come? Fourthly. God calls men to devote themselves to His cause; to give themselves to a life of usefulness; to live so as to promote His glory in the world; to labour to advance the great interests of truth and righteousness; to be the patrons and triends of whatever will elevate the race, and to diffuse abroad that religion which is identified with the welfare of man:—to give back to Him, in His service, the result—the fruit—of the talents, the learning, and the influence which He has conferred on them. Saul of Tarsus had been endowed with great talents. He could not fail, for good or for evil, to exert a vast influence on mankind. He was so created that, however selfish and wicked he might be, he could not " live unto himself." He must influence others. He contributed largely in shaping the events of that age of the world. Those talents he had abused. He had employed them against the cause of Christ . But he was now called by an audible voice to devote those talents to Christ, and to His cause:—and well he answered and obeyed the summons. So it is with you;—with each one;—with all. The talents with which you are by nature endowed,—the learning which you possess,—the influence which you may have in the world,—the wealth which you have gained,—belong to God; and He asks that all these may be devoted to the great ends for which they were bestowed upon you. He made you what you are in mental endowment. He redeemed you. He keeps you. The vigour of body which you possess is His gift. Your power of reasoning, your genius, your eloquence, are His. The place which you occupy in the world, morally, intellectually, socially, has been assigned by Him. The circumstances of your life have been ordered by Him. And He calls you—alike by Scripture, by your reason, by your conscience, by the events of His Providence, by heavenly influences,—to consecrate all you have to His service and to the good of man. Heaven appeals to you, and the world appeals to you, not to live in vain. It remains now to notice, in few words, the duty of obeying such a heavenly call or "vision." (1.) Contemplate the effect on a man’s character of not yielding to the calls of duty, and of resisting the influences which would draw him along in the way of virtue, of purity, and of usefulness; the effect on a man’s character when, in order to pursue a chosen course, it is necessary for him to go against the decisions of reason, the generous impulses of his nature, the voice of conscience, the warnings of Providence, the admonitions of God in His word, by His ministers, and by His Spirit. "It is hard," said the Saviour to Saul of Tarsus, "to kick against the pricks:"—hard for the ox that resists, that treads back on the goads which would urge him on. In a forward movement,—in patient and gentle and proper toil, he feels not their sharp piercings in his flesh; it is only when he resists, and presses backward, that he feels them; and then the more he presses back, the more keenly he feels their sharpness. So it is with the various appeals of God. It is easy for one disposed to do his duty to go forward: for he yields to all that urges him on; and reason, and conscience, and truth, and God’s Spirit, have no sharp "goads " with which to pierce and penetrate his soul. But it is hard for a man to go against all these. Life then becomes a warfare,—a warfare more fierce and dreadful than is that of the man of God against "principalities, and powers, and spiritual wickedness," for the sinner has to fight his way down to ruin,—at war with the Bible; at war with his reason; at war with his conscience; at war with God’s Providences; at war with the Spirit of God; at war with his pastor; at war with his best friends; a warfare never to cease until he achieves a disastrous victory over all that is generous and noble in his own nature,—a victory in hell! (2.) Contemplate the feelings of one who has yielded to the summons which called him to leave the ways of sin, and to devote himself to God. Such a man was Saul of Tarsus, when he uttered the words which have been selected as a motto for the present chapter. He had nearly finished his course. With conscious gratification he then reflected that he had been "not disobedient unto the heavenly vision," but had promptly obeyed, and had faithfully carried out the command to the utmost extent of his power. Time had only conf1rmed him in the conviction that this call was from heaven; and, although it had been attended with many sacrifices, privations, and trials, it grieved him not that he had, in the cause of the Saviour, given up the brilliant prospects of his early life, and gone cheerfully where the "heavenly vision " led him. God calls each one of us to repentance from sin; to faith in the Redeemer; to preparation for the world to come; to a life of usefulness. We shall die,—all die. From the borders of the eternal world, we shall look over the present life. The road which we now travel we can travel but once; and a mistake in the great purposes of life cannot be repaired. There are two ways in which men close life; two classes of reflections which occur on the bed of death. The one is like that of Paul, when with a good conscience, a man can say that he has endeavoured in all things to obey the call of God; the other the reflection of one who then feels that every voice from heaven has been rejected, disregarded, or resisted; who feels that through all the journey of life he has made war on the word of God, on his reason, on his conscience; that he has resisted the appeals made by the Providence of God, by the ministers of religion, and by the influences of the Spirit; that he has slighted the counsels of father, mother, sister, pastor, friends. For myself, when I die, I desire the former of these. May God give us grace, one and all, that we may not be disobedient unto "the heavenly vision." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 2.06. RESIDENCE OF PAUL IN ARABIA ======================================================================== RESIDENCE OF PAUL IN ARABIA. The Interval between the selection of a profession or calling, and the entrance on its active duties. Length of Paul’s residence in Arabia.—Its locality.—Its purpose.—Lesson suggested to those entering on active life.—Professions or callings open before men.—Variety of occupations.—Variety of talents.—The same ends to be sought in all.—Principles on which the choice should be made. —It must be in accordance with the will of God; and therefore (1) such as best secures the purposes of life; (2) such as best meets the circumstances of life; (3) such as best suits individual endowments; (4) such as is strictly honourable; (5) such as presents fewest temptations; (6) such as most promotes the welfare of society; (7) such as will not hinder the interests of the soul.—Interval between the choice of a profession and entrance on it.—Time for preparation not lost time.—Preparation, special and general.—Training for this life subordinate to preparation for eternity. "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then, ater three years I went up to Jerusalem." Galatians 1:15-18. A SCENE IN THE DESERT. IT is a fair interpretation of the statement made by Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians, that he spent three years in Arabia, before he returned to Damascus on his way to Jerusalem. It might, indeed, from the mere language be suggested as a matter of doubt or uncertainty, whether after having been compelled to flee for a time, he did not soon return to Damascus, and whether some considerable part of these three years may not have been spent there before he went up to Jerusalem; but we are to bear in mind that although the language might bear this construction, yet it is not the necessary or the most obvious one; and, further, we are to remember that the same causes which may have made it necessary for him to flee from Damascus, would have probably prevented his speedy return there with any view of preaching the Gospel. We are not to suppose that those who were his enemies, and the enemies of the Gospel there, would have been soon calmed down so as to welcome his return; nor are we to suppose that the authorities at Jerusalem, whose commission he had disregarded, would have failed to send men with ample powers to arrest and punish one whom they could not but deem one of the worst apostates. The narrative, therefore, fairly requires us to understand this as affirming that the three years were spent in some part of Arabia. This is the most obscure, and indeed may be regarded as the only obscure portion of the life of Paul after his conversion. Of any other three years of his apostolic history we could give a more satisfactory account than we can of these; for, after this, we can trace his course with a good degree of certainty through perhaps every year of his life. But a singular uncertainty rests on this entire journey. To what part of the great country known (in ancient times or now) as Arabia, he went; why he went there at all; how he was employed; why he did not at once enter on his public work in connexion with the other apostles ; why he did not immediately "repor himself" at Jerusalem to be recognized as an apostle; and what was the bearing of this season of retirement and meditation, if such it was, on his future life,—all these are points on which we are left entirely to conjecture, and on which conjecture is wholly useless. The word "Arabia" has always been a term very vague in its application. "Sometimes it includes Damascus; sometimes it ranges over the Lebanon itself, and extends over to the borders of Cilicia. The native geographers usually reckon that stony district of which Petra was the capital, as belonging to Egypt,—and that wide desert towards the Euphrates, where the Bedouins of all ages have lived in tents, as belonging to Syria,—and have limited the name [Arabia] to the peninsula between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, where Jemen, or ’Araby the Blest,’ is secluded on the south. In the threefold division of Ptolemy, which remains in our popular language when we speak of this still untravelled region, both the first and second of these districts were included under the name of the third."1 Into which of these parts of Arabia Paul went, we have not the means of determining. If he went into that part which was near Syria, he may not have gone very far from Damascus. If, however, he went into Arabia Petraea, "then perhaps his steps were turned to those mountain heights by the Red Sea, which Moses and Elijah had trodden before him." We are not told his reason for going into Arabia, nor his employment when there. His mind would naturally long for solitude; and, in view of the work before him, he may have felt that by a season of calm contemplation, of prayer, of profound meditation on that new system which he had embraced, and which he had been so suddenly called to make known to the nations of the earth, he might be better qualified for his great mission. It may give some confirmation of this view to remember that the great Hebrew lawgiver, Moses, spent years in the 1 Conybeare and Howson, voL i. p. 94. desert of Midian before he was prepared for his great work of leading forth and delivering the people of God; that Elijah, the great prophet, wandered in such deserts before he came forth to his great work; that the forerunner of Messiah—John the Baptist—"was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel," and there grew and waxed strong in spirit; and that the Redeemer himself was "led by the Spirit into the wilderness" to be tempted and tried, after His baptism, and before He entered on His public work as the Messiah. With these examples before us, we shall not probably err in supposing that the time spent by Paul in Arabia was passed with some reference to his future life, as preparatory to his great work, in meditation and occupations which tended to qualify him for prosecuting it to the best advantage. It is to be remembered that the other apostles were three years under the instructions of the Great Teacher himself; and, in like manner, these three years may have been spent by Saul of Tarsus in some way best adapted to make his subsequent life what it was. He had been called to the apostleship, and his future course had been designated; but there might have been an important work of self-culture, of prayer, of meditation, of communion with God, necessary before he entered fully on his work. He was yet a young man; he had been trained for one profession or calling, as a Pharisee; he was now to prepare himself for another and a very different calling, as a minister of the despised Jesus of Nazareth,—as a preacher to the Gentiles,— as an apostle to the world. The point thus suggested is the interval between the choice of a profession or calling in life and the entrance on the public duties of that profession or calling. No period of human life is more important than this; and if I can bring forward any thoughts which will be of use to any in that period of life, I may be rendering to them an important service for all their future course. To place the whole subject before the mind, it would be necessary to contemplate these points: the professions or callings which are open before those who are in early life; the principles on which the choice of a profession or calling should be made; and the manner in which the interval between the choice of a profession or calling and the entrance on its active duties should be spent. This latter is, indeed, the main point; but a few remarks on the two former will aid us in its contemplation. Although they do not arise directly from my subject, they are appropriate as preparing for that. I. The first point relates to the professions or callings •which may be properly regarded as presenting themselves to one who is about to embark on life. (1) The first thing which strikes us on this point is tl1e great variety of things to be done in the world, during any one generation; or, the variety of the fields for exertion and employment. Among the problems which we may suppose to have been before the mind of the Creator when about to make living beings, this could not but have been a material one, how to give employment or occupation to the numberless creatures which He purposed to bring on the stage,—as it is still a most important problem, and one which it is beyond the power of created intellect to solve, how such employment shall be given to countless myriads of minds that are to exist for ever,—how the eternity of our being shall be occupied. There would have been no kindness—there would have been the utmost want of kindness—in creating minds for which no employment had been arranged. With the highest wisdom, and with the most benevolent adaptation to the necessities of created mind, and to the varied endowments of men, an arrangement has been made for this in our world; and we cannot doubt that a similar arrangement will be made in eternity. On our earth, with the vast numbers that people it at any time, and with the almost endless diversity of talents, tastes, powers, and individual propensities that exist among men, there is enough to be done, in any one generation, to keep that generation occupied; there is a sufficient variety of things to be done, to meet the peculiar endowments of the numberless individuals in each generation. No one has undertaken to estimate the number of things to be done; the number of the professions, pursuits, or callings, which may occupy the attention of men. No one, who is about to make choice of an avocation, would undertake to enumerate or compare them, so that he could have them all before him in making his selection. The choice is, in fact, commonly made within very narrow limits; but these by no means exhaust the fields of occupation, or define the range of the human powers. Agriculture, commerce, the mechanic arts, the fine arts, literature, the learned professions, civil life, the service of the army or the navy,—these are the callings which commonly occur to the mind as constituting those from which the young are to choose. But how small a part of the actual things to be done, and that are done, in each generation is embraced under these general terms. In any one of these callings, moreover, what a variety of things there may be to be done. In agriculture, what a variety of employments are actually included. How many men may be employed on the different parts of making a gun, or a locomotive engine, or even a pin,— and that with so distinct an occupation as to be in itself a calling. In building a ship, or in navigating it,—in the manufacture of cloth,—in domestic arrangements,—in war,—in peace,—in travel,—in thearts,—in the businessof a great city,—in the employments of a country life,—what an endless variety of things is to be done at any one time; —so endless, that when we contemplate it, we see that the problem has been in fact solved in regard to our world, and that there is enough to be accomplished to occupy all who at any time may dwell on our globe. (2.) The next point, under this head, relates to the variety of endowments among men, as adapted to these various occupations,—endowments such that these various ends are in fact secured, and such that at the same time they are secured voluntarily, or so that men enter on their different pursuits not by force or compulsion, but of preference and choice. While there is, in any one generation, enough for all to do, there is at the same time talent enough upon the earth to do all that needs to be done in that generation. There are men enough to subdue and cultivate the earth; there are enough to maintain the interests of commerce, to navigate distant seas, to ply the mechanic’s tools, to constitute armies, and to man ships of war, to occupy the seats of learning, to push the discoveries of science, to occupy the positions of trust and responsibility in civil life, to perform the work of legislation, and to administer the laws; there are enough for even the most humble and lowly occupations in life. If a new invention is required to promote the progress of human affairs at a quicker rate than ordinary, some Arkwright, or Fulton, or Morse, is endowed by the Creator with genius to strike out the invention; if some new and great discovery is to be made in science, some Kepler or Newton is endowed for that purpose; if unknown lands are to be discovered and explored, some Columbus or Cook is endowed to undertake the task, and disclose the existence of islands or continents to the rest of mankind. And thus it is, also, in those professions and callings which would seem to be most perilous and least inviting. Commerce is needful for the world; and it is evidently a part of the Divine arrangement that, in the best state of human affairs, there should be an exchange of the commodities of different climes and regions, involving the dangers and hardships of a seafaring life. If this were left to parents, it could not be accomplished,—for no parent would be likely to select the profession of a sailor for his son. If there were no special propensity in the minds of any, it could not be accomplished,—for the perils of the sea are so great, and the rewards of a seafaring life are so small, that under ordinary impulses men would not undertake it. But God has arranged this so as to secure the end. In each generation there is about the same relative number endowed with the -desire of a mariner’s life,—as many as are needful to accomplish the purposes of commerce in that generation. It is an early propensity in the mind of the boy; it is among the most fixed of all propensities; it is so settled that ordinarily when it seizes upon the mind, the boy cannot be diverted from it. It is God’s purpose that the seas shall be navigated, and the world united by commercial relations. "A poet must be born a poet,"1 and so a sailor must be born a sailor. In this way ordinarily God fills up the ranks of seamen by implanting this strong propensity in the mind, and bringing about what could be accomplished in no other way. (3.) A third remark under this head; the ends of life may be secured, the purposes of society advanced, and God may be honoured, in any one of these occupations and employments. Those on the ocean serve Him as really as they do who are on the land; those in humble life, as really as those in an exalted rank; those who perform menial offices, as well as their employers; those who are private citizens, as well as those on thrones, invested with state, and pomp, and power; those whose names perish as soon as they die, as really as those whose names are blazoned abroad, or preserved in everenduring brass. "Art thou called," says the apostle, "being Poeta nascitur. a servant? Care not for it; for he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman" (1 Corinthians 7:21-22). "The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you " (1 Corinthians 12:21). Within this range, this wide range of employment,— with these varied natural propensities and endowments,— and with this assurance that in any of these employments the purpose of life for which we are individually designed may be accomplished, and that within any of these professions or callings, life may be honourable and useful, and the Creator acceptably served,—the profession which is to determine our condition on earth is to be chosen. II. In the case of Saul of Tarsus, it was determined by the declared purpose of the Redeemer (Acts 26:16-18). Young men now cannot hope for any such direct and infallible guidance. Are there any principles which will be a sufficient guide to them in the choice of a profession or calling? If so, what are those principles? It is important to remark here that every one should be able to make it clear to his own mind that in selecting a profession or calling, he is acting in accordance with the will of God. We speak of ministers of the Gospel as having a "call" to the ministry, and of its being improper for them to engage in that work without evidence that they are so called. It is, indeed, true that ministers of the Gospel should have such a "call" to their work; but if it be meant that this is of the nature of a miracle, or is a distinct voice from heaven, addressed to them on the subject, then that is demanded in their case for which there is no authority, and for which there is no special necessity. It remains yet to be shown that there is any thing in their case which does not exist in the case of every other man and every other profession. The great question for each one, taking into view his qualifications, circumstances, and endowments, and the wants of the world, is,—how he can make the most of his life for the purpose for which life was given him,—how he can best serve his Maker,—and how he can best promote the great interests needful to be promoted in the world in his generation. The merchant, the artizan, the mariner, the soldier, the man of letters or science, should be able to make it clear to his own conscience that his is the course of life in which his Maker intended that he should walk; or, that he has a "call" to that, as really as the minister of the Gospel has a call to preach the word. What, then, are the principles on which such a choice should be made, or which are to guide us in the choice? I shall here suggest a few things on this point which it seems to me—as I now view life, looking back on it when I have passed over most of the journey—are just views, and which might be adopted by those in early life, as rules in determining on the course to be chosen. (1.) The first is, that the profession or calling should be selected in which the most can be made of life for its proper purposes; or, in which life can be turned to the best account. Life, though transitory, short, uncertain, has its purpose. There is an end for which we were made; for which we have been endowed as we are; for which we were brought on the stage at the time when we were; for which we were placed in the circumstances in which we have been placed. If we can find out that, and can follow it, we shall make the most of life. If we err in that —if we take a wrong direction,—if we attempt what we cannot accomplish,—if we fail to accomplish what we might,—life with us will be wasted; its great purpose will be frustrated. (2.) The second principle which I mention is, that, consequently, when there is a fitness for either of two or more courses of life, tl1at should be chosen which under the circumstances will- be most adapted to secure the ends of life. Within a certain range—which is in fact quite limited—a man might be equally adapted to two or more callings. It may not be strictly true that he would even within this range, succeed in one as well as in another of these; but still he is so constituted that if the condition of society should be such that he could not find an opening in that calling for which he is best fitted, there may be another, or perhaps more than one other, which he could enter, and in which the great ends of life would be substantially secured. This "play" if I may use a term drawn from one of the mechanic arts,1 was arranged for in the endowments of men, that no one might be thrown out of all employment, or that *’ Play—room for motion; the play of a wheel or piston."—Webster. there might be opportunity for a choice between such different employments as might promise almost equal success; and, at the same time, that there might be at any one period genius and talent enough upon the earth, as above stated, for all the purposes to be accomplished. Now, the principle which I am laying down is, that within this range—this room for choice—this "play" in the endowments of our nature, the selection of a profession should be made, and that a man should not attempt to force himself into a condition or calling for which he was never designed; nor should he envy those who are differently endowed. (3.) A third rule would be, that the profession or calling should be chosen which will be best adapted to develope the peculiar endowments of the mind, or which will be in the line of those endowments. We cannot originate or create endowments of the mind; we cannot, by any culture or training, create a talent for music, where the germ of it does not exist in the soul ; nor can we originate a talent for painting, or sculpture, or the mechanic arts; nor can we give to ourselves high mathematical endowments, or the power of invention, or a brilliant imagination. To a certain extent, most of these exist in every mind, so far as to enable us to find enjoyment in what is done by others of richer genius; but it would be vain for us to endeavour to make them the basis of our own purposes of living. They struggle in vain who attempt to be distinguished in that for which nature has not endowed them. He who would succeed in life must make it a point to put forth his efforts in the line of his native endowments. Thus carrying out the purposes of God, life is easy; toil becomes a pleasure; the vessel moves, not against a current and against obstructions, but it is moved by the current, and the course of life is gentle, tranquil, prosperous, and happy. (4.) A fourth thing which is vital to any just views of life, to a proper choice of a profession, is, that that only should be chosen which is just and honourable; which is itself right, and is consistent with the highest standard of morality; and which can be pursued in all its ramifications, and always, and in all respects, on the principles of honesty, truth, justice, and fairness. There are sufficient employments of this nature; and those are the only employments which God has set before men, or to which He ever calls any of the human race. There are employments, indeed, founded wholly on the idea of injustice and falsehood; which involve, in all their stages, corruption, perjury, dishonesty; which secure no success except as others are defrauded of their rights; which require the employment of cunning, trick, concealment, as essential to their prosecution,—employments, not unlike the occupations of those who kindle false lights on a dangerous coast, that they may allure vessels in a storm to a rocky shore, and who gather the rich cargoes of the vessels thus decoyed to ruin. But, on the other hand, there are employments numerous enough to occupy all the talent of the world, whose beginning is honourable, and which may be honourably prosecuted to the utmost extent. Such, for example, is agriculture —the primitive employment of man—which may be carried on in all its departments—from the purchase of the soil; the levelling of the forests; the enclosing of the fields; the ploughing, the sowing, the harvest, the threshing, the sale,—on principles of entire honesty; where, through the whole course, there is not necessarily involved, at any stage, or in reference to any department, the idea of dishonesty or fraud. Such, too, are the mechanic arts; such the operations of commerce; and such, too, may be the employments of those in the learned professions. Such, and such only, is the course of life which a young man should choose. (5.) A fifth principle is that that course should be chosen in which there are the fewest temptations to evil. We cannot, in our world, place ourselves absolutely and certainly beyond the reach of temptation; for all are liable to it. If the Saviour of the world was tempted, we may be certain that no man, however pure and honest he may be, can be sure that he will be beyond its reach. But, at the same time, it is obvious that, of two callings in life, one may clearly be much nearer to dangerous temptations than another; that one will be comparatively free from danger, while the other will be in fact a voluntary warfare with the most enticing forms of evil. The one, too, may be a course where the associates and companions will be naturally among the pure and the good; the other, where they will be the crafty, the unprincipled, and the corrupt. All wise young men will foresee this, and will make it an element in determining their choice. He calculates much on the strength of his own virtue, and commonly reposes in it a degree of confidence to which it is not entitled, who puts himself deliberately in the way of temptation, or who exposes himself needlessly to it. One of the best maxims in determining our course of life is, to select, at the outset, that in which virtue and principle will be least likely to be put to a test, and in which, from the nature of the calling, a man may bring around him such associations and influences as will be an auxiliary in keeping him in the paths of virtue. (6.) A sixth principle is, that a young man should choose that which while it will conduce to his own individual interest and to the purpose of his life, will, at the same time, promote the general good of society, and contribute to the advancement of the race; which will not interfere with the happiness of others, but will add to those influences that tend to secure liberty, civilization, moral and intellectual culture, and religion. "None of us liveth to himself." For good or for evil, the life of every man will affect the interests of others. Every just and proper employment, while it promotes the welfare of him who pursues it, will, at the same time, subserve the progress of society at large;—like the insect which, while it performs its little part for itself, aids in the common work of raising the coral reef higher and higher, until it lifts itself above the surface of the waters, and becomes the abode of higher orders of beings. Society is organized on the principle that any lawful and proper employment will not injure, but will advance the interests of the whole community ;—as the movement of each wheel in a well-constructed machine will not only not embarrass, but will promote the harmonious and regular operation of every other part. Every man might be his own blacksmith or shoemaker; but it is an advantage to the farmer and the professional man that these should be distinct departments of labour. It is a saving of time and expense to a community that there should be men trained to these callings. So it is with all other lawful occupations. There are callings which cannot be pursued without ruin to others. The individual engaged in the pursuit may be, for a time, prospered; but in his prosperity, and just in proportion to his prosperity, he is scattering poverty, and woe, and tears, and broken hearts, around him:—making men’s houses the abodes of crime and sorrow; filling almshouses, and prisons, and graves. Such, always, is the result of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks. The distinction between a lawful and an unlawful employment, in its tending to good or evil, should always be a consideration in influencing a man what profession to choose. (7.) A seventh principle may be added. It is, that tl1at calling should be selected which will not interfere with, but which will best aid the preparation for another world. There are employments which are necessarily inconsistent with such preparation; there are those, otherwise lawful and proper, which will greatly embarrass a man in it; there are those, which are directly in the line of that, and which will tend to promote it. Our chief interests are beyond the grave, and all that we do in this life should have a bearing on the life to come. Obviously, then, it is a just principle that those interests should not be jeopardied by our avocations in this life J but that while we seek to fill up life in a way that will best secure the ends of our existence here, our whole plan and course of life should be such as will not hinder but serve our preparation for a future world. It would be easy greatly to extend these remarks, but the above rules embody the main principles which should guide those who are forming their plans for life. III. These remarks and suggestions will enable us, in the third place, to answer the main inquiry with which we started,—In what way shall the interval between the choosing of a profession and the entrance on its active duties be employed f The point was suggested by the supposition that, in some way now unknown to us, in the deserts or towns of Arabia,—by prayer, by meditation, by some active discipline,—the three years spent there by Paul were designed to fit him for the better performance of the vast and the untried duties of the apostleship. A very few simple hints will be all that it will now be necessary to suggest. (1.) The first is, That time enough should be taken to prepare for the profession or calling which has been selected. It might seem to be a waste of life to spend so many years in the mere work of preparation for future life; and doubtless many would say that, on the supposition that Saul of Tarsus, after all his previous training, spent these three years in prayer, or meditation, or study, it is unaccountable that so much of life should have been wasted when the world was perishing for lack of the Gospel which he was appointed to preach. But on the same principle, also, it would seem unaccountable that, by the arrangements of God Himself, so much time should be spent in helpless infancy; so much in childhood; so much in the studies of youth, in the schools, and in practice of the mechanic arts :—one-third of life, even when life reaches its longest allotted limits,— ordinarily, more than half of life,—often, more than three-fourths of the whole of existence here on earth, thus spent in mere preparation. There is undoubtedly a tendency in these times, in all the professions and callings, to abridge the period of training for the future work in which a man is to be engaged. So short does life seem, so unprofitable appears the time spent in preparation, so vast seems the work to be done, that they who are to engage in the active duties of life become impatient and restless, and leave the place of preparation only half-furnished for their work. Thus it is often difficult to retain youths in our colleges during the time usually prescribed for an academic course; thus young men, destined to the work of the ministry, pant to be engaged in their great work, and feel as if in their studies, they were wasting time that might be employed in winning souls to the Saviour. Yet all this is based on a false principle, and a false view of life. He does not accomplish most who enters earliest on his work, but he who is best trained and prepared. The raw recruit is of little service in battle; the long, and minute, and tedious process of drilling is not lost; but all the time spent in that is a gain when the battle comes. The contest among the Grecian wrestlers, boxers, racers, lasted usually but a few moments—certainly not beyond a few hours,—and to many the long previous training and discipline might seem to have been wasted;—yet to one who should have acted on that principle, the contest would have ended in defeat, and the crown would have passed into the hands of another. More by far was accomplished by that previous training than would have been, or could have been, without it. So it is in the battle, the race, the struggle, the conflict of human life. He does most who is best prepared; he usually carries away the palm who has given himself to the most thorough discipline. Take another view of the matter. Not only is life itself short,—short in itself, and short in reference to the objects to be gained,—but professional life is very short. The average life in a profession or in any calling,—as physician, lawyer, clergyman, farmer, mechanic—is not much, if any, above twenty years; and in that time a man is to do what he has to do for this world and the next. The real question, then, would be, whether—in view of this brevity of professional life—this moral certainty that it cannot ordinarily be more than twenty or thirty years—it would be better to enter on it at thirty, well prepared, or to enter on it at twenty, or earlier, with a very imperfect preparation, or with none at all. Now, the period from thirty to fifty, and even sixty, is ordinarily the best period; the period of most vigour, of most maturity, of most practical wisdom;—a better period altogether for securing what men have to secure, than an earlier period of life. How short were the public lives of Chatham, of Fox, of Burke, of Curran, of Patrick Henry, of Daniel Webster! How short was the period when Demosthenes stood conspicuously before the world! Yet who would venture to say that the long previous and careful self-training of the orator—the use of his voice beside the roaring ocean—the filling of his mouth with pebbles to correct a defect in his speech— was lost and wasted time? (2). Secondly; The studies should obviously have reference to the future calling. No man is a "universal genius;" no man can hope to be master of all arts, and to become possessed of all knowledge. The duty of one, therefore, who is preparing to be a farmer, is to perfect himself in that calling; the duty of one who is to be a machinist, is to make himself master of the mysteries of his trade; the duty of one who is to be a merchant, is to perfect himself in what pertains to commerce; the duty of one who is preparing for either of the learned professions, is to make himself master of that one which he has chosen, and not to prepare for all professions or callings. He must feel that this is to be the business of life; this is what is to constitute his life; this is what he is to make of life. A man will feel the importance of this when he reflects that what constitutes life to him is to be found in that calling. This idea concentrates on that preparation all that there is to him of greatness, of solemnity, and of responsibility in life itself. If he were to spend his life in varied and different employments, then this idea of solemnity, responsibility, and greatness might be diffused over them all. If he could be a farmer, and a mechanic, and a merchant, and a soldier, and a sailor, and a physician, lawyer, clergyman, then his idea of life would embrace all these; and no one calling, in this view, would have any special or supreme importance. But he is not to be all these. He is to be a farmer, or a mechanic, or a merchant, or a soldier, or a sailor, or a physician, lawyer, clergyman; and all that there is of life to him is to be concentrated in that one calling. Others are to fill up life, and make it to themselves what it will be in sonic one of the other callings ;—life to him is to be what it will be in that profession alone. By that, he is to be known; by that, he is to be remembered, if remembered at all. How momentous, therefore, does the time of preparation for a profession become! How solemn must this thought have been to Saul of Tarsus, when he abandoned, at the call of the Saviour, his former course of life, so brilliant to him in the prospect, and now felt that to him the whole of life was embodied in the idea of his being an apostle of Christ! This remark is so obvious that I need not enlarge on it. There is, however, an observation connected with this point, so important, and so often overlooked, that I may be permitted to dwell on it a moment. It is, that every man, while he aims to perfect himself in his particular calling, should seek to cultivate his mind in all respects, and to know all that he can, consistently with his main purpose, on all that belongs to the subjects of human inquiry. In the course of a professional life it will be found that nothing which a man has learned on any subject is useless. Occasions will occur in which, in his regular calling, all that he has acquired will find an appropriate place, and will aid him in his work. But, besides, every man is to be more than a mere professional man. He is a husband, a father, a neighbour, a voter, a citizen; he is to be one of a generation, and to move and act with it; he is to be a patron of schools, and colleges, and institutions of benevolence; he is to be identified with the interests of learning, liberty, and religion ; he is a traveller to another world, and has great interests beside those which relate to his mere calling. He is, or should be, a Christian man, and is to act, or should act, with Christians in their efforts to save the world. Life is narrowed down almost to nothing when a man is merely a business man. (3.) One thought only remains. It is, that the preparation for that profession should be—as the choice of the profession, and the profession itself should be,—subordinate to the life to come—to the preparation for eternity. The one will not interfere with the other. No man is impeded in his proper business by prayer; no man is injured in any calling by seeking to obtain instruction daily from the Bible; no man is hindered in intellectual pursuits, by cultivating the pure affections of the heart, by exercising love to God, love to the Saviour, love to men,—by cultivating a spirit of gentleness, conscientiousness, purity, kindness; no man is injured in his prospects for this life by cherishing the hope of the life to come. It should not be forgotten, also, that the real preparation which a man is at any time making may be for the eternal world. He may not live to enter on his chosen profession; long before the anticipated time shall arrive for entering on that, a more material question may be before his mind and heart,—whether he is prepared for the unchanging world. Life is great if properly viewed in any respect; it is mainly great when viewed in connexion with the world to come. Its most momentous period is that which we have been considering; the results of the manner in which that period is spent, will reach beyond the skies. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: 2.07. SAUL BROUGHT TO ANTIOCH ======================================================================== VI. SAUL BROUGHT TO ANTIOCH. Buried talent called forth to its appropriate field of labour. Saul’s journey to Arabia not recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.—Its effect on the disciples at Jerusalem.—Saul’s reception by Barnabas.— Saul numbered with the apostles.—In danger from the Grecians.—Sent to Tarsus.—Sought by Barnabas.—Occasion of his call to Antioch.—The gosDel not for Jews only.—The gospel successfully preached to Greeks. — The name "Christian" first used.—The field of labour open; Antioch; and the world.—General arrangements for calling forth talent. —Talent existing in various forms.—Talent a creation, not a developement.— Talent conferred as it is needed.—Talent adapted to the demand for it . —Scope for the exercise of talent.—Emergencies arise to call it forth. "Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: and when he had found him he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." Acts 11:25-26. ANTIOCH. WE have seen that Saul of Tarsus, after he had spent sufficient time in Damascus to show the reality of his conversion, and to proclaim there the fact that Jesus was the Messiah, retired before the opposition of the Jews, and went into Arabia, where he spent three years. On his return to Jerusalem it is said of him that "he assayed to join himself to the disciples;" that is, he sought to be recognized as a follower of the Saviour; but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple (Acts 9:26). They remembered him as a Jew; as a most devoted, zealous, and bigoted Pharisee. They feared that there had been some deception about the report of his conversion, and were slow to believe that a man who had been so infuriated, and who had done so much to destroy the Church, had become a sincere disciple of Jesus. It is a very remarkable fact that the journey into Arabia is not referred to by Luke, in his account of Paul in the Acts of the Apostles. From the narrative there, (Acts 9:19-26), the inference might be that Saul had gone at once from Damascus to Jerusalem; and that his assaying to join himself to the disciples had occurred very soon after his conversion. And it might seem probable, also, if so long an interval as three years had occurred between his conversion and his going to Jerusalem, that the sacred historian would not have passed it over in silence. The enemies of Christianity have not failed to urge this as an instance of an irreconcilable contradiction between the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Galatians. But, in reply to this, it may be said, that (apart from the general fact that any historian, however minute and accurate his account may be, must pass over many facts, which may be in themselves important, and which might be mentioned by others), the account in Luke, as it is, is best explained by the supposition that such a journey did take place, and indeed is not easily explained except on such a supposition, (a.) If there had been no such interval,—if Saul had gone up to Jerusalem immediately after his conversion, and after the zeal which he had shown in Damascus in preaching Christ as the Messiah,—it is morally certain that the disciples would have welcomed him at once, and without suspicion. In Damascus he had given all the evidence which could be desired of the reality of his conversion. He had abandoned the purpose for which he had gone there. He had engaged in the work of preaching the Gospel. He had done this with all the ardour which was characteristic of the man, and with so much zeal as to arouse the wrath of the Jews residing there (Acts 9:22). All this must have been known to the Christians at Jerusalem ; and had he come at once among them, it cannot be supposed that their fears would have been excited, or that they would have had any suspicion about the sincerity of his conversion, (b.) But on the supposition that he had been absent "three years" in Arabia, all this might be changed, and that very fact might lead to suspicion and apprehension in regard to him. In that long time the freshness of the impression produced by his conversion would have passed away. The very fact of his absence, of his silence, of his doing nothing (so far as known) in the cause of Christianity, might have prepared their minds for suspicion and doubt. Where had he been? What had been his employment? Why had he so soon ceased to defend the cause of Christianity, and so soon withdrawn from public view? Why had he not come at once to Jerusalem? and there, in the very centre of opposition to Christianity, and on the very spot where the Messiah had been put to death, why had he not stood up as a new witness for that Saviour who was said to have appeared to him on the way to Damascus? How natural—how almost unavoidable— on the supposition that he had gone to Arabia, and had been there for three long years, would be the impression that he had lost his interest in the cause of Christianity; that he had ceased to be a professed disciple; that he had returned to his former faith; and that now, in seeking to unite himself with them, there must be some sinister motive, and that his coming among them might be regarded as the act of an insidious and dangerous enemy. These considerations may, perhaps, show that the fact of Luke’s not mentioning the journey into Arabia, is so far from being an objection to the truth of his narrative, that the supposition of Paul’s having gone there is necessary to an explanation of the facts which the historian has stated,—or that what he has stated would not have been so likely to have taken place, if there had been no such journey. If it is so, then this may be regarded as one of what Paley calls "undesigned coincidences," showing that the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Galatians are both genuine. An impostor—a fabricator—would not have thought of such a device. Such things occur only in real history; not in attempts to impose on the world. The difficulty to which I have now adverted in regard to the reception of Saul by the disciples at Jerusalem, was met by Barnabas. He, somehow, and from some cause not explained, had formed a strong attachment for Saul. Possibly he may have been informed of the fact that Saul had gone into Arabia, and of the manner in which he had spent those three years of absence. With the fullest confidence in his character, he "brought him to the Apostles, and declared unto them," that is, reminded them, "how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached . boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus" (Acts 9:27). He dwelt on this as fully proving the reality of his conversion; and showed them that there could be no just ground of suspicion respecting his future career. They were satisfied, and received him as one of their number. But here a new difficulty arose, and Saul was again in danger. "He spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him" (Acts 9:29). These Grecians— Hellenists—foreign proselytes—probably held some opinions which Saul regarded as dangerous, and which he felt himself bound to oppose; and the result was, as often happened to him afterwards from similar causes, that his life was in danger. To secure his safety, and perhaps also to introduce him to a field of labour where it might be hoped he would be most successful, it was resolved to send him to Tarsus. How he was employed in Tarsus, we have no means of ascertaining. It was the home of his childhood; it was a place where he would be surrounded by the friends of his early years, by the members of his own family; a place where he might come in contact with distinguished Pagan philosophers and men of learning.1 We cannot well doubt that the young convert would seek to bring the claims of Christianity before as many of these sages as possible; we cannot doubt that in the synagogue there, as he afterwards did elsewhere, he would urge the proofs that Jesus was the Messiah; nor can we doubt that his labours there would be attended with some measure of success.1 But he was in obscurity. His talent there was comparatively buried talent. He was endowed alike by native talent, by his education, and by the grace imparted to him at his conversion, for a far larger sphere; and he had been called to the apostleship that he might occupy a wider field. The time had come when he was to be called forth to the great business of his life. A "work of grace" had commenced in Antioch, the capital of Syria, a city second in importance to none in the East, and in its position and influence second only to Rome. So much importance had this work assumed in the view of the Apostles at Jerusalem, that Barnabas, one of their most valued fellow-labourers, had been sent there. So extensive was the field of labour in Antioch, so much need was there of additional help, and so deeply did Barnabas himself feel the necessity of counsel in this great undertaking, that, calling to mind the eminent gifts of his friend, Saul of Tarsus, he resolved to call him to his aid. The work required one like Saul of Tarsus, and would be ample for the employment of all his special qualifications for the ministry. In our age a telegraphic despatch would have sum 1 "In his own family, we may well imagine that some of those Christian "kinsmen " whose names are handed down to us (Rom. 16)—possibly his sister, the playmate of his childhood, and his sister’s son, who afterwards saved his life (Acts 23:16-22)—were at this time, by his exertions, gathered into the fold of Christ."—Conybcarc and Howson, ut sup. moned him to Antioch at once; but in a difficult and dangerous journey, Barnabas himself had to go and find him: "Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch." The theme, then, before us, as will be seen by this explanation of the circumstances of the case, is THE CALLING OF THIS OBSCURE AND BURIED TALENT INTO A WIDER AND MORE APPROPRIATE FIELD OF LABOUR AND USEFULNESS,—THE FIELD OF LABOUR NOW OPENED BY THE NEW EMERGENCY IN THE CHURCH AND BY THE ENLARGED VIEWS OF THE NATURE AND DESIGN OF THE NEW RELIGION. The point of general interest to which we shall be led by the facts here adverted to in the case of Saul of Tarsus, will relate to the arrangements by which God prepares talent for wide and useful employment, and the methods by which that talent is called forth to accomplish His designs. In illustrating this, I would notice— I. The emergency or occasion which had then occurred in the Christian Church. And here we may observe three things: (1.) The ideas of Christians up to that time had been limited. It was a slow process by which the attention of the apostles and other Christians was directed to the regions beyond Palestine, and even when their thoughts were directed to other lands, it was rather to the scattered Hebrews than to the heathen; to the synagogue, rather than to the " Porch," the "Lyceum," the "Academy," or the Pagan temple of worship.1 Their affections clustered and lingered around Palestine—the land of their fathers, the seat of the national religion; their remembrances were of the Hebrew people as the "covenant" people of God; they met everywhere, in their views as derived from the ancient religion, the barriers which had been set up between the Hebrews and other nations. Slowly were their early Jewish prejudices overcome; slowly did they learn the lessons 1 "Hitherto the history of the Christian Church has been confined within Jewish limits. ... If any traveller from a distant country has been admitted into the community of believers, the place of his baptism has not been more remote than the ’desert’ of Gaza.- If any ’aliens from the commonwealth of Israel’ have been admitted to the citizenship of the spiritual Israelites, they have been ’strangers’ who dwell among the hills of Samaria. But the time is rapidly approaching when the knowledge of Christ must spread more rapidly,—when those who possessed not that Book, which caused perplexity on the road to Ethiopia, will hear and adore His name,—and greater strangers than those who drew water from the well of Sychar will come nigh to the Fountain of Life. The same dispersion which gathered in the Samaritans, will gather in the Gentiles also. The ’middle wall of partition ’ being utterly broken down, all will be called by the new and glorious name of ’ Christian.’ "And as we follow the progress of events, and find that all movements in the Church begin to have more and more reference to the heathen, we observe that these movements begin to circulate more and more round a new centre of activity. Not Jerusalem, but Antioch, not the Holy City of God’s ancient people, but the profane city of the Greeks and Romans, is the place to which the student of sacred history is now directed. During the remainder of the Acts of the Apostles our. attention is at least divided between Jerusalem and Antioch, until at last, after following St. Paul’s many journeys, we come with him to Rome. For some time Constantinople must remain a city of the future; but we are more than once reminded of the greatness of Alexandria; and thus even in the life of the apostle we find prophetic intimations of four of the five great centres of the early Catholic Church."—Conybeareand Hcnuson, vol. i. p. 106. which God meant to teach them by the things which were occurring. (2.) The events which had now taken place at Antioch could not well be mistaken in their meaning, as bearing on this point. The Gospel had been preached there with great power and success. It had been attended with the same results which had been produced when it was proclaimed in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. What was particularly remarkable was, that while those who "were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen," though they went to "Phenice [Phenicia], and Cyprus, and Antioch" preached "to none but unto the Jews only" (Acts 11:19), men from other places—" Cyprus, and Cyrene" (in distant Africa) —preached also, and preached to the "Grecians"— so that "a great number believed, and turned to the Lord" (Acts 11:20-21). This to the Church was a new idea. The Gospel was to be preached beyond the bounds of Palestine. It was to be preached by those who had not gone from Palestine. It was to be preached to those who were not of Hebrew descent. The Gospel was securing a firm hold on a large Pagan city—one of the great capitals of the world. It, therefore, was not to be confined to Judaea or the Jews, but was to extend to every land; to embrace all people. Henceforward this was to become a fixed idea in all their conceptions of the nature of Christianity; in all their views of the Church; in all their doctrines of Christian fellowship; in all their plans for spreading their religion. (3.) The name by which they would be called was to be the name Christian,—a name given for the first time at Antioch; a name conferred and adopted just as this enlarged view of the nature of their religion was becoming the common view of the Church; a name more expressive and significant under this new view of their religion than any other could have been. Its origin is not known. On this point I may be allowed to give the following extract:—" It is not likely that they received this name from the Jews. The ’children of Abraham’ employed a term much more expressive of hatred and contempt. They called them ’the sect of the Nazarenes.’ These disciples of Jesus traced their origin to Nazareth in Galilee; and it was a proverb, that nothing good could come from Nazareth. Besides this, there was a further reason why the Jews would not have called the disciples of Jesus by the name of ’Christians.’ The word ’Christ’ has the same meaning with ’Messiah.’ And the Jews, however blinded and prejudiced on this subject, would never have used so sacred a word to point an expression of mockery and derision; and they could not have used it in grave and serious earnest, to designate those whom they held to be the followers of a false Messiah, a fictitious Christ. Nor is it likely that the ’Christians’ gave this name to themselves. In the Acts of the Apostles, and in their own letters, we find them designating themselves as ’brethren,’ ’disciples,’ ’believers,’ ’saints.’ Only in two places (Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16), do we find the term ’ Christians;’ and in both instances it is implied to be a term used by those who are without. There is little doubt that the name originated with the Gentiles, who began now to see that this new sect was so far distinct from the Jews, that they might naturally receive a new designation. And the form of the word implies that it came from the Romans, not from the Greeks. The word ’Christ’ was often in the conversation of the believers, as we know it to have been constantly in their letters. ’Christ’ was the title of Him whom they avowed as their leader and their chief. They confessed that this Christ had been crucified, but they asserted that He was risen from the dead, and that He guided them by His invisible power. Thus ’Christian’ was the name which naturally found its place in the reproachful language of their enemies. In the first instance we have every reason to believe that it was a term of ridicule and derision. And it is remarkable that the people of Antioch were notorious for inventing names of derision, and for turning their wit into the channels of ridicule."1 The name "Christian" was well fitted to be the name of the followers of the Redeemer in all ages, and in all lands,—binding all in one, and becoming a common appellation by which they would be known and recognized in all parts of the world. As the idea had at length sprung up in the Church, and was now spreading, that the religion of the Saviour was designed to be universal as well as perpetual, so this name was appro 1 Conybeare and Howson, vol. i. pp. 116, 117. priate to that idea, and would serve to keep it up in all future times. The name was not Jewish in its nature; it had nothing local; it sprang from no national peculiarity; it indicated nothing in regard to tribes, clans, languages, complexions, or to the peculiar laws or customs of any people; it indicated only a relation to Christ—a relation to be sustained alike and equally by all, in all lands and in all ages, who would be brought to believe on Him. It was, therefore, a name in which the appellation Jew or Greek,—European, Asiatic, or African,—Caucasian, Mongolian, or Ethiopian,—nay, in which the then unknown names American, Hawaiian, Australian, might be ultimately lost,—the higher appellation of Chr1st1an uniting the whole world in one great brotherhood. In speaking of human beings, the names man and Christian are those only which express universality. The first regards the race as one; the other, as redeemed. All ’other names are local; all others tend to divide, not to unite nations; all others are more or less at the foundation of rival interests, of alienation, of war, of conquest. The names man and Christian alone lie at the foundation of universal love, concord, equal rights, and peace. II. The ample field, on which the talents of Saul, now summoned from obscurity, might act. That field was, first, Antioch itself, as a point of influence in the world; and second, the whole world, as now open to his efforts. (1.) Antioch itself. Antioch was one of the most prominent points of influence then existing among the nations. Babylon and Nineveh had lost their importance; Constantinople had not yet been founded; Paris and London were merely a collection of huts. Jerusalem, Alexandria, Ephesus, Antioch, Athens, Corinth, Philippi, Rome—these were the centres of influence and power ;—Rome the centre, and all these subordinate to that. A founder or a defender of a new religion, who sought the widest sphere for propagating it, would direct his attention to those first-named cities, with the purpose, sooner or later, of reaching the imperial city— the capital of all. Antioch, the capital of Syria, by its situation, its wealth, its commerce, its accessibility, its communication with the other parts of the world, its numbers, and the fact that, for purposes of commerce, there were multitudes gathered there from every other part of the world, was one of the most important centres of influence; and we may readily understand, therefore, why he was called, by the Providence of God, to labour in that city.1 1 "Antioch and Alexandria had become the metropolitan centres of commercial and civilized life in the East Their histories are no unimportant chapters in the history of the world. Both of them were connected with St. Paul : one indirectly, as the birthplace of Apollos; the other directly, as the scene of some of the most important passages of the apostle’s own life. Both abounded in Jews from their first foundation. Both became the residences of Roman governors, and both were patriarchates of the primitive Church. But before they had received either the Roman discipline or the Christian doctrine, they had served their appointed ourpose of spreading the Greek language and habits, of creating new lines o( commercial intercourse by land and sea, and o1 centralising in themselves the mercantile life of the Levant. Even the Acts of the Apostles remind (2.) The world itself would be suggested as a field of Christian effort, for which Saul was especially qualified, and which, in his call to the apostolic office, he had been designated to occupy. The new idea which had been started, and which led to the propagation of Christianity beyond the bounds of Judaea at all, was one which could not be confined in its operations to Antioch. It was too large and comprehensive to be hemmed in by so narrow limits; for the principles which made it proper to preach the Gospel in A ntioch, and to those who were not Jews, made it proper to preach it everywhere, and to all people. The events now occurring in that heathen capital could not but suggest to a mind like that of Saul, the fact that the whole world was to be visited by like influences of the Spirit of God. Thus were his great talents called forth and placed in the field which from the beginning it had been determined that he should occupy. Thus, too, was furnished one illustrious instance of the manner in which God qualifies particular men for some great work to be us of the traffic of Antioch with Cyprus and the neighbouring coasts, and of the sailing of Alexandrian corn-ships to the more distant harbours of Malta and Puteoli. Of all the Greek elements which the cities of Antioch and Alexandria were the means of circulating, the spread of the language is the most important. Its connection with the whole system of Christian doctrine—with many of the controversies and divisions of the Church—is very momentous. That language, which is the richest and most delicate that the world has seen, became the language of theology. The Greek tongue became to the Christian more than it had been to the Roman or the Jew."—Conybcare and Howson, vol. L pp. 9, 10. For a full description of Antioch, see Ibid, vol. i. pp. 118—122. performed, and of the manner in which, in due time, talent is called from obscurity. III. We may notice, as a great general truth in the progress of the world, the arrangements for calling talent forth to accomplish the Divine purposes. On this subject, the following remarks may be made:— (1.) The talent which exists at any one time in the world, is found in one of these forms: (a.) Talent in preparation for the future; (b.) Talent in obscurity, or not called forth; (c.) Talent employed in a purpose corresponding to the design for which it was created; (d.) Talent perverted and abused. These forms may exist separately, or two of them may be combined. Thus talent in preparation, and as yet in obscurity, may be combined, for the occasion may not yet have arisen to call it forth. We have no reason to doubt that while Saul was in Arabia, and while he was in Tarsus,,—in both cases in comparative obscurity,—he was actually preparing for the great work to which his life was to be devoted. (2.) There is talent created in each age of the world, for all the purposes of that age. It is brought into being by God’s power. It is not developed from the past; it is not the production of the mere laws of nature; it is not derived from any quality in the parents or the ancestry of those thus endowed; it is as much a new creation as would be the introduction of a new world into the system of worlds already made. There was nothing in the little village of Stratford-on-Avon that could pro duce the mind of Shakespeare; nor was there anything in the -mind of his father, the "glover" and "furrier" residing there, of which "Lear," and "Hamlet," and "Othello," could be regarded as the developement. The mind of Shakespeare was as really an act of creation as the creation of a world. There was nothing in the birthplace of Cardinal Wolsey, or in the character of the butcher his father, of which his great genius could be considered as the developement. So with Johnson, Milton, Addison, Cowper, Burns, Michael Angelo, West, Fulton. These minds were made of such capacity, such power, such adaptedness to a particular end, as God pleased; and were brought upon the earth at such a time, and in such circumstances, as He saw best. There is a difference, in this respect, between the arrangements which God has made for the physical wants of the world, and for its mental and moral wants. In the former case, long before man was upon the earth, in the very beginning, He had created, and had deposited in the earth, all the gold and silver, the iron and the lead, that the race which was to be made would need in all its history,—not to be created anew, as it might be required—and not to be exhausted. Mind, on the contrary, He brings upon the earth as it is wanted,—creating from age to age, as those which have acted their parts are removed, new minds to carry forward the great purposes which have to be accomplished. Mind, thus created, is designed to meet the wants of a particular age. At every period there is a class of minds needed to carry the world forward in its ordinary course,—in the regular developement of things; in working the fields already cultivated; in finishing the roads, canals, and houses already begun; in maintaining the institutions of learning and of charity which have been already founded; and in gathering up and transmitting to future times the results of observation and experience in that generation. As, however, the most marked advances which the world makes are not by a steady and easy ascent, but rather per saltum—by being suddenly raised from a low level to a higher steppe, plateau, or elevation, along which it is to move, until some new occasion shall arrive to elevate the race to a higher level still,—so (when the time arrives for such a new elevation) God creates the mind or minds fitted to the occasion. Thus some great law-giver appears; some splendid genius in poetry or painting; some man endowed with eminent military talents; some patient, plodding student; some profound philosopher. Such men as Moses—Solon—Lycurgus—lay the foundation for new epochs, and such "epochs" really constitute the history of the progress of the world. (3.) Under this arrangement, much talent may be obscure and hidden; much may be in a state of almost unconscious preparation for the part which it is to act. How little did Washington dream, amid the quiet scenes at Mount Vernon, of the great things which he was really preparing to accomplish! how little did Oliver Cromwell, on his farm, dream of the great part which he was to act in the history of the world! The emergency came. There was enough for those great men to do, and God had endowed them with talent sufficient to do all that was needful to be accomplished in their age. (4,) Emergencies do arise to call forth the talent which God has conferred. When liberty is endangered, when a country is invaded, when a new mode of government is to be instituted, when reforms are to be effected, when the world is prepared for some new and signal advance, then talent before hidden and unknown, but in a state of ample preparation, is brought forward to do its work. Such—in a more eminent degree than aught else (and indeed in a degree so eminent and so sacred as to make it seem almost profane even to allude to it at all, in the way of comparison with the ordinary progress of human affairs)—was the period when, after so long a preparation, and when "the fulness of the time was come," the Son of God was called from His obscurity in darkened Galilee, and by the descent of the Holy Ghost was solemnly consecrated to His work as the Messiah; for then the affairs of the whole world were to be put on a new footing, and the race was to be raised to a permanently higher level. Such also,—subordinate to that higher purpose, but still so marked in its character as to constitute a new epoch in the world’s history,—was the fact which we have been contemplating, the calling forth of Saul of Tarsus from his obscurity to act his part on the great theatre of human affairs. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: 2.08. SAUL AND BARNABAS SENT FORTH ======================================================================== VII. SAUL AND BARNABAS SENT FORTH. Christianity assuming the form of Missions to the Heathen. Missionary work the predestined sphere of Paul’s labour.—Duty of civilized nations to the uncivilized.—Barriers which hinder the attempt to spread a new religion.—Differences of nationality.—Distinctions of caste. —Diversities of colour.—Existence of separate religious beliefs.—Diffietilty of overcoming these barriers.—Unwillingness of the more favoured to proclaim truth to the less favoured;—and of the less favoured to receive it.—The teachings by which Christianity triumphs over these obstacles.—It declares (i) the unity of mankind; (2) an atonement made for all; (3) Gospel hope the same for all; (4) the way of salvation open to all; and (5) the same natural rights possessed by all.—What the Gospel has done lor us, and can do for others. "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." Acts 13:2-3. TARSUS. THE original destination of Saul of Tarsus, when he was called to the apostleship, was to the Gentiles, or the heathen,—or, as we should now say, to a missionary life. Thus the Saviour said to Ananias at Damascus, "Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings" (Acts 9:15). There can be little doubt that Ananias would in some form communicate this to Saul, and that thus the idea would take early possession of his mind.1 The same idea had been communicated to the mind of Saul at Jerusalem, and in a manner which could not be forgotten. In a vision or " trance" the Lord Jesus appeared to him, and said, "Make haste, and get thee quickly out of 1 Comp. Acts 26. I J. Jerusalem; for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me,"—and added, "Depart; for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles"—unto the nations— the heathen nations (Acts 22:17-21). Subsequently referring to that which distinguished him peculiarly from the other apostles, that which constituted the idea of the apostleship in his own case, he more than once alludes to this, glorying in the fact that he was "the apostle of the Gentiles," and rejoicing in the honour of the commission (Galatians 2:8; Romans 11:13; Galatians 1:16; Ephesians 3:8). The early Christian church, as we have seen, was gradually, but slowly learning to admit, as an element in its interpretation of the last command of the Saviour —" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature"—the idea that the message of salvation was to be sent, without distinction of nationality, of rank, of lineage, of colour, of political organizations, or of religion, to all the dwellers on the earth. Saul and Barnabas were now set apart, by special designation of the Holy Ghost, to labour in carrying out that idea. The appointment of Saul and Barnabas to this work among the heathen was an important event in each of their lives, determining their own future course. It was important as the manifestation of a more just view of Christianity itself; it was the first developement of the idea which has since gone so essentially and so far into the civilization of the world: viz., that ENLIGHTENED AND CIVILIZED NATIONS SHOULD SEND TO THOSE WHICH ARE BARBAROUS AND UNCIVILIZED A KNOWLEDGE OF THAT TO WHICH THEY OWE THEIR OWN ELEVATIOn. It is the idea of light radiating from a centre on regions of surrounding darkness; and it will justify, to the end of the world, or to the time when all nations shall be evangelized, the arrangements and organizations which distinctly contemplate the spread of the Gospel by missionary efforts. Paul and Barnabas started from Antioch with the idea, then fresh and new, that a religion fitted to be universal had been revealed; and that a period had arrived when there was to be "neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female," but when all should be "one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28); when there was to be "neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free," but Christ was to be "all, and in all" (Colossians 3:11). The following points here occur as proper to be illlustrated: the barriers which exist among the nations as hindrances to all effort to spread a new religion; the difficulty of overcoming those barriers; and the manner in which Christianity overcomes that difficulty, and lays the foundation for the spread of a universal religion. I. The barriers which exist among the nations as hindrances to all effort to spread a new religion. We have to consider these as obstacles which the Christian religion at first encountered, and which exist still as hindrances in the attempt to diffuse it among the nations of the earth. (I.) There is that, then, which springs from a different nationality, no matter what it may be that constitutes the nationality,—no matter what has been the history of the nation,—and no matter how its boundaries have been determined, whether by natural limits of rivers, seas, and mountains, or whether as the result of conquest, conventions, or treaties. "Mountains interposed make enemies of nations, Which else like kindred drops had mingled into one." Where nations belong to different races, and have sprung from different ancestors,—where their independence of other nations has been established as the result of bloody wars,—where they speak diverse languages,—where they have different relig1ons,—where they have peculiar manners and customs,—where the interests of commerce, industry, and the arts are different,—where they are rivals in trade,—where one is warlike and another peaceful,—all these, and kindred things, constitute barriers not easy to overcome. Thus to the ancient Jews, the whole world was divided, not improperly so far as the terms employed to designate them were concerned, into two great classes, "Jews and Gentiles,"—yet in fact producing in their minds the feeling that they were the peculiar favourites of heaven, and that all others were outcasts. Thus, in a similar manner, the Greeks divided the world into " Greeks and Barbarians,"—using a term, indeed, as applied to others, less respectful than the Jews used (for the Jews employed no such term in application to others as "Barbarian"), but producing among the Greeks a feeling much less exclusive than that entertained by the Jews. In modern times, a similar instance occurs among the Chinese, who regard themselves as the children of heaven, the "Celestials,"—and all others, as "outside Barbarians." In a world thus divided into distinct nationalities, any new religion that is sought to be conveyed from one land to another, and that claims to be a universal religion, must find serious obstructions to its reception and diffusion. (2.) The distinctions in social life—of rank and "caste"— constitute everywhere a barrier to the propagation of a new religion. These exist within a nation—in its own bosom; dividing a community (itself separated from other communities or nations) into distinctions of its own. These distinctions are found between the rich and the poor,—the learned and the ignorant,—the bond and the free; or they are distinctions based on a derivation from royal blood, an aristocracy, or a priesthood. In all lands, there has been a struggle of one class to climb to some eminence whence they might look down on the rest of mankind, and to create in their own minds, and in the minds of others, the impression that they are the favourites of heaven, and that others are aliens or outcasts. Part endeavour to persuade themselves that they were born to occupy thrones, and that the millions are born to be their subjects. Part seek to cherish the thought that they were born to be rich; that this fact was designed by heaven to exalt them over the humbler poor, and that those beneath them were born to be menials and vassals. Part strive to believe that they were born to live in indolence and affluence, sustained by an inferior class or race who were created to be their slaves. Part lay claim to the sacredness and inviolability of a priestly office, regard themselves as by birth and rank more holy than other men, and claim to be the channels through which grace is conveyed to mankind. For these favoured ones, the world stands; the sun shines; the winds blow; the heavens and the earth were made. Rank, liberty, property, salvation, is theirs; penury, vassalage, ignorance, debasement, bondage, is the inheritance of the rest. The prince, heaven-appointed, is to reign; the mass are to lie at his feet. (3.) In an eminent degree this distinction is made in regard to colour and complexion,—constituting, in many cases, a barrier in society which the highest forms of civilization, culture, and religion have not been able entirely to overcome. It has been among the most cherished opinions of the class favoured with what they deem a fairer complexion, that this fact elevates them nearer to heaven, and constitutes, even in the eye of the Eternal Father, a distinction between them and the dark and dusky portions of mankind. They have, therefore, not only sought to enslave those of a different colour, but they have been slow to believe that, even in the eye of Him who looks upon the heart rather than the outward appearance, a dark skin is not an emblem of a darker and more dreadful debasement than is found under a white one, and seem to imagine that even if the blood of the atonement is sprinkled on them as on themselves, it fails to efface the distinction, and to place them in any manner on a level. Far more formidable, in some respects, than the barrier which separated the Jews from the Gentiles,—than that which alienates nation from nation,—than that which divides princes and people, nobles and serfs,—than that which separates the different castes in India,—is the prejudice which arises from colour, connected as that prejudice is with the degrading practice of slavery. (4) Still more difficult is it to overcome the barrier which exists among nations as caused by a difference of religion. The idea has prevailed extensively in the world, and still prevails, that the existing religion of each nation is, by the purpose of the Creator, their own, —designed like their laws, their manners, their customs, their climate, their rivers, lakes, and mountains, to separate them from other people,—a religion good for them; adapted to them; intended for them; and not to be changed for the religion of another country. Their religion is not, indeed, claimed to be a religion for the world; it is for them;—it is not to be carried abroad to other lands, but it is to be cultivated and sustained in their own ;—it is not to be conveyed by conquest to supplant the religion of another nation, but it is to be protected by law in their own. And as it is not to be propagated in other lands, so the religions of other lands are not to be propagated there. Such are some of the barriers which exist among the nations, and which have to be encountered by all who go forth to carry the Gospel into heathen lands. II. The second point which I proposed to illustrate was the difficulty of overcoming these barriers. This difficulty exists substantially in two forms: (1.) In leading those who regard themselves as of the more favoured class, and who look with contempt and disdain on those of a different rank, colour, or condition, to offer to others the same privileges as themselves, or to admit the idea that others are to be addressed as on the same level. To counteract the narrow feeling in the minds of His own apostles required all the skill of the Saviour Himself. He taught His disciples, indeed, that the Gospel was designed for all men, and was to be preached to all the world; but He taught this truth even to them in such a way as not to alarm their Jewish prejudices,—and, when He declared it to the Jews, He did it always by parables, in such a manner that it might be gradually and insensibly insinuated into their minds, as one of the least palatable truths which he had to communicate to them. To do good to the SyroPhenician woman as a Gentile, it was necessary to brave all the established sentiments of the nation, who regarded such as " dogs," and as entitled to none of the favours provided for the "children" of God (Matthew 15:26). Strange as it may seem in the case of one who had been three years under the direct teaching of the Saviour, it required a special revelation to convince Peter that he should go and carry the Gospel to a Gentile,—though a man of rank, and though belonging to a nation which had conquered the world, and to which even the country of the Jews was subject (Acts 10:14-15). (2.) A still more serious difficulty is found in men’s unwillingness to receive a communication or a message, in favour of a new religion, from one of inferior rank or condition. This would occur in the time of the apostles; and it occurs in all ages. Who is ignorant of the scorn with which the Athenian sage and Roman philosopher looked upon all that emanated from Judaea? Who knows not what a mighty obstacle this was when the Gospel was preached at Athens, at Ephesus, at Antioch, at Rome? The Jew was indeed known in most lands ;—for to most lands he had gone as a captive and a slave. But he was regarded with a singular mixture of hatred and contempt. He was hated on account of his religion; for his bigotry, his narrow-mindedness, and because he was supposed to be a "hater of mankind."1 As destitute of science, literature, philosophy, and the arts,—and as a slave,—he was despised. How natural was it that Greeks and Romans should turn away from those who came out of Judaea to instruct the nations in the knowledge of God, the nature of the human soul, the doctrine of the resurrection, the way of salvation! How hard it is for a master to be willing to receive the lessons of religion from one who has been or is his slave, —a prince, from one of his own subjects,—a rich man, clothed in purple and fine linen, from the beggar at his gate; a philosopher, from one learned in no science, occupied in the humbler arts of life, acquainted only with the plough, or the anvil, or the loom, or the shoemaker’s bench! With what contempt would a Brahmin 1 So Tacitus says of the Christians who were put to death in the time of Nero, and who were in the public estimation identified with Jews;—"Therefore they were f1rst seized who made confession [who professed to be Christians], and then a great multitude who were pointed out by them, who were convicted not so much for the crime of burning the city, as because they were enemies of the human race."—Tac. Ann. xv. 44. turn away from one of humbler "caste" who should undertake to teach him the nature of true religion; or a priest ministering in gorgeous robes at a Pagan altar, from one of the lowest of the people! How slow would be an Englishman, a Frenchman, an American, trained in the schools of learning, to listen on the subject of religion to one sent from the Fiji Islands, or from Caffraria. In respect to social position, to science, to literature, to the arts, the apostles could never claim to be on a level with the nations to whom they were sent; everywhere they had to encounter and surmount this difficulty, that while they professed to come to elevate the people of other lands in respect to religion, they were far below them in things which those nations most valued, and on which they most prided themselves. The relative condition of nations has changed in our times, and the missionary goes out under better auspices. He goes now from a land of civilization, and science, and art, to those lands where such things are unknown; he carries with him the printing-press, the quadrant, the telescope; he goes from nations which, under the influence in a great measure of the religion which he proclaims, have risen high in wealth, in manufactures, in commerce, and in refinement, to lands still sunk in barbarism. Yet still this difficulty exists. Take, for illustration, the Chinese. Proud of their numbers, their antiquity, their laws, their imagined central position, their arts,—secluded from the rest of the world by their customs and their institutions,—fancying that the whole world is dependent on them for their agricultural and mechanical productions,—they have disdained alike the arts, the science, and the religion of foreigners. An obstacle exists in their case to a great extent quite as stern in its nature as was the proud philosophy of Athens or Rome, and far more formidable in the numbers of those who are influenced by it. When it shall be said, as it will be, that that barrier is surmounted, and when the Gospel is preached throughout the territories occupied by those hundreds of millions, and when they welcome the religion of the Cross as they once did the foreign religion of the Buddhists, tlien there will be furnished another demonstration (not less impressive than that which occurred in the early ages of the Church) of the power of that religion which subdued the pride of Greek philosophers, and sat down triumphantly "on the throne of the Caesars." III. The way in which these obstacles are surmounted. This will lead us to notice the truths by which the different barriers between nations and classes have been broken down, and by which Christianity has shown itself worthy the attention of the most enlightened nations of the earth. (1.) There is, first, the distinct revelation of the truth that mankind are one race; the children of a common parent; on a level before God. No truth more vital, more far-reaching, more powerful in its bearing on human rights and human liberty, more potent in elevating man, has ever been proclaimed to the world. The belief of this has had a very imperfect hold on the human mind; and the disbelief of it has led to some of the most tyrannous acts in ancient or modern times. But Christianity admits of no doubt on that subject. The doctrine of the unity and the equality of the race lies at the foundation of all its revelations, its claims, its promises; nor does it ever admit the idea that differences of climate, of complexion, of temperament, or of habits and customs, constitute any argument for an essential diversity of races. Revelation describes the creation of man as the creation of a single pair. It follows down the history of the descendants of that one pair alone. It records the scattering of their descendants over the world. It declares that "God hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26). The doctr1ne of depravity which it urges, is a doctrine which pertains to men everywhere, as derived from the fall of that one pair; and it makes no exception when it says that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." As it was on that one pair that sentence of death was passed on account of sin, so no one, prince or potentate, high or ignoble, learned or ignorant, can show that he is exempted from death as belonging to another race— for the graves of such men are scattered all over the earth,—and no one of the race lives always. The Redeemer gloried in the title "SOn OF MAN," for He came not to take on Him the nature of the Mongolian, the Caucasian, the Ethiopian, or the American, as such,— but the nature of man. In whatever respect the incarnation of Christ bears on the destiny of those who dwell on the earth, it has respect to them as men—to each man—to every man;—and it is as proper for one human being as for another to say that when God was "manifest in the flesh" it was his nature that was honoured by being taken into permanent union with the Deity. (2.) So, secondly, the work of Christ had respect to all men; and whatever there was in the atonement, as such, was designed for one as much as for another!— "One died for all." "He, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man." Whatever there is in the blood of Christ to secure the pardon of past sins, to deliver from death and hell, and to sanctify the human soul, is as applicable to one as another—to the peasant as to the prince; to the man of lowest "caste" as to the highest; to the slave as to his master;—to the Jew, to the Chinese, to the African,—to the Mongolian, the Caucasian, the Ethiopian, the aboriginal American. All have been atoned for alike; all have the offers salvation made to them alike; all are placed by the Gospel on the same level here; all may occupy the same rank in heaven. There is no higher argument that can be addressed to men to prove their equality, than to say to them that they all have been redeemed by the same blood—the blood of the Son of God. (3.) So, thirdly, the hopes inspired by the Gospel are the same for every human being. When the Gospel reveals the doctrine of immortality to one man, it reveals it to all. When it makes known a heaven for one, it unfolds it for all. And it is a great thing to go forth to the world—to a world where men are broken into ranks, and separated from each other by otherwise impassable barriers,—a world where nations and tribes are waging war with each other,—a world where one class seems hopelessly degraded, and another hopelessly arrogant,—and to say to them that, in the hope of immortality, they are all placed on the same level before their Maker. (4.) So, fourthly, the way of salvation is the same for all. No one has any priority of claim by his rank, or enjoys any peculiar facilities for salvation by his titles or his wealth; and no one is excluded, or placed in less favourable circumstances, by his poverty, his ignorance, his servile condition. Neither ignorance, nor humble birth, nor complexion, shuts any man out of the kingdom of God. As all, no matter how high in rank, are to be saved, if saved at all, by faith in Christ Jesus, so all, no matter how humble in rank, may be saved by the same faith. As no one can adventure nearer the throne of God in virtue of his rank, his wealth, or his talent, so no one is kept farti1er from that throne by his low condition, or by his poverty of wealth, of learning, or of intellect. The prince and the sage arc not more welcome to heaven than the poor and ignorant. (5.) And so, fifthly, the gospel advances with the truth that all men are invested with the same natural rights ;—the same right to the light of the sun, to cheer them and to guide their footsteps;—the same right to the tides, and the winds, and the stars, to conduct them and their cargoes across the ocean ;—the same right to limb, and liberty, and life;1—the same right to the air, and to the productions of the teeming earth, and to a spot wherein to sleep the long sleep when they are dead. The Gospel cannot be preached in its purity without leaving this impression on the minds of men, and without sooner or later breaking down every custom and law that is opposed to it, for these rights grow out of the facts which have just been enumerated. You cannot preach the Gospel in its purity over the world, without proclaiming the doctrine of civil and religious liberty, — without overthrowing the barriers reared between nations and clans and classes of men,—without ultimately undermining the thrones of despots, and breaking off the shackles of slavery,—without making men everywhere free! These remarks may illustrate the truth which I suggested at the commencement of this chapter, that the idea of preaching the Gospel to all nations alike, regardless of nationality, of internal divisions as to rank, and colour, complexion, and religion, constituted the beginning of a new era in history. Nothing has occurred in times fast, so fitted to change the condition of the world as this truth viewed in all its bearings. And there is noiv no other element of power which will work so important changes in overturning thrones of tyranny, loosening the fetters of bondmen, opening prisons, 1 "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."—Declaration of American Independence. putting an end to war, annihilating caste, and scattering abroad the blessings of freedom. We, as Christians, have that in our possession, which, without impoverishing us, would diffuse over the world prosperity and peace; which would elevate the race, enlighten the ignorant, comfort the afflicted, release the captive; which would make the wilderness and the solitary place glad, and the desert bud and blossom as the rose. Christians, admire and adore the goodness of that Universal Father who has broken down every barrier, and sent the messages of grace to you, so that you are "no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." " Our ancestors were Gentiles, heathens, savages. They worshipped idols of wood or stone, and groaned under debasing superstition. To them the Gospel was preached; the Gospel raised them from their low condition; wrferein we differ from them, the Gospel has made us what we are; and as long as we hold the doctrines of that Gospel in their purity, no man can wrest our liberties from us. Be it ours to spread the religion to which we owe so much. Other nations have a right to it; and it would elevate them as it has done our fathers and ourselves. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: 2.09. PAUL AND SILAS AT PHILIPPI ======================================================================== VIII. PAUL AND SILAS AT PHILIPPI. The Assertion of our Sights. The demand made by Paul.—The wrong done to him could not be undone. —But it could be openly acknowledged.—The rights which Paul had as a Roman citizen.—The advantages thus secured to him by law.—The violation of these rights.—Philippi, a Roman colony.—Christian Church formed.—The possessed woman.—Results of her cure.—Paul had thereby done no wrong.—The unjust treatment he endured.—The propriety oj his demand.—How to be reconciled with the teachings of Christianity?— (1.) By the example of Christ Himself.—(2.) By the value of good laws; the struggle it has cost to establish them; and the duty of striving to maintain them.—(3.) By the important influence of cnaracter, as bearing on the claims of Christianity itself. "But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly, uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily; but let them come themselves, and fetch us out." Acts 16:37. IT is my purpose now to consider an assertion, on the part of the apostle Paul, that his rights as a Roman citizen had been violated by those who pretended to act under Roman authority, and a demand on his part for a public acknowledgment of that wrong. Made sensible by reflection, and by the remarkable events which had occurred during the night when Paul and Silas were imprisoned, that injustice had been done to these men, the magistrates—01 arnartrfoi—the Roman prcetors—those entrusted with the civil administration at Philippi, "sent the Serjeants"—roue pafiSouyoue—literally, the " rod-holders," the lictors—or, as we should say, the constables,—directing that the prisoners should be discharged (ver. 35). This was done "privily"—secretly,—without any public proclamation; with no open avowal that wrong had been done. If Paul had accepted this, and had been discharged in such a manner, he would have gone forth safely indeed, but under the prejudice against him produced by the fact that he had been condemned by the magistrates; that he had been scourged for crime; that he had been imprisoned on a charge of violating the laws of the empire; and, consequently, with all the presumption against him that this was a just sentence, and that he had been actually guilty. So far as the judicial sentence of a Roman magistrate could operate (and it might affect him wherever he went—even in Rome itself,—for the sentence of a magistrate was presumed to be in accordance with justice), he might suffer from the effect of this condemnation, scourging, and imprisonment. He resolved, therefore, not to accept of a discharge on these conditions, but to demand a public assertion, on the part of the magistrates, that an act of injustice had been committed. He wished that the influence of their retraction should go as far as the influence of the condemnation had done; in other words, that the one should counteract the other. The wrong could not, indeed, be undone. The truth that he had been condemned could not cease to be a truth. The fact that from him and Silas their clothes had been "rent off;" that "many stripes" had been laid on them; that they had been "thrust into the inner prison;" that their feet had been "made fast in the stocks;" that they had been treated in a harsh and unfeeling manner by a jailor in the service of the Roman magistrates; that (thus suffering) they had been left unpitied in a dark and gloomy dungeon, could not cease to be a fact in their history. But Paul and Silas, as Roman citizens, could demand as a right that the magistrates who had injured them should publicly confess the wrong, that they themselves might be publicly acquitted, and allowed to go to their work without any prejudice against them in the public mind from what had occurred at Philippi. This was done. The magistrates feared when they heard that they were Romans; and they came and "besought them"—entreated them— begged them—" and brought them out," (vers. 38, 39.) The subject which is suggested for our consideration by this portion of the history of the apostle Paul, viz. THE ASSERTION OR VINDICATION OF OUR RIGHTS, is not without practical importance, though it is not without difficulty. The questions arise, how far is this proper? when is it proper? with what motives should it be done? how can this be reconciled with the requirements of meekness and a spirit of forgiveness? For a proper illustration of these points, it will be necessary to consider— I. The rights which Paul had as a Roman citizen. In what way Paul had become possessed of these rights, whether in virtue of his birth at Tarsus as a "free city," or in consequence of some service rendered by his father to the Roman government, is not of importance. He did not hesitate to avail himself of it; and the appeal in each case, when he made it, was recognized and allowed. To Paul this right was invaluable. It was in itself an honour, and would be everywhere so regarded. It gave to him who enjoyed it, the protection of the best system of laws known among men,—for there can be no doubt that the Romans had advanced far beyond other nations in their jurisprudence. In any part of the world, moreover, where the Roman power extended, it conceded that right . Thus Cicero says (against Verres, v. 57) "That declaration and appeal, ’/ am a Roman citizen} has often brought aid and safety even among the barbarians in most distant lands." There were also special rights conferred by this. A Roman citizen might not be crucified; a Roman citizen might not be scourged. The laws especially protected a Roman citizen from being beaten.1 Some of the most powerful appeals of Cicero in his orations were in cases where the laws, which protected Roman citizens from such’ insult, had been disregarded by Roman praetors (Orations against Verres, v. 62, 66). The privilege of Roman citizenship also secured the right of a public trial. No man could be legally condemned, even for the slightest offence, without the formality of such a trial (Cicero, as above, i. 9). This tended, in an eminent degree, to maintain justice. Of all the ancient nations the Romans were most eminent for the sternness with which justice was administered. Brutus, with the approval and applause of the whole nation, condemned his own son to death for crime,—on the general principle that all private and personal feelings were to be sacrificed to justice in any and every case. II. We have to notice the manner in which these rights had been violated in the case of Paul and Silas at Philippi. The consideration of this will make it necessary to describe the causes which gave offence on the part of Paul and Silas; the opposition which was aroused; and the countenance lent to an excited mob by the Roman magistrates. It is proper to remark, first, that Philippi was a place where Paul might have presumed on the protection of the R man laws, no less than in Rome itself. The author of the Acts of the Apostles describes it as "the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony"—KoXwvla (Acts 16:12). The term was used in this instance with the strictest propriety, and it implied much more than the term "colony" does now with us.1 In such a place, Paul and his fellow traveller, as possessing the rights of citizenship—and even, as strangers, — might have looked for security from wrong. Either the fact that they were Roman citizens had not before been made known to the magistrates, or, if it had been made known, it had been disregarded. Paul and Silas commenced their work in Philippi as 1 "A Roman colony was no mere mercantile factory, such as those which the Phoenicians established in Spain, or on those very shores of Macedonia with which we are now engaged; or such as modern nations have founded in the Hudson’s Bay territory, or on the coast of India. Still less was it like those incoherent aggregates of human beings which we have thrown, without care or system, on distant islands and continents. It did not even go forth, as a young Greek republic left its parent state, carrying with it, indeed, the respect of a daughter for a mother, but entering upon a new and independent existence. . . . The colonists went out with all the pride of Roman citizens, to represent and reproduce the city in the midst of an alien population. They proceeded to their destinaquietly as possible. There were Jews in the city, but the number was small, and (unlike most other places, in heathen countries, where there were Jews) no synagogue was found in it. There was, however, on the banks of the river which flowed near the city, one of those humble and temporary structures which the Jews frequently erected, when too poor or too few to erect a synagogue, called proscuchce—places of prayer. These were slight structures—mere enclosures—open usually to the sky. To that place, Paul and his companion resorted, and addressed the few—mostly women—who were accustomed to resort thither. The heart of one of them, Lydia, a native of Thyatira, a seller of purple, the Lord opened, and she was converted; her house became the home of the travellers; and a church was gradually formed. A bitter persecution, however, unexpectedly arose. The circumstance that gave rise to it, was one in which Christianity came in contact with heathenism, in one of its prevalent forms, and in a form in which (as afterwards at Ephesus, Acts 19:23-34), the tion like an army with its standards; and the limits of the new city were marked out by the plough. Their names were still enrolled in one of the Roman tribes. Every traveller who passed through a colonia saw there the insignia of Rome. He heard the Latin language, and was amenable, in the strictest sense, to the Roman law. The coinage of the city, even if it were in a Greek province, had Latin inscriptions. . . . The colonists were entirely free from any intrusion by the governor of the province. Their affairs were regulated by their own magistrates. These officers were named Duumviri; and they took a pride in calling themselves by the Roman title of Praetors (iaov,—that is, to pass it without stopping there. The discourse which Paul delivered to them is one of the most tender, affecting, solemn, and instructive in the New Testament. It may be regarded as especially valuable, not only as describing his labours in Ephesus, and as, we may presume, giving a fair account of his usual modes of labour elsewhere; but, at the same time, as furnishing the most touching and beautiful delineation to be found anywhere of the true method of labour for a Christian minister. It presents a more impressive view, not only of his own fidelity, but of the nature of the ministerial work, than any other connected portion of the New Testament; and with this now in our possession, we cannot but feel that the Volume of inspiration would have been incomplete if such a discourse had not been delivered and recorded. We are to remember, that Paul laboured longer at Ephesus than at any other place; and this description will, therefore, furnish the best illustration which can be found in his own life of the design and nature of the pastoral relation. The discourse was not conceived or uttered in a spirit of vain-glorying or boasting, but it bears throughout marks of the deepest humility; yet, at the same time, it evinces a consciousness of great fidelity on the part of the speaker, and is proof of the fact that he had been eminently faithful. A man must have lived in accordance with this representation; he must have had a character to which no suspicion could be attached; he must have been pure, industrious, and upright, to have been able to make such an appeal in the presence of those with whom he had been in familiar intercourse for three years, and who had had an abundant opportunity to know what his manner of life was, and what was the estimate entertained of him by the church and the surrounding world. Every minister—every Christian —ought to have a character so stainless and pure, to have a reputation so unmistakable for fidelity and uprightness, and to be so certain that his life is without just cause of reproach, as to be able to make such an appeal, with the assurance that it will meet a response in the hearts of those who know him best; and any man may thus live, even in a world which is so unfavourable towards religion as ours is, and where there is so extensively a willingness to find in the lives of professed Christians that which is irreconcilable with the truth or the claims of their religion. As Paul had been, in fact, to all intents and purposes, the pastor of the church in Ephesus for about three years—a longer time than had been spent by him in any other particular church—it may not be improper to take occasion for proposing as a subject for consideration, A Pastor’s Review Of His Ministry. This was not, indeed, the close of the life and ministry of the Apostle; nor is there reason to suppose that he so regarded it. But a review of the past is as proper in the middle of life as at its close; and it would be wise for Christian ministers, and for all men, to pause often in the midst of their way, and to consider what life has been thus far. It may be desirable to change our plans, or our manner of life; it may be that in the course which we are pursuing, we are not making the most of life; it may be that the remainder could be better spent than the past has been; it may be well, as far as possible, to "settle up the account" thus far; it may be well to go over the past in anticipation of that day when all must be reviewed in the presence of God. Besides, in any such review of life, whether at the end of a day, a week, a month, or a year, or whether in those crises or turningpoints of life in which we pass from youth to manhood, or from manhood to approaching age, it would be well to remember that we may be near the close, and that the review which we then take, may be, in fact, the final one. In reference to a pastor’s review of life, the points which naturally occur for consideration, are such as the following:—The work itself, as a work of life; the proper duties of a pastor, as indicated by this address of Paul; and the calm contemplation of the future, in view of a faithful performance of these duties. I. The work itself, as a work of life. This is not, indeed, in so many words, referred to in the address to the elders at Miletus; but it is manifest in that address that Paul looked back upon his life in the ministry with approbation; he felt that his own life in that "profession" had been well employed; he had no painful recollections in having given up for that profession the bright hopes of his early years; and he had now no longings for the honours which he might have secured from the world if he had pursued the career on which he had early embarked. It is on the basis of these facts, that I shall make a few remarks on the work of the ministry as it appears to a man, either when mid-way he pauses to contemplate it, or when he contemplates it at the close of life. In such a review, a comparison will naturally occur to a man between the ministry which he has chosen, and the course of life which he might have pursued, and the honours and emoluments which he might have obtained, in some other calling. To all men there will be times of reflection on the wisdom of the course of life which they are pursuing; to all men there are moments of discouragement and despondency in regard to the profession which they have chosen; and to all men there are times when they will compare the reality in their actual course of life with the brilliant hopes which they cherished in their earlier days. In those dark moments, they cannot but ask themselves whether they might not have been happier in some other calling; and, if they have changed an early purpose of life, whether they might not have done better to have pursued it. There are moments in the life of a minister of the Gospel, when he cannot but ask himself whether he would not have done better to have been a lawyer, or a physician, or a merchant, or a banker, or a teacher, or a farmer. What might not John Wesley have been in wealth and fame and rank, if he had been a statesman instead of a Methodist preacher! Could such a man, on the review of his life, doubt that he had given up much, very much of what the world calls great, for the privilege of preaching the Gospel and making the Saviour known to men? It is but expressing the idea that Paul was a man, to suppose that to a mind like his even under the influence of the Gospel, a recollection must at times have occurred to him of what he had given up, and an inquiry as to what he had gained by the change. It is not from a want of religion, and is not a proof that a man has no religion, when this inquiry crosses his mind: for it need not be accompanied with any longings for that which has been abandoned, but, on the contrary, the result may be to augment his sense of the wisdom of the change, and of the value of that which has been obtained as compared with that which has been relinquished. In his lonely journeys in India or Persia, with no brilliant earthly prospects, far away from home and friends, sick and feeble, travelling often through the entire night, we cannot but think that to Henry Martyn there would recur the memory of past years; the honours which gathered around him as "senior wrangler" at the University; his reputation for scholarship, and his early aspirings. We cannot but suppose that he would compare what he might have been in that honourable career, with what he was as a missionary of the cross in a heathen land. Yet this may not have been, and we have every assurance that it was not, attended with any regret that he had forsaken all this, or with any desire that this might now be his, or with any feeling that he had made a wrong choice. The effect of all such reflections might have been only to increase his sense of the goodness of God to him, and to make him value more the life which he had chosen. There can be no doubt on the question how Paul, in this review of life, regarded his work. He speaks as a man who was conscious that the work in which he had been engaged was a noble work, and one which might properly task the best powers of man ; that it furnished no occasion for regret either in regard to its nature and object, or in view of what had been abandoned in order that it might be pursued, or in view of what had been suffered in endeavouring to carry out its great design. Neither in this discourse, nor in any of his epistles, is there the remotest suggestion that he repented the choice which he had made, or that he sighed for the honours or the wealth which he might have secured in a secular calling. The language which he subsequently used in reference to himself was as applicable to the voluntary surrender of these things, as it was to his early views of religion, " I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things" (Php 3:8). Not when men take a true estimate of the value of things to be gained or lost,—not when, casting their eyes over the past and looking out on the future, they ask what life is, and what is its design, and what is the value of the human soul,—not then do they pour forth tears of regret that they have resigned even the most brilliant of earthly prospects that they might become ministers of the Gospel, or feel that they have given up the greater to embrace the less when they have turned from the bar, or the senate, or the gains of commerce, or the attractions of science, and have left the ranks of the rich, the worldly, and the gay, in order to spend their lives in telling the tale of redemption even to the humblest dwellers on the earth. II. The second point to which I referred is the character of a pastor, or the nature of the pastoral office, as indicated by this address of Paul. In the last chapter I had occasion to refer to the proper aims and efforts and manner of ministerial work as illustrated in Paul’s address to the elders of the church in Ephesus. But there are other aspects in which his example, as bearing on the particular subject now before us, calls for attention. (1.) The first is, that he could say, appealing to them as witnesses of the truth of what he affirmed, "I am pure from the blood of all men" (ver. 26). The meaning of this language is plain. It is derived from such expressions as occur in Ezekiel, where the "watchman," by whose neglect or unfaithfulness men are left to perish unwarned, is declared to be guilty of their "blood" (their ruin), and where the faithful watchman, though men reject his message, and perish in their sins, is declared to be innocent (Ezek. iii. 18, 19). A declaration of similar import we have from the Apostle Paul himself: "We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish" (2 Corinthians 2:15). The statement of the apostle, as made to the Ephesian elders, implies two things;—his consciousness (a) that he had stated nothing in his ministry which was fitted to lead them away from God, or to ruin their souls; and (&) that he had done all he could do to save them. He had brought before them such truth, and had urged it so constantly, and plainly, and faithfully, and perseveringly, in private and in public, that he was now certain that if they perished the fault would not be his, but would be their own. With the same consciousness he said to the Jews at Corinth, "Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean" (Acts 18:6). It is much, very much, for a man in the ministry, on a review of his life at any period, to be able to say this. There are, in fact, few men, even with the low views of the design of the ministry which prevail among such as are engaged in that work, who are able to say this in sincerity. Few men could make such a statement without a fear that it might be denied by those to whom it was addressed. Few have been the men, few are now the Christian men, in any walk in life, who can feel that they have done all they could have done to present the truths of salvation to their fellow-sinners, or who have any degree of assurance that they might not have been the means of saving more souls if they had laboured more faithfully, more sincerely, more constantly, in the cause of their Master. (2.) The second thing to be noticed in regard to Paul’s work as a pastor is, that he had "not shunned to declare all the counsel of God "—iraaav T>)v /3ouxjjv Tov Qtov (ver. 27). This word counsel—j3o«/A»f—means properly counsel as given, that is, advice (Acts 27:12); then, counsel as taken by any one,—determination, purpose, decree (Luke 7:30; Acts 2:23; Acts 4:28; Acts 13:36; Ephesians 1:11; Hebrews 6:17). Here it means all the purposes, determinations, plans, decrees of God, so far as made known, and so far as bearing on men. It would include His general plan in regard to the method of salvation, and His particular purposes in regard to the application of that plan to individuals—either as affecting their salvation, or as determining their duty. The word used by Paul in the original, viri Kpfvo/uar)? How could he say that this was the point for which he stood before that august tribunal? (3.) It may be urged, therefore, that this was the trick of an orator rather than the act of a noble-minded man; that it was a cunning attempt to turn the mind from the main point at issue in order that he might save himself; that it was designed to embarrass, and divide, and confuse, but that it constituted no defence in regard to the charges which had been brought against him ; and that it had no tendency to enlighten the mind of Lysias respecting the cause of the trouble, or to aid him in the performance of his duty. It cannot be denied that there is much plausibility in these objections, and it cannot be doubted that there are candid minds that are troubled bv them, and that would be glad to have the difficulties suggested by them removed. III. This leads us then, thirdly, to consider the question whether the conduct of Paul can be vindicated as consistent with fairness, honour, manliness, and truth. (1.) We are to bear in mind that the Sanhedrim had no real authority in the matter; that they had no right to pronounce a sentence of acquittal or condemnation, that they had properly no jurisdiction over the case whatever, and that the matter had not been submitted to them at all with that view. They had, indeed, a certain jurisdiction over questions pertaining to their law and their religion; but this was not one of those questions. It was solely a matter which had been referred to them by a Roman magistrate in order U ascertain the cause of the riot, the tumult, the disorder, which had endangered the life of the apostle, and which constituted "a breach of the peace." That was a matter which pertained to the Roman authority exclusively, and of which the chief captain, as entrusted with the military command in Jerusalem, was bound to take cognizance. Lysias of his own accord, determined to bring the matter before this council, to ascertain one point alone,—" wherefore he was accused of the Jews" (Acts 22:30). That one thing discovered, if it could be, the case would then be entirely in the hands of the Roman authorities. But even in regard to this point, it was manifest at the very opening of the trial, that there was no hope of justice; no likelihood of securing the expression of ;i candid opinion. There was evidence that they would not hear his explanations, and that their minds were already made up to condemn him as the cause of the disorder. The command given by the high priest at the the very commencement of the investigation, so contrary to every principle of justice, and so clearly indicating a determined purpose to condemn the accused,—took away all prospect of obtaining a fair hearing, and of securing a just opinion of the case. The members of the Sanhedrim were prejudiced and passionate men; they were resolved on Paul’s condemnation; their minds had been already made up in the matter. If now, in this state of things, Paul could prove that, in condemning him, as it was manifest they were determined to do, the majority in the council would condemn themselves, and must deny their own peculiar doctrines —doctrines for which they had always been contending, could it be regarded as unfair or unmanly to show them that this must be so? If, without perverting the truth in any way, he could convince them that he had been suffering for what he and they held in common, and for what was a vital principle in their religion, would it be improper for him to endeavour to add their testimony to the truth of the doctrine, and at the same time to secure their influence in his favour? If this could be done, it seems difficult to see why it might not be done. It is certain that this was his aim. Whether this could be done, consistently with truth and candour, it must be admitted is a fair question. That question it is my object, in the following remarks, to examine. (2.) There was, in fact, an important difference ot opinion in the Sanhedrim on the most vital subjects of religion. That difference of opinion Paul did not make, nor did he increase it . He found it already existing. They all knew that there was such a difference. That difference pertained, among other things, to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead; to the separate existence of the soul after death; to the future state; to the hope of a future life; and, consequently, to the judgment, and to the world of retribution,—for, if the soul has no existence after death, and there is no resurrection of the dead, there can be neither a judgment, a heaven, nor a hell. It embraced the entire question respecting the existence of angels and spirits, and consequently affected all the views which were held as to the unseen and the future world. The difference of opinion on these subjects led to a complete difference of views and practice on the subject of religion,—a difference in worship, in hope, in .practical life; for what is, and must be, the religion of a man who has no belief in a resurrection and in the future state? What is his sense of responsibility? What hope can he cherish? What apprehension of the future will deter him from sin? What effort will he make to save men ?" Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die," must and will be the controlling maxim of his life. The problem to be solved by him will be, how to multiply, increase, and prolong the pleasures of sense, so as to make the most of life; and the practical life will be that of the voluptuary.1 It was impossible for Paul to magnify this difference beyond the reality, and he had a right to assume that this was a material and vital difference, and to act accordingly. (3.) It was a matter of fact, also, that, so far as these two parties were concerned, Paul was wholly with the Pharisees. He had been educated in the strictest manner in the doctrine of the Pharisees, as distinguished from the Sadducees. His own father was a Pharisee; and, in the education of his son, had removed him from the place of his birth, and put him under the instruction of the most eminent Pharisee of his age. 1 Of the practical effect of the view of life here adverted to, history has furnished numerous illustrations. I would refer the reader to a collection of facts given by Dr. AfcCosh in his work on "The Divine Government, physical and moral" (pp. 245—247). Paul had no sympathy with the Sadducees in the peculiarity of their views ; and there was not a man living, not even the most rigid of the Pharisees, who had a deeper abhorrence of the doctrine of the Sadducees, or a deeper sense of the danger of that doctrine, than he had. He had done more to propagate the doctrine of the Pharisees on these subjects than any Pharisee then living, even than Gamaliel himself. The doctrines here adverted to, and on which Paul claimed to be united in opinion with the Pharisees, were the peculiar doctrines of the sect. That he might hold many other opinions in which he differed from the Pharisees was true; but he did hold these, and he held none that were inconsistent with these. Moreover, he attached all the importance to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead which the Pharisees had ever done. It had lost none of its value in his estimation by his having become a Christian. On the contrary, its importance had become intensified in his view by what he believed had actually occurred,—the resurrection of the crucified Messiah from the grave,—and by all the hopes of eternal life which he now cherished through Him. Let any one look into Paul’s recorded addresses and into his writings, and he will see how prominent he made this truth. It lies at the foundation of all his preaching, and of all his arguments and appeals. On Mars’ Hill, it was the very point which he sought to establish, and the very thing which repelled from him the Epicurean and the Stoic philosophers. We may see how prominent he made this subject elsewhere, If we read the noblest chapter that even Paul ever wrote, —the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians:—"If there be," says he, "no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not raised your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. N in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable,"—iXtttvortpot, most the objects of compassion, most to be pitied,—since we have cherished more exalted hopes than any other men, only to be disappointed (1 Corinthians 15:13-19). With this full conviction of the truth of the great doctrine in which he had been trained, Paul now stood before the Sanhedrim. In the view of the Pharisees, it was the great doctrine of religion,—the line of division between them and the Sadducees; and as it had this importance in their view, so it had in his. It was not strange, therefore, that he sought to give it this importance, as he stood before the Sanhedrim. (4.) Paul held that doctrine now in a form which was to him most convincing,—which furnished to his mind the most certain confirmation of its truth (if not the only proof of its truth) in the fact that one had actually been raised from the dead; He had formerly held the doctrine on the same ground on which it was held by all the Pharisees—the ground of tradition; the ground of their interpretation of the Scriptures. We must bear in mind the different degrees of force between such arguments as these, and an argument derived from fad. We may easily suppose that as he stood before the Sanhedrim, he had the consciousness that he was now able to confirm the views in which he and they who agreed with him had been educated, by an argument vastly superior in strength to that in which they had been trained,—an argument which, in his view, removed all difficulties, silenced all objections, and put the question for ever at rest. To see the full force of this, it may be necessary to advert to a few considerations such as we may suppose influenced the mind of Paul. (a.) We are to remember how feeble and weak to a man who has arrived at an age to think for himself, is the proof of any doctrine considered merely as derived from education or tradition. Such evidence may indeed secure a belief of the doctrine, or prevent its utter abandonment, but still the mind asks for stronger evidence; and such traditionary and educational evidence cannot save a thinking mind from deep solicitude, or from many of the agitations of scepticism. (6.) We are to remember how feeble and weak is the evidence of the resurrection of the dead, as derived from nature; how restless the human heart has been on the subject; how vague, fanciful, contradictory, and absurd have been the views which men have entertained of the future state; how unsatisfactory the reasonings of the most able minds on the whole matter. Even now the profoundest argument from nature for the immortality of the human soul is that of Plato in the Gorgias,—an argument, which would convince no man of the truth of the doctrine. Can we doubt that Paul, early instructed in the Greek philosophy, had become deeply impressed with the weakness of all arguments for the future state as derived from human reasoning? (c.) We are to remember how comparatively slender is the proof of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead as derived from the Old Testament,—the only proof except that derived from tradition on which the Pharisees could rely. It is not to be denied that the fact of the future state, and of the resurrection of the dead, is to be found there; but it must not be forgotten, that we contemplate this with the New Testament in our hands, and with the light which that throws on the meaning of the sacred writers under the old dispensation, and not as men would interpret it before the coming of the Saviour. To those who lived under that dispensation, and before the clearer light of the Gospel was revealed, the argument for the resurrection of the dead, might not have been, and could not have been, as plain as it is to us. A large party, and that the most learned party in the nation—the Sadducees—did not find the doctrine of the resurrection and the future state in the Old Testament. When the Saviour argued the question of the resurrection with the Sadducees, He did not claim that there was any explicit statement on the subject, but relied on an inference,—an argument which, though strong and conclusive in itself, was nevertheless not obvious, and was one which might not occur to others:—"Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, for He is not a God of the dead, but of the living" ’(Luke xx. 37, 38). Assuredly, if there had been in the Jewish Scriptures any direct and clear proofs of the doctrine, He would not have relied on a mere inference in this form. Again there is much obscurity in the doctrine, as found in the Old Testament, even with all the light thrown upon the subject by the disclosures in the New Testament; so much so, that Bishop Warburton founded the entire argument for his "Divine Legation of Moses," on the fact, as he alleged, that Moses had entirely omitted all reference to the doctrine of the resurrection and the future state in his legislation. This argument is, indeed, paradoxical; but the fact that so plausible an argument could be made shows, at least, that the doctrine was not very prominent in the institutions of Moses, and may serve in some degree to explain the fact that the Sadducees did not find it there. (d.) We have now to contrast with this, that, in the view of the apostle, a fact—an undoubted fact—had occurred in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the grave. This fact made absolutely certain the faith in which he and the Pharisees had been trained. Instead of the uncertain argument from tradition; instead of the doubtful arguments derived from nature; instead of the argument derived from the disputed interpretation of obscure passages of the Old Testament,—there was now a fact which put all doubts to rest. The actual resurrection of the Saviour from the grave must settle the possibility and the certainty of the resurrection (comp. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23). It was in this form that the apostle now held the doctrine, and this was the reason why he made it so prominent in the presence of the Sanhedrim. (5.) It was this doctrine, as thus held, which was the real cause of all that Paul had suffered at home or abroad; and it was, in fact, this for which he had been "called in question." He had asserted, on all occasions, that Christ had risen from the dead, and had appeared to him after His resurrection. He had laid this doctrine at the very foundation of all his arguments for the truth of the Christian religion. This was vital to all his views of religion, and to all his personal hopes of salvation. For this he had endured persecution; and in order to diffuse a knowledge of this he had gone over the world, enduring all forms of privation and suffering. Thus holding the great doctrine in which he and the Pharisees around him had been trained, and which they held in common,—thus believing that he held it in a form which made it absolutely certain,—and thus regarding it as lying at the very foundation of all true religion, and of all his own hopes, and of the hopes of a dying world in regard to a future state, it was not a mere piece of cunning and adroitness in argument; it was not an evasion of the main point at issue; it was not taking an unfair advantage of a mere prejudice; it was not acting an unmanly and disingenuous part, when "he cried out in the council, Men, brethren,—/ am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: 2.16. PAUL IN THE CASTLE AT JERUSALEM ======================================================================== PAUL IN THE CASTLE AT JERUSALEM. Divine encouragement amidst the difficulties, struggles, and perils of life. Instances of special encouragement.—Seasonableness of it.—Difficulties and dangers.—(I.) Secret conspiracy.—Character of its agents.—Probability of its success.—Facility of its execution.—Means of its defeat . —(2.) Impending trials.—Before Felix.—Before Festus.—(3.) Approaching peril at sea.—Assurance of safety.—Hope of success needed by all men.—Cherished by all men.—Founded on the history of the past.—On God’s promises, general and absolute.—On innate hopefulness.—This hopefulness, a natural endowment.—This endowment, a proof of Divine benevolence. —Workings of this hopeful spirit, illustrated.—In the young.—In the mariner.—In tha merchant.—In the farmer; the soldier; the philanthropUt.—In the sufferer; and in the "And the night following, the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." Acts 23:11. NIGHT-JOURNEY IN JUDEA. ON two other occasions in the life of Paul, a special Divine encouragement was given to him similar to the one which forms the subject of this chapter. One, as we have already seen, was when he was approaching Corinth, and when, for some cause not fully known to us, he seems to have been filled with deep apprehension of danger, or to have been discouraged by the difficulties before him, or by his want of success in Athens: "Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city" (Acts 18:9-10). The other occasion, which we shall have to notice hereafter, was on the dangerous voyage to Rome: "For there stood by me," said he to the desponding crew, "this night the angel of God, whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar" (Acts xxvii. 23, 24). At other times he seems to have gone to his work under the general promises which God had made to him, and which He makes to all His people; but in these instances, the difficulties which environed him were such as to make a special promise appropriate. In the case before us, the special promise was that he should see Rome, implying that he would be permitted to preach the Gospel there. As one of the incidents in the life of Paul, and as giving occasion to illustrate what may occur in the lives of others, this special assurance of protection is worthy of consideration. The point suggested is THE DIVINE ENCOURAGEMENT GIVEN TO US In THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE GREAT PURPOSES OF LIFE, especially when surrounded with difficulties and embarrassments. In considering this, with the case before us in view, it will be proper to notice—I. The difficulties and dangers which then surrounded Paul; and, II. What we may learn from the assurance that he would be protected, and would be permitted to carry the Gospel to the capital of the world. I. The difficulties and dangers which surrounded Paul. Under this head we may embrace all those which were then apparent, and all those which he would encounter, and which would tend to thwart his purpose, before he should see Rome. The promise made to him would cover all these, for it made it certain that he would pass safely through all, till the object was secured. (1.) The conspiracy which had been secretly formed against his life. At no time probably had he been in greater peril; at no time had there been a greater probability that the malice of his enemies would secure a triumph in his death; at no time could an assurance of Divine protection be more appropriate or desirable. Of this conspiracy (Acts xxiii. 12—15), it may be remarked, (a.) That it was made sufficiently strong to render the accomplishment of the scheme morally certain. More than forty men were united in it. It may be presumed that it was composed of men who were ready to face any danger in order to accomplish the object, and of men the most resolute and determined among the enemies of Paul. The fulfilment of this design was secured also, as far as possible, by a solemn oath. They "bound themselves under a curse"—avtOtfianaav iavrovs, more literally, "anathematized themselves" or "bound themselves with an oath of execration;" ’AvaOifian aviOifiartaaf1tv iavrove, "with an anathema we have anathematized ourselves." That is, we have cursed ourselves with a curse; we have bound ourselves over to death— to destruction—to the wrath of God; we have separated ourselves from God’s favour, and devoted ourselves to eternal destruction (comp. Rob. Lex. ) if we do not succeed. The peril could not be small when such desperate men had bound themselves to the accomplishment of their purpose by such a solemn anathema. (b.) It was not in itself improbable that they would be successful in persuading Lysias to grant this. The influence of the Sanhedrim would be supposed to be great with him. It was proposed to urge the plea that they desired to "inquire something more perfectly concerning" Paul (ver. 15)—aKp1/3E—"more accurately or precisely" (Rob. Lex.); to obtain more minute information as to his principles, and as to what he had done. In support of this request, it might be urged that the former trial had been suddenly and unexpectedly interrupted; that in the excitement they had learned really nothing of his views and of his manner of life; and that now in a calmer manner they might pursue the investigation, and ascertain what was the real ground of the disturbance. It might be presumed, also, that Lysias would be quite willing to grant a request which promised to relieve him of his embarrassment . (c.) We may suppose that, if the request had been granted, it would have been an easy matter to have carried their purpose into execution. It is not probable that a strong guard would have been sent to accompany him on an errand apparently so peaceful, and it would not have been difficult for forty men fully armed to strike the fatal blow before protection could be given, whatever the consequences to themselves. In the vision Paul was assured of protection from this danger; and he was rescued in a most remarkable manner. In some way unknown to us a nephew of Paul received intimation of the conspiracy, and having communicated it to Paul, was dispatched by him with the intelligence to Lysias, who at once made ample arrangements for his removal to Caesarea, and with such a guard that he would be safe from the conspirators (vers. 16—24). (2.) The trials before the Roman governors, through which Paul was to pass before he could arrive in Rome. When brought to Czesarea, indeed, he was safe from those who had conspired against his life; but it was not yet altogether certain that he would not be delivered into the hands of the Jews, or that he might not be doomed to a long imprisonment which would prevent his reaching Rome. We may conclude that the address in the vision, "Be of good cheer, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome," was designed to sustain and comfort him with the assurance that from these dangers also he would be safe. The trials here referred to were those before Felix and Festus. There will be occasion to consider them more fully hereafter. At present it is necessary to allude to them only so far as they involved the danger that Paul might again be delivered into the hands of the Jews, or that he might be prevented, as the result of those trials, from going to Rome. The character of Felix (Acts xxiv.) was not such as to afford any very confident expectation that justice would be done. A man corrupt at heart and in his life (ver. 25); a man ready to be bribed (ver. 26); a man unacquainted with Jewish customs and opinions (ver. 22); a man disposed to do anything to gratify the Jews which would not directly affect the Roman authority (ver. 27); from such a man there was little reason to hope for a decision in accordance with justice. The probability that Paul would be delivered up to the Jews, and that his life would be again endangered, was not less in the trial before Festus than in that before Felix. Festus (Acts xxv.) was equally disposed to conciliate the Jews (ver. 9); and he therefore proposed that Paul should go again to Jerusalem, and be tried there. Paul saw that this might endanger his life, by his being again placed in the power of his enemies; and therefore he made appeal to Caesar—an appeal which admitted of no evasion, and which secured for him what had been promised him in the vision, that he should see Rome, and have an opportunity of testifying there in behalf of the Gospel. It is easy to see how, when brought before Felix and before Festus, the promise that he should "bear witness" to the cause of the Saviour "at Rome" was necessary to sustain him; and it is easy to imagine how often he might refer to this promise in the apparent uncertainty as to the result of the trial. (3.) He would again be placed in circumstances where the recollection of the promise would come to him. On the voyage to Rome, his life would be in danger. In the storm, and in the shipwreck which followed, all human probability of reaching Rome would fail entirely. Amidst these scenes, Paul could not but fall back on the assurance made to him, that as in Jerusalem so also in Rome he must testify of Christ II. We are now prepared to consider the assurance given in the vision, as an illustration of what may occur in our lives; of the arrangements which God has made to keep us from despondency and despair, and to set before us, amidst the dangers and uncertainties of life, such a hope of success as to call into proper exercise our active powers, and confirm our faith in Him. We shall not find, indeed, that this is an arrangement of miracle, or that it is by a heavenly "vision;" but we may find that for this purpose there is an arrangement which bears all the marks of a Divine origin as really as a miracle or a direct "vision," and that it is a striking proof of Divine forethought, wisdom, and benevolence. It will prepare us to consider this, if we bear in remembrance that there is need of such an arrangement; and that we are secretly conscious to ourselves that there is such an arrangement . (a.) There is need of such an arrangement. Life is a struggle of uncertain issue. We are often surrounded with perils. We are embarrassed in our way. We are disappointed and foiled in our plans. We are beset with enemies, artful, powerful, malignant. We see no egress from our difficulties; no way of escape from our danger. We cannot throw off the burden under which we seem ready to sink; and if we emerge from one difficulty, new ones thicken in our path. We cannot but ask, in these circumstances, whether there is not something to buoy up the soul; to support us; to comfort us. Obviously we need some arrangement that will inspire hope; obvibusly our world would not be complete if there were not such an arrangement; for, without this, men would settle down in despair. (b.) We are secretly conscious to ourselves that there is such an arrangement. The world, though full of disappointment and trouble, is not inactive, or despairing. The powers of man do not droop and flag. The shuttle is not still; the plough is not suffered to stand idle in the furrow; the anvil does not cease to ring; the spindles are not motionless; the ship is not suffered to lie at anchor until it rots at the wharf. The world is a busy world. All men have their own plans; and all are cheered with hope, and the great and constant movements on sea and land are carried forward under the stimulus of the Divine arrangements, the promises of God, the hopes which He inspires. There is something —a conscious something—which inspirits the mariner, the warrior, the farmer, the merchant, the traveller, the Christian. What is this arrangement? How does it appear from the arrangement that it is of Divine origin, and marked by Divine benevolence? In reply to these questions I shall advert to three things, which, in a world so full of conflict and toil, serve to give assurance or hope to men. (1.) I refer, first, to the records of the past, or the experience of the world. We have unconsciously before us, in our struggles and difficulties, the memory of the struggles of the past, and of the general prosperity and success which crown the conflicts of life. We may not, indeed, have this distinctly and definitely before our minds, and perhaps we are scarcely conscious that it has any influence on us; and yet, in our seasons of fear and perplexity, we secretly summon to our recollection all that we have observed, or all that we have been told, or all that we have read of a successful issue to efforts and perils like our own. Life is a battle. That is the record; that is the history of the world. The great lessons of the past come to aid us in our conflicts, and to encourage us with hopes of victory. Thus we have in our minds the memory of those who have been made immortal in the endeavour to break the yoke of oppression, and to secure freedom for themselves and for their children. Thus we have before our minds the memory of those who in early life have striven against the evils of poverty and dependence, but have surmounted those difficulties, and have been successful, honoured, and respected in their lives. Thus we have before us the memory of the farmers who labour hard, who cut down forests, who fence their fields, who plough and sow, uncertain what may be the result, but who gather in the golden grain, and fill their granaries with the fruits of their toil. Thus we have before our minds the memory of the mariners who have braved the dangers of the deep, who have penetrated distant seas, who have encountered storms and tempests, and who have returned from far distant lands in ships laden with corn, or oil, or silks, or spices, or gold, or ivory. Thus, also, in the effort to obtain the friendship of God, and the pardon of sin, we have before our minds the memory of those who have prayed, and wept, and pleaded for mercy, and who have found peace. Every soldier who has fought for liberty, every farmer who has cultivated his fields, every seaman who has made successful voyages, every merchant who has overcome the difficulties in his path, and every sinner who has struggled to find salvation, has been contributing his part in furnishing the lessons which are to guide us, and in imparting an inspiration which is to animate, to cheer, and to sustain us. These are the arrangements of God for the encouragement of struggling men; they show what is the general tendency of things in our world—a tendency favourable to effort and to virtue; they preserve the world from idleness and despair; and the result is seen in each new generation as it comes upon the stage. (2.) I refer, in the second place, to the general promises of the Bible in regard to success in our efforts, and to safety amid our dangers; especially to the promises of ultimate success in the great interest of life—the salvation of the soul. In reference to temporal matters, these promises are not indeed absolute and specific; in reference to the great end of life, they are. Success in our efforts in regard to this world may not be necessary to our highest welfare; success in our efforts to be saved, is. In the one case it was desirable that there should be such general promises of success as would stimulate us to effort; in the other case, it was indispensable that there should be an absolute promise of success in every instance where there was a desire to be saved, and where efforts should be put forth in accordance with that desire. Thus we find, in fact, that the promises of the Bible in regard to success in this life are of a general character (see Isa. xxxiii. 15, 16; Psa. xxxvii. 25; 1 Tim. iv. 8; Psa. lxxxiv. 11 ; Phil. iv. 19; Psa. xxiii. 1; Heb. xiii. 5). Of this nature are all those promises of temporal good addressed to the righteous, with which the Scriptures abound, and which constituted so large a part of the assurances of His favour which God made to His ancient people (comp. Lev. xix. 25; xxvi. 4; Deut. vii. 13; xvi. 15; xxviii. 4; Ps lxvii. 6). The old Jewish dispensation was founded, to a large extent, on these promises, but the spirit of those promises is found in every dispensation; and, as a great rule in the Divine administration, they are not disregarded. There actually is such a general measure of success in life as to correspond with these general promises. In reference to the future life, however, we find that the promises of success are absolute. These, in all cases when there is a sincere desire to be saved,—when there is corresponding effort or striving to "enter in at the strait gate,"—when there is true repentance,—and when there is genuine faith,—are without any contingency or doubt. There are no such failures and disappointments in regard to salvation as there are in the things pertaining to this life; nor for the purpose of discipline is it required that there should be any possibility of failure. Accordingly all the promises in the Bible in regard to salvation are of the most absolute nature; and we have the positive assurance that, if we seek it aright, salvation will certainly be ours (Matt. vii. 7, 8; Mark xvi. 16; John vi. 37; Rev. xxii. 17). That there are dangers and enemies in the way of our salvation, and that it requires a struggle, is certain. There are foes without, and foes within. There are the corruptions of our own hearts to be contended with. There are the temptations of the world to be met . There are the arts of the great enemy of souls to be overcome. But the promise of victory in regard to all these is positive; and any man may engage in the work of seeking after salvation under a promise as absolute and certain as was the special revelation of safety which was made to Paul. (3.) I refer, thirdly, to what may be designated an internal confidence of success, of safety, of protection, even when we have no direct promise, and when we could not secure the same conf1dence of mind by the exercise of reason or by any ground of probability which would be apparent to us. This is a more difficult point than those which we have been considering; and yet it constitutes a Divine arrangement as definite as those, and is one of the numerous things not often adverted to, which show that there is a God, and which express His benevolence. This is not revelation. It is not of the nature of a vision. It is not a direct Divine promise made to the soul. It is not the result of reasoning;—perhaps, as we shall see, it would neither be suggested by reasoning, nor sustained by reason. It is something with which God has endowed us in our nature, over and beyond our reason, and which was designed for the very purpose of encouraging us. Perhaps, in ordinary language, it would be called buoyancy or elasticity of spirit. It i.c hope ever springing up in the breast. It is a belief that we may be successful. It lives even when we have been disappointed, and spreads over the future a mild and pure light, that attracts us and leads us on. It is the prospect of a safe harbour, after being tossed in a tempest; of an oasis, or a fountain of waters, when we have been wandering long in a desert; of health, when we are sick; of safety, when we are in danger; of success, when all seems dark. Perhaps what is here intended can be best understood by supposing that God had made man, as He might have done (and as a very few of the race seem to have been made, apparently to show how all might have been made), with the opposite temperament or constitution. Obviously, He might have fashioned all men so that everything in the future would have looked discouraging, dark, and gloomy; and in this manner a malignant God would have formed the race. Instead of the buoyancy of spirit, and the inspiration of hope, and the elasticity and recuperative energy under which we rally from disappointment, and instead of the bright imagination which gilds and brightens the future, man might have been so created as to act on the mere reality of things as they actually occur,—or so that a morbid fancy would darken all surrounding objects, and cover all the future with a pall. Under such a form of creation, only the most absolute necessity would have prompted to exertion; and in the gloom of disappointment, the race would have sunk in despair. But God has not so made man. He has made him capable of being stimulated by hope; of looking forward to brighter things. The past is fixed, whether gloomy or bright;—the future, imagination makes bright;—and thus man is perpetually incited to new exertions. In all this we may see a great law of our nature designed to encourage the world, and to keep it from despondency, inaction, and despair. Could there be a more decided proof of Divine benevolence? (a.) How much of hope there is in the young man! What would there have been to stimulate him to effort, if he had been created with a gloomy instead of a hopeful temperament, and if his imagination had been so made as to darken instead of throwing a cheerful light on the future? Under what a discouraging cloud would he begin his way, if he had been so formed as to look only on the things of sorrow and sadness which may be in his future course,—or, when looking at actual life, to bring into prominence, and keep before his mind, the real sadnesses of life; if he had been made to reflect constantly on such subjects as the following,— How many fail in their plans! how many are cut down in the beginning of their way! how soon may I be cut down! But the imagination of the young does not dwell on these things. It fixes on the hope of success; on health, happiness, prosperity; on things that cheer and animate. (b. ) How much of this there is in the mariner! If, when he thinks of embarking on a voyage, his imagination should dwell only on storms and quicksands and shipwrecks,—if he should think only of the lives that have been lost on the coast to which he goes,—or if he should think only of the bottom of the ocean, over which he is to sail, as covered with the remains of vessels and the bodies of those who have perished in the tempest, —if he should conjure up all that has been real in navigating distant seas, who would venture to sail on the great deep? But the fancy of the seaman is on other things. He thinks of favourable winds, and prosperous voyages, and rich returns; and hence it is that the sails of commerce whiten every sea. (c.) How much of this there is in the case of the merchant! On entering into business, he does not think only of the number that fail, and of the hazards of trade, and of the uncertainty of the result, and of the condition of bankruptcy; but he places before his mind the image and the hope of success. His mind rests on that; and by that he is stimulated. (d.) How much of this there is also in the case of the farmer, of the soldier, of the man endeavouring to do good! If the first of these should dwell only on the hardships of his mode of life,—on the toil of clearing and cultivating the ground,—on late frosts in spring and early frosts in autumn,—on rust and mildew,—on the ravages of the Hessian fly, the weavel, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar; or if the second should think only of hard fare and hard marches,—of cold and hunger and thirst and danger,—of sickness in the camp,—of wounds on the battle-field, and of the groans and cries of anguish of dying men; or if the third should think only of the discouragements in the way of doing good in a world like this,—of the indifference of men to their best interests,—of their opposition to well-intentioned plans of benevolence,—and of their ingratitude,—how few would engage in the work of agriculture, how few would go forth in defence of their country, how few would preach the Gospel in Christian lands, or carry it to the heathen world. (e.) How much of this is there also in the sufferer on his bed, or the sinner seeking the salvation of his soul! If the one should look forward only to pain,—his imagination picturing to him all the future as only a prolongation of present endurance, aggravating every symptom of disease, and dwelling only on the numbers who under similar forms of disease have died, what gloom would settle down on every sick bed! and if the other should think only of his sins, and of the sorrows of the everlasting burnings, and never advert to the promises of God, to the cross of Christ, to the gracious terms of salvation, and to the number who have been saved, what sinner would hope for salvation? But God has created the mind buoyant, elastic, hopeful. He leads men to think of recovery and success, rather than to anticipate disaster and defeat. He has thus said to every man, not in distinct vision, as he did to Paul, yet really in language like that addressed to the apostle, "BE OF GOOD CHEER 1" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: 2.17. PAUL BEFORE FELIX ======================================================================== XVI. PAUL BEFORE FELIX. Christianity in contact with a corrupt heart. Value of historic characters.—Representative men.—Special value of Scripture characters.—History of Felix.—His characteristics.—Paul brought before him more than once.—First, on trial.—Paul’s defence.—Second interview.— Paul’s discourse.—The truths enforced.—Righteousness.— Temperance. — Future judgment.—Suitability of such subjects in all preaching.—Teachings of Christianity as to the judgment-day.—Natural effect of such truths.—Signs of conscious guilt.—They prove God’s moral government.—They disclose sin when committed.—They may restrain from its commission.—They tend to the reformation of the wicked.— Manner in which the impression of truth is often warded off.—The jailor and Felix contrasted.—Men are prone to delay.—Such delay always dangerous, and possibly fatal. "And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." Acts 24:24-25. CAESAREA. HISTORICAL persons have an importance not only as persons in history, and by reason of the interest attached to their lives, their opinions, their adventures, their exploits, their valour, or their ambition, but as representing certain classes of minds. In dramatic writings, this historical value and this representative value are sometimes combined; but the latter is that which is principally aimed at, when the character is the mere creation of genius, or when, if historical, the facts of the narrative are made quite subservient to the representative purpose—the purpose of furnishing some illustration of human character and conduct. Thus, as almost entire fiction, we have the character of Macbeth, Lear, Othello, Hamlet; as historical, with no studied exactness as to the facts of history, the character of Julius Caesar, Henry V., Richard III., Cardinal Richelieu; in real secular history, the character of Nero, Cyrus, Augustus; in sacred history, Abraham, David, Absalom, Ahithophel, Joab, Judas. In like manner there are historical characters introduced into the sacred narrative, not as characters developed under the influence of religion, nor as a part of the history of the Church, but which have a value as representations of the way in which the Gospel, in various forms, comes in contact with the human heart . It is thus that we have notices of Pontius Pilate; Gamaliel; Gallio; Festus; Agrippa; Felix; Drusilla. The Scripture narratives, as inspired, have this advantage over all other narratives, whether historical or fictitious, that we know the real motives which influenced the conduct . We are not left to a conjectural statement, as is often the case in Hume and Gibbon, and even in Tacitus, in explaining the motives of men long after events had occurred, and when there was no personal acquaintance with the actors; nor are we left to study imaginary motives of conduct, as in dramatic characters. We deal not only with a real character, but (if we believe in the inspiration of the sacred writers) we understand the exact character. We feel assured that it is accurately drawn. We know that no false motives are ascribed. We understand what influenced David, Joab, Abraham, Ahithophel, Judas, Peter, Paul, Pilate; we know what it was that made them what they appeared to be. Felix, whose case now comes before us, was a remarkable, but not a very uncommon instance, of one raised to a distinguished station, who had been born and reared in the lowest condition of life. He was by birth a slave, but he rose to little less than regal power. For some unknown cause, he was manumitted,—probably by Claudius Caesar (Suet. Claudius, 28, Tacit. Hist. v. 9); and on this account he is said to have assumed the name of Claudius. His brother Pallas, also a slave, was set free by Antonia, the emperor’s mother. Felix was loaded by the emperor with military honours; and, among other marks of favour and distinction, was made governor of Judaea. In that capacity, as well as of his character in general, Tacitus (Hist. v. 9), says that " in the practice of all kinds of lust and cruelty he exercised the power of a king, with the temper of a slave." In another place (Annals, xii. 56) Tacitus represents Felix as considering himself licensed to commit any crime with impunity, owing to the influence which he possessed at court. Josephus says that under his administration the affairs of the Jewish people became worse and worse.1 Felix was three times married. His first wife was a niece of Cleopatra. Of one of these wives nothing is known. Drusilla, mentioned in the narrative in the 1 An instance which occurred in relation to the Jewish high priest, will illustrate his general character. Wishing to compass the death of Jonathan the high priest, who had remonstrated with him on account of his misrule, he persuaded Doras, an intimate friend of Jonathan, to get him assassinated by a gang of robbers, who, with weapons concealed under their garments, joined the crowds that were going up to the temple,—a crime which (Josephus says) led subsequently to countless evils, by the encouragement which it gave to the Siearii or leagued assassins of the day.—Ant. xx. 8, 5. Acts, was a daughter of King Herod Agrippa, and was married to Azizus, king of Emesa. Felix employed a magician named Simon, to induce her to forsake her husband; and Drusilla, partly to avoid the envy of her sister Berenice, consented to the union with Felix. The fact of this adulterous connexion will illustrate the manner in which Paul spoke when brought before Felix in the presence of Drusilla. The character of this governor, as drawn by Tacitus, Suetonius, and Josephus, as well as by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles (for they all coincide in the description) was this:—He was a man of great energy, ambition, and power. He was admirable in some respects as a civil ruler, for he did much to put down disorder and anarchy in Judaea, and to maintain authority and law. But he was a man unprincipled in the manner in which he accomplished his objects; ready alike for his personal ambition, and in his civil rule, to employ any agents, and to make use of any means to secure his end,— bribery, corruption, falsehood, assassination, or any form of cruelty. He was a sensualist, a profligate, a libertine. He was venal and mean;—a man willing to be bribed, and coveting a bribe. He was timid and fearful, knowing that he was living in guilt, and that he had reason to apprehend the Divine vengeance. He was not insensible to the rebukes of conscience. He trembled at the preaching of Paul; yet was unwilling to repent . He was regardless of justice, for though evidently satisfied of the innocence of Paul, he unjustly retained him in prison. He had no love for religion, no respect for Christianity, no purpose to abandon his sins; yet, though he despised Christianity, and though he was alarmed at the prospect of the judgment to come, so superior to all these considerations was his love of gold, that he was willing to hear Paul, and to send for him often, with the hope that ultimately a bribe would be offered by him to secure his release. He succeeded in driving away his convictions. He so disciplined himself, probably, as to hear what the apostle said without trembling; and he continued to live in sin, even when subject to the rebukes of conscience, and with the apprehension of judgment before him. He loved gold more than he feared the compunctions of guilt and the wrath of God. He was a man who sought to postpone present attention to religion, not with an intention of attending to it afterwards, but to make a professed interest in it an occasion for serving**his own covetousness. Paul was brought before Felix on two different public occasions, besides the frequent interviews which he had with him in a more private and less formal manner. (a.) We have seen that, in order to secure his safety, and to ensure a fair hearing, he had been sent to Caesarea. The trial came on. The case was managed on the part of the Jews by Tertullus; and Paul defended his own cause in a speech every way worthy of the occasion and himself, against the charges brought by his accusers (Acts 24:1-21). Felix, having heard the matter argued, professed not to be fully informed on the subject, and deferred his decision until Lysias, who had had better opportunities of understanding the affair, should come to Caesarea (Acts 24:22). Meanwhile, he placed Paul under the custody of the centurion who had brought him thither, and gave him every reasonable indulgence in regard to free intercourse with his friends. (b.) It was in this interval, while Felix was professedly waiting for the arrival of Lysias, that Paul was brought the second time before him. Drusilla, it would seem, had been informed by Felix of the case, and being a Jewess, she, as Agrippa did afterwards (Acts 25:22), expressed a desire to hear more of what Paul alleged in relation to a subject of common interest to all the Jewish people. Felix "sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith of Christ;"—the faith in Christ; or, the faith in the Messiah. A Jewish princess, though corrupt, could hardly be supposed to be indifferent to anything which claimed to be a fulfilment of the prophecies respecting the Messiah. On this occasion all the circumstances were changed. Paul was not on his public trial now; he was not pleading with the hope of acquittal; he was not there to advance legal argument in defence of himself. He had an opportunity, therefore, of preaching the Gospel in circumstances which might never occur again. "His audience consisted of a Roman libertine and a profligate Jewish princess." It was mere curiosity on the part of one of his hearers, at least; but it was not to Paul a case to be approached with the mere desire of gratifying curiosity. He had before him two guilty wretches, living in violation of the laws of God, and travelling unpardoned to the judgment-seat. He was, indeed, a prisoner; but he felt now that he was a man; a preacher; an apostle. He had a solemn responsibility; a most difficult duty to discharge,—to reach the consciences of his guilty auditors, and to make their professed desire to hear him "concerning the faith in Christ" an occasion of showing them their guilt, their danger, and their need of a Saviour. Who can fail to admire the tact—the wisdom—the skill with which this was done? Paul did not offend Felix by rude and severe invective. He made use of no disrespectful or uncourteous language. He did not even address Felix personally; sinner, corrupt, profligate as he was. He selected subjects which seemed to be abstract—"righteousness, temperance, retribution,"— subjects momentous at all times, and which ought to be interesting to all men, and yet of such obvious fitness and applicability to the occasion and to the character of Felix, as might afford the hope that Felix would apply them to his own conduct and life. The result was what Paul hoped ; what he anticipated. Not by denunciation; not by invective; not by the threatening of wrath, but as "he reasoned "—SiaXtyonhov avrov, as he calmly discoursed, on these subjects—the attention of Felix was arrested; the truth found its way to his conscience, and he "trembled" in view of his guilt, and of coming wrath. The subject before us, therefore, is The CONTACT OF Chr1st1an1ty W1th A Heart Of Corrupt1on, And A LIFE OF GUILT. Three inquiries have to be made— I. What are the truths which Christianity has to address to such a man as Felix? II. What would be the natural and proper effect of such truths on the mind? III. What is the manner in which those truths are commonly met? I. The truths which Christianity has to address to such a man. As presented by Paul, they are the following:— (1.) Righteousness;—a topic eminently proper to be dwelt upon by Paul, as bearing on the object which he had in view, and on the character of the man before whom he stood. Nothing could be more appropriate in respectfully addressing one appointed to administer justice; nothing would be more likely to arrest the attention of one so venal as Felix. The subject was in itself so abstract as to be proper to be dwelt on at any time without any necessary suspicion of a personal reference; it was so related to God and His government, and would so naturally suggest the subject of retribution, and the method of justification before God, that it was among the most suitable of all subjects in speaking on the truths of religion. It would embrace the nature and the requirements of justice in the relations which man sustains to his fellow-men; and it would, at the same time, lead the mind up to justice or righteousness in the higher sense,—in that which pertains to God and to His administration. It would be (even without making a direct personal application), eminently appropriate to one whose life was steeped in crime; and yet it could not be regarded as discourteous to call on any one, no matter what his character, or what his rank, to inquire how man can be "just with God," for that subject occupied the attention of philosophers cverywnere, and was the foundation of the whole religion of the heathen world. (2.) Temperance;—IjKpart1a;—" continence, temperance, self-control" (Rob. Lex.) The power of selfrestraint, self-government. The word properly refers to the control of the powers and propensities of the soul; keeping them in their due place; securing their healthful and harmonious action; restraining every unholy propensity, and giving to those powers ol our nature which ought to rule the actual dominion. We now use the word in a very restricted and narrow sense as referring to moderation in eating and drinking— particularly the latter. The true idea of "temperance" as the word would be employed in the Greek language would be larger, for it would refer to dominion over every sensual passion or propensity,—pride, selfishness, lust, avarice, ambition, envy, covetousness, irritability, anger, wrath, revenge,—as well as to proper restraint in eating and drinking. This topic, too, was eminently appropriate in addressing Felix. Not characterized indeed as an intemperate man in the sense in which that word is now commonly used, it was appropriate to him in the sense that he disregarded, in his own case, the restraints imposed by the rules of a rigid morality; that he had not the corrupt propensities of his nature under control; that he gave free indulgence to carnal appetites; that he was a licentious and an unprincipled man. This topic, moreover, could not give any reasonable offence; for "temperance," or the proper control of the passions, was a subject which was freely discussed in all the schools of philosophy, and the duty was urged everywhere as essential to length of days and happiness. However the subject might in fact bear on Felix himself, or might have been designed to bear on him by Paul, yet no just objection could be taken to his introducing it in connexion with the "faith in Christ" (on which he had been requested to speak), as illustrating the claims and the nature of the Christian religion; and Felix does not seem to have taken offence at the introduction of the topic. (3.) Judgment to come. The account which all men must render to God; the subject of human responsibility; the connexion of the conduct of men with the future world ; the fact that human actions strike into the future, and must affect the future; the fact that all men are answerable to God for their deeds, and that there will be a day of final reckoning. This subject, also, was one that was peculiarly appropriate in discoursing before a man whose life had been like that of Felix. Addressing a corrupt, a licentious, a wicked man,—a man then living in open sin,—a guilty man who must, like other men, soon appear before the bar of his Maker, it was eminently proper that this should be a prominent topic. Fidelity to his trust, fidelity to God, fidelity to his own soul, fidelity to the soul of the distinguished man to whom he spoke, demanded of Paul that he should not shrink from this subject, and that he should not fail to warn a corrupt and profligate man of what must be the consequences of his course of life. At the same time, the introduction of such a topic could not properly be regarded as an adequate ground of offence. This pertained to the whole question relating to the Messiah, and the claims of Jesus of Nazareth to that office. A prominent subject, in fact, in the teachings of Jesus was the doctrine of the future judgment. To no other topic did the Saviour more frequently advert; on none were his addresses and appeals more plain, direct, peculiar, and solemn. So important did Paul regard it, that to the philosophers of Athens, as we have already seen, he ’declared the Christian doctrine on this point; and told them that God "hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead" (Acts 17:31). These are proper topics for preaching anywhere, and everywhere. These must enter essentially into all preaching and explanation of religion, and of man’s condition. These are the topics which God employs in arousing the human mind, awakening it from a state of lethargy, securing a sense of guilt, and leading men to feel their need of a Saviour; these are topics which lie at the foundation of all the success which attends the preaching of the Gospel. Righteousness. The great inquiry as to what constitutes right; the obligations of justice; the character of God as righteous; the character of man with reference to the question whether he is or is not righteous; the problem how a sinner may become righteous; the modes of maintaining right conduct in the relations and duties of life; the ways in which the obligations of right are violated; the injustice, the fraud, the dishonesty, which prevail in the world,—these and similar topics are always proper in addressing men. All right views of religion begin here; for no man can hope to be saved unless he has just views of the righteousness of God, and of the way in which the guilty may become righteous in His sight. Temperance. The proper restraint and government of the passions; the modes in which they break over all control; the consequences of indulgence in sensual and profligate habits; the destruction which such indulgence brings upon body and soul; the customs which encourage such violation; the methods in which multitudes pander to the guilty appetites of others;—the distress of families, the poverty, the disease, the "babbling," the "woe," the hearts broken, the fortunes ruined, the hopes blasted, the bodies consigned to an early grave, and the souls lost for ever by intemperance,—all these are proper topics in preaching; all are fitted to stir the conscience to a sense of guilt, all are essential for the good of man here or hereafter. Judgment to come. The fact that there will be a judgment; the nature of that judgment; the results of it; the solemnity of the transaction; the interests at stake; the things to be judged; the Judge Himself,— His rank, His dignity, and His qualifications to judge mankind; the fact that the judgment will be final and irreversible,—all these are proper subjects on which to address man as he travels on to the retribution of that great day. What has Christianity made known in respect to the judgment? What would one appointed to speak of the "faith in Christ" have to say on this subject? (a.) Christianity has confirmed the natural apprehension of mankind in regard to the judgment. It admits the reality; it deepens the impression of that reality. It has affirmed that all which man ever apprehended in the judgment was well-founded; it has added many things to make it more fearful and solemn. (b.) It has stated that there will be a judgment of all men; of all that have lived; of all that now live; of all who will ever live (Revelation 20:12-14). (c.) It has revealed the Judge who is to pronounce the final sentence on mankind—Jesus Christ, the Son of God; the Incarnate Deity; the brightness of the Father’s glory; the Crucified One, who rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father Almighty (John 5:22-23). (d.) It has stated the consequences or results of the final judgment; the fearful sentence which shall be passed on mankind (Matthew 25:31-46). Assuredly, if there are any truths, if there is any ground of appeal, that would be likely to arouse a thoughtless race to reflection; if there is anything that is adapted to fill the mind with alarm, it would be found in considerations such as these, and we are not surprised, therefore, that in view of these topics, as presented by Paul, "Felix trembled." II. What, then, is the natural and proper effect of such truths on the mind? This is, in other words, an inquiry whether the effect produced on the mind of Felix was natural and proper. The consideration of this will bring before us an important law of our nature, or an important Divine arrangement, in regard to guilt. I shall refer to it, not merely as a proof of conscious criminality, but as a proof that there is a moral government over men; that God is a friend of virtue, and an enemy of vice. (1.) All men are aware that, when nature" acts freely, and when there is no restraint imposed by purpose or acquired by discipline, there are certain marks of conscious guilt which convey to those around us, without the use of words, and by signs which even contradict the words which may be used, the knowledge of that which is passing within, or that of which we are conscious. The blush, the paleness of the cheek, the averted eye; atremblingand agitated frame; a restless,suspicious, fearful look, are marks of what is within. These belong, too, to a certain class of emotions or feelings, or to a certain kind of conduct, and are confined to these. They cannot be transferred to another kind of conduct, —to the consciousness of a noble deed; to purity of purpose; to a feeling of gratitude; to self-approbation. They are not the result of education, or indicative of a certain stage of civilization, or confined to any position or rank in life. They are not local, for they are found in every land; they are not the effect of climate, for they exist among all nations. They are so universal as to demonstrate that they belong to man as man. (2.) The design of this arrangement, as a part of our constitution, it is not difficult to understand. It is at once a proof that there is a moral government over mankind, and a benevolent arrangement adapted to secure the good of mankind in great and important respects. (a.) No one can explain it except on the supposition that there is a God, and that He rules over mankind. It is one of the original principles of our nature; and as it is always connected with a certain course of conduct, and cannot be transferred to the opposite course, its existence proves that God designed it to be an indication of His sense of human actions. The arrangement must have had its origin in the purposes of our Maker, and it is of such a nature as to show that He intends to control mankind. (b.) It is an arrangement designed, when it operates freely, to reveal or disclose the knowledge of our sin to others. It is not susceptible of misinterpretation. The trembling of Felix under the preaching of "righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," could not be misunderstood. He would not have trembled, he could not have been alarmed under such preaching, if he had not been conscious that he had lived, and was living, in violation of " righteousness" and "ternperance," and had reason to look with apprehension to a "judgment to come." The natural, and the only interpretation which could be put on his trembling, either by Paul, by Drusilla, or by himself, must have been that he was a guilty man. (c.) The arrangement is designed, not only to put others on their guard, but also to restrain us from the commission of sin. This is done by the very fact of the admonition of guilt in the feeling itself; by the fact that the guilty purpose must thus be known to others; and by the conscious shame and confusion which is thus produced in the soul. By all that is painful in such a consciousness of guilt and in the fear of wrath; by all that there is to expose us to shame and disgrace before the world, it is designed to act as a check on criminal purposes and conduct, and to hold men back from cherishing the purposes of crime. (d.) This arrangement is designed to be among the means of securing the reformation of the guilty; an arrangement of Divine wisdom to lead men to see in this dreadful anticipation—this trembling—what must be the consequences of the course which they are pursuing, and to lead them to "flee from the wrath to come." Thus the jailor at Philippi trembled; thus Felix trembled; and thus the sinner now—under the consciousness of guilt—trembles, turns pale, and is alarmed at the prospect of impending judgment. Among the most effective means of recovering and reforming the wicked, is this power which God has of alarming the consciences of men, and overwhelming them with the remembrance of past guilt, and the apprehension of future wrath. He is the most successful preacher who is most able, under the Divine blessing, to produce this consciousness of guilt in the soul, and the work of such a preacher is nearest to its accomplishment, when his hearers turn pale,—when the wicked, and the gay, and the thoughtless, and the corrupt, and the sensual, and the profane, are made to tremble in view of a coming judgment. III. The remaining inquiry is, In ivhat manner are these impressions often met and warded off? The conduct of Felix will be our guide in illustrating this point. He " trembled;" but he did not yield. The jailor at Philippi "trembled," and yielded; fell down before Paul and Silas, his prisoners, and brought them out, and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:29-30). He acted as God meant that men should act; and he was true, in this respect, to the nature with which God had endowed him. But Felix "trembled," and then said, " Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." He resisted his nature; he violated a great law of his being, and perilled his everlasting welfare. The jailor, in humbler life,—perhaps not living in any known form of sin,—and having nothing as derived from rank, position, and associations, to prevent his acting out the inward promptings of his nature, yielded to his convictions, and was saved; Felix, living in known sin, bound and fettered by a guilty tie,—in a position in which a confession of guilt might have exposed him to the ridicule of those in elevated life, or to a loss of place and position,—refused to yield to the suggestions of conscience, and sought relief from present alarm by deferring all to a future time. He banished his serious impressions; he calmed down the apprehensions of guilt; he put himself on his guard against any danger of being overcome in the future by such sudden and unexpected emotions; and, as far as we know, gained the victory over the finer feelings of his nature,—and lost his soul. The great difficulty always is to induce men to attend personally and practically to religion now. In many cases we have their understandings already with us on the side of religion; they are convinced of the truth of Christianity; we either meet them when they are already conscious of guilt, or by a course of reasoning on "righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," we can, by the help of God, produce such a consciousness of guilt; we find them already cherishing a general purpose to attend to religion at some future time, or we can easily persuade them to adopt such a resolution. The difficulty is to prevail on them to attend to the subject sow; to do it at once; to make it the first thing. Could we do this, our work would be accomplished; for then religion would become easy, and the difficulties in regard to it would vanish. There are, it need scarcely be said, many reasons why men, even trembling under the conviction of guilt, plead for delay. The original Greek, in which the words of Felix are given us, is "Taking time, I will call for thee;" that is, I have it not now; I will secure it; at some future period I will "take" the time needful to pursue the subject further. So men, engaged in the world,—in a bank, in a custom-house, in a countingroom, on a farm, in the workshop,—plead that they have not time to attend to the matter now. So the young delay the subject to a future period, when it will be more suitable than at present . So the gay and thoughtless ask that they may be allowed to engage for the present in the festive scenes of life, with a promise or a hope that the time will come when religion will be more appropriate, and when—the pleasures of life past—they may find leisure to prepare to die. So Jhe wicked of all classes ask for present indulgence, with A purpose to repent at a future time. Thus, as we pass along the journey of life, a thousand things—business, pleasure, ambition, sin, the love of ease, the desire of indulgence—plead for delay, on that which must be to all men the most momentous of all subjects; and the soul is lost. The mind is calmed down, the subject of religion is banished from the thoughts, and the troubled heart is set free from alarm. I do not say that time is never found to attend to religion, or that the purpose to attend to it is never carried out. Felix found time to consider the subject, for he "sent for Paul often,"—the oftencr because he hoped that a bribe would be offered,—" and communed with him." It is not for us to say that a man who has neglected a present opportunity of salvation, and postponed it when his mind had been awakened to the subject, will never have another serious thought, and that he certainly seals his own condemnation for ever. I do not say that a man, thus disregarding the present, never is, or can be saved. Not thus do I understand the arrangements of God in regard to the salvation of men. But that it may be the last opportunity, no one can doubt; for death may be near. That a man will be less likely to be aroused and awakened at another time, as the result of having refused to yield, no one can doubt; for this is in accordance with a great law of our nature. That it does not, in all respects, depend on our own will when the mind shall be serious, —when it shall be disposed to attend to the subject,— when it shall find leisure,—is equally clear. That it may not be as easy to attend to the subject on a bed of sickness, or on the approach of death, as in health, and when the mind is calm, is no less plain. That when a man who has been convinced of his sin, has secured such a triumph as to say to the heavenly Messenger, "Go thy way for this time," the heavenly Messenger may not take a final departure, and that such a man may not by that act determine the destiny of his soul for ever, no man can deny. This hour—this very moment—you may so resolve to reject the invitation of mercy, as to settle the question of your salvation for cscr and ever. To-morrow—nay, the next moment of your life—you may be Beyond Hope 1 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: 2.18. PAUL BEFORE FESTUS ======================================================================== XVII. PAUL BEFORE FESTUS. Christianity in contact with a mind that regards religion as pertaining to others, and to questions of a trivial nature. Festus, a representative character.—Manner in which he regarded religious questions.—As a governor, he was just and honourable; would not yield up a prisoner untried; gave the case a prompt hearing; conceded the right of appeal; maintained important principles of law.—In reference to religion, he deemed its questions foreign to his own interests; trivial in their nature; and not requiring his investigation.—Reasons why religion should not be so regarded.—Man has a real interest in it.—Is bound to meet its requirements Needs its provisions.—Must perish, if destitute of it.—Inferences.—(I.) Men are not mere lookers-on.—(2.) Men cannot escape religious obligation.—(3.) No man should wish to evade it. "Without any delay on the morrow, I sat on the judgment seat, and commanded the man to be brought forth; against whom when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed: but had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." Acts 25:17-19. AN ORIENTAL HOUSE. THE history of Festus, like that of Felix, is important, not merely as a record in history, and as bearing on the early propagation of the Gospel, but as illustrating the contact of Christianity with minds of a certain class or order, to be found in every age and land; a class of minds with which Christianity was to come in contact often in the attempt to bring men under its influence, and to spread itself through the world. As such, it becomes a proper subject of consideration in illustrating the scenes and incidents in the life of the Apostle Paul. The point before us will be, CHRISTIANITY IN COnTACT WITH MINDS THAT REGARD IT AS PERTAINING TO QUESTIONS OF A TRIVIAL NATURE, AND IN WHICH THEY THEMSELVES HAVE NO CONCERN. This may be viewed under two aspects:—I. As showing how a certain class of minds regard the subject of religion; and II. as leading to the inquiry whether this be a proper manner in which religion should be regarded and treated. I. The case of Festus may be considered as representing a certain class of minds. This will lead me to make a few remarks, (1.) In reference to his general character. That character was strongly marked. When Felix, his predecessor, had been removed from office on charges of maladministration, Festus had been appointed to succeed him for two reasons;—because he was a more just, honourable, pure, and incorruptible man; and because he would be more likely to be popular among the Jews. His general character, as honourable and upright, was evinced, in accordance with his general reputation, in the transactions which came so early under his notice in the case of the Apostle Paul. (a) He was firm in his purpose not to grant the request of the Jews in regard to the removal of Paul to Jerusalem. One of the first duties of a newly-appointed governor would of course be to make himself acquainted with the condition of the country over which he was to preside, and especially with the state of affairs in regard to the administration of justice. Festus, therefore, though the seat of the Roman power was at that time at Csesarea, would take the earliest opportunity, to visit the Jewish capital, the ancient -seat of power and influence. Accordingly, within three days after his arrival at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem (Acts 25:1). There he was immediately met by the chief priests, and the leading men among the Jews (Acts 25:2); and they, in harmony, as it would seem, with a desire of the people (Acts 25:24), presented a request that he would allow Paul, whom Felix had left "bound" at Caesarea, to be summoned to Jerusalem, that he might be tried there (Acts 25:3). They hoped that the new governor would grant them the seemingly not unreasonable claim, that Paul might be tried where the Jews had been accustomed in former years to have such cases determined, and where, moreover, the alleged offence had been committed. He had been, they might allege, taken forcibly from their custody by the Roman captain Lysias; and they asked as a favour that the case mighj be remanded to them, and might take the usual course. Their real purpose was that they might waylay him on the road, and assassinate him (Acts 25:3). There was some plausibility in the request, and it might have occurred to Festus that in this way he could more easily and readily dispose of the case than in any other, and that his compliance might contribute not a little to his own popularity. It was a simple request, and it seemed to involve nothing improper or wrong. But his answer was every way becoming one who represented the majesty of the Roman law. Paul, he said, was in safe custody, and would not be suffered to escape. He himself would shortly return to Caesarea, where the utmost fairness should be allowed in the trial (Acts 25:4). He stated to them at that time, as he afterwards informed Agrippa (Acts 25:16), that it was a great principle of Roman law, that no man should be condemned to death before he had his "accusers face to face;" but any persons among the Jews who were "able" to manage the cause, should, he said, have ample opportunity to substantiate the charges against the prisoner (Acts 25:5). (b.) His promptness in bringing the case of Paul to a trial, with no unnecessary delay, was also an indication of his justness of character, and was remarkably in contrast with the conduct of his predecessor. Felix had, with most manifest injustice, kept Paul as a prisoner for two whole years, with the hope that he might secure from him a bribe; Festus promised to try the cause himself, and to make it his first business after his return to Caesarea. In the course of eight or ten days (Acts 25:6, margin), he went thither; and the very day after his return, he took his seat on the bench of justice, and commanded that Paul should be brought before him. Nothing could be more fair and honourable than this disposition to render speedy justice to one who had been so long kept in custody. (c.) His ready concession of the right of Paul to carry the case before the Roman emperor was another indication of his character as a man of justice and uprightness. He was surprised to find that the accusation against Paul was not, as he had supposed, for crime against the government and laws, but was connected with the religious opinions of the Jews, and did not, therefore, properly pertain to a Roman tribunal. In his perplexity, therefore, and disposed as he was to ingratiate himself as far as possible with the Jews, he proposed to Paul that he should go up to Jerusalem, and be judged there, before himself, in regard to the charges of heresy and sacrilege which had been laid against him. Paul understood at once the dangers which this would involve; he well knew what were his own privileges as a Roman citizen; and he knew what a Roman governor would feel himself compelled to grant, if an appeal were made to the Roman emperor. Standing before the tribunal of the governor, and in the presence of his accusers,— and manifestly to the surprise and dismay of both,— he uttered the noble declaration and appeal: "I stand before Caesar’s tribunal, and there ought my trial to be. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as thou knowest full well. If I am guilty of breaking the law, and have done anything. worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if the things whereof these men accuse me are nought, no man can give me up to them. I APPEAL Unto Cesar" (Acts 25:10-11).1 Festus could not, indeed, as a Roman magistrate, deny that right of appeal to one who was a Roman citizen; but it would have been easy to raise the question whether Paul had any claim to the right; and with a purpose such as Felix had, the cause could easily have been continued for two weary years more, or perhaps, protracted to an indefinite period. Paul had no occasion, however, to complain of Festus as to the manner in which his appeal to Rome was received. Conybeare and Howson’s translation. It was at once allowed, and arrangements were made to have the matter brought as speedily as possible before the emperor. (d.) The noble sentiment which Festus uttered in stating a great principle of Roman law, showed also what was the character of the man. That principle was, as we have already seen, that no man should be condemned to death "before that he which is accused should have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him." No principle is more essential in the administration of justice than this; none has gone more deeply into the defence of the rights of man. The trials in the Inquisition and in the Star-chamber derived their enormity mainly from a violation of this principle; and the chief progress which society has made in the administration of justice has consisted in little more than in securing, by proper sanctions and provisions, the law here enunciated by Festus. In him, then, we have the example of a man upright and honourable; just, true, firm, faithful to the obligations of his office; prompt to do what was his duty, and not to be turned, by any personal considerations, from a purpose to do right. Yet, so far as appears, his mind was now, for the first time, brought into contact with the subject of revealed religion, and with questions which grow out of that. It is natural to inquire how those questions would strike such a man, and in what light, or with what interest, he would regard them. I need not say that, in this respect, Festus represented a large class,—men of integrity, honesty, uprightness; prompt in the execution of duties entrusted to them; men who are above a bribe; who act from a sense of obligation; who adhere to great principles of justice and law in all their official and personal relations. There are such men in large numbers in every profession, and in all positions of life. You confide in them, and are not disappointed; .you commit to them great interests of property, reputation, justice, liberty, charity, and those interests are safe. (2.) We have to consider Festus more particularly in reference to the sentiments which he entertained on the subject of religion. It is here that we meet him in his contact with Christianity, and it is in this respect that his views and feelings become so important to us. We find these expressed, in the account which he gave of the matter to Agrippa: "They brought none accusation of such things as I supposed; but had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." This will bring before us the views which men like Festus take of the subject of religion. We shall not have before us the views which the profligate, the profane, and the vulgar,—which atheists, blasphemers, and sceptics,—which the uneducated, the low, the vile, —which scoffers and sensualists take of the subject; but the views of men who are, like Festus, upright, just, and faithful in their private character, and who sustain elevated and honourable social positions. In order to understand this subject fully, there are two or three subordinate remarks to be made:— (a.) Festus regarded the "questions" or disputes in the case as pertaining to the Jews themselves, and in no manner as pertaining to him;—"certain questions of their own superstition." The word "superstition" is not here to be regarded as necessarily reproachful or contemptuous. It is the same word which Paul used in addressing the Athenian philosophers on Mars’ Hill (Acts 17:22). The Greek word, however,—St1aidaifiovta —properly means the "fear of the gods;" and then, religiousness, or religion; and though sometimes used by Greek writers, to denote superstition, or bigotry, yet it is such a word as would commonly be employed by a Greek to describe religion in general, even when speaking of it in the most respectful manner. We are not, therefore, to suppose that Festus meant by this language to express contempt for the Jewish faith; and we cannot believe that in entering on his office among the Jews, he would designedly make use of a word which would irritate and provoke them. The feelings of Festus are indicated rather by the expression that it was "their own"—Trtpt rijc iBla^:—that is, that it pertained to them, to their nation ;—not to him, not to his nation. The dispute was about their own religion. It was to be settled by themselves. It was a matter in which he had no concern. It did not pertain to him either as a man or as a magistrate. He regarded all the controversies which they had started among themselves about the death and the resurrection of Jesus, as he would have regarded the controversies of the Greeks, the Persians, the Babylonians, or the Egyptians, about the religion of their own country. Those subjects of controversy might seem important to them; they were none of his. I need not say that, in this respect, Festus is a representative of a very large and a very respectable portion of mankind. They are men who would not revile religion, or speak of it with contempt. If they have no personal interest in it, they are willing that others should discuss its questions freely among themselves. They would not disturb others fn the quiet enjoyment of their own opinions, or of their rights in religion; and, in numerous cases, their disposition to show respect for religion is increased by the fact that it is the religion of a friend; a father; a wife; a sister. Yet they regard the subject as not pertaining to themselves. They do not intermeddle with it, nor would they interfere with it. The questions which are raised among Christians, and which are discusssd with so much warmth, or it may be with so much acerbity, they do not regard themselves as required to solve. Their own purpose is to lead an upright, an honest, a moral life; to do justice to all; to settle questions which do pertain to themselves as magistrates, as business men, as patriots, and as philanthropists. Our difficulty in dealing with such is in persuading them at all to regard the subjects connected with religion as having any personal claim on them; and in inducing them to change their position so far as, instead of "questions of their own," to say "questions of our own." (b.) Festus considered the "question" which had come up for discussion between Paul and the Jews as one of little importance;—"certain questions of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." His sense of the real nature of the dispute is indicated by the language which he used respecting him who was affirmed by the one party to be alive, and by the other to be dead;—"and of one Jesus" (rtpt Tivoq ’I1jffou), implying that he was an unknown or obscure person, and perhaps also that, in his judgment, it was of little consequence whether he was alive or dead. Festus could see no great results to be attached to the inquiry. Why Paul affirmed of this obscure and unknown man, probably some impostor, some vagrant, some criminal, that he was alive, and why the Jews denied it, would seem to him a matter of no practical value. Does not this state of mind represent, with a melancholy accuracy, the views and feelings of a very large portion of every community in regard to the question whether Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead? Does it not give a just representation of the views of such men in regard to all the questions which are agitated among Christians on the subjects of religion? Modes of belief, they think, are matters of little importance. If a man is just, true, honest, faithful,—if he meets his obligations, pays his debts, is kind to the poor, and just to all,—if he is true to his family and to his country, —it is, in their opinion, of little consequence what he believes; nor can his conviction respecting the resurrection of Christ (either for or against it), or his belief in regard to any of those doctrines of religion which divide the Christian world, materially affect his character or his destiny. Our work with such men, is to convince them not only that they are as much interested in these subjects as other men, but that the most important questions which can come before the minds of men are those which pertain to religion. (son, vol . ii. pp. 462, 463. It has been supposed that on his liberation he first fulfilled an intention which he had expressed (Php 2:24, and Philemon 1:22), of travelling through Macedonia, and visiting the churches of Asia Minor; that he then went into Spain; afterwards returned to Ephesus, and then went to Macedonia and Crete; that, soon after, he left Ephesus for Rome by way of Corinth; and that during these travels he wrote the First Epistle to Timothy, and the Epistle to Titus,—the one from Macedonia, and the other from Ephesus. III. We must go back to notice the fact that Paul was forsaken, when on trial, by those on whose friendship he had a right to rely:—"No man stood with me, but all men forsook me." That the apostle had friends in Rome we have already seen. That these were true and tried friends is apparent from what he says of one and another; "who have for my life laid down their own necks;" "who bestowed much labour on us;" "my kinsmen and my fellowprisoners;" "of note among the apostles;" "my beloved in the Lord;" "our helper in Christ;" "approved in Christ;" "chosen in Christ" (Romans 16:4-10). We have no reason to doubt, also, that during the two years in which he was at Rome, with the freedom which he then had of " receiving all who came unto him," and of "preaching the kingdom of God with all confidence, no man forbidding him" (Acts 28:30-31), he had made many additional friends. Even if we suppose that, during the interval which elapsed from the time of writing the Epistle to the Romans till the time of his trial, some of the friends there mentioned had died, or had removed to other places, still the number in Rome at the time of his trial could not have been few, and from them he might have reasonably expected such countenance and support as they could render. He might at least have expected that they would stand by him, and that if they had no power to help, they would, as silent lookers-on, give him the encouragement of their presence and sympathy. We know not definitely the reasons why they did not thus stand by him; but the fact that they did not furnishes an occasion for some remarks on trials of this kind, and on the nature of true friendship. (1.) What Paul here refers to has not been uncommon in the world. Thus Job, in a very pathetic description of his own trials, shows that he went through a like experience (Job 19:13-19). So the Psalmist was forsaken by his friends in the time of calamity (Psalms 35:1-16; Psalms 38:11; Psalms 41:9; Leviticus 12:1-14). The same thing occurred in the case of the Saviour, and this was one of the severest of His many trials,—for, having taken our nature, He would feel this as acutely as any man. In the Garden of Gcthsemane,—when He had just passed through the scene of unutterable agony,—when He was arrested, and was about to be taken away for trial,—when He was about to be put to death,—then "all the disciples forsook Him and fled" Matthew 26:56). To such a form of trial as among the most severe that man can endure,—perhaps to that very scene in the Garden of Gethsemane,—there is an allusion in Zechariah (Zechariah 13:6): "And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." If such things occurred to Job, to the Psalmist, to the Apostle Paul, and even to the Redeemer Himself, we are not to be surprised if they occur to us. (2.) There is much friendship that will bear the common and ordinary tests or trials to which it may be subjected, but which would not bear a severer trial. Such apparent friendship in the ordinary course of life, requiring little sacrifice, is pleasant rather than otherwise; it is satisfied with small courtesies and kindnesses; it finds expression rather in words than in any acts requiring an expenditure of time or money; it involves no loss of reputation; it perils nothing in regard to character; and it does much to promote the general happiness of mankind. It is dependent often on the period of life; on circumstances of neighbourhood or business; on connexion for a time in a college-class, a clerkship, or a store; or on some temporary object to be accomplished. But under new circumstances, much of this sort of friendship fades from the memory. It never has been put to any strong test. There has been nothing to fix it deep in the soul. We are not to infer that it was insincere, or that it would not have borne the test of a severe trial. But the occasion never occurred, and the bond was easily broken. The world owes much of its happiness to intimacies like these, and they are not to be branded as false and hollow. (3.) There is, however, much professed friendship that is false and hollow. So plain is this, that it can hardly be necessary to illustrate it. There is professed friendship that is founded on wealth (Proverbs 19:4, Proverbs 19:20); and friendship cherished for those in elevated and fashionable circles,—but cherished only while they are in such circles, and no longer. There is that which rests on beauty of person, or gracefulness of manner, rather than on the solid virtues of the heart. There is that which exists in prosperity—in the sunshine of life—the affection of "swallow-friends, who retire in the winter, and return in the spring." There is that which is based cn some hope of advantage, and which ceases when that hope is gratified, or when it must be abandoned. There is that which harbours some evil purpose;—the friendship of him who can "smile, and smile, and be a villain." Such friendships will not bear the test of adversity; and yet so common have they been in the world that we are sometimes disposed to believe there is more of truth than fancy in the representation of the poet, "And what is friendship but a name, A charm that lulls to sleep; A shade that follows wealth or fame, But leaves the wretch to weep?" (4.) Yet let us not despair. Let us not come to the conclusion that there is no true friendship; no love which will make sacrifices; no affection that is counted dearer than life itself. Such friendship existed between Damon and Pythias; such friendship was beautifully illustrated in the case of David and Jonathan. In all the trials of David, the son of Saul never forsook him, and never gave him occasion to suspect the reality or the depth of his love. With what exquisite beauty David sang of that attachment when Jonathan was dead !" I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant hast thou been unto me; thy love for me was wonderful, passing the love of women" (2 Samuel 1:26). (5.) There may even be, however, real piety and real friendship which may shrink back for a time from the pressure of severe trial. We are not to infer that because it thus shrinks back it is not sincere, and that it can never rally. It may not yet be disciplined and confirmed. Thus it was with the disciples of the Saviour. We must not infer that their professions of attachment for Him had been insincere. The love they had for Him soon rose above the sudden shock; when He had expired on the cross, they went forth to proclaim His name in the face of persecution, in the midst of dangers, and in the prospect of death. So Cranmer had shown through a long life, in its ordinary duties and trials that he was a good man, a true friend of the Saviour. The prospect of death by fire for a moment staggered him, and shook his faith, and made him put his hand to the instrument of recantation; but his faith rallied again, and he rose to the well-known manifestation of his real attachment for the Lord Jesus. In like manner, we are not to conclude that because, on the trial of Paul, no man stood with him, but all forsook him, there was no true love for him or for his Master. It was, indeed, sad and painful, and it could not but be interpreted unfavourably to religion; but it is possible that even these persons might on other and even more trying occasions, have subsequently shown true attachment to the Christian cause, and that some of their names may have been enrolled on the honoured list of martyrs as suffering with Paul. (5.) It is remarkable that amid the severe trials to which the faith of Christians has been subjected, so few have shrunk from avowing their attachment to the Saviour. There is no evidence that there has been, even in the most fiery times, and in the severest forms of persecution, one real apostate from the faith of Christ . If there have been seeming apostasies, even these have been extremely rare, and all such instances may be accounted for on the supposition that such individuals had never been truly converted. Beyond all question, one of the most remarkable facts which have occurred in the world has been the tenacity with which Christians have adhered to their faith,—and that, too, when apostasy was made as easy and as tempting as it could be,—when the slightest possible concession, the simple casting of a grain of incense on a heathen altar, was all that was demanded to save them from being thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheatre. IV. The prayer of the Apostle for those who had forsaken him:—" I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge." The language and the spirit thus manifested, have a strong resemblance to the words uttered and the spirit manifested by the Saviour Himself: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34.) Thus Stephen, the first martyr, kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" (Acts 7:60). It was also a proper carrying out of the principles which Paul had enjoined on his friends in this very church at Rome: "Recompense to no man evil for evil; avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good" (Acts 12:17, Acts 12:19, Acts 12:21). It was the spirit inculcated by the Master, and the spirit for which He taught men to pray every day (Matthew 6:12, Matthew 6:14-15). This is the very spirit of the Gospel; it is demanded everywhere by our religion; and it constitutes a strong distinction between Christianity and the spirit cherished by the world. The strong propensity of the human heart is to the opposite feeling; and there has been, and there is, a large growth, so to speak, of customs in society based on the idea that an offence is not to be forgiven, but is to be pursued with a spirit of revenge. To some extent laws are a check upon private vengeance, but there is an "ample margin" left for its secret indulgence. Words, looks, gestures, breaches of etiquette, slander, sudden passion,—these it is difficult or impossible to reduce under any regular control by human government. Now it is on these things that the Gospel acts directly; and it is in respect to them that it has wrought so great changes, and made social life so different from what it would otherwise have been. It has taught men not to be soon angry. It has taught them to restrain their passions when excited, and not to let the sun go down on their wrath. It has taught them to bear and forbear. It has taught them to forgive an offender, not only to the "seventh time," but until "seventy times seven." The world at the present time owes more to the Christian religion than it is willing to acknowledge; and there is no one among us, who, in his domestic and social relations, has not felt the benefit of the command given by the Saviour in regard to the forgiveness of offences, in securing the blessings of peace and good fellowship where otherwise there would be malice and strife. In conclusion. Paul’s friends, we have seen, left him. Not one of them stood by him when they thought he was about to die. When we come to die, we too shall be alone. From all our worldly possessions we shall be about to part. Worldly friends—the friends drawn to us by our position, our wealth, or our social qualities,— will leave us as we enter the dark valley. From those bound to us by stronger ties—our kindred, our loved ones, children, brothers, sisters, and from those not less dear to us who have been made our friends because they and we are the friends of the same Saviour,—from them also we must part. Yet not all will leave us. There is One who "sticketh closer than a brother One who having loved His own which are in the world loves them to the end. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: 2.24. PAUL'S ANTICIPATION OF DEATH ======================================================================== XXIII. PAUL’S ANTICIPATION OF DEATH. Second trial impending.—Unfavourable issue apprehended.—Death by martyrdom expected.—Death-scenes, why valuable.—Paul’s final review of life.—A conflict.—A course. —A trust.—Much had been given up.— Extent of that sacrifice best understood at the close of life.—Much had been suffered.—But still no expression of regret.—Contrast the life of some,—wasted;—perverted; unsanctified.—Prospect for the future consequent on the review of the past. — Death-bed salvation possible.— Starting-point in any part of the course.—But no memories of past service.—No fitness in the result.-—The crown is of righteousness, but not of merit.—Nor of partiality.—Last expression of Paul’s confidence and hope. "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." 2 Timothy 4:6-8. ANCIENT ARMOUR. THE statement of the apostle—" I am ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand,"—was evidently made when he was in prospect of his second and final, trial before the emperor,—a trial which resulted in his death. For causes now unknown to us, and in a manner which to us is equally unknown, he had been, after an interval (as tradition tells us) of five or six years, brought again as a prisoner to Rome. We are wholly ignorant of the reasons why he was again arrested; of the charges brought against him; of the accusers; of the place, the time, and the circumstances of the trial. It is not probable that those who had failed in securing his condemnation on the first trial could hope to be more successful a second time under the same accusations. The charges under the second trial were, not improbably, somehow connected with the Roman government, and may have been, as has been conjectured, to the effect that he had instigated the act of incendiarism on which Nero founded his furious persecution against the Christians. If the Roman government had a purpose to remove one who was so active in propagating the religion of Christ, it would be easy to identify him with the Christians whom it was determined to destroy; and it would not be difficult to find persons who would bear witness against the leader of that sect. Such a charge would, of course, bring him at once under the cognizance of the Roman tribunals, and, if it were proved, would make him, even though he had the rights of a Roman citizen, liable to the severest penalties of the law. Though years had passed away since that occurrence, yet it would be very possible so to present this charge as to secure his certain condemnation. Whatever the charge was, on this trial he did not expect to be acquitted. In the former imprisonment, and in reference to the former trial, his death had appeared to be by no means an impossible result, but he had considered an acquittal probable. Thus, in the epistle addressed at that time to the Philippians (Php 1:23-25), he says, "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better; nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you; and having this confidence, I know that I shall ubide and continue with you all, for your furtherance and joy of faith." But on the second trial he had no such hope; and his language in his second epistle to Timothy, which was written during this second imprisonment, expresses the firm conviction of his mind that there was no prospect of escape. He was evidently looking forward to certain death. The expression "I am now ready to be offered," properly interpreted, can be understood in no other sense. The word "ready" in the phrase "ready to be offered," conveys an idea which, although it corresponded with the reality, and although it is expressive of the feelings of a departing believer, is not in the original. That word, in such a connexion, would properly imply that he was prepared to die, and that he was willing to die :— which, however true it may have been in his case, is not the idea conveyed by the language of the apostle. He merely states the fact that he was about to die, or that his work and his life were drawing to a close. The single word rendered "I am ready to be offered,"— This effect it has never been possible to prevent in a human administration by any safeguards or checks; nor is there any way in which it can be done. ]STo practicable devices have been found to arrest or counteract the natural effect of a frequent exercise of the pardoning power in rendering the administration of justice weak and ineffectual, and in furnishing an encouragement for the commission of crime. 3. This result would be still more disastrous if pardon were always extended to the guilty, or even if it were proclaimed that pardon could, by any arrangement, be extended to all the guilty. In such a case, what would be the use of the forms of law, of the arrest, indictment, and trial of the guilty, of the verdict of a jury, of the sentence of a judge? If in each and every case of such trial there were present in the court-room an officer of the executive intrusted with pardoning power, or if an instrument of pardon were made out and executed before the trial, or if a blank form of pardon, properly signed and sealed, were always at hand ready to be filled up with the name of the man whom a jury should find ’guilty,’ or if it were certain that a pardon would be granted, it is evident that the whole process of trial would be a farce and the sentence of the law a bugbear. Further: in no community would it be safe to have all the prison-doors unbarred and the whole multitude of convicts thrown upon the world. Who, in such a case, in the neighbourhood of a crowded prison would sleep calmly at night? Who would feel for a moment that his property was secure? Who would feel that his house and home were safe? that his wife and children could lie down secure? There could be no arrangement by which such a general jail-delivery could be rendered consistent with the safety of society. !No one would wish to live in the vicinity of such a prison. Property would become valueless and the place would become a desert; and though the vast and terrific power of thus discharging all the imprisoned convicts in a community has been intrusted to the executive in each commonwealth, yet it never has been exercised, nor has it ever been contemplated that it should be or could be. There is no community in which it would be safe to have all prisons thrown open and all the inmates discharged; nor are there any arrangements in the power of man by which this could be made safe. If it had ever been contemplated that an executive would thus throw open all the doors of prisons, the pardoning power would never have been granted; if such a case ever should occur in a community, that power would be at once withdrawn. At present society is protected from this evil by general public opinion, and it has not been found necessary to provide any special checks against the exercise of the pardoning power; but if it should be abused in the manner above supposed, the community would find it necessary at once to provide some suitable and effectual restraints against the possibility of an occurrence that would render nugatory all the existing arrangements for the administration of justice, and endanger everything that is sacred and valuable in a commonwealth. Moreover, no community would regard it as safe to offer pardon to all criminals on any condition whatever. The offer of pardon is, indeed, not now made to any one, and the hope of pardon in any case is derived only from the fact that the pardoning power is lodged with the executive, the judges, or the legislature, and from the fact that it is so often exercised as to constitute the basis of a hope that it may be exercised in other cases also. But it is never offered to any one. It is never made avowedly dependent on any conditions of penitence, of reformation, or of pledges for future good behaviour. If these things become considerations on the ground of which pardon is extended to the guilty, it is not because it is offered on these conditions, or because they could be safely made conditions of pardon, but because in such cases they may have their influence on the minds of those who are intrusted with the pardoning power. But there can be no doubt as to what would be the effect if pardon were indiscriminately offered to all criminals on any conditions whatever. Forthwith all prisons would be filled with hypocrites and pretenders, in whose bosoms there would be no real reformation, but who would assume the appearance of reformation until the pardon was obtained. There could be no security for future good behaviour; there could be no infallible proof of genuine reformation; there could be no ground of reliance that all the indications of compliance with the conditions were not hypocritically assumed for the purpose of obtaining a discharge from prison. No civil government has the power of originating an influence that shall be extended into the future life of the convict, and that shall become the guarantee that the community will suffer no wrong by the indiscriminate discharge of the guilty on the profession of repentance and reformation. There is not a government on earth that could safely venture to make the unlimited offer of pardon which God in the gospel makes to guilty men. There it is unlimited. It is on simple conditions,— conditions that may be easily complied with by all. Interwoven with those conditions there is a security for the future good conduct of those who are pardoned; a guarantee to the universe that no wrong would be experienced if even all the guilty should be pardoned. That offer of pardon excludes none even by name, none by description. No man is presumed to be so great an offender, to have committed crimes of so aggravated a character against God and his law, to be so powerful or so dangerous, that it would be unsafe to forgive him. In every case, no matter how great the crimes have been, it is presumed that an influence pervades the arrangement for pardon which will secure ever onward the future good conduct of him who is forgiven, and that he who has been most distinguished for crime will hereafter be as eminent for obedience to the law. What those arrangements are, will be the subject of subsequent consideration. The remark now made is that it has been impossible thus far in the world to introduce those arrangements into human legislation, and that, consequently, there has been no community where a universal offer of pardon could be made to the guilty; no commonwealth where it would be safe to throw open all prison-doors and to discharge all convicts upon the world. 4. There is another difficulty on the subject of pardon which must occur in a human administration whenever, and with whatever precautions, it maybe exercised. It is, that it sets aside the decisions of the courts, and, by diminishing confidence in their wisdom, lessens their influence in the administration of the laws. Every act of pardon is, as far as it goes, a proclamation either that the law itself is defective, or that there has been an error in its administration. It is a public statement that there is no tribunal which can he always confided in; that there is need of a higher power to sit again in judgment on the highest decisions of the law, and perhaps to reverse them. And it is not merely a rehearing of the case, as in a court of error, where all the forms and securities of law may be observed; but it is a rehearing where the precautions which the law has thrown around the administration of justice in the arraignment, the indictment, the trial by jury, the examination of witnesses, and the pleadings in the cause, are dispensed with, and where, in most instances, the case is left, without these forms of security, to the decision of a single man. Practically the judgment of the court and the decisions of the law are declared to be wrong. Nothing is done to assert the authority of the court or to maintain the influence of the law while the guilty man is discharged, and two branches of the government—the judicial and the executive—come directly into conflict. In every case of pardon it may be supposed that an executive would desire to maintain the authority of law as administered in the courts of justice, and from this consideration, if there were no other, would hesitate to interpose; for the executive never cannot interpose without practically doing so much to set aside the authority of the law and the regular course of justice. It is to be observed, also, that it has cost much, in the progress of society, to secure an arrangement by which justice may be dispensed, and that it is of the highest importance to maintain the authority of courts of law. There is value in all the arrangements and the processes of justice; in the appointment of judges, in the modes of indictmerit, in the trial by jury, in the forms of pleading, in the respect shown to the sentence of a court. All these bear directly on the interests of a community; all are to be regarded as safeguards of justice; all are results of long struggles in past ages for the protection of rights; and all go into the sense of security which a community feels in reference to the nature of citizenship. Each one of the arrangements which now enter into the administration of justice has been the result of a long and fearful struggle in the history of the world, or has, in its establishment, constituted an epoch in the progress of society; making a marked distinction between society as it was before, and as it is afterwards. So it was with the establishment of trial by jury in the time of Alfred; with the rights secured by the barons in the Magna Charta; in the writ of habeas corpus in the time of Charles II.; in the abolition of the Star Chamber; in the arrangements by which an indictment shall be found by a jury before trial; in the points established after so long a conflict, that the accused shall meet his accuser face to face, and that the witnesses shall be examined in open court; in the independence of the judges, and in the forms of pleading. The progress of society has been marked by the establishment of these and similar arrangements from age to age: and there is not one of the arrangements now seen in a court of justice which has not in its introduction constituted an epoch in the progress of the world, and been the result of a severe and protracted struggle against oppression and wrong. It is of the highest importance to the interests of a community that the arrangements which have been found necessary in the administration of law should be sacredly observed; and yet all are practically set aside in every case of pardon,—for in every such case an interference is allowed which is protected by none of these safeguards. The interference goes to show that, so far as this case is concerned, the respect which it is so desirable to maintain for courts of law is to be set aside. It is, in fact, an arrangement where there is no proper respect for law or for the regular administration of law under the safeguards secured in the wisdom of past ages. Such are some of the difficulties on the subject of pardon; difficulties which occur inevitably if pardon is never exercised, if it is often exercised, or if it should be always extended to the guilty. These difficulties it has never been in the power of any human wisdom to overcome; and, whichever of these courses has been adopted, evil has always resulted under every form of human administration. No way has been discovered of so adjusting these points as to make the exercise free from difficulty. There has been some defect in the practical working of every system; something wanting which it has never been in the power of a human legislator to introduce into his scheme. There has been everywhere a deep conviction that pardon should in certain cases be extended to the guilty; but how it can be done so as to secure the interests of justice, so as to maintain the power of law, and so as not to be an encouragement for the commission of crime, is a point which has never been settled in any human administration. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: 3.03. EMBARRASSMENTS IN A HUMAN GOVERNMENT FROM THE WANT OF AN ATONEMENT. ======================================================================== CHAPTER III. EMBARRASSMENTS IN A HUMAN GOVERNMENT FROM THE WANT OF AN ATONEMENT. All governments, in the administration of the laws, experience such difficulties as are proposed to be remedied by an atonement. Whether those difficulties would be removed by such a device as that of the atonement is a fair question for consideration; but it will be admitted, on the slightest consideration of the subject, that the difficulties which are proposed to be remedied by an atonement actually exist in all forms of human administration, and that, in spite of any arrangement which can be made by human wisdom, they create constant embarrassment. It is important, in order to prepare the way for the consideration of the doctrine of the atonement, to show what those difficulties are, and what devices have been resorted to in order to remove them. I. The embarrassments which are felt may be specified under four heads:— 1. The first arises from the difficulty in respect to the magistrate, the impossibility of his cherishing and carrying out as a magistrate the feelings which he is permitted and required to cherish as a man. As a man, in his private transactions, he can fully carry out the promptings of humanity and the principle of religion in forgiving an offence; as a magistrate, appointed to administer and execute the laws, these feelings are never to be indulged. There springs up a conflict between the promptings of his nature and the demands of duty; and one or the other of these must be suppressed if he extends pardon to the guilty. The difficulty consists in making the private virtues of the man harmonize with the duties of the magistrate, for there are feelings of our nature which require us to show mercy to the guilty, and it is universally regarded as a virtue for one who has been offended or wronged to pardon an offender. This is a virtue, however, which the magistrate strives in vain to transfer as a magistrate to his own bosom. Pardon he could freely extend in private life; but his public position creates difficulties in indulging these feelings which he cannot surmount. All the interests of justice would be sacrificed if as a magistrate he should give indulgence to the feelings which constitute the highest traits of character in private life; if he were to indulge in that free exercise of mercy towards offenders which he inculcates as a duty on his own children, and which he feels bound to manifest as a neighbour or a citizen. On the one hand, to be as unwilling in private life to forgive as he feels bound to be as a magistrate, would be at variance with all the virtues which are inculcated in regard to the treatment of others, and with what, conscious as we are of imperfection, we are often under the necessity of asking from others; and, on the other hand, to transfer these feelings to a bench of justice, or to expect an officer of justice to indulge them freely, would be to render all the processes of trial a farce, and to defeat all the purposes of the arraignment of the violators of the law. No arrangement has been devised by human wisdom by which that which is an eminent virtue in private life can be transferred to a bench of justice, or by which that which is deemed so essential to virtue in private life can be made proper in him who administers and executes the laws. Every man, therefore, who occupies this position must feel—or must act as if he felt—that he is constrained to assume a different character from that which he deems to be virtuous in private life, when he becomes an executor of the laws, or when he occupies a position where the interests of justice are intrusted to him. 2. The second source of embarrassment occurs in cases where it is desirable that an offender should be pardoned, but where it cannot with propriety be done, and the law is suffered to take its course. In such a case an injury is done to humanity itself, and some of its best dictates are disregarded. There are conflicting feelings and interests, and there is no way by which they can be reconciled. The convictions of the necessity of justice in the execution of the laws, and the strong promptings of humanity in the bosom of the magistrate and in the feelings of the community, come into collision, and there is no method in which both can be indulged, or in which they can be reconciled. The well-known case of Dr. Dodd, so frequently referred to by writers on this subject, will illustrate this point. He was a clergyman. His character and standing before the act of forgery charged on him had been unimpeached. In an evil hour he committed an act of forgery, and was sentenced to death. The case at once excited strong sympathy throughout the realm. The offence was undeniable, and he himself did not attempt to deny it. He did not seek, by any dishonest or dishonourable act, to evade the penalty of the law, nor did he even avail himself of an opportunity of escape which had been purposely left open to him. The paper, forged with the name of the Earl of Chesterfield, was purposely left with him when alone, with the expectation and the hope that he would destroy it and thus remove all the means of convicting him. But, by some strange infatuation, or by design, he omitted to do it, and the law pronounced on him the sentence of death. His fair character hitherto, his profession, and the fact that this was his first offence, excited the strong sympathies of the nation. A petition for his pardon, drawn up by Dr. Johnson, and with his name at the head, received at once no less than thirty thousand signatures; and all the warm feelings of the sovereign himself prompted him to clemency. The benevolent feelings of a large part of the British nation would have been gratified with his pardon. But, on the other hand, there was the explicit judgment of the law. There was the aggravated character of the offence,—an offence tending to destroy all confidence in a commercial community. The law regarded the crime as so heinous; so important was it to prevent the commission of the crime in a commercial community; so necessary was it to secure confidence in the transactions between man and man, that it has been said that up to that time in England no one guilty of that crime had been pardoned. Perhaps, too, his profession operated against him, and it was deemed desirable that by a striking example it should be seen that in no circumstances whatever was indulgence to be given to that offence. The law was suffered, therefore, to take its course. The offender died, and the world approved the stern decision of the sovereign. But the embarrassment felt in this case for the want of some device like an atonement is apparent. There was a manifest want of some arrangement by which the benevolent feelings of the nation and of the sovereign could be gratified, and by which at the same time the interests of justice could be secured. On the one hand, there were thousands of pained hearts when the guilty man died; and on the other, there would have been thousands of painful apprehensions about the consequences if he had been suffered to live. An atonement, or some arrangement that would have secured, at the same time, the gratification of the benevolent feelings of the community, the life of the offender, and the interests of justice, would have saved the whole difficulty. In every such case there is a source of embarrassment in the administration of law which it has never been in the power of human legislation to remove. There are desires of our nature which are not gratified; and in the rigid execution of law, however a magistrate may comply with the promptings of nature in one respect,—that which requires him to administer justice,—there are other promptings of his nature which are not complied with,—those which impel him to mercy. While obeying the demands of his nature in one respect, he is doing violence to it in another; nor has it ever been possible to make such an arrangement that all the promptings of his nature shall be in harmony. 3. A third source of embarrassment in the administration of justice from the .want of some arrangement like an atonement pertains to the reformation or the future conduct of an offender. Even supposing that the interests of justice were fully consulted, and that at the same time all the promptings of compassion in our nature were complied with, still, there is a material point for which no arrangement is made, in regard to the future conduct of the offender. If his punishment had secured his reformation, and if there were absolute certainty in regard to his future good conduct, the exercise of mercy would be attended with much fewer embarrassments than it is now. The whole aspect of the case would be changed, and an approximation would be made at least towards a removal of the difficulties already suggested. It might be supposed that the ends of justice had been so far accomplished in securing his reformation that the exercise of the pardoning power would not be perilous to the community. A few remarks will make this point clear. (a.) There is great injustice to a community if an offender is discharged with no evidence of repentance and reformation, and no security that he will be subsequently obedient to the laws. This involves a positive wrong to a community, because it sets aside all the arrangements which have been made by that community to detect and punish the guilty and to secure itself from the commission of crime, and because it jeopards the safety of the community by turning upon it a practised offender with no security that he will not repeat his offences. The wrong done to the community, therefore, is to be measured by all the arrangements which have been made to detect and punish offenders, and by all the injury which would result if the offence should be repeated. For the arrangements made in any community for the detection, arrest, trial, conviction, and punishment of offenders are among the most valuable of all the arrangements of governments; they call into requisition more than almost any other arrangement the wisdom of legislators; they are supposed to protect more rights and to furnish more security for the peace of a community than any other arrangements; and they constitute, more than any thing else, the security on which the community relies for the preservation of property, reputation, life, and peace. The wrong also is to be measured by all that is thus done to endanger the future welfare of the community. Every offender discharged from prison without evidence of reformation does much to render property, life, and reputation insecure, and is so far an act of injustice to the community. It is practically an act of wrong to the community as direct as it would be to establish a school for the purpose of training burglars and counterfeiters, instructing them in the arts of fraud and villainy, and sending them out thus trained to prey upon the community. If there could be some arrangement by which the future good conduct of those who are pardoned could be secured, the wrong done to the community would be indeed much less flagrant; but there could be no higher act of injustice to all the virtuous and peaceable citizens of a commonwealth, and no act that would more certainly endanger all the rights that society seeks to secure, than at once to discharge all the inmates of the penitentiaries of a land with no security for their future good behaviour. (b.) Yet it has never been possible by prison-discipline so to secure the reformation of convicts as to furnish a guarantee for their future good conduct. At this point all the arrangements made for reaching the hearts of convicts, and all the efforts of the friends of prison-discipline for securing the reformation of convicts, fail; and, unless some plan securing such an effect as is contemplated by an atonement in the reformation of the guilty can be devised, must forever fail. The reasons for this opinion are the following:— 1. No certain reliance can be placed on any professed reformation of a convict; and this would be especially true if his discharge were made in any way dependent on such a professed reformation. No government has ever supposed that it would be a safe principle to adopt that an offender should always be pardoned on evidence of his repentance and reformation. No evidence could be furnished of such a reformation that would be a safe ground of reliance, for the temptation to hypocrisy and insincerity in such a prospect would be so great that no reliance could be placed on any protestations of a purpose of future amendment. Even the most hardened offenders would, in such a case, soon learn the tears and the language of penitence; and few would they be who would remain in prison if the counterfeited expressions of sorrow for sin and the counterfeited pledges of future amendment would secure a discharge. Even with all the precautions and safeguards introduced into prisons on this point; even where there is no promise, or pledge, or even secret hope of pardon from reformation, it is sad to reflect how few pretended reformations in prison can be relied on; how few are, in fact, sincere and permanent.* 2. There is no certainty that punishment will so secure the certain reformation of the offender as to make it safe to pardon him. The design of punishment will be a subject for future consideration in this essay, as well also the usual effect of punishment considered as a means of securing reformation or guarding against a repetition of an offence. All that it is necessary now to observe is, that such an effect cannot be regarded as so certain as to be a basis of calculation in reference to the future conduct of an offender, or a basis of action in reference to his treatment at present. It cannot be assumed in the administration of law that punishment will always be so efficacious in securing reformation that this may be proceeded upon as certain, or that on the basis of such an expectation it will be proper to make an arrangement by which convicts may be discharged. In all the forms of punishment which have been devised,—whether by fines, imprisonment, scourging, torture, attainder, banishment, or branding,—no method has been found that has been so certainly efficacious in securing reformation that it could be assumed that this would always be the result, or that the professions of reformation under the infliction of such penalties could be so relied on that they might be regarded as a safe basis of action in the treatment of the guilty. Repentance and reformation, in fact, occur very seldom as the result of punishment. Even the profession of repentance and reformation is a rare thing. We shall see in our subsequent inquiries that punishment as such has no tendency to produce genuine reformation, but that whenever a real reformation occurs in connection with an infliction of the penalty of the law, it is by some foreign influence, by something which has been introduced apart from the punishment, and which could never have been secured by the mere infliction of the penalty of the law. * The following extract from the Journal of Prison-Discipline and Philanthropy, for January, 1857, referring to an actual experiment of this kind in one of our States, may be adduced to illustrate the effect which would be produced in this respect by the hope of obtaining pardon on the manifestation of repentance and reformation:— "There are certain periods at which this pardoning tribunal holds its session, and these are known to convicts. The officers of the State Penitentiary of this same State assured us, not long since, that if one should visit the prison shortly before the assembling of this court, he might think the convicts were suddenly metamorphosed into the most devout religionists. The Bible is in sudden demand. The most demure expressions of countenance are assumed, and the lamblike deportment of the prisoners would indicate a complete reformation. But let the same visitor be present the day after the court of pardons adjourns, and he would think the convicts had suddenly become demons incarnate. Some are favoured in the dispensation of mercy; but others, vexed, chagrined, and disappointed, seem bent upon avenging what they call their wrongs; and it is a task of many days for an energetic warden to reduce them to.tolerable subordination." 3. Such a power cannot be introduced into au act of pardon as shall secure the future good conduct of the offender. If this could be done, it is obvious that it would be safe then to pardon the guilty,—at least, so far as their future good conduct is concerned. But this cannot be done. There is no certainty or probability that an act of pardon will so operate on the mind of one who is pardoned as to make his reformation certain; there is no tendency in such an act to make it certain. There are no principles in human nature on which reliance can be placed in securing such a result. We cannot so confide in the gratitude of men, or in their generous impulses, as to feel any assurance that by doing them an act of kindness they will cease to do wrong. However flagrant may have been a crime, however clear the evidence that it was committed, and however it might be supposed that an act of clemency in such a case would appeal to all that is generous and noble in man, yet facts abundantly show that no such act of clemency will so appeal to his sense of gratitude as to secure the future good conduct of the guilty. Nor can there be introduced into the instrument of pardon any such influence as to constitute a ground of security for the future good conduct of an offender. The presumption is rather that one who had been punished, in whatever way he may be discharged from punishment, whether by having borne the prescribed penalty of the law, or by an act of clemency, will feel that he has been wronged by the punishment, and will seek an opportunity of avenging himself for the wrong. Facts, in the case of those who are convicted of crime and who are either punished or pardoned, abundantly sustain this presumption. 4. A fourth source of embarrassment in the administration of justice, which no human arrangement has been sufficient to overcome, is, that it is impossible to secure the exercise of both justice and mercy. The one, so far as it is exercised, sets aside the other. It is possible to be severely and sternly just, and it is possible to be tender, compassionate, and merciful; but it has not been found possible to blend the two. We have seen in the previous remarks that in our nature there is a demand for both, and that cases constantly occur where it is desirable that there should be an exercise of both; that is, cases of acknowledged crime where it is desirable that the offence should be punished, and yet cases so peculiar in their nature that it is desirable that there should be an exercise of clemency; cases where all the interests of justice demand that there should be punishment, and yet where all the benevolent feelings of our nature would be gratified by an act of pardon. One of these only can be gratified by the course which may be pursued in the administration of law; both cannot be. They conflict with each other. The one practically and in effect sets aside the other. As a government leans to the one or the other, it is stern, severe, and harsh, or weak, inefficient, and ineffective. Some of the noblest feelings of our nature are overridden and crushed out by the rigid execution of law; some of the essential claims of justice are set aside by every interposition of mercy. There have been no arrangements in society for blending the two. There are no such arrangements in the ordinary courts of justice; there is no special tribunal where it is supposed that the two can be blended. There are arrangements in abundance for the administration of justice, and there are arrangements for the exercise of mercy, but there are none for the blending of the two. So far also as the character of one who is intrusted with administering the laws is concerned, in proportion as he is inclined to the one it is always at the expense of the other. He is merciful or just, not merciful and just. The one attribute constantly neutralizes the other; and, though there are .cases in abundance where these attributes are manifested separately, there are none where they are perfectly combined. Though there are humane judges, yet the mere administration of law is always stern and rigid. If mercy is to be shown it is not by the judge as such; it is reserved for some other breast than his, or for his own breast when acting in some other capacity. "The constitution," says Lord Mansfield, when delivering the opinion of the court of King’s Bench on the outlawry of Mr. Wilkes, "does not allow reasons of state to influence our judgments. God forbid that it should! The constitution trusts the king with reasons of state and policy; he may stop prosecutions; he may pardon oft’ences; it is his to judge whether the law or the criminal should yield. We have no election. None of us encouraged or approved the commission of either of the crimes of which the defendant is convicted; none of us had any hand in his being prosecuted. We cannot pardon. We are to say what we take the law to be: if we do not speak our real opinions, we prevaricate with God and our own con sciences." The departments of justice and mercy have in all constitutional and wise governments been kept distinct; and, however the hearts of judges may he nclined to mercy, and however cordial they may be in commending the guilty to mercy, yet judgment and mercy are so distinct in their character, and are to be dispensed on so different principles, that the law presumes that they cannot both be found united in the same bosom, and that they cannot be safely intrusted to the same individual. As the law has made no arrangement for blending the exercise of the two, so it has never presumed that the same person is qualified to administer both. Such are some of the embarrassments which occur in a human administration from the want of an atonement. It may be proper, then,— II. In the second place, in illustration of this point, to refer to some cases which have occurred where this difficulty has been felt, and some of the devices which have been resorted to to meet it. A case occurred in the life of the prophet Daniel, which will show what has not unfrequently occurred under governments where the law is stern and inflexible. The case was this: Darius, the king, had been instigated by crafty counsellors to promulgate a law that whoever should ask any petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of himself, should be cast into a den of lions. (Daniel 6:7) Daniel, as was anticipated by those who had proposed the law, (for it had been proposed for the very purpose of securing his fall from power,) was the first offender. The king now saw that by the law so craftily obtained he had involved the first officer of the realm and a man of unsullied character in ruin, unless some way could be devised by which the consequences of the statute could be averted. Thus it is said (Daniel 6:14) that " the king was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him." His feelings of friendship for Daniel prompted him to this; his convictions of what was right urged him to it; the sense of the wrong that he had done in yielding to the enactment of a law manifestly designed to i*uin an innocent man pressed it upon him. But there were insuperable difficulties in the case. There was the stern and absolute law which he had himself enacted. There was the settled maxim in regard to the laws of the realm that they should not be altered, (Daniel 6:8) the fixed principle that, having been once enacted, they should be allowed to take their course, no matter what consequences might follow. There was the undoubted fact that Daniel had violated the law, —a fact which Daniel himself would not deny, and which could not be called in question. There was the rank of the offender, and the apprehension of the consequences on more humble classes if one so exalted should be pardoned after an open and palpable violation of the law. There was the effect which would follow in regard to the character of the monarch himself, if he should thus practically confess that he had been inveigled into the enactme. t of a law designed for a crafty purpose, whose consequences and bearing he did not himself foresee. In view of these considerations, all that could be done was to let the law take its course. The most illustrious, the most useful, and the most upright man in the kingdom was thus consigned to a most fearful doom; and nothing but the protecting care of God saved him when human justice was denied him. Now, on the supposition in this case that the law had been as just as it was inexorable, what was needed, and what would have .met the whole difficulty, was some device like an atonement,—some arrangement by which the majesty of the law could be asserted and its proper influence secured, while at the same time the desire of the monarch’s heart to release the offender could be gratified. * Lives of the Chief-Justices of England, by Lord Campbell, vol. ii. p. 354. This case may illustrate what substantially occurs always iu the administration of law. It is true that all law has a penalty; for if it had not it would be a bugbear. It is true that, so far as the administration of law is concerned, all law is inexorable; for, though a legislature may change or repeal a law, a court is appointed only to administer it, not to set it aside, and, so far as a court is concerned, all laws are as inexorable as " the laws of the Medes and Persians." It is true that in every case where an act of pardon is contemplated it is implied that there has been an undoubted violation of law; for if this is not so the discharge of the man is not an act of pardon, but of justice. And it is true that though all offenders have not the rank, the character, or the moral worth of Daniel, yet that the mere act of violating a law gives a man a prominence which he would not otherwise have had; exalts him into a degree of conspicuity to which nothing else might elevate him; and gives him a claim to notice which perhaps nothing else could. And it is true, also, that in numerous cases there are strong appeals made to the humanity, the compassion, the kindness, of those intrusted with the pardoning power; that from the age, the former character, the standing, the ability to be useful, of those who are convicted of crime, the operation of the law, though just, seems harsh and severe, and a strong appeal is made to mercy. Such instances strongly remind us of the case of Darius, who "set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him." The case of Dr. Dodd, before described,* may be again referred to, as another illustration of the embarrassments experienced in the administration of a human government for the want of an atonement. If in that case, as in the case of Daniel, there could have been some device by which, on the one hand, the majesty of the law could have been maintained and the claims of justice asserted, and by which, on the other, the benevolent feelings of the sovereign and of the community could have been gratified, it is easy to see how the evils would have been avoided which were inevitable without it. Whatever may be thought of the arrangement proposed in the gospel to meet the case of sinful men, it cannot be denied that such an arrangement is desirable, nor that embarrassments are constantly occurring in human governments for the want of it which there has been hitherto no way to overcome. The fact that there is no atonement under a human administration does not occur because there are no cases where it would be desirable, or because no embarrassments arise from the want of it, but because the legislator can make no such provision. It is above him. Even if the principle were admitted that the sufferings of the innocent might be substituted in place of the penalty with which the law threatens the guilty, there is no one whose sufferings he can substitute in place of the guilty, and the whole arrangement is too elevated and vast for him. *Pp. 51, 52, 53. To meet and remove these difficulties, as far as it can be done, governments are often constrained to resort to clumsy, ineffectual, and even cruel, devices. Of these the two principal have been substitution and retaliation. (1.) Substitution.—This has not often indeed been resorted to, for it has not been easy to find a substitute, nor has it been easy to perceive how substituted suffering could satisfy the demands of the law, or secure the ends of the penalty threatened to the offender himself. We shall see, indeed, in a subsequent part of this Essay, that the principle involved in such a substitution is not unfrequently developed in. the actual course of events under the divine administration; but it has not been practicable for a human government to adopt the principle and to incorporate it into the regular administration of the laws. A single instance may illustrate the difficulty of doing this, and may show how clumsy, ineffectual, and impracticable the attempt is when men resort to substituted sufferings to screen the guilty from punishment. The King of the Locrians made a law that the adulterer should be punished with the loss of both his eyes. His son was the first offender; and the father, to save his son from the infliction of the penalty and yet to secure the honour of the law, determined that he himself would lose one eye and that his son should lose another. But, whatever might be the effect of a single instance of this kind on the offender or on the community, it was still far from meeting the difficulties which occur in the administration of justice, and from removing the embarrassments which, as we have seen, press on all governments. For this was not what the law required; it was not what the case demanded. The penalty was simply divided, and yet was such that it was not in fact inflicted at all; for the essential idea in the penalty was that of a total loss of sight,—which occurred to neither the father nor the son. If the father had submitted to the loss of both his eyes, the case would have been more nearly met. But eveu then it would have lacked an essential thing in all the proper demands for an atonement. It could not be repeated, aud the influence of it could be properly applicable only to this one case. Besides, it had necessarily no efficacy in bringing his son to repentance and securing his future good conduct. The threatening of the loss of the other eye, and of total blindness, might indeed have deterred him; but that would be a new penalty, to operate as any other penalty would, deriving no power from the substituted sufferings of the father in this case. Moreover, even if it had been effectual in this case, it could not be expected to operate in other instances to deter from crime, for, in the very nature of the case, it was limited in its intention and influence to this single instance, and any merit which there might be in it could not be transferred to others. Further, the crime was not atoned for. Just as much suffering was supposed to be endured as would have been if the whole penalty had been inflicted on the son; and the effect was simply that a part was transferred from the guilty to the innocent. So far as the suffering threatened by the law was concerned, it was all inflicted, and in that respect the penalty was completely exhausted. There was no gain of happiness, there was no diminution of suffering, there was no advantage on the whole; for if the exact amount of suffering is to be endured, it is obvious that there is no gain secured by the arrangement, and that it is better that it should be endured by the guilty than by the innocent. Besides, as already remarked, the arrangement secured necessarily no change in the offender. It might be hoped, indeed, that a son would be affected by seeing a father voluntarily endure such a calamity to save him from the full penalty of the law; but it is obvious that there could be no security that it would have this effect on him, and still less that it would have such an effect on others. Indeed, it would not be probable that in regard to the reformation of others it would produce any effect whatever. It might deter others from crime by the apprehension that, if the sovereign was so determined to execute the law as to divide its penalty between his own son and himself, it might be presumed that in all other cases it would be rigidly enforced; but neither in the case of his son, nor of any other offenders, would there be the slightest security that it would tend to bring them to repentance and to a virtuous life. (2.) Another device which is resorted to to remove the difficulties which occur in the administration of justice, is that of retaliation. A tragedy of this kind was on the point of being enacted in the American Revolution, which would have made the hearts of hundreds bleed on both sides of the Atlantic. A Captain Huddy—an American officer who commanded a small body of troops in Monmouth county, New Jersey—was taken by the British, and shortly afterwards was hanged on the heights near Middletown. It was a case so aggravated, his character was 60 fair, and it was regarded as so important that a repetition of such offences should be prevented, that retaliation was resolved on, and it was determined that if the leader of the party was not given up, an officer of the same rank should be selected from the British prisoners in the hands of the Americans, and executed. A large number of British officers were then in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as prisoners. The selection was to be made by lot. It fell on Captain Asgill, an interesting young man of nineteen years of age; and he was conducted towards the army to expiate the murder of the American officer by his death. He had a mother across the ocean. She was already borne down with the weight of family afflictions; and now, far from home, her son, having attained an honourable rank in the army, and in the dawn of life, was destined to death,—a species of military sacrifice to atone for the crimes of his country. Circumstances, indeed, not necessary here to be stated, prevented the execution of the purpose, and he was discharged; but the principle was fully admitted both by Washington and by Congress, and every arrangement had been made to execute the purpose.* Calmly indeed a brave young man might die even under such circumstances; but it was not like dying on the field with the flag of the enemy folded under his head for a pillow, as Wolfe did, or even dying in defeat voluntarily shedding his blood, like Montgomery on the same plains of Abraham. But it is not with the spirit with which a brave young man might meet death in such circumstances that we are concerned; it is with the transaction itself considered as a human device to avenge a wrong, to secure the ends of justice, to repair an injury, and to atone for an offence. And here we may notice the following things as illustrating this and all similar methods of retaliation:— (a.) It was a designed substitution,—a substitution of an innocent man in the place of the guilty leader of the band which had perpetrated the crime. It was designed to be in the place of his death, and was intended somehow to answer the purpose which his death would have answered. The execution of the leader of the party would have been regarded, so far as the law is concerned, as an expiation for the offence, or as a satisfaction for the crime. If he had been delivered up and put to death, the laws of war would have had no other claim, nor, according to the usages of war, could there have been any other claim, on the enemy. Not even the friends of the murdered man themselves could have demanded any other reparation for the wrong that had been done to them, and the proposed arrangement—by the execution of an innocent man—was intended to accomplish, as far as it could be done, the ends that would have been secured by the death of the murderer himself. It was, therefore, one of the few cases attempted in human laws of expiating crime by substituted sufferings. * Irving’s Life of Washington, vol. iv. pp. 394-397. (b.) It was to the young officer himself a palpable wrong, a wrong which no consideration could justify. He had, so far as this was concerned, committed no crime. He had violated no law. He had in no sense been guilty of the murder. Nor can it be inferred that he had bound himself by any contract, express or implied, to serve his country in this manner. He may, indeed, be presumed to have offered himself to die for his country, if such should be his lot, on the field of battle, or even in any hard service that might be required. His talents, his skill, his vigour, his time, his valour, all were, in the proper way, to be at the service of his country. But it cannot be supposed that by entering the army he had ever brought himself under an obligation to undergo a shameful death; to have his name connected with the infamy of the gallows, and to be hurried by a cold and cruel act to the grave, in the morning of life, in order to expiate the crime of another. Nothing could make this an act of justice to him, or ever prevent its being, in all its aspects and bearings, a palpable wrong. Whatever benefit his country might derive to itself by suffering this; in whatever way it might be made to avenge a wrong or make satisfaction for crime, it could not but be to him an act of gross and cruel injustice. (e.) Such an act of retaliation makes even war itself more barbarous and savage. Besides being a wrong to him who is selected to suffer, for which nothing could compensate, it violates all the laws even of ’honour,’ deemed so essential in the prosecution of war. It crushes at once all the gentle and noble feelings of our nature, and inflicts pain and wrong on those who ought to be protected. It was not merely the young man who was selected to be the victim who would suffer: the infliction would strike deeper, and would reach those who were in no manner implicated in the war, who were in no sense under the laws of war, and who could by no construction be under obligations to suffer the penalty due to crime. After all, the keenest suffering in the case might not be that endured by the young officer himself, for when he entered the army he perhaps expected to die in the service of his country: it would be the widowed mother in a distant land; the affectionate and tender sister; the maiden affianced to him and who waited for his return with triumph. The chief sorrow from the infliction would be found in the home made desolate; the painful disappointment there; the embittered remembrance in future years of such a day of calamity. Could all terminate on him, or could eveu his death be remembered in future years as it might have been if he had fallen in battle, the case would be different; but when would the sorrow cease, and what mitigation could there ever be of it, if he was dragged, as if he had been a guilty man, to be murdered in cold blood to expiate a crime with which he had no connection, and for whose commission he could in no sense be responsible? (d.) It may be added, that if the matter had been of such a nature that he could have submitted to death voluntarily, and that his sacrifice could have been regarded as an act of generous self-devotion to save another from a death as cruel, or more cruel, or to save a friend or a foe from danger,—as when one perils his life in endeavouring to deliver another from a watery grave or from flame, or throws himself into pestilential abodes to minister to the sick and dying, and himself falls a victim,—then the case would have been different. The aspect of cruelty, injustice, and severity would then have been wholly removed. It would have assumed the character of all that is noble, elevated, and pure. In such generous self-sacrifice there is every thing to mitigate the sorrows of bereavement; and even the distant widowed mother, the affectionate sister, and the affianced bride would find consolation in such an act. The idea of voluntariness would change at once the whole nature of the transaction, and impart consolation in the remembrance of it in the scenes of deepest sorrow. In the one case the act would convey the idea of every thing generous and noble; in the other, it suggests the idea of all that is cold, repellant, harsh, severe. While the act under consideration would fail, therefore, in atoning for the crime or expiating the offence, it would violate every generous feeling of our nature, and serve to perpetuate, extend, and magnify all that is cruel and savage in the nature of man. The difficulties which have been now suggested press upon every government in the administration of justice; nor has it been possible ever to remove them. The two objects of mercy and justice have never been blended, and the devices which have been resorted to to secure the two have always been clumsy and ineffectual, and usually severe and unjust. One may easily be secured,—either justice or mercy; but frequently one is secured at the expense of the other. Justice may be secured, but mercy cannot be extended at the same time to the guilty. It is mere justice—stern, hard, inexorable justice— when a murderer dies on the gallows; it is cold, ironhearted, and iron-handed right when a man is incarcerated for life iu a dungeon; it becomes a violation of all the tender sensibilities of our nature, a thing which chills and stuns us, when such a man as the youthful Asgill is selected by lot, and when arrangements are coolly made for his death. Possibly, in such a case, one accustomed to the stern laws of war, or schooled in the mere rules of justice, may discipline the understanding so that it does not revolt at it; but he never so disciplines the heart. That maintains an unwavering aversion to all such transactions; that never varies in its emotions when such transactions are contemplated. Its remonstrances may be, indeed, silenced. There may be no clamour, and no expressed disapproval. But it is acquiescence in stern necessity in a case where the heart feels that a wrong is done to all its own sympathies, and that a demand of its nature has been disregarded, for there is in such cases no such clemency, such kindness, such compassion, as the heart demands. In the mere administration of justice, judges are compelled to part with the kindlier feelings of their nature, and to lay aside their sympathies as fathers, as brothers, as men; jurors are compelled to forget that they are endowed with sympathy and that it is part of their nature to forgive offenders; executioners are compelled to forget that he is a man for whom they are rearing the gallows, and to suppress all the tender emotions of the soul when they send a fellow-being to the bar of God. But, on the other hand, it is true, mercy might be shown to the guilty. All prisons might be thrown open. All convicts might be pardoned. The murderer, and the pirate, and the traitor might be discharged. But then there are principles of our nature which are violated which are as strong and as proper as the claims of mercy and compassion. There are wrongs committed as real, and violations of our nature as certain, as in the sternest and coldest infliction of the mere penalty of the law. In doing this, all the demands of justice would be disregarded, and an egregious wrong would be done to a community. It would be of no use that a vigilant police had ferreted out those who had committed crime; that the process of arraignment and trial had been gone through with; that justice had poised her scales with sure hand and sentenced the guilty man to death. All the securities supposed to be important to the community in the trial by jury, and in the processes of trial, would be of no value; for they would be all at once set aside. In such a state of things, also, the best interests of the community would be disregarded. Pardoned, but urfreformed, the murderer, the burglar, the pirate, the highwayman, the midnight assassin, would be let loose upon the community; and who could lie calmly on his pillow? Every neighbourhood would be filled with discharged convicts unreformed; and where would property and life be safe? Every sea would swarm with pirates; and what security could there be for the vast treasures embarked in the pursuits of commerce? What mother could sleep calmly at night, feeling that her ’sailor-boy’ was safe on the ocean? But if an atonement could be made; if there could be such an arrangement that all these varied interests could be secured, what a change would be produced in the administration of the laws! If it were possible to institute an arrangement which would secure a proper expression of the majesty and honour of the law and the interests of justice, and, at the same time, make it proper to indulge the benevolent feelings of the heart; that would send forth all who are pardoned, however guilty they may have been, thoroughly reformed, prepared to take their places in the community as industrious and honest men, securing their good behaviour in all time to come, it is obvious that an object would be accomplished which never has been secured in the administration of justice. It would be an object for which the world has sighed, and which men have endeavoured to secure by the harsh and clumsy devices occasionally resorted to in the vain endeavour to blend the administration of justice and the dispensation of mercy. Whether that object has been secured in the atonement made by the Redeemer, is the most momentous question that can come before the mind of man. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: 3.04. THE OBJECTS TO BE SECURED BY AN ATONEMENT. ======================================================================== CHAPTER IV. THE OBJECTS TO BE SECURED BY AN ATONEMENT. It ia now a very material inquiry, What objects are contemplated by an atonement? What is to be secured by it? What is the purpose for which it is to be introduced into an administration of government? It is clear, from the foregoing remarks, and from the nature of the case, that an atonement must relate to one or all of the following things:—to the law itself, that its authority may be maintained; to the penalty of the law, that the object contemplated by the penalty may be secured; to the offenders in whose behalf it is made, or who are to receive the avails of it, that it may make their reformation and future good conduct certain; to the community, that it may have nothing to apprehend if the guilty are pardoned; and to the character of the lawgiver, that that character may stand fair before the world, and be such as to inspire confidence, if the just penalty of the law is remitted. These objects would manifestly comprise all that could be effected, or that it would be desirable to effect, in administering the law; and I propose now to show why such objects must be contemplated by an atonement, or’ why it is proper to demand that they shall be secured if an atonement is made. In other words, it is necessary to show that if it is proposed to release the guilty on the ground of an atonement, justice may demand, and the interests of a community will require, that these objects shall be secured. I. The first point relates to the law itself, that its authority may be maintained. "Law," says Blackstone, "in its most comprehensive sense, signifies a rule of action, and is applied indiscriminately to all kinds of actions, whether animate or inanimate, rational or irrational. This, then, is the general signification of law, a rule of action dictated by some superior being." "Municipal law is a rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state, commanding what is right, and prohibiting what is wrong."* The following are the usual definitions of law:— "Lex est ratio summa, quae jubet quse sunt utilia et necessaria, et contraria prohibet."—Lord Coke, i. 17. "Lex est justorum, injustorum distinctio, quiddam seternum in mente Dei existens; recta ratio summi Jovis."—Cicero, de Legibus, lib. 1 et 2. "Lex est regula actuuni moralium obligans ad id quod rectum est."—Grot., lib. 1, c. 1. "Lex est decretum quo superior sibi subditum obligat ad istius prescriptum actiones suas componat."—Puff., de Offic. Horn, et Go. secund. Leg. Nat. lib. 1, c. 2. "Law is a rule which an intelligent being setteth down for the framing of actions by."—Hooker, Eccl. Pol. B. 1. "Lex est sanctio justa jubens honesta, et prohibens contraria.’’—Bracton. * Com. i. 38, 39, 44. From these well-known definitions and descriptions of law in general, we may make the following remarks in regard to its nature and value as bearing on the subject before us, and as showing why it is necessary to have regard to it in an atonement. (1.) Law, in reference to moral actions, expresses the sense of the lawgiver as to what is right, and as to the value of right. It is the measure of his estimate of what should be done, and of the limits by which rights are bounded. The promulgation of the law indeed determines nothing on the question why the thing that is commanded is right, or why the thing which is prohibited is wrong. So far as the promulgation of law is concerned, that may either be (a) because the lawgiver wills it; or (b) because it is right or wrong in the nature of things; or (c) because one course of conduct will promote happiness and the other will lead to misery. Which of these is the proper foundation of the distinction between right and wrong, and therefore the reason why the law is ordained, is a question which has never been so determined as to command the assent of all men; but the difference of opinion on these points does not affect the position just laid down,— that the law expresses the sense of the lawgiver as to right and wrong, and that the law is the measure of his estimate of what is just. We are always sure when we have a law in any case, that we have in that the estimate of the lawgiver of what is right; we are not certain, and we need not be certain—for that would not affect the main point—whether this estimate is founded on his own will in the case, his will being essentially, and from the nature of the case, a just estimate of what is right; or on the nature of things; or on the foreseen effects of conduct as bearing on the happiness of an individual or on society. We may be certain, however, that in every case of just law there is some reason why the law in that case is what it is; and in reference to the laws of God we are led ultimately to confide in his infinite wisdom and benevolence in founding his laws on true reason, though we may not be able ourselves to perceive what the reason is.* (2.) The value of law, which by the nature of the act of atonement is regarded as so important, is seen everywhere. All things are placed under law. As God made the worlds, and as he has peopled them, and as he has multiplied living forms and physical agencies, nothing is made lawless. There is not, as the universe came from his hand, and as his administration is extended over it, one thing in the mineral, the vegetable, the animal, or the moral kingdom that is placed beyond the control of law or that is not regulated by law. There is not one that is the production of chance, or that is subject to the play of chance; there is not one that in its creation, its position, its developments, or its relations, can be resolved into mere contingency. All sciences are founded on the belief that the universe is controlled by laws, and serve only to develop their nature and illustrate their universality and value. There is not a crystal that is not formed in accordance with law; not a vegetable that grows not in accordance with law; not a star in the heavens that is not moved in accordance with fixed and certain laws; not an animal upon the earth, not a fish in the waters, not a bird in the air, that is not subject in its origin, formation, and mode of living to definite laws; not a man or an angel that is not made subject to law. The study of these laws, in reference to the material world, constitutes all that there is in natural philosophy; in the animal world, all that there is in natural history; in the affinities and repellencies of the particles of matter, all that there is in chemistry; in the movements of the heavenly bodies, all that there is in astronomy; in the developments of life, all that there is in physiology; in the soul of man, all that there is in psychology; in the operations of mind, all that there is in moral philosophy; in the study of the divine nature and the unfolding of the divine plans, all that there is in theology. If there were not laws applicable to every thing, there could be no science, no calculations in regard to the future, no basis of confidence in any human effort, no encouragement to plough a field, to construct a vessel, to navigate the ocean, to attempt to restore health when impaired, or to save the soul. All that we see, all that we do, all that we hope for, is based on the existence of law, and is all an illustration of the value of law. The purpose of an atonement, therefore, clearly, cannot be to set aside law; but it is to be presumed that if an atonement is made it will so far accord with the established course of events as to illustrate its importance and value. * On this question I may be permitted to refer to my Essay entitled "Inquiries and Suggestions in regard to the Foundation of Faith in the Word of God," published by Parry & McMillan, Philadelphia, 1859. F (3.) All these laws are kept within their proper bounds, and each class of laws is appealed to and relied on in the department to which it appertains, and is never resorted to to accomplish the purpose of law in another department. ’God does not govern the stars by the ten commandments;’ nor does he control the diamond, the oak, or the lion by the laws by which he controls men and angels. Science has arranged, with a good degree of accuracy, all the works of nature into certain great departments or kingdoms,—the material, the vegetable, the animal, and the intellectual or moral kingdoms,—each subject to its own laws according to the nature of the objects to be controlled; and, in the actual administration of the universe, these lines are never crossed. The laws of the vegetable kingdom are never made, nor could they be made, to control the action of gravitation, electricity, or the mechanical forces; the laws of instinct are never made to control the formation of the cells in the development of plants, nor could they be; the moral law, the law that governs angels and men, could never be applied to control either the material, the vegetable, or the animal kingdoms. However one may be made tributary to another, the operation of the one never invades the appropriate department of the other. These departments are never crossed, never interfered with. They constitute , distinct sciences, and, except in miracles, their absolute dominion always exists in the departments to which they respectively belong. An atonement must respect this arrangement, and cannot be designed or allowed to disturb this order. Whether any thing like an atonement, or a compensation, could occur in respect to the infraction of a physical law, might be a more curious than profitable subject of speculation; but an atonement, in the proper sense of the term, can have respect only to moral law. (4.) Moral law has respect to a higher order of agencies than any connected with mere matter. It supposes the existence of understanding and of will. The objects contemplated by a moral law can be secured neither by the laws which pertain to the material, the vegetable, or the animal kingdoms; for men and angels cannot be controlled by mere physical power or by instincts. The department is higher than either of those; and all the arrangements in that department differ essentially from those which pertain to the other departments of the divine administration. Contemplating the subjects of God’s moral kingdom as endowed with intelligence, will, and freedom, the things which are essential in that mode of government are two: (a) a rule of conduct prescribed by the supreme authority; and (b) appropriate sanctions, designed to secure obedience and to deter from disobedience. The force which is applied in the material world—as, for example, in the j .auetary worlds—to secure the observance of law, i n never be applied here; for it would destroy the very notion of moral agency. In the control of the planets there are, indeed, rules or laws to secure their regular motion, but the observance of those laws is secured by mere power. Beyond that power there is nothing in the case; and when we contemplate all that beautiful harmony, and all the arrangements for ’self-adjustment,’ and all the securities for the permanency and good order of the system, we see nothing in the arrangement but wisdom, nothing in the execution but power. There is nothing of the nature of a sanction or a penalty designed to secure a return to order if a law has been violated; nothing that can operate as a motive to secure such a return or to deter from a future violation of law. The irregularities which would occur if a law should be violated would be indeed an expression of the Creator’s sense of the value of law, not, of course, to the material worlds where the law had been departed from, but to moral beings who might observe those irregularities, and they might thus be among the means of illustrating the value of law; but in no sense could they operate to deter from a future violation of law or as a means of securing a return to regularitj’ and order. Laws in a moral government are, however, and must be, appointed for these ends. They express the Creator’s sense of the nature and value of right, and they are accompanied with sanctions which are ordained for the purpose of restraining, controlling, and recovering the subjects of those laws. These moral laws are designed in their sphere, as physical laws are in theirs, to control those who are principally the subjects of moral law in all worlds, and as applied to moral agents must have essentially the same nature and be accompanied with the same sanctions. As the worlds which compose our solar system, and the more remote and magnificent worlds of which even our solar system is a part, are all governed by the same simple laws of gravitation, so it is reasonable to presume that the most lofty spirits before the throne of God, and the inhabitants of fardistant worlds, are controlled by the same moral laws which are designed to bind and control men, and that thus the universe is one. The law of gravitation which regulates the fall of a pebble is sufficient to control all the material worlds; the law which requires love to God, and which is sufficient to control the mind of a child, may be all that is necessary to bring into subjection and preserve in their place the loftiest intellects that the Creator has made. (5.) An atonement must be based on the supposition that there is evil in the violation of law which it is desirable to repair; and, to obtain any correct view of the nature and the design of an atonement, it is necessary to have some just apprehension of the evils of violated law. Unhappily, our earth has furnished most painful illustrations of these evils, and, were there no other world in which this could be seen, a sufficiently full demonstration of it might be found in our own. The history of our race has been little more than an illustration of the effects of violating laws; for all the woes and calamities of earth have arisen from that cause. It is certain that, under the government of a just and holy God, if there were no violation of law there would be no suffering; and it is clear, therefore, that, so far as our world is concerned, all the suffering which has come upon the race has been but a measure of the evils of violated law. Whether this is the only measure of those evils, or whether there may be higher proofs of the evil of a violation of law in other worlds, is a distinct question, not needful now to be considered. All that is necessary now to observe is, that it cannot be doubted, from the history of man, that there are evils in the violation of the laws of God. The sufferings endured in our world can be traced indubitably in numberless instances directly to this cause.* No small portion of the bodily pain that exists on the earth can be directly traced to it; a great part of the mental suffering among men has indubitably the same origin; the evils that result from intemperance, and the crimes and horrors of war, rapine, piracy, and slavery, grow out of this; the sufferings which come upon the guilty as the avowed punishment of crime have the same source; the wretchedness that follows the excesses of youth is to be traced to the same cause. Even with our limited vision we can see that the observance of the laws of God would have prevented a great portion of the calamities that have come upon men; and from analogy it is not improper to infer, even where we cannot closely follow out the connection, that all the woes of earth have been caused by the infraction of those laws. From any thing that appears, if all those woes could be traced up to their real source, it would be found that—remotely it might be, but in fact—all the sorrows of earth have had such an origin. If so, then in the history of our own world we have a sufficiently affecting illustration of the evils of violated law. Now, it is certain that an atonement must have a bearing on law in all these respects: in asserting its true nature, in illustrating its value, in checking and arresting the evils of its violation. In other words, it must either tend to maintain law or to repair it, either to show its importance or to prevent the consequences of its infraction. It must meet in the divine administration what has been found, as seen in the previous chapter, to be a defect in all human governments: it must secure the maintenance of law while pardon is extended to the guilty; it must exert such an influence that they who are pardoned in virtue of the atonement shall become in their future lives obedient to the law. If it can secure these things, then, so far as the law is concerned, the guilty may be released from the infliction of its penalty and be restored to the favour and friendship of the lawgiver. For, on this supposition, all that the law aims at will have been accomplished, and no evil will result from discharging from punishment those who have been guilty of its violation. Whether an atonement can do this, is another question, to be considered hereafter. All that is now affirmed is, that it must do this, and that if this is done, then, so far as the claims of the law are concerned, an offender may be forgiven. In no human government, as we have seen, has it been found possible to secure this. If a law has been violated, the only way devised of maintaining its honour is by inflicting the penalty; and when that is done, as has been remarked, justice often drives its decisions over some of the finest feelings of our nature; so far as it is not done, or so far as that penalty is remitted by pardon, the strong arm of the law is relaxed, and a proclamation is made that the law may be violated with impunity. The act of pardon, as has been shown, is, for the time, and to the extent to which it operates, a setting aside of the authority of the law. EC. The second point to be secured by an atonement relates to the penalty of the law. (1.) Penalty is "the suffering in person or property which is annexed by law or judicial decision to the commission of a crime, offence, or trespass, as a punishment.’’—Webster. Punishment or penalty is evil inflicted by a lawgiver, or under his direction, to show his sense of the value of the law, or of the evil of violating the law. It is the measure of his sense of that value; it is an expression of his conviction of the evil which must necessarily follow from an infraction of the law. It may be well to dwell for a moment on this definition; for, in order to a correct understanding of the doctrine of the atonement, it is absolutely necessary to obtain a just view of the nature and design of the penalty of the law. And, first, according to this definition, it is ’evil;’ that is, it is pain, sorrow, suffering, privation, some thing that shall be felt to be an evil, something to be dreaded. This may pertain to person or property; it may be confinement in a prison, or it may be a fine; it may be scourging, branding, torture, or the pillory; it may be banishment, or it may be death. The essential idea is, that it shall be something that is felt to be an evil; some form of suffering or priration that is an object of dread or apprehension, and something that may be employed, therefore, to deter from the commission of crime. The very design of it is to inflict pain; and consequently, when a fine is so light or so disproportionate to a man’s property that he does not feel it, or when a person is made so comfortable in a prison that it will be no object of dread, or when the sentiments of a community are such that he who is condemned to punishment is regarded as a martyr, it ceases to be punishment, and the end of the appointment is defeated. Much as it may grate on our sensibilities, and harsh as punishment in any form seems to many persons to be, and much as we shrink from its infliction, yet the very end of punishment is to inflict pain, suffering, disgrace, and when that, by any arrangements of society, ceases to be the effect of punishment, its whole purpose is defeated, and the penalty of the law becomes a nullity. Next, it is ’an evil inflicted.’ It is the result of an appointment; it is brought upon a man by design. It does not come as a matter of casualty; it is not the result of natural laws. It is not because the person who suffers is one of a crowd; it is not that he is affected by some general or universal law; it is not that he suffers in common with others, as when an earthquake rocks a city to its foundations, or the pestilence cuts down the aged and the young, or war spreads its desolations among the peaceable habitations of men: it is ’inflicted’ of design, and inflicted purposely on the person that suffers. The blow is directed at him, and him alone. The arrow is not shot into a crowd: it is aimed at him; and when he falls he falls by the intention of him who has directed it. Nothing is more important in estimating the nature and design of punishment than to remember that it is aimed at the offender, and that, in its very nature, it is separated essentially from a mere ’providential dispensation,’ a random blow or shot, a casualty. The suffering, indeed, may be the same; but in one case it occurs under a general law by which the guilty and the innocent are swept away together, in the other it occurs under a special and particular law which aims at the individual, and at him alone. Further, it is ’evil inflicted by the lawgiver, or under . his direction.’ It must be the result of his appointment, or it cannot be regarded as punishment. The falling of a tree on a man cannot be regarded as punishment unless it can be proved that this came upon him as the result of the appointment of a lawgiver, and as designed as an expression of his sense of the evil of the course of life which the man was pursuing,—that is, under the general law that men who do certain things may expect that trees will fall on them. Once more, it is ’ evil inflicted by a lawgiver, or under his direction, to show his sense of the value of law, or of the evil of the violation of law.’ That may be expressed in the words of a statute; but it is more impressively exhibited in the sufferings which he appoints as the effect of the violation of the law. The evil thus inflicted becomes the measure of his sense of the value of the law; and if the amount of evil which attends the infraction of law is ascertained, we have an infallible mode of estimating his sense of the evil. In this definition I have purposely left out an idea which is commonly supposed to be connected with the notion of penalty or punishment,—that it is designed to reform the offender. I shall have occasion to show that mere punishment, however it may check an offender, has no tendency to reform him, and that of itself it never produces that result; and, if this is so, then the reformation of an offender is no part of the proper design of the punishment. That looks at the violation of law as an evil, and is designed to express that fact and that alone. The legislator regards the law as valuable, and its violation as an evil; and he expresses that fact in the appointment and infliction of the penalty consequent on its violation. A man is hanged, not for purposes of reformation, and not to deter others from the commission of the same crime, but as a public expression of the sense which the lawgiver entertains of the guilt of the act of murder. Whatever incidental effects, either in reference to the individual who suffers the penalty of the law, or to others, may follow from the infliction of the penalty, the one prime, main thought. in the case is that murder is an evil, and the execution of the guilty man expresses the sense entertained by the lawgiver of the nature of the evil. (2.) All law has a penalty. We may conceive, indeed, that a law could be made, or a rule of conduct prescribed, where there was no penalty appointed to express the sense entertained by the lawgiver of the evil of the violation of the law. But such a case, in fact, has never occurred. "It is but lost labour," says Blackstone,* "to say, ’do this, or avoid that,’ unless we also declare, ’this shall be the consequence of your non-compliance.’ We must, therefore, observe that the main strength and force of a law. consists in the penalty annexed to it. Herein is to be found the principal obligation of human laws." (a.) As a matter of fact, all laws have penalties. Though a penalty, properly speaking, can pertain only to a moral law and have respect to moral agents,—forphysical objects and brutes cannot appreciate the evil that comes from the infraction of a law,—yet the violation of any law is followed by certain consequences which may be regarded as an expression of the sense entertained by the lawgiver of the value of the law. A violation of the laws of vegetable growth in a plant is followed by consequences in the stunted form, or sickly aspect, or deformed appearance of a tree which is expressive of the evil of the violation. A violation of the laws of health is followed by consequences in the various forms of disease which are illustrations of the value of the laws of health. So in regard to temperance, chastity, honesty. In all the ’kingdoms’ of nature —material, vegetable, animal, moral—it would not be possible to find a single instance in which a law is violated, whether in the organic structure, the development, or the moral conduct, which will not be followed by consequences that should be regarded as an expression of the sense entertained by the Great Author of all things of the value of law, and that may not, in that sense, be regarded as a penalty. * Com. i. 57. (b.) A law without a penalty would be counsel 01 advice, but it would cease to convey the notion of law. It might affect us by its being the result of the wisdom of him who appointed it; by leading us to follow it from our confidence in his experience, integrity, sagacity, or ability, but it would not make the impression on us which is always produced by law. It might have come down to us as the result of the observation of other times, but it would not come down to us as law. It might lead us to respect it from being the result of the wisdom of legislation in other ages, from its being found in the laws of the Medes and Persians, or recorded on the twelve tables at Rome, or preserved in the codes and Pandects of Justinian, but it would be no law to us. It might come to us as the result of the imagination or of the profound reasoning of ancient or modern times, found in the ’Republic’ of Plato, or in Godwin’s Political Justice, or in More’s Utopia, but it would not be law to us. Even the Ten Commandments would cease to have the effect of law on us if there were no implied penalty or sanction to express the sense of the lawgiver as to their value and as to the evil of violating them. We always, though we may scarcely have thought of it, make a distinction between the laws which are binding on others and those which are binding on us,—between the deductions of reason and the enactments of law; for, though law is the "essence of reason,"* yet to make law * Lord Coke. binding it must have proceeded from some appointing power and be accompanied with some proper sanction. We always make a distinction, also, between advice and law; between counsel and command. One has authority, the other has not; one has. a penalty, the other has not; one conies to us as the injunction of one who is authorized to require our obedience, the other comes to us as the result of the wisdom of age or experience. And as law without a penalty would fail in securing obedience, so it would equally fail in securing respect. The laws of any nation, wise as they may be, and salutary as would be obedience to them, would become at once a bugbear if all penalty was removed. They would practically bind no one as laws, however much they might be respected as advice or as the suggestions of wisdom. For reasons such as these, as a matter of fact, penalties have been connected with all laws, human and divine, and those penalties, in every case, have been nothing more than an expression of the sense entertained by the lawgiver of the value of the law and the evil of a violation of it. (3.) In reference to the determination of what the penalty of a law must be, the following remarks may be made:— (a.) In jusf laws it is not arbitrary. That is, it is not mere will; for although the will of the lawgiver must determine it, yet that will must itself be founded on equity. It is, indeed, the measure of his estimate of the value of the law and of the evils of disobedience, and that is the motive which determines his will in affixing the penalty to the law. If he goes beyond or falls short of that, the penalty of the law is unjust. If he should affix anything to the penalty of the law beyond what would be necessary in expressing his sense of the value of the law and the evil of disobedience, it would be so far unjust to the community; and if, in determining the penalty of the law, he should fall short of that, and should appoint any thing which, when fairly interpreted, would hot be a just expression of his sense of the value of law and the evil of violating it, it would be so far an act of injustice to himself; for it would convey a false impression of his own estimate of the value of obedience. There may be other ends of a penally; but it must express the sense which the lawgiver entertains of the value of the law. (b.) A penalty must be the appointment of the lawgiver. As he appoints the law, so it is his to affix such a penalty to it as shall express his sense of the nature and value of the law. No one else has a right to do this; no one else could so do it as to express the sense entertained by the lawgiver of the value of law. (c.) The security that a penalty will be just must be found in the character of the lawgiver himself. If there is no such security in his character, there can be none in regard to the equity of the penalty. He has entire control in the matter.. No one can require him to appoint a different penalty from what he chooses to do. No one can compel him to change it; and, if he has sufficient power, no one can prevent its infliction. We are, therefore, under the necessity of referring to the character of the lawgiver as the only security that a penalty will be just. In human governments all the security that can exist on the subject must be in the character of the sovereign, or in the constitutional right to change the government if the penalties of law are excessive. By a change of rulers, by a new constitution, by rebellion or revolution, the severe and unjust penalties of law may be changed, and a milder system may be established; and, as a matter of fact, the penalties of law have been thus modified and made milder as the world advances in civilization. Of course, there can be no change in the divine administration, for there can be no successful rebellion, no revolution, no progress of civilization, that will affect the penalties of law. There can be no new views, the result of experiment or observation, which will modify the laws of God. All that could ever influence the divine mind in the appointment of a penalty was before that mind when the penalty was appointed; and all the security, therefore, that the penalty will be right is to be found in the character of God himself,—in the fact that God is perfectly just. If there is a doubt on that point, just in proportion to that doubt will there be uncertainty in regard to the justice of that penalty; if it should be that God is not perfectly just, then there could be no security that the penalty of his law would be right. To that conclusion, then, we must ultimately come in all our contemplations of the law of God,—that the only certainty which we can have of the justice of that penalty is to be found in his perfect and holy character. (d.) In fact, the penalties of the violation of law are appointed by God. They are not the result of chance; they are not the effect of natural laws; they are not the appointment of any being inferior to God. There is, for example, a penalty affixed to the violation of the laws of health; and that penalty is the appointment of God. It is so universal that it proves that the same lawgiver presides over the whole race of mankind; it is so uniform that it demonstrates that it is not the result of accident or chance; it has so much of a"moral bearing that it shows that it is not the result of any material organization; and it is so far susceptible of being made the basis of moral dealings with the individual himself as to make it plain that it is the appointment of God and is designed to accomplish his own plans and purposes. The same remarks might be made in respect to pride, ambition, selfishness, anger, sensuality, ingratitude. Sooner or later, each and all of these are followed by results which are the proper measure of his estimate of their nature. (4.) The next inquiry is, How is the measure of the penalty for the violation of a law to be ascertained? In other words, in view of the preceding remarks, How shall we know what God has appointed as the expression of his sense of the value of the law and the evil of its violation? In answer to this question, it may bo observed that these methods are two: a direct statement on the part of the lawgiver, and a correct observation of the results of conduct. (a.) A direct statement on the part of the lawgiver, God. If man could look at once at the essence of things and see them as God sees them; if he could look into their very nature and see, by contemplating the germ, all that would ever be developed from it; if he could place himself at the centre of the universe and by a glance look through all things, then, as God does, he could determine at once what a penalty ought to be and what it will be. But this would be to possess a degree of knowledge which can belong only to God; and, unless man has this, it is clear that he cannot determine what a just penalty would be. Nor, unless he has this, can he determine what a penalty may be and ought to be. That must be, therefore, high presumption in man when he assumes that he can himself determine what a penalty will not be or ought not to be,—or, which is the same thing, when he presumes to decide that an appointed and revealed penalty of law must be unjust. There are many penalties of law under the divine administration in this world which man would not, from any point of view which he occupies, have regarded as proper; and, for the same reason, there may be penalties in reference to the world to come which man, from any point of view which he can occupy, would not have himself anticipated, and the reason of which, now that they are appointed, he cannot understand. To a very great extent the penalties of law are made known by the direct statement of the lawgiver. This occurs in most of the laws of men, where the penalty, leaving a certain amount of discretion to the judicial tribunals, is directly specified. Thus, the penalty of murder, piracy, and treason is fixed; thus, within certain limits, the penalty of arson, burglary, larceny, forgery, bigamy, is fixed also. So in the Bible there are clear statements in regard to the consequences of sin,—that is, statements in regard to the value affixed by God to his law aud to his sense of the evil of transgression; statements of what will be the consequence of sin on earth, and its eternal results beyond the grave. (6.) But it is true, also, that, in reference to a large part of the actions of man, the nature and extent of the penalty for the violation of law is to be ascertained not by statement, but by observation of the consequences of conduct; of what, in fact, follows in the line of the offence. There are many things evidently of the nature of crime, sin, or wrong, to which there is no specific written or promulgated penalty attached, and where the fact that there is a penalty, as well as the true nature of the penalty, can be learned only from the observed effects of conduct. In this case it is to be observed that we ascertain not what is penalty from the mere sequences of events; we do not infer properly that any one thing is the penalty of a certain action because it follows it directly in respect to time,—for the falling of the tower of Siloam was not proof that the eighteen on whom it fell were peculiarly guilty, and the calamities which befall a city in an earthquake or a nation in pestilence are not proof that all those who suffer are universally guilty; but the things which define the relation of crime and the penalty must be connected as antecedent and consequent; they must pertain to the same individual,—for one man cannot be punished for the crime of another; they must be in the line of the offence; the one must follow so directly and so constantly from the other as to indicate cause and effect; and the whole must bear such marks of being the appointment of a. legislator as to show that the consequences of conduct in any specified case are an indication of his will or purpose in the matter. Id this way we ascertain what are the penalties of intemperance, licentiousness, dishonesty, fraud, anger, gluttony; for they are followed by such consequences as show that God intended to mark them with his displeasure and to restrain men from them by being thus apprized of his displeasure. In these and all similar cases, the consequences which follow from such conduct are the indication, even where there is no revealed statement, of his disapprobation, and are to be regarded as the measure of his displeasure. To observe carefully these consequences of human conduct; to collect, arrange, and record them, has been the great business of writers on moral and national law. The results of such observation constitute, in a great measure, the code of morals by which men are governed in the world. These results are not the basis or foundation of the distinction of right and wrong, but they are the indications of what is right and wrong, and are, in particular cases, the measure of the divine estimate. Thus, if we could collect and embody all the results of intemperance in any case, those results would be at the same time a demonstration of the fact that God regards intemperance as an evil, and would be the measure by which we are to estimate the evil. It should be added here that, in all cases, such penalties, as ascertained by observation, would coincide with the statements which would be made on the subject, if any, in a book of professed revelation. If there were a discrepancy between the fact and the statement in such a book, it would prove that the book could not be from God. If, therefore, the facts in regard to the consequences of guilt do not accord with the statements in the Bible, that would prove that the Bible could not be a divine revelation. (5.) The next remark to be made in regard to the penalty of law is, that the subject for whom the law is made, and in reference to whom the penalty is appointed, may be little qualified to determine what the penalty should be, or fitted to pronounce upon its justice when it is appointed. A child of four years of age may be very little qualified to understand the justice of the penalty which a parent appoints for the violation of his laws, or to appreciate the results which the parent designs to bring out of the infliction of the penalty. The penalty may appear to the child to be altogether disproportionate to the offence, and in a great measure undeserved. For example, he may see, as yet, little, comparatively, of the turpitude of a falsehood, and may not be able to see why such a penalty should be appointed for such an offence as the parent chooses to inflict. A few years may work wonders in regard to that child in enabling him to see the justice of a penalty which may now appear to him so unequal, severe, or harsh, and in a few years he may be in circumstances where he will appoint the same penalty for his own children, —themselves then as much disqualified in turn to understand the reason and the propriety of the penalty as he himself had been. In respect to this point, the following remarks may be made:— (a.) It is to be presumed, as in the case of the child above referred to, that the subjects of the law of God may have limited views, and be little qualified to see the reason and propriety of the law itself, much less to see the reason and propriety of the penalty of the law. (b.) All the subjects 6’f a law are interested in the matter; and therefore it cannot be assumed that they will be impartial in their opinions of the penalty of a law. Men determine what shall be the penalty of the law for others, not for themselves. Kings thus enact laws; legislators in free governments thus enact laws; parents thus enact laws. All laws are made for others; and this fact goes far in securing equity and impartiality in adjusting as well as administering the penalty. If thieves were to ordain penalties in regard to theft, and murderers to murder, and pirates to piracy, and seducers to seduction, it may be presumed that very slight penalties would be affixed to each of these offences. Nor would it be safe for either of these classes to make laws for the others. We could calculate little on equity if thieves should ordain penalties for murderers, or murderers for pirates, or pirates for seducers, or from a congress of such men in ordaining penalties for any of these crimes. Guilt unfits men to appoint just penalties to law; and indulgence in one form of sin disqualifies, just so far as it exists, a legislator for determining what is due to the violation of the law. Solon, Lycurgus, Numa, Alfred, had eminent qualifications for determining by just legislation what is due to the violation of law. Nero, Tiberius, Caligula, Alexander VI., Csesar Borgia, Charles II., had none. Of all beings in the universe, therefore, God is best qualified to determine what is due to the violation of law. (c.) The subjects of a law can see little of the effects of violating law, and are, therefore, little qualified to affix its penalty. Some of the effects may be on the surface and may be apparent to all. Most of the effects are such that they cannot be traced out by the subject himself. A child, as above remarked, can see as yet but little of the effects of a lie; a subject of a civil government may be unable to trace or comprehend all the effects of treason; still less can man, as a subject of the divine government, follow out and comprehend all the effects of the violation of laws of God. Yet it is obvious that, in order to affix a penalty with exact justice to law, it is necessary to take in all those effects and to adjust the penalty exactly to them. Hence it is that, from the limited views which the subject must take, the penalties of law, as we shall see, often appear to be harsh and unjust. They are not, in the mind of the subject, a proper measure of the evil of the violation of the law, and do not determine that evil as he sees it. They are the measure of an evil which he cannot as yet comprehend, and as it is measured by the comprehensive mind of the lawgiver himself. (6.) It follows from all this, as was suggested above, that in many cases—perhaps in most cases— the subject would not have affixed the penalty to the law which has been actually appointed. There are in fact, for example, evils flowing from the sin of intemperance which man would not have been qualified to appreciate, and which he would not have made the basis beforehand in affixing a penalty for indulgence in intoxicating drinks. Some penalty, perhaps, he would have affixed to the violation of law; but it would have been quite different from what has actually been appointed. If we can conceive of a body of men in some now unknown part of the world, assembled together to affix an appropriate penalty to the use of alcoholic liquors, when the art of distillation was first discovered, and if the results which now follow their use had been affixed by express legislation as the penalty, the world would have started back with horror, and would have proclaimed such a penalty to be shocking and barbarous. If the poverty and wretchedness which follow from that use, the degradation of the body and the mind, the diseases and disgusting developments on the person, the wreck of health, reputation, and hope, the sorrows, of wives aud children, the results in brawls, contentions, and strifes, the agonies of a wretched life—the horrors of mania-a-potu at death—the curse descending on posterity—the apprehension of eternal woe,—if these had been appointed by such a body of legislators,.the sentimentalists of the world, who now start back so much at the revealed penalty of the divine law, would have pronounced it cruel, horrid, tyrannical. They would have affirmed that nothing in the nature of the case could justify such monstrous legislation. And if man, taking his place as a counsellor and adviser of the Almighty, could have been consulted beforehand, he would have said that such a penalty would be so unjust and horrid that it could never be appointed. If any legislative body on earth- had actually threatened precisely those inflictions which come upon the drunkard, and had had the power to carry out the threatening, the government that had done this would have been regarded by the sentimentalists who now impugn the divine penalties of law as harsh and unjust, as a most severe and savage form of tyranny. It follows from this that we are very inadequate judges of the penalty which should be affixed to the divine law. It follows, also, that we should not be surprised to find that a penalty has been appointed such as we should not have anticipated, and such as we find it difficult to justify or to explain. Now, it is obvious that if an atonement is made for sin, it must be of such a nature as to secure the object contemplated by the penalty of the law; that is, it must be such as to show the sense entertained by the Great Legislator of the value of the law, and of the evil of violating the law. As the punishment of the offender himself would have secured this, and as this is the very design of the penalty, if an atonement is contemplated in virtue of which the guilty shall be rescued from the infliction of the penalty, it is clear that the atonement must answer the same end or secure the same result. If it can do this, then no objection could arise from this source to the pardon of the offender, whatever might arise from other sources; if it cannot do this, or if the atonement does not do this, then an act of pardon is, in fact, a setting aside of the penalty of the law altogether, and a public proclamation that that penalty is not to be regarded as an expression of the sense entertained by the legislator of the value of law and of the evil of disobedience. A friend of the government of God has a right to expect that an arrangement for an atonement will secure this end; an enemy of that government—a skeptic—has a right to demand that this provision shall he found in that which professes to be an atonement. If such an arrangement is found in any proposed scheme of salvation, it would be so far an evidence of the divine origin of the scheme,—for it is far above the wisdom of all human schemes; if it is not found in a professpd revelation, or if the arrangement would not secure this end, it would be a conclusive argument for rejecting the scheme,—for a scheme originating in infinite wisdom must meet what is so radical a defect in all human governments. It is impossible to believe that God would solemnly appoint a penalty to his law, and then in all his dealings with men act so as to set that penalty aside, or so that the fair interpretation of his acts would be that he regards the law as of no value and the violation of it as no evil. III. The third point in an atonement relates to the offenders in whose behalf an atonement is made, —that it may make their reformation and future good conduct certain. We have seen that one of the great difficulties of pardon—a difficulty which none of the arrangements in a human administration has been sufficient to remove—arises from the fact that there can be no security of the future good conduct of him who is pardoned, either from professed repentance and reformation, or from the efficacy of the punishment inflicted, or from any influence of the act of pardon itself on the mind of him who is pardoned. We have seen that one of the principal evils which results from the free exercise of pardon arises from the fact that convicts from prisons are sent out without any such evidence of their reformation, to prey again upon the community. We have seen that hy no possible arrangement, under a human government, would it be safe to discharge at once all the convicted felons in the penitentiaries in the land. To render a community secure would be one of the ends of an atonement; and if such an arrangement could be made, it would remove one of the main difficulties in the way of pardon. That arrangement in a human government, if it could be made, would consist essentially in some scheme for securing the reformation and future good conduct of the violators of the law who would thus be discharged. Not precisely, indeed, for the same reason, but for a reason equally imperative, it is necessary, in a scheme of pardon under the divine administration, to secure the reformation of the guilty, and to obtain a guarantee for their future observance of law. It cannot be supposed that God would discharge the guilty, or release them from the obligation of the penalty of the law, unless there were some ground for believing that they would obey the law in time to come. It is possible that the very stability of the divine administration may depend on this: certainly it would be a reasonable expectation among holy beings that God would not discharge the guilty and demand that they should be received into the ’goodly fellowship’ of holy beings, without some evidence that they were thoroughly reformed. What, we may ask, would the universe be if the legions of fallen spirits now "reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness," (Jude 1:6,) were at once released, and, with all their mature powers and ample experience, suffered to roam over the face of the earth, or to make their way to distant worlds? What would heaven be if the hosts of atheists and scoffers, of murderers and seducers, of the profane, the corrupt, and the sensual, that are now upon the earth, were admitted at once to the blessed abodes of holy beings? What security of happiness could there be in those realms were they suddenly peopled with all the polluted and the defiled of earth? If, therefore, the guilty are to be released on the basis of an atonement, then there must be some provision by which the reformation and the future good conduct of the guilty will be secured. What that is will be the subject of future inquiry. But it is obvious that it must be something quite different from any arrangement which has been made by human laws. It must be something in the atonement itself, or something secured by the atonement,—some power or influence to act on the mind of the guilty to bring them to voluntary repentance and reformation,—for there can be no other true repentance and reformation; it must be something that shall extend into all the future,—embracing eternity itself,’—making it certain that the offender who is pardoned will never again revolt from God. IV. The fourth point relates to the community,— that its rights may be secured, and that it may have nothing to apprehend if the guilt}7 are pardoned. We have seen that one of the difficulties in regard to pardon has respect to the safety of a community. That safety is now protected by the arrangements which have been made for detecting and punishiifg the guilty. The processes of law are important safeguards in defending the rights and securing the welfare of a community; and each one of those processes, as has been already remarked, constituted, when it was introduced, an epoch in the history of jurisprudence. The rights of person, property, life, reputation, are dependent on the forms of law; on the mode of indictment; on the trial by jury; on the confronting of the accuser and the accused; on the examination of witnesses in open court; on the writ of habeas corpus; on the vigilance of the police and the fidelity of public prosecutors in detecting offenders and bringing them to trial. Yet, as we have seen, all these are practically set aside by an act of pardon. So far as that goes, all that the community has done to guard its own rights, and to secure public peace and safety, is declared to be of no value by each act of pardon. An offender, though arrested and tried by those forms of law which the community has regarded as of so much importance to its own peace and safety, is again discharged, with no security whatever that the same offence will not be repeated; with nothing to protect the community from the murderer or burglar who is thus set at liberty. Nothing can be introduced into the system that shall secure the community from a repetition of the crime for which he was arrested, tried, and sentenced. Now, what, in this respect, is needed in the case of pardon is some arrangement by which all the interests which it has been the object of the law to secure by the regular processes of trial shall be secured if pardon is extended to the guilty. To make such an atonement admissible as a part of a just administration, there must be the same security of person, property, reputation, and life which the community has sought to obtain by these processes of law. The act of pardon must not be capable of an interpretation by which all these, or any of these, would be set aside. There must be, under an atonement, as much safety as these processes of law have been designed to obtain; and, if this could be done, there would be no objection, on this account, to the discharge of the guilty; that is, to the pardon of one convicted of crime., What would thus be requisite in a human government must be equally so in the divine administration. If an atonement is made, it must be of such a character that the divine declarations in reference to the evil of sin; that the laws which God has established in the soul itself to show the guilt of transgression, and the arrangements which he has appointed in society to keep up the idea of that guilt; that what he has intended to communicate to man in regard to that guilt by the threatenings of future woe; and that the various influences which he puts forth to detect and punish the guilty here and hereafter, shall not be set aside by that work. There must be the same security on all these points which there would be if they were all carried out and if the guilty were made to ill ustrate the value of these arrangements by enduring themselves the penalty of the law. To all these the work of atonement must have reference; and, if these can be secured, the offender may be discharged. V. The fifth point relates to the character of the lawgiver,—that that character may stand fair before the world, and be such as to inspire confidence, if the penalty of the law is remitted. We have seen that one of the difficulties on the subject of pardon has reference to this point. In a case where it should be contemplated that it was never to be extended to the guilty, the character of the sovereign, though it might he just, would be severe, harsh, repellant. A government such as that would be would make its way over some of the finest feelings of our nature. It would be a government which might inspire cold respect, but never love or esteem.—In the case where it was supposed that pardon would be often extended to the guilty, we have seen that it is impossible so to do it as not to infringe on the arrangements made for securing the regular operation of law.—In a case where pardon should be always extended to the guilty, we have seen that the effect would be to encourage crime, and to render every interest in a community insecure. We have seen, also, that in human arrangements it has been found absolutely impossible to blend the two attributes of justice and mercy so that they shall be exhibited in proper proportions; so to dispense pardon, or so to administer justice, that the one shall not cast a shadow over the other. Now, what is needful, if an atonement is made, is, that there shall be, through that atonement, a proper expression of the character of the lawgiver. It must be required and expected that the atonement shall somehow represent him as a just being; as the enemy of transgression; as maintaining the principles of his own law; as confirming all that he has said in that law in regard to its value, and in regard to the evils of its violation. The atonement must make the same representation or impression on this point which the actual infliction of the penalty would do. It would be unjust to the sovereign if it did not; that is, if one representation was made by a revealed law and its threatened penalties, and another by the atonement. In other words, it must be demanded that, for example, the character of God shall not be one thing, as seen in his revealed law and its threatened penalty, and another thing in the atonement; that, in looking at the atonement, we shall not get one impression of the character of God, and another from the threatenings of the law; that in the one God shall not be represented as just, and in the other as unjust. In like manner, it may be demanded that there shall not be a false impression made by the atonement in regard to the mercy of God. If he is merciful, then the atonement should so represent his character. It should leave that as a fair impression on the minds of all who contemplate it. There should be in that atonement a real and not an imaginary display of mercy. There should not be a mere transfer of guilt; there should not be a mere infliction of wrath on the innocent instead of the guilty; there should not be mere punishment and nothing but punishment,—the punishment of the innocent instead of the guilty; there should not be a mere stern demand of the ’ last farthing,’ demanded of the offender or of a substitute; there should be real mercy, real forgiveness, a real lessening of the infliction of pain. If this were not so, then, whether a pretended atonement were made or not, the entire representation of the character of God in the case would be that he was only severely and absolutely just, or that there was no mercy blended with justice in his character. If God is merciful, then this would be a wholly unfair representation of what he is. In one word, it is necessary in the work of an atonement that all the arrangements should be such that the divine character, as far as the atonement goes to illustrate that, should not be susceptible of a misrepresentation, or that it should fairly represent that character on these points: (a) That God is, in fact, just; (b) that he is, at the same time, merciful; (c) that he does not connive at sin; (d) that he is not indifferent to sin; (e) that he actually intends to lessen by the atonement the amount of suffering and of sin in the universe, and does not mean merely to transfer them from the guilty to the innocent. If an atonement can be so made as to furnish in itself a correct representation of the divine character in these respects, it is plain that so far as these points are concerned there can be no difficulty in pardoning offenders. If an atonement could be so made as to furnish a more clear and impressive demonstration than could be made in any other way of what the character of God in these respects is, there would be this additional reason why it might be introduced into the system. Whether the atonement proposed in the gospel actually is such as to secure these results will be the main subject of inquiry in the remainder of this Essay. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: 3.05. PROBABILITIES THAT AN ATONEMENT WILL BE PROVIDED IN THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT ======================================================================== CHAPTER V. PROBABILITIES THAT AN ATONEMENT WILL BE PROVIDED IN THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT, OR GROUNDS OF PRESUMPTION THAT SOME ARRANGEMENT WILL BE MADE TO MEET AND REMOVE THE DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF PARDON. In reference to an atonement for sin, it is quite a material inquiry whether there is any antecedent presumption or probability that it will be made. That is, Is there any thing in the undoubted natural arrangements which God has made, or in his actual dealings with men, from which it could be inferred, with any degree of probability, that he would at any time interpose, by an extraordinary arrangement, to check evil in our world and to save the race from the consequences of transgression? Or is the idea of checking and removing the consequences of violating law so alien to the whole system of things as to furnish an antecedent improbability that this would ever occur? Is it or is it not a fact that evil is arrested in our world by a divine arrangement that has this for its object? Is there what could properly be regarded as a system of remedies for the admitted maladies which have como upon the earth? Does the idea of arresting the consequences of violating law fall in with any of the analogies of nature? Or is the atonement altogether a new device in the actual government of the world? It may be proper, therefore, to refer to some things in the actual administration of the world which will show that the idea of arresting evil by arrangements which contemplate that end, or which can have had no other design, is an idea which is actually entertained, and which will show, at the same time, that the anticipation of an extraordinary provision for that end on a larger scale is not foreign to the actual course of affairs, and is one which might not improperly be cherished by mankind. I. In the first place, then, we may refer to a very prevalent idea in the world that such an arrangement is possible, and that it might be expected to occur. The views of the Jewish people are well known, and will be referred to in another part of this chapter. There is reason also to believe that an expectation prevailed to a very considerable extent in the pagan world, that something like an atonement for sin would be provided under the divine administration. The belief in the necessity of an atonement, and in the fact that an atonement could be made for human transgression, was implied in the very notion of bloody sacrifices. There were two classes of offerings to the gods among the heathens. One class was bloodless, consisting of the fruits of the earth, and was designed as a thank-offering, and had, of course, no relation to sin. It was such an offering as might be made by holy angels, or by man if he had been always perfectly upright. The other was a bloody offering, the offering of the life of the animal. This could never have been designed as a thank-offering or as a mere expression of gratitude, but must have had reference to the fact that man is ft sinner, and it must have been supposed that in some way it could constitute an expiation for guilt. In what way it was supposed that the offering of the life of the animal, or the life of a prisoner taken in war, or the life of a slave, or the life of a child, would make expiation for sin,—for all these were offered in sacrifice,—is a distinct inquiry, which is not necessary here to consider; but of the fact that such a supposition was entertained no one can entertain a doubt. Whether it was believed that such an offering made by human hands would so appease the wrath of the gods by its being regarded as such an acknowledgment of the evil of sin that sin Would be forgiven on account of it, or that the suffering of the victim offered in sacrifice would be, in some way, considered as an equivalent for the punishment of the offender himself, may be doubtful; but the fact that those who offered these sacrifices did regard the offering as an atonement, and that they, therefore, believed that an atonement was necessary and possible, is as certain as any fact in history. And yet, while this view is fully confirmed by the fact of bloody offerings, there are also two other aspects in which these sacrifices may be contemplated, bearing more directly on the point before us:— (a.) One is, that there is reason to suppose that the custom of offering sacrifice, or of making an expiation by the life of an animal, was originally derived from revelation. In itself there appears to be no reason for supposing that the life of an animal would be an acceptable offering to the gods, or that it could constitute an expiation for sin. It would not seem probable that inflicting pain, or that taking away the life of an innocent animal, would be regarded as any reason why the gods should pardon a sinner and save him from deserved wrath. No such offering is made, or ever has heen made, to a civil magistrate as a reason why the penalty of a law should be remitted. No such offering is made by a child to a parent when his law has been violated. No such offering is made by a man to his friend whom he has offended, or to an enemy whose wrath he attempts to turn away. Confession, acknowledgment, tears, might be supposed to have power to influence him who had been offended or wronged; a bribe, it might be supposed, would have power to influence a magistrate; but the idea would never occur that the offering of blood—the slaying of an animal—would have any effect in reference to offences of this class. It has, therefore, been wholly impossible, on any known principles of human conduct, to account for the resort to bloody sacrifices, as intended to appease the wrath of the gods; and the most probable solution is, that they are to be traced to an early divine appointment, and that they have been kept up under the influence of tradition, as meeting some of the demands of human nature when it has been impossible to trace the successive historical steps up to the original appointment. (6.) The other remark is, that the sacrifices offered by the heathen left just the impression on the minds of those who offered them which we must suppose they would do if they were originally appointed to be an indication to mankind that an atonement would be made at some future period of the world. They were never in themselves satisfactory. There was never, for example, any such feeling as the Christian is supposed to have, and does have, when he contemplates the atonement made by the Redeemer, that a ’full, free, and perfect oblation had been made for the sins of the world;’ that the sacrifice made was so complete that there was no necessity for its being repeated; that it was of such a character that it could not be repeated; that it was so perfect that it did not suppose or contemplate any thing future. The ordinary. Jewish sacrifices were repeated every day. The high-priest went into the most holy place every year, on the great day of the atonement, repeating what had been done the year before, as if there was the same need of an atonement still which there had been the year previous. All heathen sacrifices are repeated often, as if there had been as yet no true expiation. The consciences of Jews and heathens never felt satisfied that the atonement had yet been offered; and, after all that had been done or that could be done, there was still the feeling which we should suppose there would be on the supposition that the original intention was not that these sacrifices should be a proper atonement for sin, but that they were appointed with reference to one that was yet to be made. They thus served to keep up the impression from age to age that an atonement would be made; and thus they practically directed the mind onward, and prepared the world to give credit to the statements about the true atonement when it should be offered. The expectation that an atonement would be made, thus indicated extensively in the actual belief of the world, must have had some ground or basis. Universal opinions and expectations do not spring up in the mind of man without some foundation either in the nature of things, or in divine predictions, or in the real wants of the race; and, in this case, such an expectation could have been founded only on one of the following things, to wit: Either, (1.) That the custom of sacrifice was founded on a tradition derived from an original divine appointment which had a reference to an atonement to be made in some future period of the world. Or, (2.) That there was some deep conviction in the human mind—some profound sense of sin and of the justice of God—some sense of the difficulty of pardon without an atonement, and some belief that God would interfere to save the race from the ruin which they had brought on themselves, which led men to express their belief by the repetition of the acts of sacrifice from age to age. Or, (3.) That there were some observed arrangements for the removal of evil in the world, on a limited scale, which induced man to hope that there would be a wider and more universal arrangement for the removal of the great source of all evil,—sin. Thus, it is conceivable that there might have been such an observation of the methods of repairing physical evils in the world, as to lead to the belief that the Great Ruler of the earth would not suffer far greater evils to triumph without some corresponding arrangement to check and remove them: some analogies, in the course of events, which would he the basis of a general expectation of an atonejnent. This leads us, then,— II. Secondly, to inquire what arrangements there are in the world for the removal of natural or physical evils which might suggest the idea of a higher arrangement for the removal of moral evil, or which might, if the idea were once suggested, serve to keep up the expectation of it in the world. We may refer here (1) to arrangements existing in the very constitution of things for preventing the consequences of our actions; and (2) to arrangements designed to be remedial, or introduced as independent contrivances on the supposition that law would be violated, and that have been engrafted on the original system of things with a view to furnish a remedy for such a violation. (1.) In regard to the first of these, I cannot better present the subject than in the words of Bishop Butler. "We may observe," says he,* "somewhat much to the present purpose in the constitution of nature or appointment of Providence; the provision which is made that all the bad natural consequences of men’s actions should not always actually follow; or that such bad consequences as, according to the settled course of things, would inevitably have followed if * Analogy, Part II., ch. 5, iii, not prevented, should in certain degrees be prevented. We are apt presumptuously to imagine that the world might have been so constituted as that there would not have been any such thing as misery or evil. On the contrary, we find the Author of nature permits it, but that he has provided reliefs, and in many cases perfect remedies, for it, after some pains and difficulties; reliefs and remedies even for that which is the fruit of our own misconduct, and which, in the course of nature, would have continued and ended in our destruction but for such remedies. And this is an instance both of severity and indulgence in the constitution of nature. Thus, all the bad consequences of a man’s trifling upon a precipice might be prevented. And though all were not, yet some of them might, by proper interposition, if not rejected; by another’s coming to the rash man’s relief, with his own laying hold on that relief in such sort as the case required. Persons may do a great deal themselves towards preventing the bad consequences of their follies; and more may be done by themselves together with the assistance of others their fellow-creatures; which assistance nature requires and prompts us to. This is the general constitution of the world. Now, suppose it had been so constituted that, after such actions were done as were foreseen naturally to draw after them misery to the doer, it should have been no more in human power to have prevented that naturally consequent misery, in any instance, than it is in all: no one can say whether such a severe constitution of things might not yet have been really good. But that, on the contrary, provision is made by nature that we may and do to so great a degree prevent the bad natural effects of our follies,—this may be called mercy or compassion in the original constitution of the world; compassion as distinguished from goodness in general. And, the whole human constitution and course of things affording us instances of such compassion, it would be according to the analogy of nature to hope that, however ruinous the natural consequences of vice might be, from the general laws of God’s government over the universe, yet provision might be made, possibly might have been originally made, for preventing those ruinous consequences from inevitably following; at least, from following universally and in all cases." This extract contains the general principle in the remarks which I am now making. (2.) I refer, then,—in illustration of it, and in confirmation of the view here, presented, and as showing that men, on close observation and reflection, might have found such arrangements in nature for checking and removing evil as to lead to the expectation that there might be some higher arrangement to meet the calamities of the world on a wider scale,—to the remedial systems which are actually found in the world. The systems or arrangements to which I refer are such as presuppose that law will be violated, and that there will be need of such an interposition; or which are introduced on that supposition and for that end alone. In other words, they are such as have no other purpose to answer, and such as could have had no place in the system, as far as can now be seen, except on the supposition that there would be, in the course of things on the earth, evils to be remedied. They have no other end now; and if all evil should be done away they would cease altogether or become useless. In illustrating this point, I shall not attempt to inquire whether these remedial arrangements existed in the original constitution of things,—that is, whether they were introduced there on the supposition that they would be needed, and were so adjusted that they would come up of themselves when they were required,—or whether they were, so to speak, an after-thought, and were introduced to meet an actually existing evil. The point of the remarks which are to be made would not be affected whichever of these views should be taken; though in a world under the go.vernment of a Being without change of plan or newness of purpose, it is, in fact, to be supposed that whatever has come up in the way of a remedy, or is yet to come up, is not actually an after-thought, but had a place in the original plan and arrangement. There may be an order of nature, however, in the arrangements which such a Being may make, though there may be no difference of time in the formation of the different parts of the plan. I shall refer to two classes of arrangements of the kind now referred to, both of a physical character, but making it probable that there will be found a system of moral remedies analogous to them. They are the following:—(a) Arrangements outside of the evil to be remedied and independent of that in which the evil is found,—or what is properly found in the materia mediea of the world, or in medicine; and (b) the healing and restoring processes of nature, or arrangements connected with the evil to be remedied, and which, Bo far as this point is concerned, are self-adjusting or self-acting,—found eminently in surgery. • (a.) Medicine, or the arrangements in the materia medica of the world. 1. All the arrangements in medicine presuppose that there will be violations of the laws of health, or that there will be evils springing from the loss of health to be remedied. We can conceive of a world where no such arrangements would exist; and, indeed, we must suppose that there are no such arrangements in unfallen worlds, and will be none in heaven. We cannot suppose that in an unfallen world there can be any thing which corresponds in this respect with the materia medica of our globe, or with, the things that seem to have been created only on the supposition that there will be fevers and pleurisies and consumptions. ’ But on earth the preparations of that kind abound everywhere. There are numberless things in the mineral and vegetable worlds that have the properties of healing as an essential part of their nature,—numberless things which have, in fact, no other use than that which is derived from healing, and which seem to have been made for that with as distinct and original a reference as the eye has been for light, or food for the nourishment of the body. If it had not been supposed in the original creation that there would be diseases to be remedied, it is impossible to believe that these things would have been made with such properties as they now have—for it remains to be demonstrated that any thing was made without a distinct design; and, as a general law, in finding out what purpose anything is fitted to accomplish, we at the same time find out the purpose for which it was originally designed. 2. The things which constitute the materia mediea of the world, or which come properly under the name of medicine, are arranged for the purpose of healing. Many of these seem to have no other end, and no other use can be made of them. Whatever they have in their nature to distinguish them from other substances is adapted only to the purpose of healing; and, though it may be true that some of them may have a compound adaptedness, and may be fitted also to subserve other ends than healing, yet it is also true that, so far as the medical property in any of these is concerned, and, in many cases, so far as any distinguishing property is concerned, that property pertains only to the healing of diseases, and can be applied to no other use. Mercury or quicksilver, for example, has, indeed, a compound adaptedness,—for it may be used in the arts as well as in medicine; but this is not true of numberless other things used in the healing art. Senna, rhubarb, Peruvian bark, and numerous other similar things have no other use than healing and can be converted to no other purpose. They cannot be placed on the same level or made to subserve the same ends as rice, maize, wheat, lentils; for they have properties distinct from them, and they cannot be made to subserve the ends which those things are designed to secure. A druggist would starve to death in his shop, though there might be medicines enough there to heal all the diseases in the world. A company of men on a barren island would soon die if there should be nothing else sent to them than a cargo of medicines; they would die if their island produced nothing but quicksilver, rhubarb, and Peruvian bark. The fair conclusion from this fact is, that these things were designed for the purpose of healing; that is, that it was contemplated that there would be diseases demanding a remedy. 3. These remedies lie outside of the evil to be remedied. They differ from the arrangement which will be noticed next in order (b) in the fact that they are no part of the original organization of that which it was contemplated would need a remedy. It is an independent arrangement,—a separate system,— which could not be itself originated by the disease to be cured; for, whatever may be said about the adaptedness of a broken bone to heal itself, it cannot be said that intermittent or bilious fevers have any tendency to produce the tree on which the bark that is adapted to heal those diseases is found. They constitute an independent arrangement by themselves, and would have an existence—though, as far as appears, a useless existence—even if there were no fevers to be cured. 4. In a great measure these remedies are effectual. It is true that all diseases are not healed, and that there are diseases which ultimately baffle the skill of medicine. It is true, also, that there are diseases for which as yet no specific remedy has been found. But it is also true that it may ultimately be ascertained that there is no form of disease to which the human frame is subject for which a remedy has not been provided,—a remedy which might either weaken the force of the disease or wholly remove it. The remedies for disease are sometimes undiscovered for ages, and, though existing, they are useless,—as the tree producing the Peruvian bark continued to grow from age to age wholly useless to the world until a happy discovery disclosed its value to mankind. In like manner, it may be possible that arrangements exist for healing all the diseases to which the human frame is subject, and that happy discoveries may yet so greatly enlarge the knowledge of these remedies as greatly to alleviate all the maladies to which the race is subject, and perhaps to remove many of them altogether. 5. This arrangement in regard to physical maladies might suggest the possibility, and perhaps the probability, that some correspondent arrangement would be made to meet the moral evils of the world and to check the progress of those evils. It is certainly a very curious fact in itself that an arrangement of the kind just referred to should be found in the world; that it should be contemplated, apparently, in the original structure of things, that there would be disease, and that there should be found a separate and wholly independent arrangement for checking, relieving, and removing it. It is an arrangement which could not have been anticipated; for if we should conceive it to be possible that we could have been consulted beforehand on that point, we should have said that it would be wholly impossible that such an arrangement could be found. We should have said at once that the presumption would be that evil would be prevented altogether; that disease would not be suffered to come into the system; that it seems to be so clumsy a device that we cannot suppose that a perfectly wise being would have adopted it; that no wise man would originate such a system; that it is difficult to reconcile the idea of permitting pleurisies and consumptions to come upon men with any proper notions of benevolence, whatever may be said of the benevolence of the remedy; that the whole scheme is similar to what would occur in the construction of a machine if the inventor should purposely make it so that it would get out of order with a view to show his skill by an independent arrangement in repairing the irregularity and in restoring its regular motions. It must be conceded that we.cannot explain the reason why this apparently strange procedure has been suffered to occur, and we may admit that as yet we are not able to see that it is the most benevolent arrangement that could have been adopted. But still, the fact remains as a part of a great system found everywhere in nature, and, whatever may have been the reason of it, it is there. Whether the explanation is to be found in the fact that the human frame could not have been so made as not to be liable to decay and disease; or whether, on the whole, higher benevolence is evinced by allowing disease to come in, and showing the high skill evinced as an independent arrangement in the provision for healing disease; or whether the whole arrangement is one that lies beyond our power of comprehension, having some ends to accomplish which we cannot as yet understand, yet the arrangement exists. It pervades the world. It is a part of the system. We see nothing on earth that is exempt from it; and this might lead men to suppose that it would be found to be a universal arrangement, and would be as applicable to moral as to physical maladies; that is, that there would be found somewhere, to be disclosed in its own time, some independent arrangement for checking or removing the moral maladies—the sins—of the world. An atonement, if it answered this end, would obviously fall in with this anticipation, and would be in accordance with the general system which has allowed disease to come into the world, and which, by a separate and independent arrangement, has sought to check and remove it. (6.) Healing Processes.—I refer not here, as in the former specification, to arrangements outside of that which is to be remedied, or to arrangements that seem to constitute a separate and independent system capable of being applied to that which is to be healed, but to arrangements in the thing itself,—in its very structure and constitution. These are, indeed, in one respect independent arrangements; for we may easily suppose that bones might have been so made that they would be liable to be broken though no arrangement existed for their knitting together again, or that a tree might be liable to have its bark injured though there were no arrangement for repairing and restoring it. There seems to be nothing in the nature of a bone that would dispose its parts necessarily to come together again if it should be broken; and in this respect the arrangement for healing seems to be quite independent of the purpose of making a bone. In like manner, we can easily imagine that all trees might have been so made that when the bark was injured there would be no arrangement for the formation of new bark, or that all arteries and veins might have been so made that when tied there would be no tendency in the blood to form for itself a new channel. The arrangement for restoring the part is, in some respects, quite as much a separate system as that of creating Peruvian bark for a specific disease, and the fact that the arrangement could be incorporated into the thing itself as a part of the original plan rather increases our admiration of the wisdom and skill evinced,—as if the spring of a watch were so made that there should be a tendency in it to unite again if it should be broken, or as if the wheels of a locomotive were so made that if they were fractured there should be an inwrought tendency to repair themselves. It is evidently, however, a part of the same general system, showing that it was contemplated that there would be fractures to be repaired. The two cases agree in the principle that there would be occasion for some arrangement to meet and repair an anticipated evil; they differ in the fact that in the one case the arrangement is outside and independent; in the other it is incorporated with the thing itself. A self-repairing spring to a watch would illustrate the aspect of the subject now to be considered; the act of a watchmaker repairing a watch—an outside arrangement—would illustrate the point before considered. It may be proper now to refer to a few cases where the arrangement under consideration is found, or where an arrangement for healing is incorporated in the thing itself. (1.) The case of a tree will furnish one illustration. It is the arrangement for replacing the bark when injured, or for sending out new shoots when its branches are cut oft*. A tree might have been so made that neither of these things would ever occur; so made that an injury once inflicted would be final. But this is not the plan which has been adopted. The bark, when injured,—unless the injury has gone so far as to cut off the ascent of the sap altogether,— will restore itself. New bark will begin at once to form, the wound will be covered up, the vitality and the strength of the tree will be preserved. Notwithstanding the wound, it may produce as large a luxuriance of foliage, and bear as large an amount of fruit, and live as many years, as though no wound had been inflicted on it. This is an arrangement in itself quite as independent as the creation of medicine to cure diseases; but it has this peculiarity, that, instead of being outside, it is incorporated into the very nature of the tree, or is self-acting. So there exists a similar arrangement for throwing out new shoots and limbs when the first growth shall be pruned away. To a certain extent this is found, probably, in all trees; and the provision in the case is invaluable for the purpose of training the tree to a desired form, and even for producing fruit. The arrangement is not, indeed, that the same limb will shoot out again; but it is that others will be formed which will answer the same or a better purpose; which will grow up more densely or more sparsely; which will come out in more desirable places; or which will supply the place of those that are decayed and dying. This arrangement, we may suppose, might have been found in restoring the wings of a bird or the limbs of a horse or a man, and there seems to have been no reason in the nature of things why it should not have been incorporated into the structure of all animals, for something like this is found in some of the lower species of animals, and, so far as we can see, it seems to have been a mere purpose of will, though founded, doubtless, on some good reason why it should not have been extended through all departments of the animal kingdom. (2.) We may refer to the arrangement for the reunion of a bone when broken. There was nothing in the nature of the case which made it necessary that the fragments of a bone when broken should have a tendency to reunite. A bone would have been complete if this tendency had not existed. We can easily conceive of a bone as having no such property; and it is clear that the arrangement might have been such as to show that it was never contemplated that a bone would be broken, or, if broken, that it should forever remain so. The provision for its ’knitting’ or uniting is quite a distinct and independent matter,—as much so as the creation of bark to be given in a fever. It is, too, among the most delicate of all the arrangements in the human system, involving separate and peculiar forms of process for the formation of new bone in a manner quite distinct from that in which the bones are originally formed and are made to increase; a method of secreting bony matter, and of conveying it to the broken part, and of depositing it there, which is in no wise necessary in the idea of the formation of bone. All this shows that it was contemplated in the original creation that a bone might be broken, and it might, at least, suggest the inquiry whether an arrangement may not exist for repairing moral evils.* (3.) As a third illustration of the general principle, we may refer to the case of a broken bone where it would be difficult or impracticable to form bone so that the broken parts could be reunited, and where the object is accomplished by the formation of cartilage. Such a case occurs when the knee-pan is broken. The knee-pan is, as Dr. Paley observes, a remarkable part of the human frame, that seems to have been added to the original conception. "It appears," says he, "to be supplemental, as it were, to the frame; added, as it should almost seem, afterward; not quite necessary, but very convenient. It is separate from the other bones; that is, it is not connected with any other bones by the common mode of union. It is soft, or hardly formed, in infancy, and produced by an ossification, of the inception or progress of which no account can be given from the structure or exercise of the part."f The knee-pan, though not so liable to fracture as many other of the bones of the human frame, may be broken. And yet it is not easy so to lay it down, so to bandage it, so to confine it, so to compress it together, as to secure a reunion of the broken parts: perhaps, detached as it is from the other bones, it would not be easy to secure the secretions necessary for its ’knitting’ consistently with the present arrangement. Possibly, too, if this could be done, it could not be so confined and bandaged as to secure a reunion of bone without injury to the delicate mechanism of the knee itself. However this may be, it does not reunite as the other bones do. But the evil is not left without any remedy. Though the broken fragments of the bones will not unite, yet a cartilage may be formed between them, which will restore the injured bone to a useful function. This is accordingly done. The case is one that shows that there is a pervading law in the system of things by which a remedy for evils that occur is provided, and it may suggest the probability that somewhere there will be found an arrangement to meet the higher evils that may come into the system. *See Paget’s Surgical Pathology, pp. 160-174. f Natural Theology, chap. 8, v. (4.) A similar arrangement occurs in regard to the arteries and veins. It was possible, evidently, so to make the human frame that there would never have been an opportunity for the performance of a surgical operation; that is, so to make it that, on the supposition that an amputation was to be performed, the patient would bleed to death. But, as the results have shown, it was very important that the frame should be constructed on the supposition that amputation might become necessary. And it was equally important, if this should be done, that provision should be made for carrying the blood around the system in some regular mode of circulation, or that its natural flow should not be permanently stopped: in other words, that it should be practicable not only to tie an artery and to prevent bleeding, but that the blood should continue to flow through the artery thus arrested, and be conveyed around again to the lungs and the heart. But this was a delicate, and apparently an impossible, arrangement. Yet it has been accomplished. By one of the most wonderful contrivances in the human frame, the blood ploughs out for itself a new channel, and thus secures a free circulation. It is not like water that is obstructed, and that makes a way for itself over or through the embankment by mere mechanical force: it is as if in a system of water-pipes laid under ground there was a self-acting power in the water, by which, if one of the pipes should be injured or cut off, it should plough out a channel in the ground for a pipe, and construct a new pipe, connecting it carefully with the obstructed part, and so laying it down as to connect itself again with the main pipe, and securing—though by a slightly circuitous course—the regular flow of the water. Obviously, there is no human mechanism that can accomplish this; but it is accomplished in the human frame, and is one of those wonderful provisions in nature which indicate the existence of remedial systems, and which naturally suggest the inquiry whether some plan may not have been contemplated which would be fitted to remove all the evils, physical and moral, which would be likely to come into and disturb the general system. The process to which I have here referred, by which the blood in the case of amputation forms for itself a new channel and secures the proper circulation, is so interesting, and is such a beautiful exhibition of the Divine wisdom and goodness, that I cannot better illustrate my subject than by copying the description of the process from a well-known book on surgery:— "The method may be termed an outgrowth from the vessels already formed. Suppose a line or arch of capillary vessels passing below the edge or surface of a part to which new material has been superadded [as in the annexed figure]. The vessel will first present a dilatation at one point, and coincidently, or shortly after, at another, as if its wall yielded a little near the edge or surface. The slight pouches thus formed gradually extend, as blind canals or diverticula, from the original vessel, still directing their course towards the edge or surface of the new material, and crowded with blood-corpuscles, which are pushed into them from the main stream. Still extending, they converge, they meet; the partitionwall that is at first formed by the meeting ends, clears away, and a perfect arched tube is formed, through which the blood, diverging from the main or former stream and then rejoining it, may be continually propelled. "In this way, then, are the simplest blood-vessels of granulations and the like outgrowths formed. The plan on which they are arranged is made more complex by the similar outgrowths of branches from adjacent arches, and their mutual anastomoses; but, to all appearance, the whole process is one of outgrowth and development from vessels already. formed. And I beg of you to consider the wonder of such a process: how, in a day, a hundred or more of such loops of fine membranous tube, less than one-thousandth of an inch in diameter, can be upraised,—not by any mere force of pressure, though with all the regularity of the simplest mechanism, but each by a living growth and development as orderly and exact as that which we might trace in the part most essential to the continuance of life. Observe that no force so simple as that of mere extension or assimilation can determine such a result as this; for to achieve the construction of such an arch it must spring with due adjustment from two determined points, and then its flanks must be commensurately raised, and these, as with mutual attraction, must approach and meet exactly in the crown. Nothing could accomplish such a result but force determining the concurrent development of the two outgrowing vessels. We admire the intellect of the engineer who, after years of laborious thought, with all the appliances of weight and measure and appropriate material, can begin, at points wide apart, and force through the solid masses of the earth, a tunnel, and can wall it in secure from external violence and strong to bear some ponderous traffic; and yet ho does but grossly and imperfectly imitate the Divine work of living mechanism that is hourly accomplished in the bodies of the least conspicuous objects of creation,—nay, even in the healing of our casual wounds and sores."* * Paget’s Surgical Pathology, pp. 146, 147. In connection with these cases, the following general remarks may be made, as bearing on the subject before us:— (a.) They all proceed on the supposition that there might be violations of law, or that injuries might occur, which it would be desirable to repair. Whether such violations of law would in fact exist, might be another question; but it is clear that in the original arrangement it was contemplated that they might, and that some remedial arrangement would be desirable. (b.) They are remedial in their design. They have no other object. Whether independent arrangements, as in materia mediea, or whether inwrought in the constitution of things, they are designed for this end alone, and are, in either case, so far an independent arrangement that they are in no way necessary to the original existence of that to which they are adapted, or to its perfect action, if no violation of law were to occur. (c.) They naturally suggest the idea of repairing moral evils. Tbey bring the question to the mind whether it is not probable that the Author of all things, having made such arrangements for repairing the injuries resulting from a violation of the laws of health,—an injured tree, or a broken bone,—would not also make provision for repairing the higher evils that might disturb the moral system. This inquiry has increased force in proportion to the greatness of the evils to be repaired, and to the difficulty of such a higher adjustment; for, from all that we know of the displays of Divine wisdom in creation and providence, does not the fact that it is difficult render it more probable that such an arrangement will be made, since it will furnish a suitable occasion for the display of such wisdom? In other words, is it probable that an arrangement would be made involving so much care and skill for allaying a fever or healing a wound in a tree, or in mending a broken bone, and none be made to save the soul? The following remarks may, without impropriety, be introduced here as showing how the arrangements for the repairs of injuries in the human frame naturally suggest the question about a higher remedy to meet the evils of sin in the soul of man. They have the more value as a part of my argument from the fact that they are the remarks of a surgeon, not of a professed theologian:— "If I may venture on so high a theme, let me suggest that the instances of recovery from disease and injury seem to be only examples of a law yet larger than that within the terms of which they may be comprised; a law wider than the grasp of science; the law that expresses our Creator’s will for the recovery of all lost perfection. To this train of thought we are guided by the remembrance that the healing of the body was ever chosen as the fittest emblem of His work whose true mission was to raise man’s fallen spirit and repair the injuries it had sustained; and that once, the healing power was exerted in a manner purposely so confined as to advance, like that which we can trace, by progressive stages to the complete cure. For there was one upon whom, when the light of heaven first fell, so imperfect was his vision that he saw, confusedly, ’men, as trees, walking,’ and then, by a second touch of the Divine Hand, was ’restored, and saw every man clearly.’ Thus, guided by the brighter light of revelation, it may be our privilege, while we study the science of our healing art, to gain, by the illustrations of analogy, a clearer insight into the oneness of the plan by which things spiritual and corporeal are directed. Even now we may trace some analogy between the acts of the body and those of man’s intellectual and moral nature. As in the development of the germ, so in the history of the human spirit, we may discern a striving after perfection; after a perfection not viewed in any present model, (for the human model was marred almost as soon as it was formed,) but manifested to the enlightened Reason in the ’Express Image’ of the ’Father of Spirits.’ And so, whenever, through human frailty, amid the violences of the world and the remaining ’infection of our nature,’ the spirit loses aught of the perfection to which it was once admitted, still, its implanted power is ever urgeut to repair the loss. The same power, derived and still renewed from the same Parent, working by the same appointed means and to the same end, restores the fallen spirit to nearly the same perfection that it had before. Then, not unscarred, yet living,—’ fractus sed invictus,’— the spirit yet feels its capacity for a higher life, and passes to its immortal destiny. In that destiny the analogy ends. We may watch the body developing into all its marvellous perfection and marvellous fitness for the purpose of its existence in the world; but, this purpose accomplished, it passes its meridian, and then we trace it through the gradual decays of life and death. But for the human spirit that has passed the ordeal of this world there is no such end. Emerging from its imprisonment in the body, it soars to the element of its higher life: there, in perpetual youth, its powers expand as the vision of the Infinite unfolds before it; there, in the very presence of its Model, its Parent, and the Spring of all its power, it is ’like him, for it sees him as he III. In illustration of the idea that it is probable that there would be a Divine interposition in behalf of men for removing the evils that had come into the world, and as perhaps at the same time suggesting the kind of interposition which might be anticipated, we may refer to the fact that we are often preserved from evils to which we are exposed, by the personal sacrifices of others. Facts of this kind are so numerous that it is unnecessary to attempt to specify them. The arrangements of society seem constituted much on this principle, that sacrifices are to be made by one portion to ward off impending evils from another, or to procure those blessings which are to be transmitted to other generations. If we look at our enjoyments we shall perhaps be surprised to find how few of them have been obtained directly by our own exertions, and equally surprised to find to how great an extent we are indebted for them to the sacrifices which others have made. I allude to those sacrifices of time, comfort, property, which are made by men not altogether, if they are mainly, for themselves, and to those which, in numerous cases, are made in a great measure, if not entirely, for others. We are saved in infancy and childhood from cold, starvation, and nakedness because there are those who are willing to toil for us and to deny themselves of ease and comfort that we may be happy. We are saved from oppression and slavery because others have been willing to peril their lives in the cause of freedom. Others minister to us in sickness by much personal sacrifice, and in numerous cases we are preserved from death because they are willing to forego ease and comfort in our behalf. The blessings of religion have come to us because, in troublous times, there have been those who were willing to practise self-denial, to forego ease and comfort, to face the terrors of persecution, to give themselves to death, that they might make the gospel known to a perishing world. * Paget’s Surgical Pathology, p. 117. A history of the sacrifices and self-denials of the men who have devoted themselves to the cause of patriotism, humanity, and religion would constitute a very considerable part of the history of the world. The most interesting chapters of that history are those which record the deeds of such men as Howard; the facts that most relieve the pained eye in contemplating the general selfishness of the race are the acts of generous self-denial and sacrifice which have occurred. A few of these things have been recorded,—though but few; for men have been much more disposed to rear monuments to perpetuate the fame of the desolators of the world than of its benefactors, and not a few of these generous deeds have occurred in such humble life that they are unnoticed by the historian. Yet they do occur. They are found in every sick-room, in every hospital, in every prison, almost in every family; in every case where life is perilled to save men from flame and flood; in the self-denials of every missionary of the cross who forsakes the comforts of a civilized land to go among wretched savages, that he may raise them to the dignity and purity of civilized life and make known to them the method by which sinners are saved. Evil would long since have had the entire ascendency in our world if it had not been for such generous self-sacrifice; and the fact that, with all the depravity of the world, such deeds of self-denial, if collected and recorded, would constitute so material a part of the history of our race, shows that it may be a general principle in the Divine administration that evil shall be removed by sacrifices endured in behalf of the wretched and the guilty. That this may be a general principle, and that these facts should be allowed to suggest the idea that there may be a higher intervention of this sort than those which ordinarily pass under the observation of mankind, may be made to appear more probable from the following considerations:— (a.) There is a fitness for such interventions in the actual condition of things. There is guilt, there is temptation, there is danger, which seem adapted—if not designed—to suggest the idea of such interventions, and to lay the foundation for them. Facts in these respects are such as they would be on the supposition that it was contemplated that there would be occasion for the intervention of self-sacrifice and self-denial. (b.) Such intervention by self-sacrifice and selfdenial is made necessary if these evils are to be removed. There is no other method by which this can be done; and they would not be removed if there were no such interventions. Sickness would terminate in death; nations would be enslaved; the blind, the dumb, the insane, would perish; the heathen would sink to ruin; the world would be ignorant, degraded, lost, if it were not for such acts of generous self-sacrifice in the behalf of others. Liberty, intelligence, civilization, and the ordinary comforts of life, are the fruits of such deeds of self-denial in behalf of others; and even now the civilized portions of the earth would sink again to barbarism, degradation, and wretchedness if the spirit which prompted to such acts were not continued in the world. (c.) Such intervention answers the end contemplated. The evil is removed. It is impossible, indeed, now to ascertain what the condition of the world would have been if there had been no such self-sacrifice in the cause of liberty and human rights, of the oppressed and the down-trodden, of the suffering and the sad. Long before this, so far as appears, the liberties of the world might have been trampled out effectually and forever, and the earth might have been wholly under the sway of oppression or made desolate by war; just as, in a somewhat parallel case, the world would have been wholly overrun by wild beasts, reptiles, and monsters if there had been no resistance on the part of man, nothing done to check their growth and triumph. (d.) This arrangement brings into exercise, if not into existence itself, a higher virtue than could otherwise have been developed, if it would have existed at all. It is undeniable that some of the loftiest virtues exhibited on the earth are those which are manifested in the benevolence shown to the suffering; in attendance on the sick; in the defence of the rights of man; in the establishment of liberty; in founding and sustaining hospitals and asylums for the insane, the deaf, the blind. Many of the very highest virtues ever exhibited on earth have been developed, if not absolutely created, in this manner. And they are mere virtues. They are acts of pure benevolence. What is done would not have been necessary if there had been no evil to be repaired, no suffering to be alleviated, no wrong to be redressed, no sin to be checked or forgiven. These virtues might have existed, indeed, in the germ,—as all these virtues may be supposed thus to exist in a perfectly holy being—but they could not have been developed; and it is not easy to see how, except to an omniscient being, their existence could have been known. Under the existing arrangement, however, the virtues thus created or developed may be regarded as absolute gain in the moral system; that is, there is just so much more in the system to be seen and admired, to contribute to the honour of the individual or the good of the whole, and to display the character of God. We cannot, indeed, suppose a watch to be made to go wrong in order to show the skill of the watchmaker in correcting the evil; or a tree to be so made that it would be injured in order to show the wisdom of the Creator in arranging a healing process; or a limb to be so made that it would be broken in order to show the art and benevolence of surgery in the process of healing; or man made to be a sufferer in order to develop the virtues of benevolence in attending on the sick and in founding hospitals; but, on the supposition that a watch does go wrong, or that a tree is injured, or that a bone is broken, or that man is a sufferer, we can see how the wisdom and benevolence evinced in repairing the evil become the occasion of originating or developing a new and peculiar order of virtues in the world, and thus the source of a positive gain in the cause of virtue. The result may be set down as something absolutely gained in the great system of things on the earth; something which but for this could not have been known. May it not be possible that these principles may have a more general prevalence in the universe, and influence the minds of the dwellers in other worlds? Is it unreasonable to suppose that what we regard as so great a virtue on earth may be found to exist among heavenly beings? And as among those beings there can be no suffering to relieve, no sick-beds to visit, none who are oppressed and down-trodden that need the interposition of others to deliver them, none who are insane, deaf, blind, needing the sympathy and care of others, may we not regard it as probable—or, at least, as not improbable—that the sympathy of those beings may find an opportunity for developing itself by coming to the aid of those of an humbler order—the dwellers on earth—who do need such sympathy? May we not, therefore, suppose that angelic beings might stoop to self-denial and self-sacrifice in behalf of man? Would it be a departure from this great principle if the feeling of sympathy should be found in a still higher form in the bosom of one related to the Eternal Father as the Son of God is represented to be, and that he should be willing to come to the earth to illustrate the principle on the highest scale possible by making an atonement for the sins of the world? TV". In illustration of the same point, we may refer to the fact that there have been expectations widely cherished that an atonement would be made for sin, expectations founded on what were regarded as Divine predictions. At this stage of the argument it would not be logical to assume that the predictions in the Old Testament are really of Divine origin; nor, in the view in which I propose to consider them, would it be necessary to assume that they had such an origin; but they may be referred to as showing what, for some reasons, however it may be explained, have been the anticipation, in the mind of man on the subject. We may, therefore, in this view of the case, and at this point in the argument, look at the Hebrew prophets, not as acknowledged prophets, but as men giving utterance to an expectation, laid somehow in the nature of man, that there would be in future times such an interposition in behalf of our world as would be implied in the work of the atonement. The fact here referred to is this: That there existed from time to time in Judea a remarkable class or succession of men, known by the appellation of ’prophets,’ who undoubtedly entertained the belief that an atonement for sin would be made at some future time, and who proclaimed this as the foundation of an extensive national hope and belief. The peculiarity in the case was, that it was not a single man who did this under the influence of high poetic feeling, as Virgil may have done,* but that these men appeared sometimes in groups and sometimes in succession; that their appearing was not the result of any system of education and was not regulated in any precise order; that they did not always, or even commonly, spring out of the established order of the priesthood; that they had as prophets nothing to do in offering the sacrifices which typified an atonement; that they were of different ranks of society, now springing up in the lowest grades of social life and employment, and now in the most elevated; that their predictions were sometimes in prose and sometimes in song; that they were all men of eminent moral worth,— men who gave evidence that they walked with God,—men who, from some cause, had an insight into the Divine purposes and counsels which was not vouchsafed to the community at large. Besides these traits which characterized them as an order of men, there are three other things to be noticed as bearing on the point before us. (a.) The first is, that they all claimed to have been sent from God, and to speak in the name of God. (6.) The second is, that they founded their predictions on that fact, and never assumed that they were the utterances of their own genius, (c.) The third thing is, that these utterances were undoubtedly made before the appearing of Jesus of Nazareth on the earth, and, consequently, before any claim was set up by his followers that he had died to make an expiation for the sins of men. * In the Pollio. The burden of their message, as I shall now show, was, that there would be in some future time a deliverer from sin; that one would come who would be a voluntary sacrifice for the transgressions of the world; that by the sacrifice which he would make he would supersede all the sacrifices which were then appointed to be made; that he would introduce a new economy, under which men would be pardoned, purified, and saved; that by his substituted sufferings, his sorrows and his death, the malady of sin would be healed. The predictions on this subject may be arranged in two classes: such as express an anticipation in general that a remarkable personage or deliverer would come; and such as describe his work as making a sacrifice or expiation for sin. Of the former class are such statements as the following. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." (Genesis 49:10) "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord." (Isaiah 59:20) "And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come." (Haggai 2:7) "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." (Malachi 3:1) "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, aud a branch shall grow out of his roots; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord." (Isaiah 11:2) "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seventy weeks, and threescore and two weeks." Daniel 9:24-25. These passages illustrate the undoubted fact that among the Hebrew people there was a class of men, claiming to be sent from God, who announced that a remarkable personage would appear in some future time, under the general character of a deliverer; and they furnish at the same time a reason for what is as undoubted a fact that this expectation obtained a general prevalence among their countrymen. The other class of passages pertains more definitely to the point now before us. They are such as served to excite the expectation that that personage would be a sufferer; that his life would be cut off by violence and injustice; and that somehow by his sufferings and death he would lay the foundation for the pardon of sin. The passages now referred to are such as the following:—"And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, But Not For Himself." (Daniel 9:26) "In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." (Daniel 9:27) "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness." (Daniel 9:24)* "And in this mountain [in Jerusa lem] shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And in this mountain he will destroy the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces." (Isaiah 25:6-8) "He [the Messiah] is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." "He hath home our griefs and carried our sorrows." "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities." "The chastisement of our peace," that is, the chastisement by which our peace is effected, "was upon him." "With his stripes we are healed." "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." "He was cut off out of the land of the living." "For the transgression of my people was he stricken." "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin." "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities." "He bare the sin of many." Isaiah 53:3-11.* * For an illustration of these passages, and for proof that they refer to the Messiah and to his death as an atoning sacrifice for sin, I may be permitted to refer to my Notes on Daniel in loc. In reference to these texts of Scripture as bearing on the point before us, two remarks may be made:— (a.) If they are admitted to be a Divine communication, they settle the point that there was a wellfounded presumption that an arrangement would be made for an atonement. They show that the prevailing expectation that an atonement would be made was more than a presumption founded on the analogies of nature. They explain how the anticipation sprung up in the human mind, and they justify all the expectations of an atonement that were ever cherished in the world. They serve, too, to explain how it was that sacrifices considered as types were kept up so long and with so much interest in Judea, and how the Hebrew people were cheered with the hope that a period would arrive when the necessity of sacrifices would cease and their painful and expensive offerings would come to an end. (b.) If they are not regarded as a Divine communication, then the fact that they were uttered must be explained in some other way. That such utterances were made, and that they became a permanent record, stimulating the hopes of men and laying the foundation of a widely-cherished expectation, is an undoubted fact; and the only question, so far as pertains to the point now before us, is, how they are to be accounted for, or what is their origin. If not of Divine origin, they must either have been suggested by some instinctive feeling of the soul, or by some observed analogies of nature, or by some prevailing belief in regard to the character of God, or by some floating fragmentary tradition; and in either case they would illustrate and confirm the position now before us, that there was some ground or reason for supposing that God would interpose in behalf of mankind, or that some arrangement would be made for removing the evils of sin. All these things combined—the fact that there was a general expectation in the world that a deliverer would come; the fact that there are remedial arrangements for the removal of physical evils; the fact that dangers are often prevented or removed by personal sacrifices; and the fact that there were expectations and announcements, claiming to be of Divine origin, that an atonement would be made—may be regarded as demonstrating the probability that an arrangement would be made to meet the evils of sin and to remove the difficulties in the way of pardon. * For an illustration of these passages, and for proof that they refer to the Messiah and to the atonement, I may be permitted also to refer to my Notes on Isaiah in loc ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: 3.06. NECESSITY OF AN ATONEMENT. ======================================================================== CHAPTER VI. NECESSITY OF AN ATONEMENT. The necessity of an atonement is founded on such considerations as have been already referred to in this Essay,—the difficulties in the way of pardon and in the restoration of an offender to favour. We have seen (ch. ii.) what those difficulties are, (1) if pardon is never extended to the guilty; (2) if it is often extended to the guilty; (3) if it should be always extended to the guilty; and (4) in any case by its coming in conflict with the regular administration of justice. We have noticed (ch. iii.) some of the embarrassments to which governments are subjected for the want of an atonement, and some of the devices, clumsy and ineffectual in their character, to which they are compelled to resort in order to escape from those embarrassments. We have considered (ch. iv.) what must be done by an atonement: that it is necessary that it should confirm, and not set aside, law; that it should carry out, and not set aside, the real purpose of the penalty of the law as expressing the sense entertained by the lawgiver of the value of law and the evil of violating it; that it should secure the reformation and future good conduct of him who is pardoned; that it should preserve a community from harm if any number of offenders should be forgiven; and that it should furnish in its own nature a proper representation of the character of him who has appointed the atonement. And we have seen (ch. v.) that there were antecedent probabilities that such an atonement would be provided in the Divine administration; or that there were such grounds of presumption that some arrangement would be made to remove the evils of sin as to excite an expectation extensively in the minds of men that such an arrangement would be made. The failure of every thing else to remove the necessary evils of sin and to restore an offender to the Divine favour lays the foundation for the necessity of an atonement. An atonement is necessary because there is nothing else that will remove the difficulties in the way of pardon, or because there is no other wajT by which it can be consistent for God to forgive an offender and to restore him to favour. It becomes proper, therefore, to inquire why, in this point of view, it is necessary that an atonement should be made; that is, why sinners cannot be saved without it; or why, in the language of the Bible, "without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb. ix. 22.) If there is any other way by which the difficulties in the case can be met and sinners saved, then of course an atonement is unnecessary. It is proper, therefore, to inquire on what they who reject an atonement rely for salvation, and to see whether such grounds of reliance furnish security of happiness hereafter. If sinners may rely on the mere mercy of God for salvation, then an atonement is unnecessary. If they can offer sacrifices for their own sins which would constitute a proper expiation, then there would be no need of a higher sacrifice such as is implied in the idea of the Christian atonement. If they may depend on the efficacy of repentance, and if that is all that is necessary to restore them to the Divine favour, then also an atonement would be unnecessary. If men are punished in this life as much as their offences deserve, and if all that is implied in the penalty of the law is satisfied on earth, or if the same thing should occur in a future world so that they would exhaust the penalty of the law and expiate their sins by their own sufferings, then in like manner there would be no need of an atonement. If offenders can claim admission into heaven on the ground that they have—by their own abundant good works, or by the merits of eminent saints made over to them by the power of a priesthood—made amends for the past, then also there would be no need of an atonement. And if it is a principle in the Divine administration that the maladies of the soul may be repaired, as the diseases of the body may be healed, by a recuperative arrangement in the very system itself, then also there would be no need of an atonement. It is indispensable, therefore, in inquiring into the necessity of an atonement, to examine each of these points; for these are the things on which men who reject the atonement of Christ actually rely; these comprise all the grounds of the hope which they entertain in reference to a future world. Thus Dr. Priestley says, "We are commanded to forgive others, as we ourselves hope to be forgiven; to be merciful as our Father who is in heaven is merciful. But surely we are not thereby authorized to insist upon any atonement or satisfaction, before we give up our resentments towards an offending penitent brother. Indeed, how could it deserve the name of forgiveness if we did? It is only from the literal interpretation of a few figurative expressions in the Scriptures that this doctrine of the atonement, as well as that of transubstantiation, has been derived; and it is certainly a doctrine highly injurious to God; and if we who are commanded to imitate God should act upon the maxims of it, it would be subversive of the most amiable part or virtue in men. We should be implacable and unmerciful, insisting upon the uttermost’farthing."* In considering the necessity of an atonement, the question is not what God could or could not haye done if an atonement had not been made. We are not to go back of all the arrangements that are actually made, and to inquire whether the course of things might not have been different, or why the present arrangement has been adopted. In inquiring, for example, why labour is necessary for the husbandman if he would secure a harvest, or why the law of gravitation is necessary in the physical system of the universe, we are not to ask whether it might not have been otherwise,—whether God, for example, might not have provided food by his own direct agency without toil on the part of man, or whether he might not have carried forward the operations of the universe without such a law as that of gravitation. The question relates rather to matters of fact: why, as things are, is labour necessary for man if he would have a harvest? or why is such a law as that of universal gravitation necessary in this universe, constructed as it is? There is undoubted force and truth in the following remarks of Bishop Butler. "Certain questions," he says, "have been brought into the subject of redemption, and determined with rashness, and perhaps with equal rashness contrary ways. For instance, whether God could have saved the world by other means than the death of Christ, consistently with the general laws of his government. And, had not Christ come into the world, what would have been the future condition of the better sort of men; those just persons over the face of the earth for whom Manasses in his prayer asserts repentance was not appointed. The meaning of the first of these questions is greatly ambiguous; and neither of them can properly be answered without going upon that infinitely absurd supposition, that we know the whole of the case. And perhaps the very inquiry, what would have followed if God had not done as he has? may have in it some great impropriety, and ought not to be carried on any further than is necessary to help our partial and inadequate conception of things." * See Beman on the Atonement, pp. 137, 138. The inquiry on this subject cannot be pursued on the principle of an Cl priori argument. We are not, for we cannot, so go back of the actual arrangement of things in the Divine economy, and attempt to ascertain what God could or could not have done; we cannot determine beforehand whether it would or would not be proper that such a disposition of affairs should be allowed to exist as would make an atonement necessary; we cannot argue that, because sin is an infinite evil, therefore an infinite atonement was necessary, or that it was necessary that he who should make the atonement should be infinite in his nature.* But we may argue from the existing state of things. We may look upon the fact that man is fallen; that sin has come into the world; that the law of God has been violated; that the penalty of that law has been incurred; and that there are intrinsic difficulties in the way of pardon. We can look upon the course of events, and see what is the fact in regard to the effect of those things on which men do rely as securing salvation, and argue from the failure of those things as to the necessity of some higher mode of intervention. We can ask whether it will be safe for men to reject the atonement and to rely on those things. We can see in the failure of all those things to meet the circumstances of the case—if they do fail—an argument for the necessity of an atonement. In this there can be no presumption; for we are here manifestly pursuing an inquiry of the deepest interest to ourselves, and which lies within the proper range of human investigation. Such a course of inquiry it is proposed to pursue in this chapter. The necessity of an atonement will be argued from the failure of all else on which men are accustomed to rely for salvation; or, in other words, by showing that no reliance can be placed on those things to meet the circumstances of the case, it is proposed to demonstrate the necessity of an atonement. * In what sense is it true that sin is infinite? How is it ascertained that it is infinite? In what part of the Scriptures is it asserted or intimated that the necessity of an atonement rests on the fact that sin is an infinite evil? Where is it affirmed that sin has, in any sense, a character of infinity? The question relates to the salvation of sinners; and it is to be assumed in this discussion that men are sinners. Apart from the atonement, the only other methods of salvation by which it could be supposed that sinners could be saved are the following:—The mere mercy of God; repentance and reformation; punishment; repairing the evils of the past by subsequent good conduct; sacrifices offered for sin; and a process of restoration in regard to moral evils—a’ recuperative process—similar to the healing of diseases in the body. These methods of salvation it is proposed now to examine. There are no other methods, besides that of reliance on the atonement of Christ. These exhaust the subject. If a sinner may rely on any one of these methods, there is no need of an atonement. If all of these fail, then there must be an atonement, or the sinner must perish. I. The mere mercy of God. As this is perhaps the most general ground of reliance for salvation among men, it is important to examine it with care. It is undoubtedly true that large classes of men— men of all classes and conditions—profess to rely on the mercy of God as a safe and sufficient ground of hope in relation to the future world. The most general ground of the hope of happiness hereafter is, probably, that which is founded on good works; on an upright character; on honesty and fidelity in the relations of life; on amiabletess, kindness, and courtesy in the intercourse with each other; on the belief entertained by many that they have wronged no one, that they have defrauded no one, that they are just in their dealings with men, that they are faithful in the discharge of their duties as husbands, fathers, neighbours, citizens. But this ground of hope may be laid out of view now; for we are not inquiring whether it would be possible for men to be saved if they were perfectly righteous,— of which there could be no doubt,—but in what way a sinner may be saved. The question is, How may one who is conscious that he has violated the law of God obtain his favour again? how may he approach him with the hope of pardon? The first of these grounds of hope is dependence on the mere mercy of God, with no reference to an atonement; and it is undoubtedly true that multitudes do profess to trust to this as a safe resort. The man who is externally moral, and who aims to lead an upright life, and who prides himself on his virtuous character, trusts that the few and unimportant errors of his life may be forgiven, and that he may safely rely, in respect to these, on the mercy of God. The skeptic—the denier of the truth of revelation—also relies on the mercy of God, and thinks that he may safely make it an article of his creed that God is merciful, and that he may in safety trust to that mercy for salva tion. The Universalist is loud in his proclamation of the mercy of God, and in the expression of his belief that all men will be saved through that mercy; and even the dissolute, the profane, and the abandoned, when all other hope of salvation fails, take refuge, on the bed of death, in what they regard as the illimitable compassion of God. And yet it may be doubted whether any of these persons really rely for salvation on the mercy of God. If the moral man, conscious as he may be of a few errors and follies of life, were questioned, he would say that he does not believe that he deserves eternal death, and that it would be wrong in God to consign him to future woe; and thus he is depending for salvation not on the mercy but on the justice of God. The skeptic, also, if questioned on the subject, would not allege that he had any communication from heaven to assure him that he might safely trust to the mercy of God,—for all such revelation he on principle rejects; but he would maintain also that it would be wrong in God to consign him to an eternal hell, and thus he relies for salvation not on the mercy but on the justice of God. The Universalist, also, loud as he is in praise of the mercy of God, and stoutly as he maintains that through that mercy all mankind will be saved, yet as loudly and as stoutly maintains that it would be wrong in God— that it would be horrible injustice—to consign men to everlasting punishment; and thus he also relies not on the mercy but on the justice of God for salvation; and, after all that he says in favour of the mercy of God, he has no belief that there is any occasion for the exercise of mercy in the case, but his system would be practically the same, and his hope would be precisely the same, if God were possessed of no such attribute as that of mercy, but were severely and on\j just. In like manner, also, even the abandoned and profligate sinner would maintain that it would be wrong in the God who made him to doom him to everlasting wretchedness for the sins of this short life; and thus he, at last, also finds refuge and hope not in the mercy hut in the justice of God. But, if it were true that men really relied on the mercy of God for salvation, would this be a safe ground of hope for a sinner? In reference to this question, let the following considerations be borne in mind. (1.) Mercy cannot be safely relied on by an offender in any human administration. We have seen, in a previous chapter, (ch. ii.,) that no government could safely offer unconditional pardon to offenders, and that pardon can in no case be administered under a human government without doing much to weaken the strong arm of the law. Mere mercy can in no case be made a ground of hope under a human government. When pardon is extended to the guilty, it is in most, if not in all, cases, done not on the ground of mere mercy, but on the ground that there was some defect in the process of the trial; or that the sentence of the law was too severe; or that there were some extenuating circumstances in the case; or that there was something in respect to the age, the sex, or the previous character of the offender which made it proper to interpose with executive clemency; or that there was evidence of such a reformation as to make it proper to remit the remainder of the sentence or to commute it; or that there was evidence that the punishment had answered all the ends contemplated by punishment; or that there was some new testimony in favour of the offender which was not before the court on the trial, and which might have modified the verdict; or that there is reason to suppose that, if all the testimony in the case had been before the court, the accused would have been acquitted: that is, so far as these circumstances bear on the case, the ’pardon’ is in fact an act of justice, and not of mercy. (2.) It is to be borne in mind, in regard to dependence on the mercy of God for salvation, that there are other attributes in the Divine character than mercy, and that, so far as appears, they are as essential to that character as mercy is, and that it is as important for the good of the universe that they should be displayed as it is that the attribute of mercy should be exhibited. "A God all mercy is a God unjust." There is as certain evidence that God is just as there is that he is merciful. In estimating the character of a neighbour, a merchant, a professional man, a magistrate,—in forming our conception of a perfect man,—we think of truth, and purity, and justice, and uprightness, as really as of kindness. We regard these as essential to a perfect character. "We have no conception of a character as entitled to high respect and confidence where these are not found. If we could conceive of a case in which there were no traces of these attributes, we should say, however merciful or amiable the man might be, his character was radically deficient. If we could conceive of a case where the attribute of justice is never exercised,—where a man in his dealings with others always disregards its claims,—however amiable or kind he might be, we should say that such a character was worthy only of universal detestation. It is worthy of special remark, as bearing on the point before us, that, when we say that the attribute of justice is essential to our idea of a perfect character, we say at the same time that it is essential to our idea of such a character that the attribute should be exercised or displayed. It would be of no value as a dormant attribute, any more than a dormant attribute of mercy or goodness would be. On suitable occasions, it is as proper that the attribute of justice should be displayed as the attribute of mercy; and, if there is any evidence furnished by our instinctive sense of what is essential to the character of perfection in God, that one of these attributes will be displayed, there is the same evidence, so far as that source of proof is concerned, that the other will be. It is further to be observed that in all the arrangements among men themselves it is contemplated that there shall be as real a manifestation of the attribute of justice as of mercy, (a.) There are more laws made to secure justice between man and man than there are to secure the exercise of mercy from one who is wronged towards him who wrongs him. There are more provisions in the administration of the laws to secure the exercise of justice than of mercy. There are all the arrangements in the courts: the forms of indictment; the pleadings; the trial by jury; the writ of habeas corpus; the securities against false imprisonment; the examination of witnesses in open court; the confronting of the witnesses with the accused; the right of appeal: in fact, nearly all the arrangements in the courts of law have reference to the securing of justice. Those which have reference to the exercise of mercy are jomparatively few. There is little legislation in regard to it; and few of the great conflicts in the world have heen with reference to the exercise of mercy. Those great conflicts which have marked the progress of society have pertained to the exercise of justice and not of mercy,—have been struggles in securing what is right, not what is to he expected as the result of the exercise of compassion, (b.) In like manner, it is true that justice is more frequently exercised than mercy. The daily transactions between man and man are transactions of justice. The transactions in courts are those of justice, and not of mercy. The question on trial when a man is arraigned for libel, treason, piracy, or murder, is not a question whether he is a fit subject for executive clemency, but whether he has committed a crime that subjects him to the penalty of the law; not a question whether he shall be pardoned, hot whether he shall be punished. The dispensing of pardon is regarded as an event that is to be rare; the dispensation of justice is one that is to be constant. The former is left to an executive, with few rules in regard to its exercise; the latter is guarded with all the skill of legislation, and all the sanctions of law, and all the precautions against abuse and corruption which can be thrown around the tribunals of justice. (3.) There is abundant evidence that substantially the same order of things is to be found in the Divine administration, and that the attribute of justice is the one that is prominently contemplated there. (a.) There are abundant indications in the world that there is such an attribute in God as justice, and that justice will be regarded in his dealings with mankind. This is found not only in the appointmerit of law to regulate the conduct of men, but in the fact that evils are brought upon the violators of that law as punishments, not as expressions of mercy. The material thought here is, that such inflictions are an expression of displeasure on the part of God, and are designed, according to the proper notion of penalty, as has been before explained, to show the sense which the lawgiver entertains of the value of law and of the evil of disobedience; not that they are in their nature disciplinary, or merely designed to reform. Abundant indications of this are to be found in the Divine dealings; and they are familiar to every one. They occur in the numerous instances in which a certain course of conduct is uniformly followed with certain calamities or evils, or in which the evil has all the marks of being a specific penalty appointed for that particular offence. The evil in the case is such as occurs only on the commission of that offence; and it so uniformly occurs as to show that it is designed to be a penalty for that offence. It is not of so general a character that it may be a matter of doubt whether it belongs to that offence or some other, or whether it has any relation to conduct considered as crime; but it is as particular and as specific as if there were no other offence to be punished. Thus it is, for example, with the consequences of intemperance,—where there can be no doubt that the calamities which come upon the drunkard are the consequence of his particular habits of life, and are designed to express the sense entertained by the Great Lawgiver of the value of the law which binds men to temperance, and of the evils of a violation of that law. The evils in the case are of such a nature, and are so uniform, as to leave no room for doubt on the subject. They are evils which follow no other course of life, and they cannot be separated from that habit. It cannot be proved that the radical idea in inflicting these evils is that they shall reform the offender; for, as the result shows, they do not tend to such an effect. The woe, the sorrow, the poverty, the disease, the dishonour, that attend the career of the drunkard,—the peculiar form of the ultimate effect of the habit,— that form of insanity known as mania-d-potu,—all have the appearance, and all seem designed to accomplish the effect, of a specific penalty. The things that are essential to the idea of a penalty or an infliction of justice are found in all these effects: (a) They are so specific and peculiar as to show that they are connected with that offence as the cause; (b) they are so uniform as to show that the whole thing is arranged on plan, and that they do not occur by chance; and (c) it is apparent that they are intended not for purposes of reformation, but as a suitable expression of the value of the law in the case, and of the evils of violating that law. They become, therefore, a proof that there is such a thing as justice, and that the world is not administered on the mere principle of mercy; that is, that men have much to fear from justice, whatever they may or may not have to hope from mercy. They are not in n world of mere mercy, but in a world where there are proofs that God is just. The same remarks might be made of many other courses of conduct. In relation to licentiousness, to gluttony, to fraud, to oppression, to murder, it might be shown that, sooner or later, all such offences impinge on some arrangement designed to show that there is a law in the case and that that law cannot be violated with impunity; and what is material in the point before us is, that justice and not mercy is to be expected to follow as the result of such violation of ’law; that what is to be anticipated is not an expression of compassion, but an expression of displeasure; not an indication that the offence will be overlooked and forgiven, but that it will be marked and punished. And we may refer here, in further illustration of this point, to the instinctive feelings of mankind when they are about to commit a crime. What their nature teaches them to anticipate is not forgiveness and impunity, but punishment. They find within them, so far as their minds act at all, not an anticipation of mercy, but of justice. The reproofs and checks of conscience, the dread of the consequences, the fear of death and of the judgment as viewed in connection with the offence, all indicate that there is an arrangement in the human mind to keep up the idea of justice in the world; but there is no corresponding arrangement when an offence is committed which has reference to the exercise of mercy,— nothing that points to the exercise of mercy as that arrangement does to the infliction of justice. In the actual dispensations of Providence, moreover, there are more proofs of justice than of mercy; there are more things occurring Jhat can be properly traced to the infliction of penalty, and that should be regarded as proofs that God is just, than there are that can be regarded as proofs that he is merciful. In other words, there are more specific things that can be directly and certainly traced to the idea that God is just, than there are that can be traced to the specific idea of mercy. There are, indeed, numerous proofs of goodness, numerous evidences that God is benevolent, and that he desires the happiness of his creatures; but it is to be observed that these, for the most part, are found in the original constitution of things, or in the arrangements made anterior to the commission of crime, and therefore they cannot with propriety be referred to in this argument, for the arrangements which we are seeking for in the inquiry about the mercy of God are not general original arrangements of benevolence, but specific arrangements contemplated as following the violation of law; and the remark which is now made is, that, placing ourselves in that position, or regarding crime as committed, there are in fact more arrangements for the infliction of justice than for the exercise of mercy. In other words, judging merely from the course of events under the Divine administration, there is more to be dreaded by a sinner than there is to be hoped for; more that should lead a violator of law to fear what is to come than to eherish hope. (b.) There are in the world numerous instances of what may be called unfinished justice, or cases in which, for some cause, the infliction of justice is not complete, but seems to be arrested midway. The death of the individual, or some other cause, arrests the process of justice which was commenced, and whatever may be necessary to complete the process »8 reserved for another sphere of being. Thus it is often, for example, in reference to the drunkard. A process of retribution in disease, poverty, disgrace, is commenced; and we know what would be the ultimate result if the intemperate man should live for many years,—for we can see that result in numerous other cases. But he is slain in battle, or cut off by the pestilence, or stricken down in a brawl, and the process is arrested midway and he is removed to other scenes. So it may be in the remorse that follows the commission of crime; so in the sentence that is pronounced on a murderer, a thief, or a pirate; so in the career of a forger. A sentence is pronounced and partly executed, but the offender dies by an ordinary disease; or remorse begins to prey upon the soul with the moral certainty that, if life should be lengthened out, all the future would be embittered, but the guilty man is cut down by some form of disease, or by an act of his own hand is removed to» another world, and the process of retribution which had been commenced here is checked midway. It was not a process of mercy, but of justice. As far as we could trace it, it was the mere infliction of justice, with not the slightest intimation that there would be any exercise of mercy. (c.) There are strong probabilities that these unfinished processes of justice will be carried out and completed in another world. The probabilities are found in such circumstances as the following:— One is, that it seems to be necessary that it should be so in order that there may be consistency in the Divine dealings. There would evidently be an inconsistency which we could not well reconcile with a character of perfection in arresting a process of justice in one case, and in another case in carrying it out in full; in removing one to a world where he would, by the mere fact of the removal, escape a large part of the deserved penalty, while another is retained upon the earth that he may meet it in full. It is certainly more probable that the original arrangement will be carried out by the full infliction of the penalty, and that what is commenced here and is unfinished when the offender dies will be completed in another world. It would be difficult, if not impossible, if this were not so, to vindicate the Divine character. A second circumstance is, that, so far as we can trace the course of things, there is nothing to justify the expectation that the process of justice commenced in this world and left unfinished by death will not be completed in another world. The process of justice is indeed often arrested; but there are so many cases in which, when that process is arrested, it ultimately, though after long intervals, overtakes the offender, that there is every reason to believe that the process will be completed at some period in the future. Long intervals of time often occur between the commission of a crime and its punishment. Large tracts of land or ocean intervene between the place where an offence was committed and the place where punishment is inflicted. The crime may have been committed in youth, and partially checked or punished then; but the full retribution may come, in some unexpected manner, only in old age. The crime may have been committed in America; and far on in life it may be punished by some calamity that shall come upon the perpetrator in India or on the ocean. Why shall we not suppose that this arrangement will extend to the future world, and that crime perpetrated in the beginning of our existence here will meet a just retribution there? that sin committed on earth will be punished beyond the grave? A third circumstance is, that those intervals of life which for a time suspend consciousness—as sleep or delirium—do not arrest the arrangements for the punishment of guilt. There are many crimes unpunished when men lie down to rest at night. There is at the close of each day, just as there is at the close of the lives of individuals, much unfinished justice. Yet neither sleep nor delirium arrests permanently the regular operation of things. The crimes that were committed yesterday and that were unpunished travel over the interval of the night’s rest and meet the guilty as they awake to a new day; the consequences of a particular course of conduct will travel even over the delirium of fever, or even a more protracted and permanent insanity, and meet the offender in their consequences in future life on the restoration to health and reason. Then why should not the same thing occur in regard to death? Why should that suspend or annihilate a law which we find to be so universal? Death annihilates nothing. Death may not—probably does not—even suspend consciousness as much as the delirium of a fever, or as is done by a night’s sleep. No man can assume that death will do what delirium and sleep will not do, or that he may hope for that in the case of death which he may not hope for in the delirium of fever or a more enduring insanity. No man can assume that the arrangements for justice commenced here will not be resumed beyond the grave, and that the processes of justice unfinished here will not be perfected in another world. (4.) There is no such evidence that men are saved by mere mercy without an atonement as will make it safe to rely on that alone. The proof on this point is as ample as any proposition can be where there is not a direct declaration from heaven, or where there is not absolute demonstration. For, (a.) All the cases of Christians are to be laid out of view. They profess, indeed, to be saved by the mercy of God, and not by justice; but it is mercy in each and every case through an atonement, and their only hope of that mercy is that which is founded on the atonement. (b.) There is no other mercy promised to men in the Bible than that which is founded on the atonement. There the offer of salvation is ample; but it is limited in the most absolute manner to mercy dispensed through the blood of the Redeemer. It is a great principle, also, in all things, that when God has revealed one method of obtaining his favour, or proposed one mode by which it is to be secured, all others are, of course, excluded. That fact is proof not only that it is the best mode, but it is proof that there is no other mode; and, whatever we may suppose may have been abstractly true about the possibility of any other mode originally, yet the fact that that mode has been selected and revealed to man as the mode in which God is willing to bestow his favours excludes, of course, all other methods, and is at the same time a demonstration that that is not only the best, but that it is the only one. The business of man is not to find out what method there might possibly have been of securing the Divine favour, and then to infer that that is now a possible method: it is to find out what God has chosen and prescribed; and that ends the matter. If, therefore, God has said that mercy shall be bestowed through an atonement, that excludes all other methods; and speculation as to what might have been becomes vain, if not improper. (c.) The rejecters of revelation can pretend to no evidence that men are saved by the mere mercy of God. They have no revelation to tell them so; for, on principle, and of design, they deny that any revelation has ever been given to man. No one of their number has come back from the eternal world to assure the living that they who reject the atonement made by the Redeemer are saved by the mere mercy of God. The rejecters of revelation profess to have no means of communicating with the eternal world; they have no means of ascertaining what will be the result of human conduct there; and all their hope in the case must be founded on mere conjecture. (d.) There is no evidence furnished in death that men can be saved, or are saved, by mercy irrespective of the atonement. The death of all Christians, as before remarked, is to be laid out of view here; and the death of no others furnishes such evidence as the case would demand that they who reject that atonement are saved. Two reasons may be given why this is so: (1.) one is, that men who profess to rely on the mercy of God for salvation without reference to the atonement, but who, as we have seen above, really rely on the justice of God and believe it would be wrong in God not to save them, are often greatly alarmed when they come to die,—showing that, so far as the evidence in their case goes, this cannot be regarded as a safe ground of trust. The fact that such men are alarmed when they die, and that they then seek for some other ground of hope, is at least so common as to show that no one can certainly anticipate that he will himself regard this as a safe ground of reliance when he dies. This fact is such as to vitiate any argument that may be urged in favour of the position that men may safely rely on the mere mercy of God without an atonement; for if this is a safe ground of reliance for salvation, it ought never to give way under any circumstances. In the prospect of passing over such a river as that of death, what we want is not a bridge that may break down, but a bridge that never will break down and that never does. In the prospect of the storms that may beat around our dwellings, what we want is not a foundation that may give way when the ’rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow and beat upon the house,’ but such a solid rock that it will never give way, however vehemently the storm may beat upon us. Such is the rock on which the Christian builds his hopes. It never gives way when he dies; for no true Christian ever doubts the sufficiency of that trust on which he relies, never doubts that if he is a Christian he is safe. Can it be said that no infidel, skeptic, philosopher, ever doubts, when he comes to die, that, if he is an infidel, a skeptic, a philosopher, he is safe? (2.) The other consideration is, that, even if it were a matter of fact that they who reject the atonement have no misgiving about the foundation of their hope when they lie down to die, this would not prove that this is a safe ground of reliance. Freedom from alarm and from the dread of death may proceed from other causes than that of safety, or from any well-founded assurance of future happiness. The calmness and peace of the dying skeptic may be accounted for satisfactorily on some other supposition than that he is actually going to heaven, or that he will be saved by the mercy of God without an atonement. In the sternness of the stoic, in the studied and cultivated purpose of the infidel philosopher, in the stupidity which sin engenders, and in the paralyzing influence of disease as men pass away from life, may be found a sufficient explanation of the fact that such men die calmly. If it be said that the same solution might possibly, or with equal reason, be applied to the calm death of the Christian, it may be replied that we do not refer to that calmness in death as the main proof that the soul is safe; for the reliance of the Christian is on what he regards as a promise made to men that if they repent and believe the gospel they will be saved. Their hope is based on that. Their calmness in death is not the ground of their hope: it is the fruit or result of a hope founded on the promise of God. The conclusion which it seems proper to derive from these remarks is, that it is not possible to demonstrate from reason, from experience, or from the actual course of events in the world, that men who have violated law will he saved hy the mercy of God irrespective of an atonement. It would be probably found, on a just analysis of their own processes of thought on this subject, even by those who profess thus to rely on the mercy of God, that the conclusions to which they come in their own case are based not on reason, but on feeling; that they are the suggestions of a hope which can pretend to no solid basis; that they cannot be referred to any facts in the world, and that therefore they are perfectly valueless to man. II. The question which next occurs is, whether repentance for sin will of itself be a sufficient ground of hope without an atonement. There can be no doubt that men often rely on this. Either as a sort of expiation for sin, or as recommending them to God, or as being all that is possible in the case, or as in some unknown way making it proper for God to pardon on that account, men do rely on this as a ground of hope. They would allege that they themselves are required to forgive an offending neighbour; that a parent should forgive a child; that it would be unjust, in the intercourse of man with man, to refuse to forgive when one who has offended is penitent; and, they ask, why may not God be expected to forgive in the same way? If it would be unjust in man not to forgive in such circumstances, why is it not equally unjust in God? They would refer, perhaps, to the fact that even in the Bible we are commanded to forgive an offending brother "not only seven times, but seventy times seven," if he turn and repent, (Luke xvii. 4, Matt. xviii. 21, 22,) and that without any atonement or reparation; and they would ask whether we are to suppose that God will act on a different principle from that which he requires in us. Thus, in a quotation before made, Dr. Priestley says, "We are commanded to forgive others as we ourselves hope to be forgiven, and to be merciful as our Father who is in heaven is merciful. But surely we are not thereby authorized to insist upon any atonement or satisfaction before we give up our resentments towards an offending brother. Indeed, how could it deserve the name of forgiveness if we did?" The inquiry now is, whether this view is sustained by the actual course of events in the world so as to be a just foundation of hope for man; that is, whether it is a matter of fact under the Divine administration that repentance for sin arrests the effects of transgression and restores the offender to the favour of God; whether it so reinstates him in the position in which he was before the offence was committed that he has no reason to dread any infliction of the penalty of law? If it does, then it may be argued with plausibility that it might be safe for man to trust to the effect of repentance without an atonement. In reference to this inquiry, the following remarks may be made. (1.) It is clear that repentance is not what the law demands. No law of God or of man contains this as a part of its requirement, that there shall be repentance for a fault; that is, that an offence may be tolerated by the law on condition that there shall be a suitable expression of penitence after the offence has been committed. In no country, barbarous or civilized, has such an article been inserted into a code of laws as a part of its provisions or as connected with its administration. No parent would feel that this was a safe principle in the field of domestic legislation, even with all the guarantees and securities that exist to secure the observance of law in the sanctity of the household. No friend would consent to this as one of the conditions of friendship,—that any or all the obligations of truth, kindness, respect, fidelity, might be disregarded; that the proposed friend might even invade the sanctity of conjugal life and rob him of domestic peace, on condition that there should be suitable repentance and reformation afterwards. No man could make this a condition on which he would be willing to live with his fellow man; no neighbourhood would be safe if these were the terms on which it was understood that neighbours were to keep up their intercourse with each other. Law knows but two things,—the absolute precept, and the penalty: the one to be obeyed, the other to be suffered. All else than this belongs to another system and cannot be regarded as any part of the demand of law. It could not be argued beforehand, therefore, that such an arrangement was to be expected in the Divine legislation. In fact, there is no proof in the nature of things that such an arrangement exists in the Divine constitution respecting those who are the subjects of law. (2.) It is a matter of fact that mere repentance does not remove the effects of sin and restore an offender to the condition in which he was before he committed the offence. "The present conduct of the penitent will receive God’s approbation, but the reformation of the sinner cannot have a retrospective effect. The agent may be changed, but his former sins cannot be thereby cancelled: the convert and the sinner are the same individual person, and the agent must be answerable for his whole conduct."* Even Cicero goes no further on this subject than to assert, Quern poenitet peccasse, pene est innocens. ’The penitent is only almost innocent.’ Does repentance bring back the property that has been squandered in gambling or dissipation, the health that has been ruined by debauchery and intemperance, the reputation that has been lost by fraud and dishonesty, the public favour that has been forfeited by forgery or fraud, the vigour of early years that has been wasted by profligacy? Will any penitence, however sincere or prolonged, bring up from the grave the man that has been murdered, and restore him to his family and friends? Will it call back to the ways of purity the young female that has been led into a career of sin by the arts of the seducer? No. All these are now fixed. They belong to the past. They cannot be changed. The health is permanently destroyed; the property is wasted; the sacred citadel of virtue has been taken; the murdered man is in his grave; the victim of seduction is ruined. No repentance on the part of him who has caused any of these things can ever change them; no repentance can place the offender * Magee on Atonement and Sacrifice, p. 66. himself in the situation in which he was before he committed the crime. By reformation a man may indeed regain an honourable position in society; but even under the most favourable circumstances this removes but a part of the evils caused by a sinful course. It brings back nothing that was lost; it changes no facts in the past; it furnishes no assurance of the Divine favour. The consequences of a sinful course are not to be turned aside by floods of tears. The erring female cannot avert the effects of a criminal course by nights of weeping,—by the fact that the heart is broken by the remembrance of crime. (3.) Equally clear is it that mere repentance does not remove the effects of crime on the conscience of the offender himself. Even though all the external consequences of sin could be averted by an act of penitence, still, there would be consequences of guilt on the mind itself which would not be removed. Remorse, the sense of self-dissatisfaction, the apprehension of what may occur hereafter, would still remain. There is nothing in the bitterest repentance that has any effect in silencing the deep self-disapprobation which arises from the commission of crime. That springs up in the mind entirely irrespective of the apprehension of the consequences of guilt and the dread of the future,—however it may, as a secondary effect, suggest that there is much to dread hereafter. That feeling of self-disapprobation or remorse is one quite independent of any loss of health or property or reputation as the effect of the deed done. It stands by itself. It springs directly out of the crime. It would exist if there were no future to be dreaded, and would exist in view of the crime itself if it had done nothing to waste health, to destroy property, or to injure reputation. And this is in no manner affected by mere repentance. An offender, no matter how much he weeps, no matter how bitter or how prolonged may be his penitence, cannot, does not, feel that the crime which he has committed is in any way affected by his sorrow for it. It is none the less; it seems to him none the less. Even should he wholly reform, and become eminently virtuous, that would not affect his own sense of the evil of the sin, except to deepen his sense of that evil. The same thing is true in his apprehension of what is to come as the reward of sin; for sin not only produces remorse in view of the past, but it directs the mind on to that which is to come. By a law of our nature, the apprehension of what is to occur beyond the grave springs up in the mind just as the feeling of remorse does,—an apprehension quite separate from remorse, indeed, in its nature, though conjoined with it in fact. It is so separate that it must be dealt with in its own way, "and be removed by an arrangement that shall have a special adaptation to it. And this is not removed by repentance. The mind of the guilty man does not feel any assurance, however deep the. penitence, that there will be no consequences of sin to be apprehended in a future world. After all the tears that he may shed; after the keenest mental sorrow that his mind can experience at the remembrance of guilt, it is still true that the apprehension in regard to the world to come will not be lessened. There is a conviction that the crime deserves a deeper retribution than the mere shedding of tears; and there will be a conviction that nothing has been done by repentance to furnish any security that the sin will not draw on fearful consequences in the future world. No act of penitence, no tears or mental sorrows, can remove from the mind the consciousness of guilt; none can remove the apprehension of the wrath to come. "No such act can secure to a guilty man peace on a bed of death; none, therefore, can accomplish what is needful to have accomplished in behalf of the guilty. It is clear, therefore, that there is no reason why men should rely on repentance as a ground of hope in regard to the remission of sin. It is certain that there is no such ground of hope given by God himself to mankind; for the rejecter of revelation pretends to no promise of this kind, and no such promise is made to man in the Bible. It is equally certain that the course of events furnishes no such ground of hope; for, as we have seen, mere repentance does not remove the effects of guilt and restore the offender to his former position, does not take away remorse from the mind, and does not remove the dread of the wrath to come. And it is equally certain that it has not been one of the principles of natural religion that mankind would be restored to the Divine favour on mere repentance; for, if there has been any one thing more unequivocally declared by the conduct of mankind than any other, it is that something more than this is necessary. All nations have believed in the necessity of sacrifices for sin. Everywhere upon the earth bloody offerings have been presented to the gods as an expiation for guilt. Penances and pilgrimages, fastings and tortures, have been added to penitence. Bullocks, rams, goats, prisoners of war, old men and children, have been sacrificed to the gods to expiate crime and to secure the efficacy of repentance; and from the light of nature it is impossible to demonstrate—and therefore it is wrong to assume—that mere repentance will restore an offender to the Divine favour. Ilence on this ground we argue the necessity of an atonement. That the atonement of Christ would meet the difficulties in the case, and would accomplish the effects necessary to be secured, is a point which a rejecter of revelation may fairly require us to demonstrate. III. The next inquiry is, whether an expiation for sin can be so made by punishment as to answer the ends of law and to render an atonement unnecessary; that is, whether a sinner may so rely on the sufferings which come upon him as the fruit of sin that an atonement is not necessary in his case. In other words, is sin sufficiently expiated by the sufferings endured in the world as the consequence of transgression? In considering this question, it will be necessary to examine at some length the subject of punishment. (1.) The first point relates to the views which prevail among men in regard to the design of punishment. The prevailing views on that subject are the following:— (a.) That it is to protect the community from a repetition of the offence. (b.) That it is to deter others, by example, from the commission of the same offence. (c.) That it is to reform the offender. In these views there would be found no element in the notion of punishment based on the idea that it is an expression of the sense entertained by the community of the evil of crime as such; or that it is a carrying-out of the idea involved in the phrase that the offender Ought to be punished. The arrangements in tbp community in regard to punishment correspond with the views just referred to, and with no other. (a.) There are arrangements to protect the community from a repetition of the offence, by removing the offender by death or by imprisonment. According to this view, punishment by death is not designed to express a just sense of the community of the act of murder, but to protect the community by removing from the world one who might, if he were suffered to live, repeat the act for which he is condemned to the gallows; and the confinement in a penitentiary is not designed as an expression of what is due to the crime, but is intended to secure the community against the acts of one who could not safely be suffered to go at large. It is probably in accordance with this view that the modern notion that punishment is to be, as far as possible, in secret, has obtained such a prevalence. Executions are no longer public; and the utmost care is taken, in all cases of ignominious punishment, to hide it from the knowledge of the world. The prisoner in the penitentiary is not known by his own name, but by the number on his cell. No one who may be admitted into the prison is allowed to learn the names of the convicts. Every arrangement possible is made to conceal the prisoner from the world, and to send him forth again with the fact of his having been in the penitentiary obliterated as far as possible, and with a very prevalent feeling that he has fully expiated his crime by his imprisonment, if he has not, in fact, been a martyr. The community aims, indeed, to protect itself; but it seems to have a shrinking back from the very idea of punishment as such. The feeling with many is very slight—and it is to be apprehended that it is becoming more and more feeble—that sufferings are inflicted under the processes of law on those who commit crime because they are deserved, or because there is any thing in the law itself, or in the constitution of man, which demands that the offender should be punished, or which makes it proper in itself that for such a crime the offender ought to suffer. (b.) In like manner, there are arrangements to carry out the idea that the design of punishment is to deter others from committing the same offence. That this is one end of punishment there is no reason to doubt; but the remark now made is that there is a very prevalent impression that this is the sole design of punishment, or that it is no part of that design to express the idea that crime ought to be punished because it is crime. A large part of the arrangements for punishment are based on the idea that the sole object of punishment is to deter others from crime. Undoubtedly it is right that the idea should be kept before the community that this is a legitimate end of punishment, provided that the essential idea, which will soon he adverted to, is not lost sight of,—that punishment is intended as a proper expression of what is due to crime. (c.) Thus, also, there are arrangements based on the idea that punishment is designed to reform the offender. This is becoming a favourite idea with a certain class of philanthropists; and there is a demand springing up in the community tbat all the arrangements for punishment shall be adjusted to this idea, or that this shall be the primary and prominent thought in relation to punishment before the community. The demand goes to the extent that, where there is evidence of reformation, the sentence of the law shall on that account be remitted and the convict discharged.* According to this idea, the penitentiary is not so much a place of punishment as a school of reform. But the purpose of reformation can be no part of the sentence of the law. This idea cannot be incorporated into that sentence; nor is the idea incorporated into that sentence, however it may be in public opinion, that when punishment shall have secured the reformation of the convict, therefore he shall be discharged. No tribunal could safely introduce that idea into its adjudications; and, whatever may be the views which prevail in the community on the subject, the forms of law always will, and always must, express the idea that punishment is designed for another purpose than that of reformation. We shall see, in the progress of our remarks, notwithstanding what is said ou this point, and notwithstanding the expectations which are cherished based on the idea that the design of punishment is the reformation of the offender, that the dependence is not, and cannot be, on the punishment, but that it must be, and is, on a side-influence which operates in spite of the regular effect of punishment. * As an illustration of the prevailing state of feeling on this subject, I may refer to a remark made by the Governor of one of the States of the Union when speaking of the applications for pardon:—" A distinguished jurist of this State, in a recent conversation with me, advanced the doctrine that when a prisoner gave satisfactory evidence of having become a religious man—as proof of which he was contented and did not petition to be liberated—no injury could result from extending to him a pardon."—Journal of the Prison-Discipline Society for January, 1857, p. 17. (2.) It becomes, then, a very important inquiry, What are the ends of punishment? If these are the true ends, then all the arrangements should be made in accordance with them. If the sole object is to protect the community from a repetition of the offence, or to deter others by example, or to reform the offender, then it is clear that, if these objects could be secured, the offender would be safely and properly discharged. (a.) The design of punishment is not revenge or vengeance; for it is not to gratify private feeling or to redress private wrong,—which is the true notion of revenge or vengeance. It is not the infliction of pain for an offence committed against an individual. It is always, though it may be for a wrong done to an individual, inflicted for the offence regarded as perpetrated against the peace of a community; against the lawgiver; against the law itself. When a man is punished for assault and battery, it is not pain inflicted considered as a recompense to the individual who has been injured or wronged: it is as a just retribution for a crime against the peace of society and the honour of the law, and the punishment is measured by that consideration alone. When a man is punished for murder, it is not as an act of recompense to the murdered man,— for he is beyond the reach of all such recompense,— but it is for an offence against the law and the peace of the community. The murdered man is in no manner referred to in the case except as one over whom the law was designed to throw its protection; and the purpose is to maintain the honour of that law and to prevent its violation. In the infancy of society, in the days of savage barbarity, when there were no tribunals of justice, a relative of the murdered man—an avenger of blood—might take the matter into his own hands and inflict summary justice on the murderer, and that would be properly revenge; but the arrangements of a civilized community are designed to take the case out of the hands of the individual. The crime is punished, not as a matter of private vengeance or satisfaction, but as due to public justice. The individual who has suffered wrong is not even represented in the transaction. The law only is represented; and the affair is no longer one of a private character, but becomes one pertaining wholly to the public. (b.) In this public view, and with this changed notion of punishment, the object is no longer to inflict the same amount of suffering which was caused by the offence. That was the purpose so long as it was a private matter; and that was the principle in some of the earlier statutes on the subject of crime. An individual inflicted the same pain which he had himself suffered. The friend of the murdered person—the avenger of blood—sought the death of the murderer. In default of that, in some of the earlier and ruder stages of society, he demanded the life of some one of the tribe or family of the murderer, and pursued this by a steady purpose until he could bury his tomahawk in the head of some one of the family or the tribe, and thus avenge the blood of the slain. The same principle operates in the notion of retaliation in war; and it cannot be denied that the principle of inflicting the same amount of pain that had been endured was found in the legislation of the Jewish code:—" Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." Exodus 21:23-25. In the progress of society, the views of men have been changed on this subject, and this principle no longer enters into the notion of punishment, and this is no longer the measure by which it is inflicted. "To apportion the punishment to the offence does not mean to make the culprit suffer the same quantity of evil which he inflicted by his crime: that would be both impossible and unjust."* (c.) What, then, is the design of punishment? I answer: While it has as a subordinate design the purpose of deterring others from the commission of the same offence and securing the safety of the community, it has a much higher end as its main design. It is an expression of the sense entertained of the iialue of the law, and is the measure of the sense which is entertained of that value. It is inflicted because it is right that it should be inflicted. It is inflicted because the offence deserves such an expression. There is, back of any idea of restraining others, or of reforming the offender himself, or of protecting the community, the feeling that it is Eight that the offender should be made to suffer; that he Ought to be punished; that it would be Wrong if he were not punished. And, when we see a man justly punished, we think of this not as tending to reform him, or as designed to protect the community, or to be an example to deter others; but we think of him as suffering that which our nature tells us is right, whatever may be the consequences in these other respects; and in that view of the matter we acquiesce in the infliction. We may rejoice in the belief that these incidental effects will follow from the infliction of the punishment; but we should regard it as a violation of justice if these views should guide the magistrate in determining the amount of punishment; that is, if it were only so much as would best tend to reform the offender, or to deter others, or to protect the community. We demand something more: we demand that which will in some proper sense express what the crime deserves. The sufferer in the case, in our apprehension, is not a martyr: he is a criminal. The sufferings do not make an appeal to our compassion; for just so far as they do they are either unjust, or our feelings are wrong. Our nature teaches us to discriminate carefully between the ills which one suffers by misfortune and the ills which he suffers by crime; between the sufferings * Livingston, Criminal Code, p. 129. of the martyr and the sufferings of the murderer; between the man who languishes in prison under an unjust sentence and the man who lies there under a just sentence of law. In nothing are our feelings more accurately denned than they are in making this distinction; in nothing do we, when we act out our nature, discriminate more accurately than in the feelings which we have towards the innocent who suffer, and the guilty. And just so far as the same emotions come to be cherished in a community in regard to the sufferings of the innocent and of the guilty,—just so far as the feeli ngs which we have in respect to the martyr become our prevailing feelings towards the man who is suffering the penalty of the law for his crime,—just so far as the distinction between a just compassion for an innocent sufferer and the feeling of approbation which we have on the proper infliction of the penalty of the law on the guilty shall be obliterated in public sentiment,—just so far will all the proper ends of justice be defeated, and the processes of justice become a mockery. If there is any thing that is deeply fixed in the nature of man, it is the conviction that certain courses of conduct deserve certain results; that when crimes are committed they should excite in us the feeling that they deserve punishment and are not mere objects of sympathy; that they should be treated as crimes, and not as virtues; and that they who have committed them should be treated as criminals, and not as martyrs. (3.) Punishment does not, in fact, reform men, and cannot be so arranged as to become a reliable means of accomplishing that purpose. A few remarks may make the exact truth on this subject plain. (a.) Punishment may restrain men, so that the proper means of reformation may be applied with success. Detention in prison withdraws a wicked man from the bad influences which would otherwise surround him, and may be made the occasion of bringing better influences to bear on his mind; or the penalties which the law inflicts may so deter him from the commission of crime as to allow the better feelings of his nature to become operative, and thus lead him to become a different man. Punishment restrains from outward guilt; but its power terminates there. It does not go down into the depths of the soul and secure an effectual reformation; and our hope of the reformation of an offender must be in something which is beyond the reach of punishment. (b.) The tendency of punishment is not to reform men. It probably rarely happens when a man is punished that he does not feel that a wrong has been done him. The punishment, in his apprehension, is too severe, or he feels that he is not worse than others who escape unpunished; and he regards it as an act of injustice and partiality that he is arrested and punished when so many equally guilty are allowed to escape. Possibly, too, he looks at the circumstances of his birth and education; at the temptations which were set before him; at his own resistance until he was overcome by the power of evil; at the fact that he was led into the course which he has pursued by the example of others who have been more fortunate in their circumstances in life, or more favoured by the courts, and who have escaped. He remembers too, perhaps, that of which the court and jury take no cognizance,—which they knew nothing of, and which in their verdict, therefore, they do not take into the account,—his own long internal struggle against sin until, in a fatal and unguarded moment, he was overcome by sudden temptation. The effect of all this is to array him against the law, and to lead him to feel that his condition is that of a wronged, an injured, an unfortunate man,—a man deserving commiseration, and not a dungeon; that he is a martyr, and not a criminal. Just so far as this feeling extends—and it may be doubted whether the effect here adverted to does not extend even to cases where a man knows that the sentence is just—the effect is to embitter the mind against the law and against the administrators of the law. It is a rare thing, as any one may remember in recalling the scenes of his own childhood, even when it is known that the punishment inflicted in school was deserved, that the boy does not always remember it with an embittered feeling,—a feeling that a wrong was done him by thus exposing him to public shame. It is a rare thing that one in subsequent life meets a teacher who has thus punished him, without the consciousness in his bosom of an aversion to the man, —a feeling that he did him a wrong. The memory of the supposed injury goes with him through life. At the time when the punishment was inflicted, his mind was in no state to see the evil of what he had done; nor was there any thing in the infliction itself that was adapted to create a sense of that evil; nor have his subsequent reflections on the transaction done any thing to impress a sense of that evil on his mind. The direct effect of punishment always is to embitter the feelings; and, valuable as it is for purposes of restraint, and indispensable as it is for the safety of society, and right as it is as an expression of the value of the law and of the evil of violating law, it has no tendency of itself to secure reformation. (c.) In the history of punishment, it is a matter of fact that it has not been effectual in securing the reformation of the guilty. If cases can be referred to where those who are punished are reformed, it is, as we shall soon see, from some other influence than that of punishment. But it is probable that there has been nothing more marked in the history of the world than the failure of punishment, as such, in securing the reformation of the guilty. It is a wellknown and admitted fact that, when convicts have been placed together, the effect has been only to confirm the experienced in their guilt, and to instruct those who were less guilty in the art of iniquity; and when solitary confinement has been adopted as the mode of punishment, unless there is some sjrfe-influence to lead the convict to reformation, the effect has been only to embitter his feelings and to prepare him to take revenge for the wrong done him when he can escape from his prison, or when his sentence has expired. Nothing up to the time of Howard was more marked or well understood than that the effect of punishment is not to reform men, and that there is nothing in chains, in the rack, in solitude, in’ hunger, in cold, in hard and unrequited labour, that tends to soften the heart or to send forth the prisoner a renovated man. It is beginning to be understood now in all the efforts that are made to reform those who are convicted of crime, that it is by another influence than that of punishment that reformation is to be effected. It is not to be done by the harshness and severity of punishment: it is by sympathy and compassion. It is by calling in the aid of other feelings than those which are concerned in the infliction of pain. It is by showing kindness for the convict; by evincing sympathy with him as a man; by introducing the provisions of the great scheme for reforming the guilty, and recovering the wandering and the lost, in the gospel of Christ. The efforts of those who are endeavouring to reform convicts are directed to the work of introducing the gospel into prisons and of securing its influence over the hearts of prisoners; and just so far as there is evidence that that secures an effect on the mind, so far is there hope of permanent reformation, and no further. It is not punishment that does this: it is a side-influence altogether; it is a system wholly apart from punishment. It is not the turnkey or the executioner that is the agent in reformation: it is the moral instructor,—the minister of the gospel. (d.) In accordance with this view, it is a fact that no security is felt as to the permanent reformation of a prisoner from the mere effect of punishment. No one would anticipate that on account of any such effect it would be safe to discharge him from prison. There are no instances that can be referred to where mere punishment has secured an effectual and permanent reformation in a convict. Discharged prisoners, unless there is evidence that they have been brought under a moral influence, are not regarded as desirable members of society; nor does a community feel safe when such men are poured upon it from a prison. As a matter of fact, a large portion of them show that there has been no reformation whatever, and are often soon recommitted to prison for a repetition of crime. (e.) Thus, too, it is in the world at large. Punishment does not make men’s temper or moral characters better; chastisement does not reform. The sufferings that come upon the drunkard—his loss of property, the disgrace that attends him, the diseases which his habit engenders, have no tendency to reform him; scarcely do they ever check him in his career. The sorrows that come upon a gambler— his loss of property, his disgrace, his anguish of mind—have no tendency to reform him. The master-passion still controls him and urges him on, notwithstanding all the woes and sorrows that spring up in his path. So the afflictions that come upon men directly from the hand of God seem to have no tendency to reform them. Under those afflictions the heart becomes more hardened, unless the gospel of Christ is applied to the soul; and, however they may check the wicked in their career, it is the gospel only that secures their permanent reformation. (4.) There is one more consideration to be suggested in regard to the hope cherished by men that salvation may be secured as the effect of punishment without an atonement. It is this:—If salvation is to be attained in that way, it must be by having endured the full penalty of the law. If that were done, it is to be admitted that salvation would follow as a matter of course. If the entire penalty of the law is exhausted, if all that sin deserves has been expiated, the law can have no further demands, and the offender might claim salvation. But he would be saved by justice,—not by mercy. He would assert a right to admission to heaven; he would not go there by grace. This is the opinion of a portion of those who believe in the doctrine of ’ universal salvation.’ The foundation of their belief is that men will suffer according to their deserts in a future state; that the degree and the duration of their sufferings will be different according to the different degrees of their guilt; but that all will ultimately exhaust the penalty of the law, and, having suffered all that their sins deserve, will then be saved. That is, they will be saved by justice; and to them an atonement would be useless. And, if the full penalty of the law was endured, they would undoubtedly be saved. But who can demonstrate that the full penalty of the law has been borne in any case? Who would undertake to bear it as the basis of his own hope of heaven? It is certainly possible that the penalty of the law may be everlasting punishment; and no one who undertakes to endure the penalty of the law can demonstrate that this is not what the law of God denounces against sin. No one can prove that at a given point in the future he could assume that he had endured all that the law demands and could therefore assert a right to be saved.’ No one can refer to a promise or an intimation that such a period will ever arrive. But, unless this can be done, then an atonement is absolutely necessary for the salvation of the sinner; that is, something is required which will answer the ends of the penalty of the law, and make it proper to release the offender as if he had himself borne the penalty. IV. An atonement is necessary because it is impossible for an offender by his future good conduct to repair the errors of the past, or to accumulate so much merit as to be a compensation or an offset for his former sins. There can be no doubt that men often secretly rely on this. The case is similar to what would occur in a child who had been disobedient, and who hoped to make amends for his fault by his future good conduct; or of one who had a task assigned him and who had neglected it, and who hoped to make up for it by an additional amount of extra service; or of an officer in an army who had been cowardly or had neglected his duty, and who should endeavour to compensate for it by some extraordinary and uncommanded vigilance or deed of valour; or of a servant who had omitted to do what was required of him, and who expected by labour performed at hours when his service was not wanted to make up for his idleness or neglect. In these cases the idea would be that there would be such an accumulation of merit, or that there would be so much service performed beyond what was required, that it could be set over to the credit of the past, as if it had been performed then; that is, that as much service had been rendered on the whole as if there had been a faithful performance of duty at the time when it was required. The question now is, not whether there may not be a case, of this kind in regard to service demanded in the performance of a task, where the same amount of profit on the whole would accrue to the employer, but whether a compensation can be made in that way for crime. Can this be the ground of hope towards God? In reference to this, the following remarks may be made:— (1.) It seems to be a clear principle that, in reference to morals, no man can do more than he is at present bound to do. We may indeed conceive that a servant who has a task assigned him for the day may have performed that task, and may still have unoccupied time in which he might render a service that was not specified in the contract, and which might, therefore, be set over to the account of a former deficiency, if such a deficiency had occurred from sickness or from any other cause. But no such case is conceivable in regard to morals. At no one time can any man be more honest, true, just, chaste, benevolent, than he ought to be at that time. At no one time can a child be more obedient to his father, can a husband be more faithful towards his wife, can a parent be more just in his dealings towards his children or strive more to promote their real welfare, than at that very time he ought to be. At no one time can a man love God more than he ought at that very time; for the command is binding on him at that supposed time in the same sense in which it has always been,—" Thou Bhalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." (Mark 12:30) It is impossible, therefore, that in any such service there can be a work of supererogation, or that there can be a service rendered which is not demanded at that time and which can be set over to the credit of a past deficient account; or, in other words, that there’ can be any time not covered by the immediate command of God which can be employed in rendering a service that shall compensate for a former waste of time or for a former neglect of duty. And as these remarks apply to men now, so they, for the same reason, apply to the men of all times,— to the ’saints’ of former generations as well as to the ’saints’ now. If the supposed services of the ’saints’ of other ages, in extraordinary fastings, prayers, pilgrimages, toils, labours, self-sacrifices, were meritorious at all, they were meritorious only as demanded by the law of God at that very time; for the law of God must always be the rule of that which is truly virtuous. It follows, therefore, that they could not at any time perform a service which was not demanded then and which could be set over to a deficiency of former merit in their own lives, or which could be garnered up to be made available, under the disbursing power of a priesthood, to supply the deficiency of men in future ages. The only Being who ever could place himself .in such a position that his obedience to the law could be made available to supply the deficiencies of others is He who was not bound to obedience, from the fact that he was himself the lawgiver, and who could, therefore, so place himself in a condition of voluntary obedience that his merits could become available for others. This is the Christian idea of redemption; and in this respect the Christian scheme differs from all others in regard to a work of supererogation or of extraordinary merit. (2.) It is equally clear that any future obedience on the part of one who has violated law and who has incurred its penalty does not affect the past. The past is fixed and cannot be changed. All historical facts become unchangeable, and must remain just as they occurred forever. A crime may be forgiven or forgotten; but it cannot be changed. The individual who committed it may change,—for he may become an eminently good and useful man; but that does not in the slightest degree modify the fact in regard to the crime. That remains just as it occurred, —more enduring in the nature of things than any record of brass could make it,—than if it ’were printed in a book, or graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock.’ The act of murder was committed. No future good conduct can obliterate or modify that fact. The slanderous words have been uttered. No future acts of kindness can change or modify that fact. The act of seduction has been- perpetrated. There is no power in heaven or on earth that can make that cease to be an historical fact. There it is; and there it will remain forever. No amount of future good conduct can summon the murdered man from the grave, call back the slanderous words, restore innocence to the seduced, or obliterate the act of injustice, oppression, and fraud. The sin of Judas is fixed forever; the crimes of Tiberius, Nero, Alexander VI., Csesar Borgia, Richard IIL, Philip II., and the Duke of Alva, are historical facts, never to be blotted out from the records of the universe. (3.) In any case, even where there may seem to be a restitution or a compensation for the sins of the past, it is of a very partial and imperfect nature. A young man who is idle and dissipated may, indeed, by subsequent industry and virtue, do much to gain an elevated and honourable position in life, and may seem to make up for the follies of his early years. But it is seeming only. There are two things which he cannot do. (a.) He cannot, by any subsequent good conduct, change the fact that he was idle and dissipated, (b.) He cannot gain the position which he might have secured if he had not been idle and dissipated. There was nothing in that course of life which was in any way preparatory to subsequent elevation; and, whatever diligence he may manifest in future life, or whatever virtue he may possess, the time spent in idleness and dissipation was at least so much time absolutely lost in the sum-total of his existence. It contributed nothing to what he ultimately became; it took away much that might have contributed to place him on a higher elevation than he ultimately secured. He ’fell off in the early part of the race;’ and no subsequent exertions can supply that deficiency, or put him as far on the ’course’ as if he had not fallen back in the beginning. Perchance in a long life he can barely reach the point at which he might have begun actual life if his early years had been spent in the ways of industry and virtue. V. An atonement is necessary because all other sacrifices made for sin fail in the object which they are designed to secure. One thing has been indeed established by the almost universal prevalence of bloody offerings for sin,—the deep conviction felt by mankind of the necessity of an atonement. On no other point has the faith of mankind been more decidedly expressed than on this. It is impossible to explain the existence of bloody sacrifices in the world except on the supposition that they express the conviction of mankind that a sacrifice for sin is necessary. Those offerings were undoubtedly made with the belief that they were necessary to appease the anger of God, and with the hope that they might avail for that purpose. The Jews entertained no other idea of securing the favour of God than by such sacrifices; and every victim that smoked on their altars was an illustration of the sentiment which was at the foundation of their religion,—that "without the shedding of blood is no remission." (Hebrews 9:22) All the sacrifices of the pagan world gave utterance to the same deep conviction of the human soul and were founded on the same belief. Whatever their origin may have been,—whether they are the result of a traditionary faith having its foundation in an early revelation, or whether they sprung up in the deep conviction of the human soul itself that such sacrifices are necessary,—in either case they express the all-pervading belief of man that an atonement is necessary to expiate sin. The only inquiry that needs to be prosecuted on the point now before us is, whether there is any evidence that such bloody offerings will be accepted as an atonement, or can be a proper reliance for the hope of pardon. This inquiry need not be pursued at great length; for there are none in Christian lands who rely on such sacrifices, and they will not be renewed in those lands. Bloody offerings in Christian lands have come to an end. The effect of the coming of Christ has been, somehow, to put an end to sacrifices wherever his religion prevails. It put an end to Jewish sacrifices,—for it was a fulfilment of the whole design of the typical representation,—and the Jew offers now no bloody sacrifice; nor will he ever do it again. He has no temple, no altar, no priest; nor will he ever rebuild the temple or the altar, or clothe any one of his own nation with sacerdotal vestments again. Infidels also abjure the whole doctrine of sacrifice. They build no temples; they erect no altars; they consecrate no priests; they lead up no victim whose life is to be offered as an atonement for sin; and it is not necessary to show to them that no reliance can be placed on bloody offerings as an atonement for sin. Yet, in order to a complete examination of the subject, it is proper to show that no reliance can be placed by man on any such offerings for human guilt. (1.) There is no promise or assurance that such bloody offerings will be effectual in expiating sin. Unless they are founded among the heathen on tradition,—as has been supposed,—they seem to have been of the nature of an experiment, to see whether they might not avail to put away guilt, or whether they might not possibly in some unknown way secure the favour of God. But it is certain that among the heathen they were originated hy no promise that remission of sin would be the consequence of such offerings. Among the Jews, where there was a Divine command for offering them, the purpose for which they were to be offered is clearly defined. They had no intrinsic efficacy, but were intended to adumbrate a more perfect sacrifice in the future; and all their efficacy was derived from their reference to the one great atonement. At no time, either among the heathen or the Jews, had they power to give peace to a troubled conscience; for the statement of the apostle accords with all that there was in their nature:—" Which [that is, the first tabernacle] was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience." (Hebrews 9:9.) At no time did they so satisfy the mind as to make it unnecessary that they should be repeated; for the statement of the apostle is true in this respect also:—" For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year." (Hebrews 10:1-3) As the design of sacrifices among the Jews was typical,—as they had no efficacy in themselves, but derived all their efficacy from that great atonement which they adumbrated,—when the real sacrifice was offered and the great atonement was made for human guilt on the cross, they ceased as a matter of course, and ceased forever. It is demonstrably true, as a matter of historical verity, that they ceased to be offered very soon after the Redeemer died. At the moment when he died they lost all their significancy, and within a brief period the altar was overthrown, never to be rebuilt, the temple where they were offered was rased to the ground, never to be raised again, and the entire system passed away. No human power could restore the offering of those sacrifices. Not all the imperial power of Julian, called forth by his determined purpose to overturn Christianity and to defeat the prediction of the Saviour that the temple should not be rebuilt, was sufficient to rear that temple again and to restore the abolished worship; and to this day Jewish sacrifices have never been offered again, and they never will be. The scattered tribes of the nation are utterly confounded; and nothing is more certain than that the offering of those sacrifices will never be resumed. They never had any intrinsic efficacy in putting away sin: they would have even no significance now. Without significance now to the Jew, and without a promise of acceptance as offered by the heathen, they are in fact, and with propriety, rejected by the infidel portion of mankind. The rejecters of the great atonement renounce all idea of sacrifice. They have no temples, no altars, no sacred orders of men; they present no bloody sacrifices; they have even no form of worship. In the entire world there is no infidel altar erected; for it is a remarkable fact that wherever the gospel comes even they who refuse to embrace it renounce the idea of sacrifice altogether, and that the atonement made by the Redeemer puts an end to .sacrifice everywhere:—among the Jews, as fulfilling the design of all their typical rites and forms; among the heathen, as showing them the vanity of their own oblations by revealing a better; among Christians, by disclosing a sacrifice that meets all the wants of their nature, and causing them to feel that there is no need of any other; and among infidels, who in the mighty effort to reject the greater—the real atonement—sweep away from their minds the whole doctrine of sacrifice, for when the sacrifice that has efficacy is rejected there is no reason for retaining that which could have no efficacy except from its relation to this. (2.) In the nature of the case there seems to be no reason to suppose that the sacrifice of an innocent animal would expiate guilt, or would, in the Divine mind, constitute a reason why a sinner should be forgiven. Nothing of this kind occurs in the transactions between man and man. If one has wronged another, he may hope that an equivalent for the wrong done—an ox for an ox, or a sheep for a sheep—would satisfy him who had been wronged; but why should he suppose, if he has slandered him or done an act of personal violence, that it would appease him to sacrifice in his presence an innocent animal? to burn it before him, or to pour out its blood at his feet? There is nothing in the nature of the case which would suggest this; nor has it ever been resorted to in the dealings between man and man. So, when a man has violated the law of the land, it has never occurred to the mind of the offender that he could make an atonement for the offence by the shedding of the blood of an innocent animal; nor has it ever occurred to the courts of justice that an expiation could be made in that way. In like manner, so far as the nature of the case is concerned, there would seem to be no reason to suppose, unless there was an express statement to that effect, that the shedding of the blood of an innocent animal would be an expiation for guilt before God. It is easy, indeed, to perceive a propriety in thankofferings to the Deity. There is an obvious fitness in devoting a portion of a harvest to the honour or support of religion, as a grateful acknowledgment for the goodness of Him who ’crowns the year with his goodness.’ There was much that commended itself to the natural sense of obligation in man, in hanging in the temples of the gods, as was done in ancient times, shields and spears and helmets, as an acknowledgment of their interposition in securing a victory. These are natural expressions of gratitude. They occur in the transactions between man and man; and it is not unnatural to transfer this feeling to the intercourse of man with a Divine being. But what is there in the nature of the case to suggest the idea of a bloody offering? What reason is there to suppose that, under any circumstances and for any purpose, it would be acceptable to God? What reason especially is there to suppose that it would expiate crime? As an expression of thankfulness a bloodless offering might be supposed to be acceptable; but on what ground could it be supposed that an offering of blood would turn away wrath? These considerations seem 60 plain that we are shut up to the conclusion that the idea of bloody sacrifices must have had its origin in a Divine appointment, and that it was not one of the suggestions which spring up in the mind of man himself. But, if of Divine appointment, its acceptableness and its efficacy must be limited to the idea contemplated by that appointment; and as that, so far as we have any knowledge, was originally to typify or adumbrate the great atonement, such a sacrifice cannot be relied on now as an expiation for sin. It is clear, therefore, that no reliance can be placed on bloody sacrifices as an expiation for sin. Those sacrifices, under the Jewish code, had a purpose,—a purpose easily susceptible of explanation as designed to keep up the idea that an atonement would be made in the world, and as pointing to that. As existing in the heathen world, such sacrifices may be regarded as having a bearing on the present subject in two respects,—both distinct from the idea that they were in themselves an expiation for sin, and both tending to confirm the argument which has been stated in this chapter. (a.) One is, that they may be regarded as a proof that an atonement by blood was early contemplated in the Divine arrangements, and as designed to transmit the knowledge of the original purpose to distant times and lands. (b.) The other is, that they may be regarded as expressing the deep conviction of the human mind itself that an atonement by blood is necessary in order to expiate human guilt. For, even if it is admitted that they owed their origin to a Divine appointment, on no other supposition than this can it be presumed that an arrangement so inexplicable in itself as that of shedding the blood of an innocent animal for human guilt, would have so commended itself to mankind as to cause it to be perpetuated from age to age and diffused from land to land. Thus understood, the fact that such sacrifices were kept up does express the deep conviction of the mind of man that nothing but such a sacrifice could expiate transgression,—that ’without shedding of blood is no remission.’ These facts also confirm the remark before made, —that on no one subject has the belief of mankind been more universally expressed than on this, that the shedding of blood is necessary to expiate sin. Abel, the second-born of man, leads his sacrifice to the altar, ’the firstling of his flock,’ and pours out its blood. "Why does he do it, unless as expressing his conviction that ’without shedding of blood is no remission’? Abraham, the ’father of the faithful,’ approaches the altar which he had himself reared, and raises the knife, as he believes at the command of God, to pierce the heart of his own son. Why does he do this, except as expressing the deep conviction of his soul that ’without shedding of blood is no remission’? The ancient Jew offered the morning and the evening sacrifice as proof of his deep conviction that ’without shedding of blood is no remission.’ Thus, too, it was in the Greek, the Roman, and the Babylonian temples. There thousands of victims bled, all to appease the anger and propitiate the favour of the gods, and all proclaiming the deep conviction of the worshippers that ’without shedding of blood is no remission.’ So with the worshippers on the banks of the Ganges and the Senegal; so with the Mexicans and the Peruvians; so with the Caffrarians and the islanders of the South Sea,—all offering bloody sacrifices, and all thus proclaiming their deep conviction that ’without shedding of blood is no remission.’ Thus also the Brahmin, who lacerates his flesh or walks on nails that fill his shoes with blood, proclaims his deep conviction that ’without shedding of blood is no remission.’ So the Christian, also, everywhere and in every age, proclaims the same opinion. He incorporates it in his creed; he diffuses it through his hymns of praise; he makes it the burden of his prayers and his thanksgiving; he lays it at the foundation of all his hopes of heaven that such a sacrifice of blood was necessary, and that such a sacrifice has been made: thus he proclaims to the world his belief that ’without shedding of blood is no remission.’’ Men conscious of guilt rush to bloody altars. They come leading up the lamb, the goat, and the bullock for sacrifice. They come with prisoners of war, with pure virgins selected for sacrifice, with their own children, and offer them all to the gods to appease their wrath and to propitiate their favour,—under the influence of the deep conviction of the human mind that ’without shedding of blood is no remission.’ The infidel is alone. The skeptic doubts, when the nations believe. The deist sets himself against the general sentiment of mankind, and holds to a scheme of salvation which is at war with all that man has expressed of the wants of the race. The Christian accords with the universal sentiment as expressed in sacrifices and blood-offerings. He believes that that sentiment is right; that it is true that ’without shedding of blood is no remission.’ He adds this only, as the peculiar article of his faith, that such a sacrifice has been made on the cross. He looks away from Jewish altars and from idol temples to Calvary. There bleeds the Lamb,—the Lamb of God. There flows from his veins blood so pure, so rich, so free, that no other sacrifice is needed; and as, by the eye of faith, he sees the life of that victim ebb away, his spirit, before troubled by the remembrance of guilt, becomes calm; God, before dreaded, becames a reconciled Friend; the grave, so fearful to him before, loses its terror; and, though a sinner, he now looks calmly on to the eternal world; for through that blood there is ’remission.’ VI. The only other method in which, as was suggested on p. 162, the salvation of a sinner could be secured without an atonement, would be by a process of restoration in regard to moral evils,—a recuperative process, similar to the healing of diseases in the human body. Of this, it is only necessary to make the following suggestions:— (a.) The course of things in the world has not been such as to show that there is any such tendency, or any such law, on which reliance can be placed in restoring men to God. There certainly has been no universal tendency of that kind. (b.) The healing of the diseases of the body is in a great measure an external operation, or is accomtion would have availed themselves of it if such a doctrine were found there as an unanswerable objection to the Bible. As a matter of fact, Christianity cannot be held to be responsible for such a doctrine, for it has never been an admitted doctrine of the Church, and no infidel could convince the world that this is, by any fair interpretation, the true doctrine of the Scriptures. (c.) It is not necessary, as we shall see in the progress of this discussion, to hold this in order to a proper view of the atonement. If the doctrine of the atonement were that the same amount of suffering must be endured by him who makes it which would have been borne by those for whom he died if the penalty of the law had been inflicted on them, it would be difficult indeed to avoid the conclusion that the Divine nature must have suffered; since otherwise it is inconceivable that the same amount of suffering could have been endured in the few hours in which the Saviour suffered which would have been borne by the redeemed themselves in the world of woe forever. But no just view of the atonement requires us to hold that the same amount of suffering was endured by the Redeemer which would have been endured if the penalty of the law had been inflicted on those for whom he died. (2.) This doctrine cannot be believed. It would be impossible that a professed revelation should make its way in the world, or should commend itself to the mass of mankind, in which the doctrine was found that God had endured mortal pangs. Such a statement would so impinge on all the conceptions which men entertain of the Divine nature, that it could not, and would not, be believed. God cannot suffer ayid die. If there is any thing of which the human mind is perfectly confident, it is of the truth of this statement; and if it were necessary that the Divine nature should suffer in order that an atonement should be made, it is clear that it would have been forever impossible. God cannot die; and yet, in all the representations which we have of the atonement, the statement is that it was made by the death of the victim. It is the life that is offered; the sacrifice is made by the shedding of the blood of the victim, for the life is in the blood; it is the blood of Christ which redeems and saves us; it is the ’blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses from all sin;’ it is by the blood of Christ that we are redeemed. (See Romans 3:25, Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 13:12; Revelation 1:5) It will be shown in the subsequent consideration of this subject that the blood or life of the victim has a value in the work of the atonement proportionate to the dignity or rank of the victim, and that, therefore, in the work of the atonement, and as a part of it, the death of the Redeemer has all the value which it would have on the supposition that the Divine nature suffered. (3.) It is not implied in the doctrine of the atonement that the same kind of suffering was endured which would have been by those for whom it was made. It cannot, indeed, be denied that this view has been, and is still, entertained by some who believe in the doctrine of the atonement; and it would be difficult to avoid this if it were an essential part of the doctrine that Christ endured the literal penalty of the law; for then the atonement would require the same kind of suffering, as well as the same amount of suffering, which the law demanded as a penalty for its violation. But in reference to this view of the atonement the following considerations are decisive:— (a.) The essential idea in the doctrine of the atonement is that of substitution or vicariousness. If the doctrine of substitution is admitted at all, it would seem to be most probable that it would extend to the kind of suffering and to the amount of suffering, as well as to the sufferer himself. For the same reason that it is admissible in reference to one of these points, it must be admissible in reference to the others also; and it cannot be assumed that there is a substitution in one of them only, or that the same principle may not be extended to all that enters into the notion of the atonement. (b.) It is nowhere affirmed in the Scriptures that the Redeemer endured the same kind of suffering which they for whom he died would have endured if they had borne the penalty of the law in their own persons. It is, indeed, abundantly affirmed that he died for sinners; that he bore the sin of many; that the Lord had laid on him the iniquity of all; that he was made a curse for us; that he was wounded for our transgressions and was bruised for our iniquities. But it is nowhere affirmed that the sufferings which he endured in behalf of the guilty were of the same nature as those which the guilty themselves endure for their own crimes; and it would be impossible for man to embrace such a doctrine if it were affirmed. (c.) It would be impossible for a substitute to endure the same sufferings which the sinner himself will endure in the future world for his sins. There are sufferings caused by sin which belong only to the consciousness of guilt, and these sufferings cannot be transferred to another. The sin itself cannot be transferred; and, as it is impossible to detach the suffering from the consciousness of guilt, it follows that a substitute cannot endure the same kind of suffering which the sinner would himself endure. Remorse of conscience, for example,—one of the keenest sources of suffering to the guilty, and which will be a most fearful part of the penalty of the law in the future world,—cannot be transferred. I cannot be made to feel remorse for what another has done. I may feel deep regret that it was done; I may feel shame, mortification, and humiliation from the fact that it was done by one who is intimately connected with me; I may suffer deeply in person, in property, or in my social position, on account of the offence; but I cannot be made to feel remorse. There is no way conceivable by which this feeling can be transferred from the guilty to the innocent. To transfer it is not an object of power; for, by the eternal and unchangeable constitution of things, it is attached only to the crime and the criminal; and, as it is impossible that the guilt should be transferred, so it is impossible that the remorse which belongs to it should be made over to another. It follows, therefore, that, whatever may enter into an atonement, it cannot be implied that the sub In such language as this, while something may be set down to mere poetry and to the overflowing emotions of gratitude to the Saviour for the part which he has performed in the work of redemption, it is undoubtedly implied, by the fair interpretation of the language, that a change has been produced in God by the work of the atonement; that in some way a Being before stern, severe, and angry has been made mild, forgiving, and kind. It cannot be necessary to prove at any considerable length that this cannot be a true representation. It would undoubtedly be a valid objection to the doctrine—an objection which would prevent its general reception in the world as a doctrine of revelation—if it were implied that any change has been produced in God by the atonement. Men would not, could not, receive such a doctrine; for there is nothing more deeply and indelibly engraven on our nature, and nothing more abundantly affirmed in the Bible, than that God is unchangeable. The effect of any such representation of the doctrine of the atonement as that it implies that a change has been produced in God, that he has been bought over to mercy, that he has been in the literal sense appeased or made merciful and forgiving by the atonement, would not only be to load men to reject the doctrine, but the book which taught it; and it cannot be doubted that all such representations, and all statements of the doctrine which border on such representations, tend to promote, among large classes of men, infidelity. It would be impossible to commend such a doctrine to the mass of mankind, or to vindicate a book as a revelation in which this doctrine was taught. The true doctrine on this point may be expressed in the following specifications:— (a.) God is unchangeable. In him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’ He is ’the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.’ He is in no respect whatever a different Being now from what he was before the atonement was made; and he will always be the same under all the circumstances which may occur in the universe. His nature is the same; his attributes are the same; the principles of his administration are the same; his love is the same; his justice is the same. He is no more disposed to show mercy now than he was before the atonement was made; he would be no less disposed if we could suppose that, from any cause, the efficacy of the atonement should be exhausted. The welfare of the universe depends on the fact that God is unchangeable; for the very moment that the idea should be admitted that he has changed or could change, all confidence in the stability* of the universe would be gone; all confidence in Aim, his truth, his justice, his mercy, would cease forever. Dismay would spread over heaven and earth if it were announced that God had changed or could change; for what confidence could angels or men then repose in a Being who might still indeed have almighty power, but power under the direction of no certain rule? (b.) While it is true that God is an unchangeable Being, it is also true that he may consistently do that in some circumstances which he could not do in others. He may consistently grant a farmer a harvest if he is industrious and if he ploughs and sows his ground, when it would be inconsistent for him to interpose by miracle and to grant him a harvest if he spent the time of sowing and ingathering in a place of low dissipation. He may consistently grant health to a man who is temperate, when it would be in every way inconsistent for him to interpose by miracle and confer it upon him if he should violate all the laws of health and pursue the very course which would tend to engender disease. He may consistently confer wealth on the merchant who consults the just laws of trade, and who sends his ships to distant ports from which there would be a prospect of a fair return, when it would not be consistent to grant it if his vessels were suffered to lie unemployed in the port. And he may consistently conduct the mariner across the ocean if he watches his compass and adjusts his sails and observes his chart, when it would not be consistent to do it if by indolence, ignorance, or intemperance he neglected all. So it may be in the matter of salvation. The unchangeable God may consistently offer pardon to a sinner now that an atonement has been made, though there would be insuperable difficulties in such an offer if no atonement had been provided. (c.) The essential idea in the atonement is, not that God was originally stern and inexorable and that he has been made mild and merciful by the atonement, but that the atonement itself has its foundation in his willingness to pardon; not that he has been made benevolent by the atonement, but that he was originally so disposed to show mercy that he was willing to stoop to any sacrifice but that of truth and justice in order that he might show his willingness to pardon the guilty. He gave his Son to die, not that he might be bought over to love, but as the expression of love. This is undoubtedly the doctrine of the Bible:—"God so Loved, The World that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) No other representation than this occurs in the Bible; and, whatever objection there may be in the minds of any to the doctrine of the atonement, no objection can be based on the idea that any change has been produced in the Divine mind. (2.) It is no part of the doctrine of the atonement that the Divine nature, in the person of the Saviour, suffered. In regard to this, the following remarks may be made:— (a.) It has never been so demonstrated that this is the doctrine of the Bible as to lead the Church at large to embrace it; and it is not the doctrine of the Christian Church. It is a’circumstance also of much importance that this has never been charged on Christianity by the rejecters of revelation as one of its teachings. Indeed, it may be doubted whether such a charge has ever been made by any infidel,—a fact that could not have occurred if the doctrine were a part of the obvious teaching of the Bible, or if it were easy to make out the doctrine from the Bible by any fair rule of interpretation. No doctrine would have been morS certain to expose Christianity to the attacks of its enemies than this; and we may be certain that the keen-sighted rejecters of revelaplished, as we have seen, to a great extent by an outward and independent arrangement in the materia medica of the world; and, whatever recuperative power there may be in nature, it would not be safe to rely on this wholly, nor is it thus relied on. There is, in fact, an independent and outside arrangement to teach us that we should not rely on it. (c.) In regard to morals, men do not rely on any such recuperative-tendencies in the moral system. There are extended arrangements for recalling to the path of duty those who have gone astray; for appealing to their interests, their sense of right, their prospects for the future; for making use of the influence of parents, teachers, friends, in order to recover the erring and the guilty. No man in whose child there are observed tendencies to vice and dissipation regards it as sufficient to rely on the recuperative tendencies in his mind; no one fails to use all the outward means in his power to recover him to the paths of virtue. If all these means, therefore, fail, there is a necessity for an atonement. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: 3.07. THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. ======================================================================== CHAPTER VII THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT. In considering the nature of the atonement, it is important to detach from it certain ideas which have been sometimes supposed to belong to it, %r to show what it is not. Whatever difficulty there may be in showing what it is, there is, in many respects, much less difficulty in showing what it is not and cannot be. It is not necessary, in doing this, to examine the views which have prevailed at different times on the subject, or to attempt to confute any of the doctrines which have been held. This would turn us aside too far from the main inquiry, and is in no way necessary to a proper view of the question, What is accomplished by the atonement? Those who may feel disposed to prosecute the inquiry in respect to the views which have been entertained on the subject may consult the following works,—viz: Die ChristlicheLehre v. d. Versbhuung in ihrer geschichtl. Entwickl. v. d. altesten Zeit bis auf die neueste. Dr. Fried. Chr. Bauer, Tubing. 1838. Die Lehre d. Kirche vom Tode Jesu in d. ersten drei Jahrh. vollstandig u. m. bes. Beriicksichtigung d. Lehre v. d. stellvertretenden Genugthuung. "K. Bahr, Salzbach, 1832. A summary of the historical views contained in these volumes, aud a general statement of the views which have prevailed in the Church on the subject, may be found in an article, founded on these works, in the Presbyterian Quarterly Review, vol. ii. pp. 246-280. In reference to the negative part of the subject, or as showing what the atonement does not do, or what cannot be considered as entering into its nature, the following remarks may be made:— (1.) The atonement does not change God. It does not make him in any sense a different Being from what he was before the atonement was made. It is not held, and it cannot be held, that God was, before the atonement was made, severe, stern, and inexorable, and that he has been made mild and forgiving by the death of the Redeemer. It is not held, and cannot be held, that he was indisposed originally to show mercy, and that he has been bought over to mercy, or that such an influence has been exerted on him by the atonement as to make him now willing to do what he was indisposed to do before. It has been indeed supposed, and perhaps is still by many persons, that this is implied in the atonement; and it cannot be denied that, in the representations made by the friends of the atonement, such views have been held on the subject, and such language has been employed, as to lay the foundation for this supposition. It cannot, moreover, be denied that language is sometimes employed which would imply that it is supposed that there is a difference, in important respects, between the Father and the Son;—that the Father is stern, exacting, and severe; that he is disposed to punish rather than to pardon; that he is more zealous for maintaining his law and for executing justice than he is for showing mercy; that he is rather a just than a benevolent Being; and that the manifestation of mercy has its origin in the Son of God and not in the Father; or, in other words, that the leading attribute in the Saviour is mercy, the leading attribute in the Father is justice. Under this view, the Son of God is looked upon as amiable and mild; the Father as stern, cold, and repellant. Nor can it be denied that occasion has been furnished for this representation even in the poetry still used in the Church. The following stanzas from Dr. Watts, in so common use in the Churches, will illustrate this idea:— "Rich were the drops of Jesus’ blood, That calm’d his frowning face, That sprinkled o’er the burning throne And turrid the wrath to grace." Here the obvious representation undoubtedly is that God was originally stern, angry, and unforgiving, and that he has been made mild and forgiving by the ’blood’ which ’calmed his frowning face’ and ’turned the wrath to grace.’ So also the following:— "Thy hands, dear Jesus, were not arm’d With a revenging rod; No hard commission to perform,— The vengeance of a God. But all was mercy, all was mild, And wrath forsook the throne, When Christ on the kind errand came And brought salvation down." stitute endured the same hind of sufferings which the guilty would themselves endure. (4.) It is not meant by the atonement that the same amount of suffering was endured which would have been endured by the guilty themselves. It is not to be denied that it has been maintained that Christ did actually endure the same amount of suffering which the elect would have suffered if they had borne the penalty of the law themselves. This, indeed, has been held to be essential to the very nature of the atonement; and the whole conception of the atonement, according to this view, is that it is a mere transfer of guilt and suffering from the guilty to the innocent. But the objections to this view are so insuperable that it is remarkable that the opinion has ever been held. (a.) It is impossible that this should have occurred unless the Divine nature actually suffered. If that were so, then it might be conceivable that an amount of suffering might have been endured in the time during which the Redeemer was on the cross which would be equal to all that those for whom he died would endure if in their own persons they bore the penalty of the law forever; for, if an infinite Being could thus suffer, the very fact that he is infinite would make such a supposition possible. But on no other supposition can it be conceived that, in the hours in which the Redeemer hung on the cross, or in the whole length of a human life, an amount of suffering could have been endured which would be equal to what countless millions could endure in the world of woe if prolonged to eternity. (b.) The supposition that such an amount of suffering is necessary, is contrary to the essential notion of an atonement. An atonement is, properly, an arrangement by which the literal infliction of the penalty due to sin may be avoided; it is something which may be substituted in the place of punishment; it is that which will answer the same end which would be secured by the literal infliction of the penalty of the law. It is not a commercial transaction,—a matter of debt and payment, of profit and loss. It pertains to law, to government, to holiness; not to literal debt and payment. Sin is crime, not debt; it is guilt, not a failure in a pecuniary obligation. The atonement pertains to love, and mercy, and truth, and kindness, as well as to justice. It looks benignantly on a world of sinners; it regards a race of offenders with compassion; it seeks to alleviate and lessen suffering; and it is not, therefore, the cold and stern business of paying a debt,—of meeting the mere demands of justice and of law. It seeks to bring back wanderers by the consideration that God loves them,—that they may be forgiven,—that salvation is free for all men if they choose to avail themselves of it. It is real and not imaginary salvation. It proceeds on the supposition that there is gain to the universe by the atonement, and that it will lessen the amount of misery; not that it is a mere transfer of pain from the guilty to the innocent. (c.) If the same amount of suffering were endured by him who makes «the atonement which would have been by the guilty themselves, it is obvious that there would have been no gain to the universe; no augmented happiness, no diminution of suffering. The simple and the sole account of the matter would be, that there had been a transfer of just so much suffering from the guilty to the innocent; a setting over of so much debt from him who owed it to him who did not. There might, indeed, be benevolence in him who assumed the debt or who endured the pain, but there would be no diminution of the actual suffering endured in the universe; and it would be impossible to answer the question which would be asked, whether it is desirable that punishment should be transferred from the guilty to the innocent; whether it would not be better, if the same amount of suffering is to be endured, that it should be borne by him who does deserve it than by him who does not. This question it would be difficult to answer even if the substitute were wholly voluntary in assuming the suffering in the case: it becomes wholly impossible to answer it if it is imposed upon the sufferer and exacted of him. (d.) It is clear that, if such were the nature of the atonement, there could be no mercy in the case. When a debt is paid, there is no forgiveness; when a penalty is endured, there is no mercy. It is an affair of strict and inexorable justice. In the case of one who should be willing to pay the debt or to endure the suffering, there may be the highest benevolence; but there is no mercy exhibited by him to whom the debt is paid or the penalty of whose law has been borne. If it is a pecuniary transaction, it is a matter of indifference to him to whom the debt is owing whether it is paid by him who contracted it, or by a friend; and in a case where it is supposed that the exact punishment due to sin is borne by another, whatever kindness there may be in him who endures it, there is no mercy in him who has. exacted the penalty, though he has accepted the offering made hj the substitute. The full penalty has been exacted, and all the demands in the case have been complied with. It would have been kindness, indeed, in an Egyptian to have come in voluntarily and aided the oppressed and burdened Hebrew to furnish the ’tale of bricks;’ but there would have been no kindness or compassion evinced by the taskmaster who had appointed the task, for the whole demand would have been complied with. So far as he who performed the work was concerned, and so far as the burdened Hebrew was concerned, it would have been a transaction of mere law and justice; so far as the taskmaster was concerned, there would have been in the case neither mercy nor compassion. Now, it need scarcely be said that this view is entirely contrary to all the representations of the atonement in the Scriptures. Nothing is more plain than that the whole transaction there is represented as one of mercy; that it is designed to illustrate the love, as well as the justice, of God. If it should be said that there was mercy in the gift of a Saviour, and that so far as that is concerned the transaction is one of mercy, though so far as the law is concerned the transaction is one of justice, it may be replied that this is not the representation of the Bible. The idea of mercy pervades it throughout. It is not only mercy in providing an atonement; it is mercy to the sinner. There is mercy in the case. There is love. There is more than a mere exaction of the penalty. There is more than a transfer. There is a lessening of suffering. There is a substitution of a less amount of pain as actually endured in the place of the pain that was threatened. There is an actual gain of happiness to the universe; not a mere transfer of so much pain from the guilty to the innocent. This representation is apparent everywhere in the Scriptures; and no one can rise from the perusal of the New Testament without the impression that the scheme is one that lays the foundation for gratitude and thanksgiving as an exercise of mercy in the largest sense, and that the songs of the redeemed in heaven are not based on the idea that it is a transaction of mere justice, or on the idea that it is a mere commercial transaction,—a quid pro quo,—but on the idea that a new provision has been introduced into the government of the universe, by which suffering may be DIMINISHED. (5.) It is not meant by the atonement that Christ endured the literal penalty of the law. The penalty of the law, as we have seen, is what is threatened or inflicted by the lawgiver as an expression of his sense of the value of the law and of the evil of violating it. The penalty may be measured or determined (a) by an actual statement on his part of what he will inflict, or what the violation of the law deserves, or (b) by what actually comes upon the offender under his administration as the consequence of violating the law. In other words, we may learn what is the penalty of the law from revelation, or from observation of the actual course of events, or from both combined. The actual threatening may or may not cover the whole ground; and what the penalty is, may be learned partly from the statement, and partly from observation. As a matter of fact, we ascertain, in a great measure, what the penalty of violating the Divine law is, from observation. Thus, we learn what is the penalty of intemperance, partly from the previous statement of what will be the consequences, and partly from an actual observation of the evils which come upon the drunkard. To know what the real penalty is, we must look at all those consequences on the body and the soul; on the property and the peace of the drunkard; on his family and his reputation; on the effects in delirium tremens, in his wretched death, in his dishonoured memory, and in the woes endured forever. All these, and not a part of them, are designed to express the Lawgiver’s sense of the value of the law and the evil of its violation. To endure, therefore, the penalty of the law in the case of intemperance is to bear all the evils which it actually brings on the offender in this world and in the world to come. If a substitute, therefore, should endure the literal penalty of the law, all must be endured which would actually come upon the offender himself. It should be added, moreover, that a penalty is what is denounced against the offender himself and no other. The law utters no threat against the innocent; it inflicts no suffering on those who obey it, which can properly be regarded as punishment. The crime and the penalty are in the same line; they pertain to the same person; they cannot be separated except as the penalty shall be removed by pardon or substitution; they are not shifting and vacillating; they are not capable of being transferred to different persons. They can no more be separated than the qualities of colour, ductility, malleability, or weight, for example, can be separated from gold and transferred to silver or lead. If we look, then, at what actually folloios from the infraction of the Divine law, and what is, therefore, a part of the penalty, we shall see that there are sufferings which could not by any possibility be transferred to a substitute. They are of such a nature that they always adhere to the offender himself; and it is absolutely certain, therefore, that the Redeemer did not endure them on the cross. (a.) Remorse of conscience is manifestly a part of the penalty of the law; that is, it is a portion of what the law inflicts as expressing the sense which the Lawgiver entertains of the value of the law and of the evil of its violation. But this is connected only with the personal violation of the law. It is never found in an innocent bosom. It never springs up from the performance of a right action. It can in no way be connected with the consciousness of innocence. It has all the marks of being a mere Divine appointment designed to furnish evidence to the soul itself that what has been done is wrong, and to be a measure- of the wrong as it is estimated by the lawgiver. There is no more certain proof that there is a moral government, and that God is a lawgiver, than is furnished by the fact that the mind is made to judge of the evil of its own doings, and that this silent but terrible infliction comes upon the violator of law through the action of the mind itself. It is an internal arrangement, connected with the very workings of the 6oul, which could have been originated only by the Maker of the soul, and who intends that sin shall always be punished. Yet it is certain that the Redeemer never suffered remorse of conscience. In the history of his life there is not a hint that can be tortured into evidence that he did; and in the nature of the case it was impossible that he should. For remorse cannot be attached to innocence. It is the result and companion of guilt, and it Cannot be transferred from the guilty to the innocent. I may weep for the sin of others; I may be involved in calamity on account of their guilt; I may hang my head in shame when one who is closely connected with me has been guilty of crime; but I can never be made to feel remorse on account of the guilt of any other being but myself. It is not an object of power to make this feeling spring up in the mind of any other than the offender himself. And if this is true, then it is certain that there is one portion of the penalty of the law which the Redeemer did not endure in making an atonement. (b.) Equally certain is it that he did not endure eternal death. It will be admitted, by those who believe in the necessity of an atonement, that eternal death was the penalty of the law. So far, therefore, as they are concerned, this may be assumed; and this is all that is necessary to be assumed in considering the point now before us. Assuming that the penalty of the law is eternal death, then it is plain, as a matter of simple fact, that the penalty was not endured in making the atonement. Fearful and awful as the sufferings of the Redeemer were, they were not eternal. They were closed in a few hours; and hy no possibility of fiction can it be imagined that they were eternal. If it should be said that they were equal in amount to the eternal sufferings of those for whom he died,—whatever might be true on that question,—yet as a matter of fact they were not eternal in duration. But, if the punishment of the wicked will be eternal, it is clear that that is a part of the penalty of the law. The lengthening out of the duration of the suffering to eternity is not a circumstance which has been added since the law was broken as supplementary to the original threatening, and it is not that which springs up from the mere nature of the case independently of the Divine appointment. No man can possibly hold that the Redeemer endured eternal sorrcw; and no man, therefore, who believes that the penalty of the law is. eternal death, can consistently maintain that he endured the literal penalty of the law. (6.) It cannot be supposed, as has been before shown, that the sufferings of the Redeemer were equal to all the sufferings which would have been endured by those for whom he died if they had borne the penalty of the law in their own persons. It is not possible to believe this unless it be maintained that the Divine nature suffered; for on no other supposition can it be held that the agonies endured by the Redeemer on the cross—intense as they were—could have equalled, in any proper sense, what would be endured even by a single sufferer if prolonged forever. II. Laying these things, therefore, out of view, as being either in themselves impossible, or as not necessary in any proper conception of the atonement, I proceed to the second and main inquiry, —what the atonement is. Probably this is the most difficult question which ever comes before the human mind. It may be observed^ at the outset, that there may be an error in supposing that the atonement was confined to one thing, or that only one result was contemplated by it and accomplished by it. If the remarks made in the preceding chapters are well founded, then it is manifest that there were many things which it was necessary to accomplish by an atonement, or many ends to be reached. We have seen that there are numerous difficulties in a human administration in reference to pardon; that it is not one thing only which grows out of the commission of crime which embarrasses a human government, but that there are many things to be provided for in order that pardon may be dispensed consistently with the honour of the law and the welfare of the community. We have seen (ch. iv.) that in an atonement it is necessary to secure the following objects:—the honour of the law; the proper impression in regard to the evil of sin as contemplated by the law; the reformation and future good conduct of him who is pardoned; the safety of the community; and a fair representation, so far as the atonement may bear on it, of the character of the lawgiver. The inquiry now is, What is the atonement in reference to these points? As preliminary to this inquiry, it may be observed that, in the arrangements of Providence, many ends are often accomplished by one thing, and that, in ascertaining what that one thing is intended for, we must take in all the ends which are actually secured by it. Thus, if we should ask what is the purpose for which light was created, we should greatly err, and should obtain but a very imperfect view of the objects contemplated by its creation, if we should fix our attention on seeing and should infer that that was the only thing contemplated by it. Important as that is, and undeniable as it is that that was an important end contemplated in the formation of light, yet there are numerous other ends known to us, and perhaps many which are unknown, that were equally contemplated in its creation. It is the origin of colours everywhere; it is somehow identified with warmth as it comes from the great source of light; it is indispensable in the development of seeds and plants; it exerts an important influence on the growth of animals; it becomes a guide to the mariner in crossing the ocean; it diffuses health and vigor over the world. If, then, we were asked what purposes light accomplishes in the universe, we should greatly err if we supposed that the whole answer would be comprised in saying that it is for the purpose of seeing. We have given a correct answer so far as it goes; but we have embraced in it but a small part of the real purposes for which light was made. The same principles would be found, perhaps, to run through all the works of God,—that he accomplishes many purposes by each one of the things which he has made, and that, although we may find a beautiful and wise adaptation to a particular end, we should not infer, therefore, that that was the only end contemplated. A muscle, a bone, a nerve, a valve in an artery, a petal of a flower, a leaf on a tree, a drop of rain or of dew, may each be adapted to perform many functions; and to understand why they were made it would be necessary to take in all that is actually accomplished by them. So it may be in regard to the atonement; and we may greatly err in supposing that one thing and no more was contemplated by it; perhaps in supposing that it referred to one world and no more. There are some preliminary questions which meet us here in reference to the atonement, and which enter vitally into the subject,—questions which a skeptic asks, and which a philosophic mind will ask. They are such as these:—Of what use can suffering be in such a case? How can this make it proper that God should show mercy when he could not otherwise do it? And especially of what value in such a case is the death of a victim? Can it be supposed that this would be pleasing to God, or make him any more disposed to show mercy than he would be if no life were offered? These questions are natural, but they are, it must be confessed, not easily answered. If they could have been suggested beforehand,—that is, if we could place ourselves in the order of things back of any suffering,—probably we. should say, as we would in regard to sin, that there could be no. conceivable ends to be accomplished by suffering which would make it proper that it should be permitted to come into the system. "We should suppose that a holy and benevolent God would never allow either sin, suffering, or death to enter the universe. We should deem this so certain that no mere reasoning could convince us that this would ever occur. But if we place ourselves in advance of that position, and look at facts, we shall find that not only has suffering been allowed to come into the system, but that it has been made to act a very important part in developing the Divine purposes. We should have said that God would not accomplish any of his purposes by suffering; we find that, contrary to all these anticipations, he has accomplished many of his designs by means of it. Particularly the following things are true. (a.) Suffering as such acts an important part in the development of God’s plans, in the destiny of individuals. I mean now not suffering as deserved or as punishment; suffering not directly in the line of an offence and as a regular and perceived consequence of guilt, but suffering outside of punishment; suffering that cannot be regarded as punishment; suffering that comes upon those who cannot, in respect to any conceivable reason for its infliction, be regarded as guilty. Thus the sufferings which come upon us as the consequences of the errors or crimes of guilty parents; those which are the result of our connections with others, though we are in no way blameworthy for their conduct; those which descend from generation to generation as the fruit of the sin and folly of an ancestor; those which involve whole communities in woe as the result of the carelessness or sinfulness of some one occupying a place of trust or responsibility,—as the captain of a vessel, or the commander of an army,—show that there is a purpose contemplated by suffering outside of the proper notion of punishment, and as exercising an important agency where no guilt, so far as that particular suffering is concerned, exists in those who are affected by it. (b.) A considerable part of the blessings which we enjoy in this life comes to us through suffering. They are the direct result of what may in some sense be called sacrifices on our part; that is, we have sacrificed ease and comfort, and given ourselves to wearisome toil, in order to procure those blessings; and we should not have possessed them if we had not submitted to the sacrifice of time and ease and present happiness. The property that is gained by the laborious cultivation of the earth, by digging in mines, by perils on the ocean, by exposure in foreign and pestilential climes, comes to us as the result of such sacrifices and sufferings. But, besides this, not a small part of the most valuable and valued traits of our character is the fruit of suffering; of the trials which we have experienced in early years; of the sickness and bereavements which have been our lot; of the disappointments that have come upon us in our plans of life. We should have supposed a priori that it would have been otherwise; that, if a benevolent God meant to bless us, he would do it without resorting to such a medium. But it has not been as we should have anticipated; and, if •ve could now detach from the sum-total of what goes to make up our character all that has come to us as the direct or indirect result of personal suffering, we might be surprised to find how meagre in amount, and how inferior in quality, the remainder would be. (c.) Equally true is it that a very large part of the blessings which we enjoy has come to us as the result of the sufferings of others. To the sufferings and sacrifices of the friends of liberty in all ages and lands we owe the liberty which we now enjoy; and all that has ever been endured in the camp or the field, all the ills of cold, and hunger, and peril, and fatigue that have marked the progress of liberty in the world, have contributed to secure and perpetuate that which we now enjoy. To the sufferings and sacrifices of others we owe the enjoyment of the rights of conscience; the privilege of worshipping God with none to molest us; all the peace and consolation which religion imparts in a world of sadness and sorrow; all the support which it gives on the bed of death. We owe it to the early Christian martyrs that religion survived in the times when imperial power sought to crush it; and all that has been endured under the Inquisition, or in the times of the Reformation, has entered as an essential element into religious freedom now. Religion has made its way in the world in the midst of the fires of persecution; and while it would seem that God might have imparted those blessings without the sufferings of martyrdom, and while it would have appeared probable that he would thus do it, still, as a matter of fact, there is not a blessing of religion which we enjoy which is not the fruit of the sufferings endured on the rack and at the stake. And since, as a great rule in the Divine administration, this is the way in which we receive blessings from the hand of God, it is manifest that there is some reason for making those blessings conditional on suffering, or in making this a great principle in the Divine method of dealing with man. In temporal matters, men do not complain of this arrangement; and why should we not be willing to admit that there may be equal wisdom in the method by which the highest blessings of this world and the next shall be conferred on men? We receive the blessings of liberty gratefully as the result of the toils and sacrifices of patriots: why should we not thus receive the blessings of redemption? Patriots have been satisfied if by their sufferings they could secure the liberty of their country: why should we not suppose that the Redeemer would be ’satisfied’ (Isaiah 53:11) if by his sufferings he could redeem a fallen world? With these preliminary remarks, I proceed to specify more particularly what the atonement is, or what are the ends which it is designed to accomplish. (1.) The atonement is something substituted in the place of the penalty of the law, which will answer the same ends as the punishment of the offender himself would. It is instead of his punishment. It is something which will make it proper for a lawgiver to suspend or remit the literal execution of the penalty of the law, because the object or end of that penalty has been secured, or because something has been substituted for that which will answer the same purpose. In other words, there are certain ends proposed by the appointment of a penalty in case of a violation of the law; and if these ends are secured, then the punishment may be remitted and the offender may be pardoned. That which will secure these ends is an atonement. The thing aimed at—the result to be reached—is the remission of the penalty, or the manifestation of mercy to the guilty. It is not an abstract thing—a mere display of an attribute of the lawgiver—that is contemplated; but it is a practical work, in the pardon of the guilty, and in placing him in a condition as if he had not violated the law. The essential reason why this is done, is that God is merciful; the manifested reason is, that the same ends have been secured, so far as the design in the appointment of the penalty of the law is concerned, which would have been if the offender had been punished: in other words, mercy can now be manifested consistently with justice; for the act of pardon does not imply, by a fair construction, any disregard of the claims of justice or of the real interests of the community. (a.) Mere mercy could be shown in any case; but, as we have seen, there are insuperable difficulties in all governments in the exercise of pardon without an atonement. (b.) Mere justice could be shown by a rigid infliction of the penalty of the law in all cases whatsoever. It could be shown in a human government on earth; it could be shown in the Divine government in hell,—for God could consign every violator of his laws, under the most exact administration of justice, to the woes which sin deserves. But then, as we have seen, this would be attended with numerous evils. It would impinge on the finer feelings of our nature. It would make a government harsh, severe, tyrannical,—an administration to be feared, not to be loved. It would violate principles which have been implanted by the Creator himself within us; for there is an arrangement in our constitution which shows that it was contemplated that mercy should enter largely into the course of things in the universe, and that the government of the universe should not be the exercise of mere stern, inexorable law. The object of the atonement is the blending of the two. It is an arrangement by which one shall not be exercised at the expense of the other. In the ordinary course of things, and as affairs are actually administered among men, the two do not harmonize. One is sacrificed to the other. If mere justice is displayed, there is no mercy; if mere mercy, justice is sacrificed. is an arrangement by which both may be manifested in reference to the case of the same individual, so that, while he is treated as if he had not sinned, there is no disregard of the claims of justice. Instead of exhibiting the attribute of stern justice in one case, thus disregarding all the laws of our nature which have been arranged with a view to the exercise of mercy, and of exhibiting the attribute of mercy in another, thus disregarding in like manner the laws of our nature which demand that justice should be done, the two meet together in reference to the same individual, or to any number of individuals who may be willing to accept of salvation at the hands of God. The means by which this is proposed to be accomplished is by substitution: substitution in two senses,— (a) in the fact that the undeserved and voluntary sufferings of one are in the place of the deserved suffering of another, and (6) in the nature of the sufferings endured; that his sufferings shall not be the same in kind or degree which the sufferings of the guilty themselves would have been, but shall be of such a nature as to be a proper equivalent for them, or shall, in the circumstances of the case, answer the same ends which would have been accomplished by those sufferings. The question now to be considered is, whether there can be a substitution which will secure these ends. This question involves the whole doctrine of the atonement, and the views which are entertained of the atonement will depend on the answer that shall be given to it. In relation to this question there are two inquiries, which must determine the whole matter:—Is such a substitution admissible? If admissible, would it answer the same purpose as the punishment of the guilty? (a.) Is such a substitution admissible? That is, Can it be proper, in the administration of a govern ment of law, to admit the principle that one who ib innocent may suffer for the guilty, or that his sufferings may be substituted in the place of those due to the transgressor himself? The inquiry is not whether an innocent being may be compelled to suffer in the place of the guilty, or whether the punishment due to crime may be transferred from the guilty to the innocent, by the will of the lawgiver; for no one could defend either of these points. But the question is, whether, in a case of proposed voluntary «ubstitution, it is an admissible principle. And here the following observations may be made. 1. It is an admitted principle in pecuniary transactions; for example, in the payment of a debt or fine. The law requires only that the debt or the fine shall be paid, and is wholly indifferent by whom it is done,—whether by the debtor himself or by a friend who chooses to pay it for him. In fact, the law makes numerous arrangements of this very nature, as in the case of ’bail,’ and in ’securities’ for the faithful performance of the duties of an office, even requiring that such bail and such securities shall be given by others, and exacting the forfeiture of him who becomes voluntary ’bail’ or ’security.’ 2. The principle is admitted in case of a hostage. A hostage is "a person delivered to an enemy or hostile power, as a pledge to secure the performance of the conditions of a treaty or stipulations of any kind, and on the performance of which the person is to be released."—Webster. The person who becomes a hostage is substituted in the place of the state that makes the treaty or stipulation,—since the whole state could not be made over for security, but the hostage who is made over is, in respect to rank or position, of so much value to the state that he becomes a guarantee that the contracting party will faithfully perform the conditions of the treaty. If he is a voluntary hostage, the act is an expression of his conviction that the state will perform the conditions of the treaty; and by whatever there is of worth or dignity in his own rank and character, his becoming a hostage is of the nature of a pledge that it will do it. And in proportion to his dignity and worth he becomes a security that the treaty or stipulation will be executed; that is, the state will sooner execute the conditions than suffer any evil to befall him. If, however, the conditions of the treaty are not complied with, it is understood, and, indeed, is a part of the arrangement, that his life or liberty is forfeited. Such a forfeit would be, in fact, in the place of the punishment which might be inflicted on the state for its violation of the compact; and his sufferings, whatever they are, are a substitution for the punishment admitted to be due to the state itself, or which the injured party might justly bring upon the party that had violated the treaty. Thus, in the Roman history, Regulus, who had been delivered to the Carthaginians as a hostage, after being sent to Rome to persuade the Roman Senate to a certain course, under a pledge that if they would not do it he would return and die, and after having himself advised the Senate not to comply with the conditions proposed by the Carthaginians, voluntarily returned to Carthage and was put to death under the severest form of torture,—his sufferings and death being, in fact, substituted in the place of the vengeance which the Carthaginians would have wreaked upon Rome itself, if it could, as an expression of the sense entertained of the wrong which Rome had done. 3. As far as it will answer the end, or as far as it can be done, it seems to be a principle on which men do not hesitate to act, or where they do not pause to inquire or not whether it is a principle that may be admitted, that one may take the place of another and be treated as he would be. Thus in the cases above alluded to, in a pecuniary transaction and of a hostage. So, too, in a case of drafting or conscription in an army. In such a case, all the requirements are met if one who is equally able-bodied, and otherwise equally well qualified for military service, becomes a substitute in the place of him who had been drafted into the service or who is called into it under the requirements of a conscription. There is no principle of military law which would forbid such a substitution, if voluntary; for all the demands of the law would be substantially complied with; that is, all the purposes contemplated by drafting or conscription would be secured. Thus, too, men do not suppose that there is any violation of a just principle in offering to become a substitute, or in offering to bear the effects of a certain course of conduct in their own persons. For example, in the history of Joseph, when Simeon had been retained as a hostage for the return of his brethren, and when Joseph had required that, as a proof that they were true men and not spies, their younger brother should be brought down to Egypt, and the aged Jacob hesitated about sending his younger son down with them, Judah plead with his father, and said, "Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again." (Genesis 42:37) And so again he said, "I will be surety for him: of my hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever." (Genesis 43:9) Here there was felt to be no impropriety in the principle of substitution. Judah did not suppose that it was in any way improper to propose it; the aged father did not object to it when it was proposed. The proposition was made as a pledge for the welfare of the favourite son; as committing Judah to his safe return; as a guarantee that all would be well; as expressing a willingness on his part that even his own two sons should be slain if he did not bring back Benjamin to his father; and as an expression of his own willingness to bear the blame in the case forever,—that is, to take upon himself all the consequences. The remark here is, that men act spontaneously on the principle involved in the doctrine of substitution, and that it is so much a matter of impulse, and spontaneity, and conscious propriety, that they do not even pause to consider whether it is or is not proper. In other words, there is something in human nature which lays the foundation for the propriety of the principle and leads men at once to act on it in all cases when it can be done. The notion of becoming a surety, a hostage, a pledge, by substituted toil, by suffering, or by a fine,—by devoting whatever there is in character, position, or influence as a security for another,—by bearing the sufferings or privations involved in a case of substitution,—or by voluntarily assuming the consequences of a certain course of conduct, as in the proposed case of Judah and the actual case of Regulus,—is one on which men act spontaneously and constantly. 4. If, therefore, a substitute would answer the end in any given case, it would seem to be a principle that might be admitted to any extent whatever. If the sufferings which one might endure voluntarily in the place of another would, in fact, answer the same end which they would if inflicted on an offender himself, it is difficult to see why the principle might not be admitted in such a case as well as in the case of the payment of a debt, of’ bail,’ of ’ security’ for the proper fulfilment of the duties of an office, of a drafted soldier, of a hostage, or in those instances in which men spontaneously take upon themselves the consequences of a certain course of conduct, or are willing that the ’blame’ should fall upon themselves. b. If the principle is admissible, the next question is whether a substitution in the place of the guilty can be made to answer the same ends which would be secured by the punishment of the guilty themselves. This question is now to be asked in view of the objects to be accomplished in the administration of law, or the ends contemplated in the penalty of the law. It is equivalent to asking whether as deep an impression can be produced of the value of law, and of the evils of the violation of the law, by such substituted sufferings as would be produced by the infliction of the penalty on the guilty; whether as much can be accomplished in securing the reformation and future good conduct of the offender; whether as much can be secured in deterring others from violating the law; and whether as much can be effected in securing the peace and good order of a community. In all the cases which have been referred to where the principle of substitution is admitted, it is obvious that the same ends are secured by the substitution, which would be by the regular operations of the law. The question now is whether the same result can be secured by the substituted sufferings of the innocent in the place of the punishment of a violator of the laws of God. (1.) If a sinner is punished in the world of woe, he will suffer there by enduring the penalty of the law; that is, as has been explained, his sufferings will be designed to show the sense entertained by God of the value of the law and the evil of violating it. Those sufferings must also, so far as that may operate at all in producing such an effect, be intended to deter others from disobedience by the certainty that punishment will follow disobedience, and by the intensity and duration of the punishment. These would be the effects in an individual case; they would be the results in any number of cases, in the aggregate of woe endured by the lost. And the effect would stop there. Those sufferings would not be designed to reform the offender himself or any of his suffering companions; for, apart from the consideration already urged that this is not, in any case, the proper end or result of punishment, it is clear that that could not be its design in a form of punishment that was to be eternal. The end to be reached, then, by substituted sufferings would be a representation of the sense entertained of the value of law and the evil of violating the law equal to that which would be produced if the punishment were inflicted on the guilty themselves. (2.) If a sinner bears the penalty of the law himself, the impression produced on the universe at large by his individual sufferings will be, at any one time, or even in the continuousness of his sufferings, a slight impression. If lost, he becomes, in fact, lost in more senses than one,—lost not only to happiness and hope, hut lost in the sense that his name is forgotten and that his individual sufferings are unknown to the universe at large. An impression may be indeed made by the aggregate of woe endured by all the lost; but the name of the individual sufferer will be unknown, and, sunk in the vast host, his particular sorrows will have no such conspicuity as to make any impression on the universe at large. Of all the inmates of the penitentiaries in this land, it is a rare thing that the sufferings of an individual make any impression on the community, or that he contributes in any more than the slightest possible degree to keep up the impression of the value of the law and of the evil of violating it. After the interest excited by the trial is over and he is consigned to his cell, the case ceases to attract public interest. The name and memory of the convict soon die away from the recollection of mankind; and whether he suffers little or much, provided the exact sentence of the law be adhered to, excites no interest in the world at large. He soon loses the melancholy conspicuity which he attracted by the commission of the crime and by the process of trial, and is forgotten; for all that ever created an interest in his case, and all that ever gave him conspicuity, has been accomplished in arresting him and consigning him to deserved punishment. Unable any longer to awaken an interest in the bosoms of his fellowmen, he drags out in solitude and neglect the weary years of his confinement, having sunk to that obscurity from which he was elevated temporarily by the commission of the crime. An impression may indeed be made in a community by a knowledge of the fact that there is a penitentiary, and that there are guilty men incarcerated there; but the sufferings of the individual attract no attention and make no impression. From the nature of the case, will it not be so in regard to the sufferers in the world of woe? (3.) But what has now been stated would not occur in reference to the substitute in the atonement. If it be a part of the doctrine of the atonement, and essential to that doctrine, that the Redeemer was Divine, that he was "God manifest in the flesh," that there was in a proper sense an incarnation of the Deity, then it is clear that such an incarnation, and the sufferings of such an one on a cross, were events adapted to make an impression on the universe at large deeper by far than would be done by the sufferings of the guilty themselves, though those sufferings should involve sorrow—the sorrow of remorse—which the innocent one could not experience, and though they should be prolonged to a far more extended duration. If it should be supposed that the heir-apparent to a crown could take the place of any number of rebellious subjects and endure in their place .the suffering appointed for rebels and traitors, though it might be true that his individual sorrows might not equal the amount of the aggregate sorrows of all who would otherwise have died, and though it should be admitted that there would be an element in their sufferings which would not enter into his,—the element of remorse,— it would nevertheless be true that a deeper impression would be made by his public execution than would be by the sufferings of the offenders themselves. That impression would be produced not only by the unusual character of the transaction, but by the manifest fact that the crime was regarded as of a nature so serious as to require such an expiation, and by the purpose manifested by the sovereign to maintain inflexibly the authority of the law. All eyes would be turned towards the illustrious sufferer; all hearts would be filled with compassion; all business would be suspended in the contemplation of the amazing scene; all men would feel that there was an unspeakable majesty in the law and an unspeakable importance in maintaining its authority; all would be made sensible that that must be a vast evil which made it necessary that such sufferings should be endured by one of so exalted a rank. And if on such an occasion the sovereign himself should adopt some unusual and impressive measures to bear testimony to the dignity and moral worth of the sufferer, and to show the estimate which he put on the benevolence which the voluntary sufferer manifested in being willing to endure these sorrows in behalf of others, all would feel that such a manifestation would be appropriate, as all must feel that it was appropriate that the Eternal Father should command the sun to withdraw his beams, and the earth to tremble, and the rocks to rend—to spread a universal pall over the world— when his Son expired on the cross. I have said that the individual sufferer sinking down into the common and undistinguished abyss of woes might be forgotten, and that his name and his sufferings might never be known to the universe at large. Not so, however, with Him who took his place and died in his stead,—the Son of God. His cross became for the time the centre of observation in the universe. He had descended from heaven and had taken upon himself the form of a man. He had subjected himself voluntarily to poverty, shame, and contempt; he had been bound, and scourged, and publicly rejected; he had submitted to a mock trial and to an unjust condemnation; he had borne his own cross to the place of crucifixion, and had voluntarily given himself up to be put to death in a form that involved the keenest torture that men could inflict. Eejected of men, and apparently forsaken of God, he had taken upon himself the "burden of the world’s atonement." If that scene actually occurred, then angels and distant worlds must have felt an interest in it which they could not feel in the sufferings of the guilty themselves. If he died to show by these sufferings the value of the law and the evil of disobedience, then no sufferings of the guilty themselves could make so deep an impression on angelic minds and on distant worlds as the substituted and voluntary sorrows of the Son of God. If now an objector should recur to a question already suggested, and ask, What after all, is the value of such sufferings? what is their exact bearing? why might not the same ends have been secured without suffering? and how can it be supposed that these sufferings would contribute to secure the favour of God? it may be asked, in reply, What is the bearing of suffering at all? What, in any case, is its exact value? How does it contribute to secure the favour of God? How does it avail in leading men to penitence and in preparing for usefulness and heaven? How do the sufferings of patriots contribute to procure the Divine favour in the bestowment of liberty? What bearing can they have on God? What can they do to incline him to impart his favour? Why should he not bestow the same favour without the suffering? Yet they do secure blessings from God; for, as has been already observed, a large part of the blessings which we enjoy can be traced to the instrumentality of suffering, and if the suffering had not been endured, so far as now appears, the favour would not have been conferred. Perhaps it may yet be found to be true that the principle which would explain this fact, and show the connection, in any case, between suffering and the Divine favour, might explain all the essential principles and remove all the material difficulties in the doctrine of the atonement. If I have, in fact, received blessings from God through the sufferings of patriots and friends which I should not otherwise have received, it seems difficult to see why we may not advance with the same principle to the higher subjects of redemption, and why it may not follow that voluntary substituted sufferings may in some way secure the blessings of a higher life. If the sufferings of friends may have operated to remove obstacles out of the way so that valuable temporal mercies have been imparted to me, and if the sufferings of patriots have removed obstacles out of the way so that the blessings of liberty have been bestowed upon me, it seems difficult to see why the sufferings of the Redeemer may not, in a higher sense, remove obstacles out of the way so that the blessings of salvation may be now bestowed upon me. (2.) The atonement Secures reconciliation between God and man. This is, indeed, the proper meaning of the word atonement—at-one-ment, or the being at one—as used in our language; and this idea is perhaps always suggested when the term is used, even when it is employed in its most strict theological sense, or when it is employed strictly to denote the means by which reconciliation is effected. There occurs to the mind at once the idea of parties at variance; and then the idea of some means to satisfy the party that has been wronged; and then the idea of reconciliation or harmony effected. The point now to be illustrated is that the atonement is of such a nature as to secure reconciliation between God and man; that is, to do whatever is necessary to remove the obstacles to reconciliation and to secure actual harmony and friendship. In illustrating this point, the following remarks may be made. a. Nothing is more difficult than the task of reconciling opposing minds. This is seen in the attempt to reconcile individuals who have become alienated from each other in a family or in a neighbourhood, or among those who have been formerly friends; in the attempts to produce peace and harmony where parties carry their grievances before courts of justice, when, though the mere pecuniary part of the difficulty may be adjusted, the alienation of mind and heart is often entirely unaffected; and in the attempts to restore peace between nations at war. This difficulty is often increased by pride and prejudice: it is augmented if the imagination has magnified the difficulty; if friends on either side have become enlisted in the strife; if the controversy has been long continued; if the causes of the difficulty have been accumulating for years; if it relates to many points at issue; if the parties have become openly committed to a claim that is set up, or if their becoming reconciled will be construed as yielding a point of honour; and the difficulty is not the less if only one party—as is often the case—is in the wrong, and if the other not only has done no wrong but is willing now even to make sacrifices for the sake of peace. Hence it is that there is no office more difficult, and commonly more thankless, than that of a mediator; that there is no man to whom we are less disposed to listen than to him who undertakes to convince us that we are wrong in such a controversy, and who endeavours to induce us to abandon a position which we have tenaciously or obstinately held, and who would persuade us to be at peace with one from whom we have been long estranged. b. There is an alienation between God and man; and this is the foundation of all the evil that has come upon the race. It is everywhere in the Bible charged on man that he is estranged from his Maker; and it is everywhere affirmed that God cannot be at peace with men unless something shall be done that shall remove the cause of alienation. 1. On the part of man, nothing is more apparent than the fact of his alienation from God. The history of the world proves it. God is not loved. His law is not obeyed. His arrangements are not submitted to. His government is regarded as harsh, severe, unequal, unjust. There is in the human soul a foundation of estrangement from God lying back of the Divine dealings towards the race,—an opposition to his character and claims antecedent to any thing that he does to call forth the feelings of the soul; and this becomes manifest when the Divine law is laid across the path. of men and the claims of that law come in collision with the feelings and purposes of the soul. This opposition to God is one of the earliest conscious feelings of our nature, and it is fostered and sustained by all the pride of the human heart, by all its impatience of control, by all its cherished plans as they are developed in life, by all the passions which are engendered in carrying out our chosen schemes, and by the fact that in those schemes we become committed before the world. Nothing is more manifest than the fact that such an alienation exists on the part of man towards his Maker; nothing is more difficult than to overcome this and to make man willing to be at peace with God. 2. Equally manifest is it that there is on the part of God an alienation or estrangement from man. This is clear from the Divine dealings towards the race. Man is not treated as if there was peace between him and his Maker. The Divine dealings towards the race are not such as they would be on the supposition that God is pleased with human conduct. Man is not dealt with as we must suppose unfallen angels are, or as he himself would have been if he had not fallen. "We can find, indeed, in the Divine lealings, abundant proofs of the goodness of God; ive can see evidence that he is willing to be at peace (vith the race and that he is ready to forgive sin; tve can easily demonstrate that there are and have been prospective arrangements for his becoming reconciled to man; but we look in vain for the evidence that that peace already exists. There is even in the bosom of the guilty themselves—in their sense of guilt, in the feeling of remorse, in the apprehension of the wrath of God, in the pre-intimations in the soul of a coming judgment—much which maybe regarded as designed to be a proof of the fact of such an alienation on the part of God, as it certainly is of an alienation on the part of man; and we may see abundant evidence of such an alienation on the part of God in his dealings. All the calamities which come upon individuals or nations as the effect of sin; all the arrangements in the human constitution for the infliction of suffering as the result of a certain course of conduct; all the forms of disease that invade the human frame and sweep off the living to their graves, are so many proofs that God regards the race as guilty and that there is an estrangement between himself and man. Such things are not tokens of friendship and favour. They are not direct proofs of love. They would not occur in a just and benevolent administration unless there was a foundation in the conduct and character of man for the Divine displeasure. c The atonement removes the obstacles to reconciliation alike on the part of God and on the part of man. 1. On the part of God. The obstacles to reconciliation on his part did not arise from any unwillingness to be at peace with man; from any want of a benevolent regard to his welfare; from any enmity in his own feelings towards the race as such; from the causes which often produce and perpetuate alienations among men; but solely from the fact that he is the Lawgiver of the universe, and that his law has been violated; from the fact that the law has a just penalty, threatening death to the violator; from the fact that the perfections of God required that his declared views of the evil of sin should be consistently carried out before the universe; from the fact that if the transgressor was released from the penalty of the law there would seem to be a total disregard of the law and its threatenings; from the fact that, if the sinner was admitted to the favour conferred on those who had not sinned, it would seem as if God was regardless of character and treated the good and the bad alike; and from the fact that such treatment would seem to set aside all the restraints of the law, and abolish all the boundaries between right and wrong, and destroy all the securities set up to secure the interests of justice. In the idea of the atonement it is supposed that these difficulties have been removed, and that God is in all respects now as free to bestow his favour on those for whom it was made as he is on those who have never violated his law. It is clear that this must be so if it be true that as much has been done by the substituted sufferings of the Redeemer to show regard for the law as would have been by the sufferings of the guilty themselves if they had borne the penalty. If all has been accomplished by those substituted sufferings which would have been accomplished had the penalty of the law been inflicted on the offenders, nothing can be plainer than that the guilty, so far as this point is concerned, may be released, or that pardon may properly be granted to them. If a debt has been paid, and all the ends of justice contemplated in the obligation to pay a debt are secured, the debtor is discharged of course; if another is willing to become security for the payment of the debt and will hold himself liable to it, and he to whom the debt is due is willing to accept the security, the debtor may in that instance also be discharged. In the atonement it is supposed that Christ has done as much to maintain the honour of the law as would have been done had it been personally obeyed by all who will be saved by him; that he has done as much to maintain that honour as would have been done had its penalty been literally borne by all for whom he died; that he has done as much to deter others from violating that law as would have been done by the infliction of the penalty on the offenders themselves; that he has done as much to show the sense entertained by God of the evil of sin as would have been done had the fearful consequences of sin come upon the guilty themselves. If all this was done, then it is clear that there would be no obstacle on the part of God to reconciliation with those who had violated the law. 2. The atonement removes the obstacles to recon ciliation on the part of man. Those obstacles do not arise from any reference in his conduct to the interests of the universe; but they arise solely from the love of sin and the unwillingness of man to be reconciled to his Maker. The object to be accomplished, so far as man is concerned, is to bring him to a willingness to be at peace with God and to accept of pardon and salvation on the terms proposed. The question is whether there can be introduced into the work of the atonement such an influence as will overcome the unwillingness of the sinner to be at peace with God. We have seen that in human administrations of law one great difficulty in the way of pardon is that there is no security for the reformation and future good conduct of him who is pardoned, but that, if an influence could be connected with the instrument of pardon which would. secure this, the difficulty would be removed. This is contemplated in the atonement. It is an essential idea in its nature that it will secure this effect,—that in the gift of a Saviour, in his character, in the manifestations of his love, and in his sufferings in behalf of others, there is that which will secure repentance and reformation on the part of the sinner. By the greatness of the sufferings of him who made it, the atonement is adapted to convince the sinner of the evil of those sins for which he died; by the manifestation of love, it is adapted to make an appeal to the gratitude of man; by the fact that those sufferings were endured in our behalf, it is fitted most deeply to appeal to the hearts of the guilty. We are always more deeply affected with the sufferings of the innocent than with the sufferings of the guilty. The guilty we feel ought to suffer, and our judgments approve of the punishment if it be not beyond the desert of the offender. The feeling of compassion is checked and bounded by the fact that what is endured is deserved. We are deeply affected by the sufferings of others if they are the consequences of our own offences. A young man might care very little about the calamities that would come upon himself as the consequence of a career of folly and dissipation, while he might be deeply affected at the suffering which he has brought upon a sister or a mother. When all else is ineffectual in recovering an intemperate man from his course of life,—when his own disgrace and suffering fail to lead him to reformation,—there is still one source of appeal that may be effectual. The sufferings of his wife and children may still be appealed to, with the hope that his heart may be touched with a sense of the calamities which he is bringing upon others, though insensible to the woes which he brings upon himself. So, also, in a penitentiary, as has been intimated before, there is no hope of the permanent reformation of an offender from the mere infliction of punishment. Probably a case has never occurred in which the darkness of a dungeon, severity of labour, starvation, chains and stripes, have melted the heart of an offender and brought him to repentance. So well is this now understood that the only hope of securing repentance and reformation in a prison is from a side-influence,—an influence that goes forth from sympathy and compassion; not from the turnkey, but from the heart of some Howard, who comes to show the prisoner that he has another purpose than that of riveting more closely his chains. It is not law that reforms: it is love, compassion, kindness. In accordance with this view, it is a fact that the reformation of the world has been accomplished, as far as it has been accomplished at all, not by judgment and wrath, but by the gospel of Christ. The great instrument in bringing men to repentance and securing their reformation has been the story of the Redeemer’s sufferings. Floods, flames, wars, earthquakes, the plague, the pestilence, have done little to reform the guilty. The human heart grows hard under the infliction of judgment; and though punishment may restrain the guilty and awaken them to reflection, it does not convince and convert. Crimes are multiplied even in the ragings of the pestilence, and men abandon themselves to licentiousness and to corruption when the plague is sweeping away its thousands of victims.* It has been, in fact, the manifestation of mercy that has been made the means of melting the hearts of men and of turning them to God. * Thus, Thucydides, in his celebrated description of the plague at Athens, says, "The plague was the origin of lawless conduct in the city to a greater extent [than it had before existed]. For deeds which formerly men hid from view, so as not to do them just as they pleased, they now more readily ventured on; since they saw the change so sudden in the case of those who were prosperous and quickly perished, and of those who before had had nothing and at once came into possession of the property of the dead. So they resolved to take their enjoyment quickly and with a sole view to gratification, regarding their lives and their riches alike as things of a day. As for taking trouble about what was thought honourable, no one was forward to do it,—deeming it uncertain whether before he had attained to it he would not bo cut off; but every thing that was immediately pleasant, and that which was conducive to it by any means whatever,—this was laid down to be both honourable and expedient. And fear of gods or law of men there was none to stop them; for with regard to the former they esteemed it all the same whether they worshipped them or not, from seeing all alike perishing; and with regard to their offences (against the latter) no one expected to live till judgment should be passed on him, and so to pay the penalty of them; but they thought a far heavier sentence was. impending in that which had already been passed upon them; and that before it fell on them it was right to have some enjoyment of life"—History of the Peloponnesian War, ii. 53. d. Reconciliation is in fact produced between God and man by the atonement. God becomes the friend of the pardoned sinner. He admits him to his favour and treats him as a friend. The sinner becomes the friend of God. He changes his view of the character of God; he submits to his arrangements; he no longer opposes his plans; he is pleased with his government and his laws. He loves him as he loves no other being. He lives to promote his glory. He loves what God approves, defends what he has stated to be true, advocates the plans which he has formed, vindicates the doctrine which he has revealed, trusts in trial to the promises which he has made, flies to him in times of trouble and sorrow, leans upon his arm in death, finds in the mortal agony his highest consolation in the belief that God is his friend, and expects to find felicity in the future world only in God. There is no friendship so strong, so sincere, so tender, so enduring, as that between God and the reconciled sinner; and no work ever undertaken is so complete as that by which the reconciliation of God and man has been sought. It survives all changes through which man passes here; it is confirmed in death, and will exist forever. (3.) The atonement may be an important means of sustaining the Divine government, and may thus have an important bearing on other worlds. This is a point, indeed, on which we cannot argue with much certainty; for it lies at present beyond the sphere of our observation. But there are some things which may render it not improbable that there may be bearings of the atonement on other worlds which are now very imperfectly understood by us, and which must be in a great measure hidden until we are admitted to the revelations of the future state. In such passages of Scripture as the following it seems to be implied that the work of the Redeemer may have an important bearing on other parts of the universe, and may furnish to other worlds an illustration of the character of God which could be obtained from no other source. "Which things the angels desire to look into." (1 Peter 1:12) "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of this mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3:9-11) "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell, and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." (Colossians 1:19-20) The same idea may be expressed also in Ephesians 1:10 :—"That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth." It is not to be supposed that we could fully comprehend all the bearings of the work of the atonement on other worlds, or the grounds of the interest which angelic beings are represented as taking in tho incarnation of the Son of God; but even with our imperfect and limited vision we can see that there must be important reasons why the inhabitants of other worlds should feel an iuterest in the redemption of a lost world. (a.) The revolt of a world is an event which must attract attention. Nothing gives more conspicuity than crime. A man before insignificant and unknown becomes at once exalted into notoriety by becoming a murderer; a commander of a vessel at sea who would have been otherwise undistinguished attracts the attention of nations by becoming a pirate; an officer in an army who would have been soon forgotten in performing the common duties of his station sends down his name to future times by becoming a traitor; a world that might have been undistinguished may become known to all the hosts of worlds by a revolt from the government of the Creator. The earth, therefore, though among the least of the worlds which God has made, may be among those most distinguished; for it is the theatre of revolt from the government of God, and is illustrating in scenes of sorrow the effect of a violation of the Divine laws. (b.) The question whether a race of rebels could be pardoned would be one that would be of interest to distant worlds. In illustration of this, we may assume the truth of the statement in the Bible that one other order of beings has fallen, and that the sentence of the broken law was executed upon them with no arrangements made for pardon. If we suppose that the fallen angels have been left in their state of rebellion with no provision made for their recovery; if we suppose that their revolt made it certain that they would never be restored to favour; if we suppose that there were no incipient and perceived arrangements made for their restoration; if we suppose that this had continued for a period which would constitute ages as we measure duration, and if we suppose that a new revolt, under their influence, should break out in a new world and under circumstances materially different from the former revolt, it would be too much to infer that the question about the pardon of revolted subjects of the Almighty was so definitely settled by the former revolt that it should awaken no interest in the yet unfallen ranks of beings before the throne of God. The inquiry could not but occur whether this race would be consigned also to punishment with no hope of remission, or whether some arrangement would be made to check and stay the evil and to prevent the consequences of the apostasy. And though the question would be one on which no light could be thrown from experience, yet it is not unreasonable to suppose that all the difficulties would occur in regard to the question of pardon which we have found actually to encompass it. To angelic beings the difficulties might be as much beyond their range of observation as they are beyond ours. What has surpassed all the wisdom of legislators and statesmen—the proper adjusting of the exercise of mercy with the claims of justice—might be also beyond the reach of angelic intellect. There is no reason to suppose that the device of an atonement would have occurred to them as a practicable arrangement; it could not be supposed that they would infer that even the Divine benevolence would suggest this. It might not be that any of the expressions of that benevolence before made would suggest or justify the inference that it would prompt to the exercise of mercy. From any thing that appears, the question of pardon would be as much above the comprehension of angelic beings as it has been above the practical adjustment of the most wise and benevolent of the legislators of earth. And yet the statements in the Bible which imply that they did feel an interest in the question are such as naturally follow from all the conceptions which we must form of the benevolence of unfallen beings. (c.) We may suppose that the inhabitants of other worlds may see in the atonement some development of the Divine character which could not be elsewhere Been. The reasons for this opinion are such as the following. 1. It is reasonable to suppose that the inhabitants of other worlds desire to become acquainted with the character and government of God; and it is equally reasonable to suppose that, in a great measure, they become acquainted with that character and government from what they see in his works. The universe seems to have been designed to convey to intelligent creatures a knowledge of God; and we have no reason to suppose that, as a great law, even unfallen beings can become acquainted with him except through his works. Those works, so vast and so varied, appear to be adapted to the eternal contemplation of created minds. It was a great problem so to create mind, and so to adapt the universe to it, that it might have employment forever,—that the works of God should be such that there would never come over any created intellect, however exalted, the feeling that the subject was exhausted; that there remained nothing of God to be learned; that there were no fields of unexplored inquiry and thought. 2. Each one of the worlds appears to have been so made as to furnish some peculiar view of God; to teach some lesson which could not be learned from any other world; to convey some truth about the Divine character which could be seen nowhere else. This seems to be manifest from the wonderful variety in the worlds which God has made,—the variety in their size, their motions, their appendages, their orbits. Even with our very imperfect knowledge of the subject, we can see that there would be things to learn of God on the planet Mars which could not be on the earth; on Jupiter, which could not be on Mars; on Saturn, which could not be on Jupiter; on the sun, which could not be on any of the planets; on double stars, which could not be on one solitary sun; on the distant nebulae, which could not be on the galaxy or milky way—the nebulae of which our solar system is a part. It is not improbable that on each of those worlds there may be a develops ment of some attribute of God of which we can now form no conception; some trait of character a knowledge of which could not now be conveyed to beings with our imperfect powers, though it might be to those of a higher order; and that even beyond all this, there may be depths in the Divine nature—an infinity of attributes and perfections— which even those higher orders of intelligences have now no powers to penetrate or comprehend,— as far above them as their knowledge is above us. 3. It is probable that what is to be learned from our world of the works and ways of God is to be in connection with the manifestation of his character in the salvation of the guilty; and perhaps this is to be learned in our world alone. The greatness, the majesty, the wisdom, the goodness of God may be" seen in other worlds in lessons far surpassing in impressiveness and grandeur those which can be learned from the earth. The angels do not need to come to our world to gain wisdom and knowledge on any of these subjects. The earth is not distinguished for its magnitude, for peculiar beauty, or for grandeur of movement, above other worlds. The dwellers in other worlds need not come down to us to learn lessons of grandeur from our hills and mountains, from our oceans or rivers, from our caves or cataracts. To those who have ranged from world to world amidst the works of God, there might not be any thing that would attract attention in the vast ocean, so sublime in the view of man; in the storm and tempest; in Mont Blanc or in Niagara. Still less would they be attracted by the monuments that man has reared; the works of art and power that so impress our minds; the Pyramid, the mausoleum, the triumphal arch, the monuments that have been raised to mark the place where sleep the illustrious dead. Hence, in the visits of angels to the earth, we are never told of their being attracted to Thebes or Palmyra, to the Pantheon or the Parthenon, to Marathon or Leuctra. We find them in the humble abode of Mary, and at Bethlehem; in the Garden of Gethsemane; at the grave of the Saviour; at Mount Olivet. Frequent as have been the visits of angels to our world, there is no evidence that they have been attracted to the Vatican or the Louvre, that they have felt the slightest interest in the Cartoons of Eaphael, the Last Judgment of Michael Angelo, or the sculptures of Canova. If it be asked, then, what angelic beings could be supposed to learn on earth which they could not learn in other worlds,—what gives to our world any distinction or peculiarity as illustrating the perfections of God,—our answer must be that this is to be found in the arrangements for the pardon of sin, in blending together in the work of redemption the attributes of justice and mercy. In no human government, as we have seen, have these attributes been blended. In no individual character on earth have they been perfectly combined. In no other world, so far as we know, have they been united. Angelic beings, therefore, could see in the work of redemption on earth a manifestation of the character of God more interesting by far, as we must suppose, than the exhibition of power and wisdom in the work of creation; and hence they were attracted to Bethlehem, to the Garden of Gethsemane, to the sepulchre where the Redeemer had lain, and to Mount Olivet; and hence they are attracted to every spot where a sinner weeps over his sins and seeks for pardon and salvation through the blood of the cross. There may be bearings of the atonement on other worlds which we cannot now understand; for as yet we see but little of the effect of the great work of the incarnation of the Son of God. It is possible that some of the highest developments of the effects of the atonement may yet be made on distant worlds. No one can demonstrate that the remark of Lord Bacon will not yet be found to be true:—" All things in time and eternity have respect to the Mediator, which is the great mystery and perfect centre of all God’s ways, and to which all his other works and’ wonders do but serve and refer." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: 3.08. CONFIRMATION OF THESE VIEWS OF THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT FROM THE BIBLE. ======================================================================== CHAPTER VIII. CONFIRMATION OF THESE VIEWS OF THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT FROM THE BIBLE. The essential points to be established from the Scriptures, as confirming the views which have been taken of the atonement in the previous chapters, are the following. I. That it is through Christ that- reconciliation is effected between God and man. II. That in accomplishing this he suffered and died as a substitute in the place of sinners. III. That not only was he himself a substitute, but that his sufferings were substituted sufferings, and not the literal penalty of the law. TV. That this substitution consisted essentially in his blood; that is, in the sacrifice of his life. V. That the avails of his sufferings may become ours in such a sense that they may be a proper ground of our salvation; that is, a public and sufficient reason why God should treat sinners as if they were righteous. If these points are made out from the Scriptures, then it is clear that that has been accomplished which it was necessary should be accomplished in the salvation of man, and that the difficulties are met which so much embarrass human governments on the subject of pardon. I. The first point is that it is through Christ that reconciliation is effected between God and man. A few passages of the New Testament will put this point beyond dispute. Romans 5:10-11 : "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God, through our Lord. Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." (Marg. reconciliation.) The same Greek word occurs in various forms in each of these passages. The verb (Romans 5:10)—xara).Xdaaco—means, property, "to change against any thing; to exchange for, e.g. money." Then to change a person towards another, from enmity to friendship; to reconcile to any one. (Bob. Lex.) The noun (Romans 5:11)—xatailayrj—corresponds, of course, with this signification, and denotes a change from enmity to friendship. The verb occurs only in the following places in the New Testament:— Romans 5:10, ’we were reconciled to God;’ ’being reconciled;’ 1 Corinthians 7:11, ’Let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to [her] husband;’ 2 Corinthians 5:18, ’Of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ;’ 2 Corinthians 5:19, ’reconciling the world unto himself;’ 2 Corinthians 5:20, ’Be ye reconciled to God.’ The noun occurs only in the following places:— Romans 5:11, * by whom we have received the atonement;’ Romans 11:15, ’the reconciling of the world;’ 2 Corinthians 5:18, ’the ministry of reconciliation;’ 2 Corinthians 5:18, ’the word of reconciliation.’ In 1 Corinthians 7:11, ’let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband,’—which is the only instance where the word occurs in the New Testament except as connected with the atonement, and which may therefore be used to illustrate the meaning of the word when applied to the atonement,—there can be no doubt as to its meaning. It refers to a case where a woman had ’ departed’ from her husband; that is, where there had been a separation. That separation had been wholly her act. The change, therefore, was to be on her part; and the effect was to be reunion, or reconciliation, with her husband. The existing state was one of separation; the thing to be effected was reunion: the means in the case was to be a change in herself. The point reached was a reunion where there had been an alienation or estrangement. The proper use of the word in reference to man is to express the same idea in his relation to God. The point supposed is that of alienation or estrangement. The point to be effected is a reunion with God. The change, so far as indicated by the word, is to be in one of the parties,—in this case in man,—thus differing from another Greek word,—diaXdaom,—which properly implies mutual change. (Tittm. de Syn. N". T., p. 101, seq., as quoted by Robinson, Lex.) The means, or medium, of the reconciliation or the reunion of God and man is expressly declared to be the Lord Jesus Christ, ’by whom we have now received the reconciliation] (Romans 5:11)—which is the very point to be made out. The same idea occurs in the passages in 2 Corinthians 5:1-21. Thus, in 2 Corinthians 5:18, it is said, "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ." The statement here is explicit as to the point now under consideration— that a reconciliation is effected between God and man, and that this is accomplished by Jesus Christ. The same idea is repeated in 2 Corinthians 5:19 of the same chapter:—" God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself." That is, God, by the agency of Christ, was reconciling the world unto himself. And the same idea is implied in 2 Corinthians 5:20 of the same chapter:—" As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God." That is, as ambassadors of Christ, they (the apostles) plead with men that they would be reconciled to God. They came in his name. They occupied, by appointment, his place. They did what he would do if he were personally addressing them. In other words, God was the great agent by whom this reconciliation was to be effected, and the apostles were merely his ambassadors in carrying out the great work intrusted to them. The meaning of these passages cannot be mistaken. In all of them it is implied (a) that there was an alienation between man and God; (b) that there were obstacles to be overcome before a reconciliation could be secured; and (c) that these obstacles were in fact overcome, and the reconciliation secured, by the intervention and work of the Redeemer. As it is impossible to convey the idea that it is by means of Christ that reconciliation is effected between God and man, in any plainer language than that which occurs in these passages, the point may be regarded as demonstrated. II. The second point is, that, in securing this reconciliation, Christ was properly a substitute in the place of sinners. A ’substitute’ is "one person put in the place of another to answer the same purpose."— Webster. The idea is, that the person substituted is to do or suffer the same thing which the person for whom he is substituted would have done. An agent, an attorney, or a representative, is to act for the person for whom he is substituted as the person himself would have done in the case. A nation is threatened with invasion. The inhabitants of a certain district are assembled, and a ’draft’ is made of a certain proportion to constitute a military force to repel the invader. When one is drawn to serve in the army, instead of going himself, he is permitted to employ, at his own expense, another, who shall be equally able-bodied and equally skilled in the ’art of war.’ He who is thus voluntarily substituted in the place of him that was drafted to perform the service goes forth in his stead, to do what he was to do, to suffer what he would have suffered, to encounter the danger which he would have encountered. If he experiences cold and hunger in the service, it is in the place of what he on whom the lot fell would have suffered; if hedies on the field of battle, it is in his stead; if he renders any service in repelling the foe or in establishing the liberties of his country, it is in his place; if he is crowned with the rewards due to a victor, he wears the garland which the man in whose place he was substituted would have worn. So, in the plan of atonement, it is supposed that the Lord Jesus Christ took the place of sinners. He died that they might not die. He placed himself between them and the sword of justice; he received in his own person, as far as could be done, what was due to them; and he thus saved them from experiencing in the world of despair what was due to their sins. He effected so much by his voluntary sufferings that it was not necessary, by any demands of justice, to inflict the penalty of the law on those for whom he died. Two passages of Scripture will illustrate what is meant by substitution, though they are not here adduced as proof that Christ died in the place of sinners. One occurs in John xi. 49, 50: "And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high-priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not." The idea of Caiaphas is not that Jesus would die as a sacrifice for sin, but that his death would avert the ruin of the nation; that, unless he was thus put to death, the Romans would come and take away their place and nation. In what way he supposed that this would avert such a calamity, it is not necessary now to inquire. The idea is simply that his death would in some way be instead of the ruin of the nation. Perhaps he meant that by thus giving him up to death they would show their zeal for the suppression of every thing that seemed to endanger the Roman power, and that, if this was not shown in a case like this, the Romans would suppose that they were disposed to encourage a spirit of insubordination and revolt, and would come and inflict summary vengeance on them. The other passage occurs in Isaiah xliii. 3, 4: "lam the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore I will give men for thee, and people for thy life." The idea here is, that the Egyptians were regarded as having been given up to destruction instead of the Hebrews. Either the Jewish or the Egyptian people must perish; and God chose that Egypt, though so much more mighty, should be reduced to desolation in order to deliver the Hebrew people. They were destroyed instead of the Hebrews, and in order that they might be delivered from bondage. On the same principle it is said, in verse 4, that God would continue to do this. His people were so precious in his sight that he says,’ I will,’ if necessary, ’give men,’ that is, the men of other nations, ’for thee, and people,’ that is, the people of other lands, ’for thy life.’ He would not see his own people ruined; and if the case should occur that one or the other must perish, he wrould deliver up the people of other lands to ruin rather than his own people. This is referred to now, not as having any reference to the atonement, but as an illustration of it. The regular course of things would have been that the Hebrews would have been crushed and destroyed. But God chose that it should be otherwise, and preferred that the calamity should come upon the Egyptians. In the case of redemption, ruin was coming upon the race of man. It was certain that unless there was some substitution the race would perish. Sufferings indescribable and awful—sufferings that would express the Divine sense of the value of law and of the evil of a violation of that law—must come either upon the offenders themselves, or upon some one who should take their place; and God chose that those sufferings should come upon the Redeemer rather than upon the guilty. Thus they might be saved, and at the same time there might be an expression of the Divine sense of the value of law and of the evil of a violation of that law, as clear and as impressive as though the guilty had themselves borne the full penalty of the law. That this is the doctrine of the Scriptures will be apparent from the passages now to be quoted. One of the words which properly denote in place of, or instead of, in the sense of substitution, is the Greek dvzi, (anti.) That this word denotes substitution, or in the place of, is apparent from these passages:— Matthew 2:22 : "In the room [ivri] of his father Herod." Matthew 5:38 : "An eye for \Avxt] an eye, and a tooth for [dvr/] a tooth." Luke 11:11 : "If he ask a fish, will he for [dvr/] a fish give him a serpent?" James 4:15 : uFor [dure] that," that is, instead of that, "ye ought to say." Yet this word is used by the Redeemer in explaining the object for which he came into the world:— Matthew 20:28 : "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for [dvr«] many;" that is, his life was a ransom—Xurpov—in the place of the many. There is no word in the Greek language which would more naturally convey the idea of a substitution than this. There is none which a writer intending to express the thought that one did any thing in the place of another, would more naturally employ. It may be added that, if it was not the purpose of the Saviour to convey this idea, it is difficult to account for the fact that a word should have been used which would be so likely to deceive the world as to the true intent and object of his coming. Beyond all doubt, he used a word in the language which he employed (probably the Syro-Chaldaic) whose natural and proper signification would be expressed by the Greek word avz’t, (anti,) instead of, in the place of. Another Greek word which conveys the same idea of substitution is brtip, (hyper.) The word conveys the general idea of protection, care, benefit, favour, for, in behalf of, for the sake of; properly, as if bending over (brJp) a person or thing, and thus warding off what might fall upon it and harm it. (Rob. Lex.) Hence it comes to be used after words which imply the suffering of evil or death for, or in behalf of, any one; and it is in this sense that it is employed in reference to the death of Christ. The general sense of doing any thing in behalf of, for the sake of, may be seen in the following passages:— John 17:19; Acts 21:26; 2 Corinthians 3:8; Colossians 1:7, Colossians 4:12; Hebrews 6:20, Hebrews 13:17. The particular idea as applicable to the work of the Redeemer, in the sense that his death was in behalf of or for us,—that is, was so substituted as to avert the curse that was descending on us,—may be seen in the following passages:— Luke 22:19 : " This is my body which is given for [pnep] you." Luke 22:20 : "This cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for [pTrep] you." John 6:51 : "The bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for [pnep"\ the life of the world." John 10:11 : "The good shepherd giveth his life for [fee/?] the sheep." John 10:15 : "I lay down my life for [fee/?] the sheep." John 15:13 : "Greater love hath Do man than this, that a man lay down his life for [fee/?] his friends." Still more explicitly the idea occurs in the following language:— "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for [fee/?] thJe ungodly." Romans 5:6. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for [fee/?] us." Romans 5:8. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for [fee/?] us all." Romans 8:32. "Destroy not him with thy meat for [fee/?] whom Christ died." Romans 14:15. So also in 1 Corinthians 1:13 : "Was Paul crucified/or [fee/?] you?" 1 Corinthians 5:7 : "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for [fee/?] us." 1 Corinthians 15:3 : "I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for [fee/?] our sins." 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 : "We thus judge that if one died for [fee/?] all, then were all dead; and that he died for [fee/?] all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died/or [fee/?] them and rose again." 2 Corinthians 5:21 : "He hath made him to be sin for [fee/?] us, who knew no sin." Galatians 1:4 : "Who gave himself for [fee/?] our sins." Galatians 2:20 : "Who gave himself for [fee/?] me." Galatians 3:13 : "Being made a curse for [fee/?] us." Ephesians 5:2 : "Christ hath loved us, and given himself for [fee/?] us." Ephesians 5:25 : "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for [fee1/?] it." 1 Thessalonians 5:10 : "Who died for [fee>] us." 1 Timothy 2:6 : "Who gave himself a ransom for [fee/)] all." Titus 2:14 : "Who gave himself for [fee/?] us." Hebrews 2:9 : "That he by the grace of God should taste death for [pTtip] every man." 1 Peter 2:21 : "Because Christ also suffered for [p7tip] us." 1 Peter 3:18 : "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for [pr£p] the unjust." 1 Peter 4:1 : "Forasmuch, then, as Christ hath suffered for [pn&p] us in the flesh." 1 John 3:16 : "Because he laid down his life for [pxep] us." These passages undoubtedly express the idea of substitution. The language is such as a Greek would use if he xuished to convey that idea. He could find no better terms in his own copious language to express that thought; and if this language" does not convey the idea, then it is impossible to express so plain a thought in human language. Those who believe the doctrine of substitution, or the doctrine that Christ died in the place of sinners, have no plainer words by which to express their belief than those which are employed in these passages of the New Testament; and why should it not be supposed that language in the Bible equally explicit and apparently unambiguous—language which men’now themselves employ as best adapted to convey their meaning—should express, as it seems to, the same idea? Is it impossible for God to convey so plain a thought to mankind as that He whom he sent into the world died as a substitute for sinners, or that his death was in their stead? And, if he meant to do this, could even he find human language which would convey the doctrine more clearly? And would he employ language commonly used to denote the idea of substitution, unless that was the true doctrine? Would he use language which would deceive the great mass of those for whom the Bible was given? Could we honour a God who would do this? and could we have faith in a book claiming to be a revelation where language was thus employed? III. The third point necessary to be established is, that the sufferings of the Redeemer were substituted sufferings, or that they were not the real and literal penalty of the law. This differs from the point which has just been considered. That was, that he himself was a substitute, or that he took the place of sinners and died in their stead; that is, it was not the person who had violated the law who suffered, but another in his place. The point now to be established is, that the sufferings themselves were substituted sufferings, or that they were not the real and literal penalty of the law, but were in the place of that penalty and were designed to answer the same end. In a previous chapter I have endeavoured to show that it does not enter into a just view of the atonement that he who made it should endure the same sufferings as the guilty for whom he died, or that he*should bear the same amount of suffering; or, in other words, that he should endure the literal penalty of the law. The question was then argued on general grounds, without any particular reference to the Scriptures. The inquiry now is, whether the Bible teaches that Christ endured the real and literal penalty of the law, or whether the doctrine of the Bible is that his sufferings were substituted sufferings, as well as that he himself was a substituted person. This question I shall endeavour to answer by showing, first, that in the treatment of the Redeemer, God regarded him as righteous and declared him to be righteous; second, that the statements in the Bible do not imply that he endured the penalty of the law; and, third, that the doctrine of the Bible is that his sufferings were substituted sufferings. (1.) In the Divine treatment of the Redeemer, God regarded him as righteous and declared him to be righteous. There is no intimation that he was in any sense, either personally or by implication, regarded as undeserving or sinful; that, on any account, he deserved the sufferings which came upon him; that any affliction came upon him which, by a fair interpretation, could be construed as implying that he was not at that very moment the object in the highest degree of the Divine favour. In other words, he is never spoken of as in any sense of the term guilty; nor was there any act of God towards him which was not susceptible of an explanation on the supposition that he was perfectly holy and was at that moment the object of God’s highest love. This point is so plain in the New Testament that it is scarcely necessary to attempt to demonstrate it; but it is important to remark how carefully it is stated, and how constantly the idea is held up to the mind, as if it was supposed that at some time in the future history of the Church, a view of the atonement would be held which would be based on the idea that the Redeemer so took the sins of men upon him that it would be right to speak of him as guilty, or that such views of the imputation of sin would be held that the fair interpretation of those views would be that there was a transfer of guilt to him, and that it would be proper to speak of him as a ’sinner,’—as suffering ’justly,’—as so exactly in the place of sinners that he could properly be spoken of in the same language which would be applied to them. Such language has been used, and such views have been entertained; and it was apparently in anticipation of the fact that such views would be held and such language employed that so much care was taken so to state the fact of his perfect innocence that the best security should be provided against such an abuse of the doctrine of the atonement. As an illustration of the views which it was foreseen would be held, and as showing the propriety of the Divine caution on the subject, the following language of the great Reformer, Luther, may be referred to. Nothing but the importance of the point now before us will justify me even in placing this language before the eyes of my readers. "And this," says Luther,* "no doubt all the prophets did foresee in spirit,—that Christ should become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, blasphemer, That Ever Was Or Could Be In The World. For he, being made a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, is not now an innocent person and without sius; is not now the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary; but a sinner which hath and carrieth the sin of Paul, who was a blasphemer, an oppressor, and a persecutor; of Peter, which denied Christ; of David, which was an adulterer, a murderer, and caused the Gentiles to blaspheme the name of the Lord; and, briefly, which hath and beareth all the sins of all men in his body: not that he himself committed them, but for that he received them, being committed or done of us, and laid them upon his own body, that he might make satisfaction for them with his own blood. Therefore, this general sentence of Moses comprehendeth him also, (albeit in his own person he was innocent,) because it found him amongst sinners and transgressors; like as the magistrate taketh him for a thief, and punisheth him, whom he findeth among other thieves and transgressors, though he never committed any thing worthy of death. "When the law, therefore, found him among thieves, it condemned and killed him as a thief." "If thou wilt deny him to be a sinner and accursed, deny also that he was crucified and was dead." "But if it be not absurd to confess and believe that Christ was crucified between two thieves, then it is not absurd to say that he was * Com. on the Epistle to the Galatians, ch. iii. 13, pp. 213-215. Ed. London, 1838. ACCURSED, AND OF ALL SINNERS THE GREATEST." "God, our most merciful Father, sent his only Son into the world, and laid upon him all the sins of all men, saying, Be thou Peter, that denier; Paul, that persecutor, blasphemer, and cruel oppressor; David, that adulterer; that sinner which did eat the apple in Paradise; that thief which hanged upon the cross; and, briefly, be thou the person which hath committed all the sins of all men. See, therefore, that thou pay and satisfy for them."* On this point, however, the teachings of the New Testament are plain and unequivocal. 1 Peter 2:22 : "Who did no sin; neither was guile found in. his mouth." Hebrews 4:15 : "But was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 7:26 : "Who is hoty, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." 1 Peter 3:18 : "For Christ also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust." Isaiah 53:9 : "Because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." Isaiah 53:11 : "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many." Matthew 2:17 : "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,"—eudoxyow,—where the form of the word (the aorist) shows that the affirmation that God was ’well pleased’ with him had no reference to any particular time, but pertained to all times. He was always well pleased with him. * The underscoring is mine. In the nature of the case, also, it cannot be doubted that the character of Christ was always well pleasing to God. In his undertaking the work of redemption; in his manifested character on earth; in his teachings; in the spirit with which he bore his trials; in his readiness to meet death, and in the manner in which he actually met it; in the offers of salvation which he made to mankind on the ground of the sacrifice which he made for human guilt, no one who believes in the Saviour at all can doubt that he was in all respects pleasing to God. Whatever were the sufferings which were brought upon him, they were not of the nature of punishment for his own offences; whatever was the reason why he was left to darkness and gloom on the cross, it was not because he had incurred for himself the wrath of . God. In the very midst of those sufferings he was performing a work which, of all the works ever performed on the earth, was most acceptable to a pure and holy God. (2.) The fair teachings of the Bible do not imply that he endured the penalty of the law. If an attempt were made to show that he did endure the literal penalty of the law, reliance would be placed on such texts as the following:— Isaiah 53:1-12 : "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." 2 Corinthians 5:21 : "For he hath made him to be sin for us." Galatians 3:13 : "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." 1 Peter 2:24 : "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." Isaiah 53:12 : "He bare the sin of many." These passages are so far similar that the same general remarks may be made in regard to them all. That they prove that Christ died for the sins of men; that he took the place of sinners; that his death was a sacrifice; that he made a true atonement for human guilt, are points fully established by them: at least, between those who hold the doctrine defended in this treatise, and those who maintain that Christ endured the literal penalty of the law, there will be, in these respects, no difference of opinion. In respect, however, to the question whether they teach that he endured the literal penalty of the law, the following observations may be made. (a) They are fairly susceptible of an interpretation in accordance with the belief that he did not endure the literal penalty of the law. It is incumbent on those who hold that he did endure the literal penalty of the law to show, not merely that these passages might be so construed as to teach that doctrine, but that they are susceptible of no other interpretation. If they taught that there was a transfer of moral character or of guilt in the proper sense of the term, or if that doctrine was fairly proved by any other passages of the Bible, then it would be necessary to admit that this would be the fair interpretation of these passages. The question is, whether they necessarily imply this. A few remarks on these passages will show that this interpretation is not required, but that they are susceptible of another explanation. The passage in 2 Corinthians 5:21 —" he hath made him to be sin for us"—cannot be intended to be literally true. Even those who maintain that he endured the penalty of the law cannot hold, and do not profess to hold, that it was literally true that he was made to be sin. In no proper sense can it be true that he was made to be a sinner; for this would be contrary to the teaching of the passages just quoted, that he ’knew no sin,’ that he was ’holy, harmless, undefined, and separate from sinners,’ and that he ’died the just for the unjust.’ We must therefore look for some other interpretation than the literal one; and that is found in the doctrine that the word here rendered sin, in accordance with Hebrew usage, is employed in the sense of sin-offering. Compare Hosea 4:8; Ezekiel 43:22, Ezekiel 43:25, Ezekiel 44:29, Ezekiel 45:22-23, Ezekiel 45:25; Leviticus 6:18, Leviticus 6:23. A similar passage occurs in Galatians 3:13 : "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." The word here used, and rendered curse,—xaxdpa,—means properly, as with ns, cursing, malediction, execration, a devoting or dooming to destruction. It occurs in the New Testament in the following places:— Colossians 3:10, Colossians 3:13, rendered curse; Hebrews 6:8, James 3:10, rendered cursing; and 2 Peter 2:14, rendered cursed. It conveys the idea of being given over to destruction, or left without those influences which would protect and save,—as a land that is given over to the curse of sterility or barrenness. Applied to a lost sinner, it would mean that all saving influences were withdrawn and that he was given over to the malediction of God. But what is its meaning as applied to the Eedeemer in the passage now before us? (a.) It cannot mean that he was made a curse in the sense that his work and character were displeasing to God; for, as we have seen, just the contrary doctrine is everywhere taught in the New Testament. (b.) It cannot mean that he was the object of the Divine displeasure, and was therefore abandoned by him to deserved destruction, (c.) It cannot be employed as denoting that he was in any sense ill deserving or blameworthy; for this is equally contrary to the teachings of the Bible, (d.) It cannot mean that he was guilty in the usual and proper meaning of the word, and that therefore he was punished; for this would not be true, (e.) It cannot mean that he boro the literal penalty of the law; for, as we have seen, there are parts of that penalty—remorse of conscience, and eternity of suffering—which he did not, and could not, bear. (/.) It cannot mean that he was sinful, or a sinner, in any sense; for this is equally contrary to all the teachings of the Bible in regard to his character, (g.) There is but one other conceivable meaning that can be attached to the passage, and that is that, though innocent, he was treated in his death As If he had been guilty; that is, he was put to death As If he had personally deserved it. That this is the meaning is implied in the explanation which the apostle himself gives of his own language:—" being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." He was suspended on a cross, as if he had been a malefactor. He was numbered with malefactors; he was crucified between them; he was given up by God and man to death as if he had himself been such a malefactor. In other words, he was put to death in the same manner as he would have been if he had been personally guilty of the violation of the law. Had he been a thief or murderer, had he committed the grossest and blackest crimes, this would have been the punishment to which he would have been subjected. He consented to die in the same manner as the vilest malefactor, in order that by his substituted sorrows he might save those who were personally guilty. The idea which makes the atonement so wonderful—the idea which makes it an atonement at all—is, that innocence was treated as if it were guilt; that the most pure and holy and benevolent being on earth was treated As If he had been the most vile and ill deserving. As the ideas above referred to exhaust all the conceivable meanings of the passage before us, the demonstration seems to be complete that it cannot mean that the Redeemer was made a literal curse, or that he endured the literal penalty of the law. (b.) Those passages are not only susceptible of another interpretation than that Christ endured the penalty of the law, but they must have such an interpretation. 1. If this were not so, then it would be proper to speak of Christ, as Luther did, as a ’sinner’ and as the ’greatest of sinners.’ If the passages teach that he was made literally ’sin,’ that he was made literally a ’curse,’ that he literally bore the ’iniquity’ of men, then the language of Luther was proper language, for the views which he expressed are but the fair application of such an interpretation. For if he was ’sin,’ and a ’curse,’ and ’bore iniquity’ in a literal sense, then no reason can be given why the language which properly denotes those who are sinners should not be applied to him as was done by Luther. In fact, Luther, from his boldness and consistency, did what others holding the same views are afraid to do. He shrank from nothing: nothing in danger; nothing in regard to his own reputation; nothing in the terms which he applied to others who differed from him; and nothing in the words to be employed in expressing what he believed to be the true teaching of the word of God. That men holding the views of a literal imputation of sin to the Redeemer, and the doctrine that he endured the literal penalty of the law, do not now use that language, is to be traced to the heart, and not to the head,—to their feelings, and not to their logic. Their piety revolts at the conclusions to which they would fairly be conducted by their premises. Luther’s did not. 2. It would follow, if these passages were not susceptible of such an interpretation as that above suggested, that there was a real transfer of sin to the Redeemer. If it was literally true that he was made ’sin,’ that he was a ’curse’ for us, that he bore ’iniquity,’ then it would follow that there was a transfer of criminality to him,—that he became so identified with sinners for whom he died that he was properly and justly regarded as a sinner. It would follow that he was not treated as if he had been a sinner, but that to all intents and purposes he was regarded and treated As a sinner, or as deserving all that came upon him. It is not easy to see how this conclusion could be avoided, or how we could escape the absurdity of holding in words—what no man can really believe in fact—that a transfer of moral character actually took place. 3. It would follow, further, that those for whom he died could not themselves be held and regarded as guilty. If there has been a transfer of their guilt, it is no longer their own, and they cannot be responsible. Two persons cannot be held responsible for the same offence. If a debt has been paid by a friend, it cannot be demanded of him who originally contracted it. If one could be substituted in the place of another in a penitentiary, and serve out the term of punishment assigned to the original offender, the offender could not be again imprisoned for the crime. If a man who is ’drafted’ for military service procures a substitute who is accepted, he cannot be made to serve if the substitute dies of disease or is killed in battle. And so, if Christ was literally made ’sin’ and a ’curse;’ if he took literally upon himself the sins of men and paid the penalty of the law; if there was a real transfer of the whole matter to him, then it would follow that those whose place he took could no longer be held to be guilty. 4. "With equal clearness it would follow that they could not be required to repent of the sin which they bad committed. If the whole matter is transferred and cancelled, then it is clear that there can be no reason why they should repent, or, indeed, why there should be any repentance in the ease. Repentance is not a thing required hy law, for no law makes provision for it; and if all the penalty due to the sin has been borne, then there is no occasion for it and there would be no propriety in it. At all events, if there was a necessity for repentance in any view of the matter, the demand would be on the substitute, since he has undertaken to meet all the demands of justice in the case. 5. It would follow that he who became the substitute for the sins of men must be conscious of guilt himself and feel the remorse that springs from crime. Remorse and consciousness of guilt go with guilt itself, and are indissolubly connected with it; and if there has been a transfer of guilt, then there must also be a transfer of the consciousness of guilt and of the feeling of remorse, for these are parts of the penalty of the law. 6. On the whole, therefore, according to this view, there would be utter confusion in all our notions of justice and of right. Every thing would be unsettled. All that has been regarded as fixed and determined in the minds of men in respect to the impossibility of transferring moral character; to the language properly applicable to guilt and innocence; to the connection between a personal offence and repentance; between guilt and the consciousness of guilt, and between guilt and remorse, would be utterly confounded. All the lines which God, in our very nature, has drawn between guilt and innocence, and which are so essential in the administration of justice, would be obliterated; and, if these principles were universally adopted, all government in a family, in a state, or in the universe at large, would come to an end; for a just government cannot be administered except it be an admitted principle that moral character cannot be transferred; that ill desert cannot be made over to another; that repentance can be properly required only of the offender himself; and that an appeal may be made to the consciousness of guilt and to the inflictions of remorse, in recovering offenders and inducing them to obey law. IV. This substitution consisted essentially in the blood of the Redeemer; that is, in the sacrifice of his life. (1.) The doctrine of the New Testament on this point is unequivocal. Luke 22:20 : "This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you." Colossians 1:20 : "Having made peace through the blood of his cross." Hebrews 9:12 : "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Hebrews 10:19 : "Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." 1 Peter 1:2 : "Elect . . . unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 1 John 1:7 : "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Revelation 5:9 : "Thou hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood." Revelation 7:14 : "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white [pure] in the blood of the Lamb." Ephesians 2:13 : "Ye, who sometime were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." 1 Peter 1:18-19 : "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ." Acts 20:28 : "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Romans 3:25 : "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." Ephesians 1:7 : "We have redemption through his blood." See also Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 13:12; Matthew 14:24. (2.) The doctrine of the Hebrews was, that the blood is the seat of life, or that the life is in the blood; and hence to shed blood became synonymous with taking life. Genesis 9:6 : "Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Leviticus 17:11 : "The life of the flesh is in the blood." Genesis 9:4 : "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." Compare also Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:23; 1 Samuel 14:34. This was also the opinion of the ancient Parsees and Hindoos. Homer also often speaks of blood as the seat of life, as in the expression Ttopipupsoz ddvaroc, or purple death. And Virgil thus speaks of purple life:— "Purpuream vomit ille animam."—JEneid, ix. 349. Empedocles and Critias, among the Greek philosophers, also embraced this opinion. Not a few, also, among the most eminent modern physiologists have embraced the same doctrine. Harvey—to whom we are indebted for a knowledge of the true doctrine of the circulation of the blood—fully believed it. Hoffman and Huxham believed it. Dr. John Hunter fully adopted the belief, and sustained it by a great variety of considerations. (See Good’s Book of Nature, pp. 102-108, ed. New York, 1828.) This was undoubtedly the doctrine of the Hebrews; and hence with them "to shed blood" was a phrase signifying to kill. Hence the efficacy of sacrifices was supposed to consist in the blood—that is, in the life—of the victim. (3.) It followed from this view, that the Hebrews spoke indifferently of shedding blood or taking life. Hence in the New Testament our redemption is indifferently said to be by the blood of the Redeemer shed for us, or by his life given for us. 1 John 3:16 : "Hereby perceive we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us." John 10:15 : "I lay down my life for the sheep." Matthew 20:28 : "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." John 10:11 : "The good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." The plain doctrine of the New Testament, therefore, is, that the blood of Christ—that is, that the giving of his life—was the means of making the atonement, or of securing reconciliation between man and his Maker. In other words, his life was regarded as a sacrifice in the place of sinners, by means of which the penalty of the law which man had incurred might be averted from him. The voluntary death of the Redeemer in the place of mau had such an efficacy that man, on account of that, might be saved from the punishment which he had deserved, and treated as if he had not sinned. This is the doctrine of the atonement. V. The other point to be illustrated, in order to the completeness of the argument, is, that the avails of the suffering and death of the Redeemer may become ours, or may be the proper ground of our salvation; that is, they may constitute a public and sufficient reason why God should treat a sinner as if he were righteous. In illustration and proof of this, the following remarks may be made. (1.) Nothing is more common than that one may so avail himself of what another has suffered or done as to secure the same result as if he had himself done or suffered it. That is, on account of the merit of another, or the claim to public confidence or gratitude of another, he may be treated as if that merit and that claim were his own. By natural or constituted relationship, or by express permission, or by the regular course of events under the laws of Divine Providence, we are .placed on an elevation as favourable as if we had ourselves been the actors or sufferers, or as if the claim to confidence and gratitude were the fruit of our own virtues or public services. There is, indeed, in such a case no transfer of moral character. There is no confounding of identity. There is no annihilation of individuality. There is no actual detaching the real merit, the real credit, from one, and attributing it to another. There is no mistake in supposing for a moment that the merit is ours, and there is no injustice in so confounding persons and facts as to withhold the real praise from him to whom it is due. There is merely a position gained,—an advantage realized,—a treatment secured,—as if the merit were ours, or as if the service had been rendered by us. A young man commences business. He has, as yet, no capital of his own, no public character, no credit. But he has a father or a friend who has a name, and who has the deserved confidence of the community. As an eminent merchant, he has secured that confidence by a long life of integrity. He is known to be a sufficient security for any amount of capital that the young man may need, and the young man is permitted to use his name in procuring that capital from a bank; and, in addition to this, he enters on life with the warm and full commendation of his father or friend. In this case, the reputation, the character, the standing, of him whose name he is permitted to use, become available to him in the outset of life in the same manner and to the same extent as if they were his own. It is true that he may forfeit this confidence by misconduct, and just as true is it that he might do this if it were founded on his own character; but until such an act occurs he may avail himself of the name of another as if this claim to confidence were his own. From this well-understood law society derives many advantages. The arrangement binds a community together. It aids those who are starting on life. It gives increased value to a character for integrity that it may thus be made available for the good of others. It multiplies and diffuses the benefits of a well-earned reputation, and furnishes a stimulus for securing such a reputation. But for this, it would be difficult to start on life; but for this, it would be impossible to conduct the affairs of business with safety. The principle lies at the foundation of all the commercial transactions of the world, and is one that would be found to enter into nearly all the arrangements of life. And this is as true of the effect of suffering as it is of integrity and virtue. We avail ourselves of the benefit of the sufferings of others as if those sufferings had been our own. At every moment of our lives we are enjoying the avails of the sacrifices and self-denials of those who have gone before, as really, aud, so far as appears, to the same extent, as if they had been our own. This is true in regard to the privations, perils, and toils of patriots. We enjoy the avails of those privations, perils, and toils as really as if they had been our own, and as really as the patriots who bled would have done had their lives been lengthened out to our times. Except in the honour of the achievements, in the fame which is the result of their personal valour, in the grateful remembrance which they now receive for their services to their country, it does not appear that they would have enjoyed any more advantages from their valour and their triumphs than we do. Their deeds are not, indeed, imputed to us. They are never reckoned as in any sense ours. There is no transfer of character or of honour. There is no confounding of identity. There is no confusion in the estimate which is formed in regard to meritorious services. But in respect to the results we are regarded and treated as if all that valour, self-sacrifice, peril, and skill in battle had been ours. The same thing is also true in respect to the sufferings of martyrs. We enjoy the avails of all those sufferings as though they had been our own. It is true that we have not been laid on the rack; that we have not been imprisoned, scourged, stoned; that we have not.been bound to a stake or stretched on a cross; that we have not been thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheatre; and it is true also that in the estimate of moral character and real worth there is no confusion of character, no transfer of moral worth; but in regard to all that is valuable in the religion for which they suffered, we enjoy the avails of their sufferings as really as they would themselves have done had their lives been prolonged to the present hour. It is impossible to conceive how the martyrs themselves could have enjoyed it more in this respect than we are permitted to do; or how, if we had been ourselves the sufferers, we could have been more benefited than we are now. The principle, therefore, that we may avail ourselves of the sufferings and trials of others for our own benefit, or may be treated as if those sufferings and trials were our own, enters into the very structure of all social life. It is difficult to see why, under a law that is so universal in reference to our fellowmen, it may not also be a principle in the Divine administration in reference to the toils and sufferings of the Redeemer. (2.) The principle of’ supererogation,’ or of doing more than is required by the exact demands of law, and, therefore, of doing that which may be made available to others, is one that undoubtedly enters into all just notions of the atonement; and it is proper to inquire whether this is a principle that is found anywhere in human society or in the arrangements of Providence. It cannot be doubted that it is an elementary idea in the work of Christ that his whole work was voluntary; that what he did was done wholly on the account of others; that he was not himself bound, by any claims of law or justice, to undertake the work which he performed, or to endure the sorrows connected with it; and that, therefore, the avails of his work may become the ground of acceptance of those who have no merit of their own, and who are unable to repair the evils of a violated law. It is implied in the work of the atonement that the Redeemer could do, and did do, more than was demanded of him by any claim of law or justice; and that the avails of what he did may and do become ours. The inquiry now is, whether this principle is one that is admissible, and whether the Scriptures teach that this is a recognised principle in the work of redemption. (a.) The principle is recognised among men. It exists in the case of service rendered to another. Even in the worst form of service among men—that of slavery—this occurs. Nothing is more common than to assign a task to a slave,—a task which may fall far short of the entire occupancy of his time; and it is very conceivable that a slave may perform more than the assigned task, or may accomplish more for his master than was demanded of him. Though from the conditions of slavery, in which a slave is always regarded as not his own, but as the property of his master,—as having no right to his own time, to the avails of his own labour, to his own services, or to property of any kind,—he could claim nothing as his own, yet, in fact, it may occur that he may have a portion of time not demanded in the service of his master, and that the avails of that may be appropriated as his own. This is strictly a work of supererogation; and the avails of that work may be appropriated, at his pleasure, to the benefit of any other whom he chooses to designate. It may go to relieve a fellow-servant not favoured as he is; or to purchase the freedom of his own wife and children, or the freedom of a friend, or his own freedom. Beyond all the actual demands on himself, it may be set over to such an account as he shall designate, and may be appropriated to the good of others. The same is true of one who is employed as a day-labourer, or by the month, or on a yearly salary. There may be a service in each case which can be rendered to his employer beyond any thing expressly demanded in the contract, and for which he may properly expect a reward. Beyond his immediate occupation, he may have skill in some other department that his employer may avail himself of, and for which he has a right to expect an additional reward. A day-labourer may be a good accountant, and his service in that respect might be of great value to his employer, though that employer, from the terms of the contract which binds him only to labour on his farm, in his machine-shop, or his tannery, has no claim on this; or, in his unoccupied moments, he may do much to embellish a farm, or to strike out some improvement in the art or handicraft-work of his employer that shall be of great advantage to him. As this did not enter into the terms of the contract, express or implied, the avails of it may properly be regarded as his own, and he will have a right to appropriate those avails, if he pleases, to any one whom he chooses. He may make use of all of those avails to instruct the ignorant; to feed the hungry; to clothe the naked; to ransom the captive, or to send the gospel to a perishing world. (b.) We may suppose a case in advance of this, where there is no obligation of any kind, and where all the avails of a service may be appropriated to the benefit of others. A man who has ample means of support, and on whom, in that particular case, there may rest no obligation to serve his country as a soldier, may be willing to take the place of a poor man, with a large family dependent on him, who has been ’drafted’ into the service. In this case he may not only relieve the poor man and suffer him to remain with his family, but he may appropriate all that shall result from the ’pay’ and ’rations’ of the soldier, as well as the whole of his portion of the spoils of victory, to that family, or to any other, as he shall choose. Though bound to serve his country when called on, yet in this particular case the whole work is voluntary, and is in the strictest sense a work of supererogation; that is, it is beyond what is demanded of him by any claim of justice or of law. In the position which he occupied, he was, indeed, bound to serve his country; but he has assumed a voluntary position, to which he was not bouud, and the entire fruit of that substitution of himself and his service for another may go to the benefit of any whom he may choose. The principle of supererogation, therefore, is one that is universally recognised in the world. The error in the Roman Catholic communion in regard to the ’merits of the saints,’ and the work of supererogation, is not in the abstract principle: it is in supposing that man may render more to God than is demanded of him; that in the service which he renders to his Maker he can go beyond the demands of the law; that he can himself originate a service to which he was not bound by any prior obligation; and that this may be garnered up, and placed in the hands of a priesthood, to be disbursed at their pleasure for the benefit of others. The idea is, that there may be some service of religion which is not demanded on the part of God; some self-sacrifice, some merit of fasting, of prayer, of pilgrimage, of seclusion from the world, of asceticism, which is covered by no command of God, and which may, therefore, be an accumulated treasure in the Church for the good of others. The doctrine supposes that there is a limited amount of service required by God,—like that in a contract with a hired servant,— and that all beyond that may go to the benefit of him who ’merits’ it, or may be a part of a grand treasure to be placed in the hands of a priesthood, and to be appropriated, for a price, to those who are cursed with the consciousness of guilt, or who have a deficiency of merit of their own. The law of God, however, requires that a man shall love his Maker with ’all his heart, and all his soul, and all his mind, and all his strength;’ that all his time and influence shall be given to God. The Divine requirement covers all that it is possible for man to do; and consequently there can be nothing of a voluntary nature on the part of man, or that is originated by him, which can be regarded as a work of ’supererogation.’ If a thing is right and proper in religion, it is that which has been prescribed by God, and which, consequently, cannot be of the nature of superabundant merit capable of being transferred to another. If that which is supposed to constitute such abundant merit be uncommanded, or be of man’s originating, it can be no part of true religion, and can constitute no ground of merit. An atonement made by man, therefore, would be impossible; for no man could do more in the cause of religion than he is required to do by the law of God. No man has any time that is not covered by the law; any talent, skill, or wisdom, that is not demanded in the service of God; any influence that God does not require should be devoted to his service. If man performs any thing that is uncommanded and unrequired, it must be by the neglect of some duty that is demanded, or by the consumption of time that God does require to be devoted to himself, and therefore, whatever appearance of merit there may be in the case, it is in fact of the nature of sin. Man cannot substitute any thing in the place of that which his Creator has commanded; he cannot originate any thing of his own which will have higher merit than that which God requires. (c.) These remarks, however, do not apply to the work of the Redeemer. His is the only case which has ever occuiTed, or which could occur, where a service could be rendered which was not required by a fair application of the law of God, and where, therefore, there could be such an accumulation of merit, or such a work performed, that it could be made available to others as if it were their own. This whole work lay beyond the proper range and the proper demands of the law; and the avails of the work, therefore, could become the foundation of pardon and hope to others. 1. God was not bound to provide a Saviour. The whole work, on his part, was a work of benevolence. No claim of justice entered into it. By no fair construction of the work of redemption could it be inferred that God regarded the previous arrangements in regard to man as unjust, harsh, or severe; and by no consideration of justice or of law could he be brought under obligation to provide a Saviour for men. It is impossible to conceive that God would perform an act the fair interpretation of which would be that he could properly be regarded by his creatures as in the wrong, or as bound to make amends for the errors of the past. Man could at no time have approached the throne of his Maker and urged a plea of justice that he should repair the evils of the system under which the race was originally made, or by which he could have urged that the primitive arrangement was so defective in wisdom or benevolence that he was under obligation to repair it. An atonement could never have been based, directly or by implication, on an acknowledgment on the part of the Deity that the arrangement which made it necessary was unwise or unjust. 2. It is equally true that the Son of God was bound by no law to become incarnate and to undertake the work of redemption. We cannot conceive that God would require an innocent being to suffer in the place of the guilty; and if the Son of God was equal with the Father, or was in the true and proper sense of the term Divine, then there was no law which could bind him to undertake the work of the atonement, or to place himself in a position where he would be under law, either to obey it, or to suffer its penalties. There are laws of the Divine nature which will, of course, be obeyed by God himself; there are principles of eternal justice to which the Divine arrangements will be conformed; but none of those laws or principles go to the extent of a demand that God should place himself in a position where he would be under those laws of his own enacting which were designed for his creatures, or where he could be under obligation to meet the consequences which must result from the violation of those laws. The Son of God, therefore, could never be bound by justice to assume the form of man, to place himself under law, to endure any of the sufferings connected with the violation of law, or to per form the work which the law properly requires of man. Whatever he did in that respect was beyond the range of any requirements, and must have been a pure work of benevolence. 3. The work of the Saviour was in the place of others, and was for others. It was in no respect on his own account. As a Divine being, it was not necessary for him to undertake this work. He was perfect in glory and blessedness in the bosom of the Father. There was not an act which he performed as a man to which he was bound by any original obligation; there was not a pang which he endured which could have been inflicted as an act of justice; there was not a trial or temptation to which he was exposed from which he might not have been exempt. Though when a man, and as a man, it was true that every consideration bound him to be holy, to be obedient to the law of God, and to be patient in his trials, yet the whole arrangement on his part was voluntary, and was designed for the benefit of others. He who should voluntarily assume a position by which he could render a service in behalf of others would indeed be bound to perform all the duties usually incident to that condition; but every thing that he did or suffered, however it might illustrate his own character, would be property regarded as done or suffered for the benefit of others. Thus it was with the Son of God. His was properly a work which could not have been claimed as a matter of justice, and might all be considered as a work of supererogation. 4. It follows, therefore, that the avails of that work may become ours. We have seen that it was in our stead, or on our account; and it may, therefore, be ours. Incapable, indeed, of transfer, as all moral character must be; true as it is and will always be that the work of the atonement was made by him and not by us; and certain as it is that his merit can never be reckoned as really our own,—for God will always ’reckon’ or estimate things as they are,— yet it is also true that we may be treated as if that merit were our own, and that we may avail ourselves of all that Christ has done in honouring the law, and meeting its claims, and enduring such sorrows as would be a proper expression of the Divine estimate of the value of the law and the evils of disobedience, as though all this had been done and suffered by ourselves. This is, if I understand it, the true doctrine of ’imputation;’ not that there is any transfer of moral character from us to the Redeemer, or from him to us, and not that God literally ’reckons’ or imputes our sins to him as his, or his righteousness to us as ours, but that his work may be estimated as performed in the place and on the account of sinful men, and that in virtue of that we may be regarded and treated as if it had been performed by ourselves. On that account we may be justified and saved; for he has done more to honour the law than we should have done by our own obedience; he has done more to show the evil of a violation of law by his voluntary sufferings than we should have done if the penalty had been inflicted on us; and he has become the * surety’ for us,—the public pledge that no evil shall result to the universe if we are treated forever as if we had not sinned. This is the meaning of the Scriptures where it is said, "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and witn his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: 3.09 . THE EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT. ======================================================================== CHAPTER IX. THE EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT. THERE remains one point to be considered, not necessary, indeed, to the main design of this Essay, but still of great importance in the bearing which it has on the character and government of God, and on the manner in which the gospel is to be preached. It is the question in regard to the extent of the atonement, or the question for whom it was made; whether it is available for all, or is, in its own nature, or by intention and purpose, limited only to a part of mankind; whether it was designed to refer to mankind as such, or was intended only for the elect. The inquiry to be pursued in this chapter relates only to the human race; for, whatever may be its bearing on other worlds, there is no intimation that it was designed to secure the salvation of any other fallen being than man. For some cause unknown to us, so far as all the evidence goes, fallen angels were suffered to remain in their voluntary ruin, with no arrangement for their redemption. In reference to the extent of the atonement, the sources of evidence must be the following. I. The presumption from analogy; II. The probabilities from the nature of the atonement, and from the rank and dignity of him who made it; and, III. The testimony of the Scriptures. I. The presumption from analogy. The consideration of this point may be presented under two subordinate heads. One is the direct form of the argument; the other is the argument as meeting objections to the doctrine of the atonement, and especially to the doctrine of a general atonement. A. The direct form of the argument. The argument here will be derived from the remedial systems which we find as a part of the Divine arrangements on earth, and which in a former chapter* were adverted to as furnishing a ground of probability that an atonement would be provided for fallen men. The reference there made was to those natural arrangements which are designed to check, palliate, and remove evil, or, in general, to remedial systems found on the earth, which, it was supposed, might be regarded as preintimations that a remedy of a higher order would be provided for the removal of the ills that have befallen our race. Particular reference was made to the arrangements in the materia medica of the world, and to the healing processes in nature itself. In reference to these remedial systems, as indicating by analogy what a higher system might be expected to be, the following observations may be made. (1.) These remedial arrangements, though the knowledge of them may be in fact confined to a few, are of universal applicability. They are as much adapted to one person as to another,—as applicable in one clime or in one age of the world as another. There is no limitation in the nature of the arrangement; nothing that would confine the remedy to any one age or to any one rank or class of sufferers. No aristocracy of position in dignity or wealth confers any special fitness for the favours which they are designed to impart; and no inferiority of station excludes from the benefit. The poor man burning with fever finds the bark of Peru as much adapted to his condition as the rich man; and the peasant with a broken limb finds the arrangement for the reunion of the fragments of the bone as efficacious in his case as it is in the case of the prince. ’ Whatever may prevent the success of the remedy, the hinderance will not arise from any want of an original applicability to- that case; for it may be always assumed that the laws of healing are the same in all men, and that the remedial system is adapted alike to all. * Chapter v. In respect to the healing art, the race is one. There is one system adapted to one race; and though the specific remedies for disease may be scattered in different lands, with a special adjustment to what may prevail in any one land, yet the principle is of universal applicability, and no distinction is found in nature in reference to those to whom the remedy may be applied. If this may be allowed to be an indication of what a plan of redemption would be, it would, therefore, indicate that the plan would be of universal applicability. The presumption is that such would be found to be the fact; and if this is found to be the fact, we see a new argument for its truthfulness in its correspondence with what we everywhere observe. If in a professed revelation a plan of redemption should be proposed in which this was not a prominent fact, we should be at once sensible of such a departure from the analogy of nature as to constitute an objection to the scheme which it would not be easy to remove. Such an objection would be a constant hinderance to the propagation of the system in the world; for it would impinge on the course of events, and be contradictory to the arrangements existing in all the cases which would be regarded as in any way analogous to the purpose of redemption. (2.) The remedial systems of nature are inexhaustible. So far as appears, there is no limit to the provisions made for healing disease. There may be cases where the remedy is not found out; there may be a want of skill in the proper treatment of disease; there may be medicines used which are not adapted to the disease which they are employed to cure, and which would only aggravate the disease; there may be a maladjustment of the parts of the system of healing; but there is no failure in the remedy from a deficiency in the amount. At any one period of the world, ’nature,’ so to speak, has made ample provision for all that could be required in arresting the progress of disease. So far as appears, the supply is inexhaustible, and the human race entertains no more apprehension that the supply will be exhausted in reference to any future generation of sufferers than that the light of the sun, or the air, or the springs and streams, will be exhausted, or that the earth will become so sterile as to yield nothing more to support its teeming millions of living beings. No cases of sickness, no forms of disease, exhaust the remedial’provisions of nature. No case lies beyond the range of the provisions made; no case occurs, however new, malignant, or epidemic, which does not appear to have been contemplated in the remedial arrangement, or which is so pervading, so novel, or so obstinate that it cannot be subjected to the laws of healing. (3.) Nature, so to speak, invites all men to come to its provisions. The sun shines for all, and invites all to receive its light; the music of the groves is for all, and invites every ear to open itself to its melody; the green carpet on the earth is spread for all, and invites all to look upon its beauty; the fountain flows for all, and invites all who are thirst}’ to stoop down and drink; the stars of night shine for all, and invite every mariner to guide his course over the deep by their teachings; the balmy air is for all, and invites all to inhale it. In nature there is no exclusiveness and no limit. Everywhere man is invited to enjoy the bountiful productions of the Creator’s goodness, and one may feel that he is as welcome as another. We take these undoubted principles and come to the contemplation of the plan of redemption. As a part of the arrangements of the same God, we should expect to find the same arrangement in that plan. We should be disappointed—we should feel a shock in our anticipations—if we did not find the same principles there; if we found all in nature free, inexhaustible, inviting, all in redemption limited, exhausted, and repelling. If there are such ample provisions for man’s temporal maladies and wants, we should expect to find provisions equally ample for his eternal necessities. In the arrangements of nature we think that we see unmistakable indications of what the Divine character is. We argue from that. Apart from any revelation, and back of any revelation, we form our conceptions of God; and we cannot think otherwise of him than we do. On deep and indestructible foundations our faith is fixed that the provisions of nature are free and inexhaustible; and with these feelings we come to the volume of revealed truth, and ask what are its teachings in regard to redemption. Shall we find a system equally free and liberal there, or a system narrow, limited, exhaustible? We cannot indeed deny that these previous anticipations might be set aside; and we could not impugn the Divine sovereignty if it were done. We must admit—we cannot doubt—that God has a right to bestow salvation, as he does health and property, on whom he pleases. We know that he may come into the midst even of these general provisions, and discriminate among men, giving health to one, and withholding it from another; saving one alive, and leaving another to die; making one rich, and consigning another to poverty; continuing to one the blessing of sight, and causing another to be blind. But the point of the argument now submitted is not this. It is, that, having made ample, full, and free provision for the maladies of men elsewhere, it is a natural anticipation with which man comes to the Bible that he will find the same thing in the plan of redemption. It is an obvious inference that the impressions which God has designed to make in regard to his character in his works will be found to be sustained and confirmed in the provisions for salvation. We know that God might have made the world differently. We cannot doubt that he might, in his sovereignty, and for reasons unknown to us, have actually limited the provisions for human comfort to a part. We cannot doubt that he might have provided a remedial system only for a portion of those who should be prostrated by disease, or that a healing arrangement should have been made for only a part of the maladies to which the race would be subjected. We know that it might have been so arranged that new forms of disease would spring up, in the course of centuries, for which there had been no provisional anticipation; that not only the materia medka of nature would be exhausted in regard to existing maladies, but that for those new maladies no provision would have been made, and that, despite all human skill and wisdom, those maladies must carry desolation over the world. But that is not the point of the remark which I am now making. It is, that since no such arrangement is in fact found in nature, but that all such contingencies have been provided for, we naturally and properly look for a similar thing in the plan of redemption. In the actual arrangements of nature, as far as they go, we know what God is: we infer that the same arrangements will be carried out on the widest scale; and hence, by the analogy, we anticipate that the atonement, if one is made, will be arranged on the same principles of freedom, abundance, and invitation. B. The analogy in these and similar cases furnishes an answer to the objections which are made to the atonement itself, and particularly to the doctrine of a general atonement. The point of the remark now to be made is, that the same difficulties and objections lie against these arrangements in nature which are alleged to exist in regard to the atonement. (1.) One of the objections to the doctrine pf an atonement, which is often urged, is, that if God had intended that there should be an atonement made for sin, it would have been made at once on the fall of man, or, at least, that there would have been so clear an announcement of the intention, and so full a statement of its nature, that man could have availed himself of it at once. It is incredible, it is said, that an arrangement so indispensable for the salvation of man should have been delayed for so many ages, and that so many generations should have been suffered to go down to death before it was made, with no possibility of being benefited by it. Why, it is asked, should God suffer four thousand years to pass away before the great transaction should occur by which man was to be redeemed? Why should the generations of men, in that long period of time, be left in a condition so unlike that in which they would have been if the atonement had been made? Now, to this objection the reply from the analogy of nature is obvious. It is that precisely the same thing has occurred in regard to the arrangements for healing the maladies of the body. With the same reason it might be asked why the remedies in the healing art were not at once made known to a suffering race, and why so many generations were suffered to pass away before those remedies were found out and were made available to mankind. For any thing that appears, all the arrangements which exist now might have been as well made known in the first age of the world as to have been successively discovered by the slow researches of advancing generations. Vaccination for the smallpox would have been as effectual at first as it was when its efficacy was discovered by Jenner; and it may be asked, Why were numberless hosts of the human race suffered to die under one of the most fearful forms of disease before a check was put to its ravages by this discovery? The tree producing the Peruvian bark, for any thing that appears, has grown in the lands which now produce it from the beginning of the creation. Why were not its virtues at once made known? Why were multitudes of human beings suffered to languish and die under various forms of burning fever, when that which might have done so much to stay those evils, and to relieve human misery, and to save the lives of men, grew and decayed unknown, being of no practical benefit to mankind, and apparently created for naught? It should be remembered, also, that the objection would be of the same force in regard to every thing which would promote human comfort and relieve human misery; every thing which has been stricken out by the discoveries of advancing ages and generations; every thing by which the condition of an advanced period of the world is made more comfortable than a preceding period; every thing in regard to health and happiness, to the arts and sciences, to architecture and to agriculture, to navigation and travelling; every thing in which any one generation excels that which went before. The objection would, in fact, go to this point, that all that could ever promote human happiness should have been made known at the beginning, and that nothing should be left to the slow development of ages; that is, that the world should have been made as complete at first as it ever will be, or that in the universe at large there should be no development or progress. But an objection that is so wide and sweeping as this is, assuredly, can have no solid foundation. (2.) A similar objection to the doctrine of general atonement which may be met by the analogy of nature is, that it is to be presumed that if an atonement was to be made the knowledge of it would be imparted to all mankind. As all must have an interest in it,—as it must be equally necessary for all,— as all must be in danger of ruin to whom that knowledge is not imparted,—it would seem to be evident that a benevolent and just Being, who had caused the atonement to be made, would also cause the knowledge of it to be communicated at once to all mankind. But to this objection a similar reply may be made. It is a matter of fact that the most valuable truths known to man, and those which are quite necessary to his welfare, are not made known to the mass of mankind. The time may come when they will be,— just as the time may come when the knowledge of the atonement will be communicated to all men; but as a matter of fact they are not thus made known to all mankind. The truths which constitute science, properly so called, are known to hut few of the race. The truths connected with the healing art are known to few. The knowledge of the most valuable discoveries and inventions is as yet confined to a small portion of the race. The knowledge of the best modes of agriculture, of the best style of architecture, of the mechanic arts, is, and always has been, confined to a comparatively small portion of the race. Indeed, there is no one thing that seems essential to human comfort, or desirable for the best interests of mankind, that is, as yet, not confined to a few of the human family. With an adaptedness indeed to the entire race, the knowledge of these things is in fact limited; and it is obvious, so far as the principle is concerned, that the same objection might be urged against this arrangement which is urged against the manner in which the knowledge of the atonement has been communicated to mankind. But further: the objection, if a valid one, would not be removed until the entire race should be, in respect to all kinds of knowledge, and to all things that pertain to well-being and comfort, placed precisely on the same level. Indeed, the objection must go further than even this. It must go to the point that all the human race should be precisely alike; that no one should have any thing in health, complexion, beauty, strength, stature, property, raiment, friends, intelligence, length of life, which every other one has not also. But it is obvious that an objection which would lie thus against the whole structure of the world must be without any solid foundation. And it is equally obvious that if the knowledge of the atonement is made to mankind on the same principle as knowledge on other subjects, it has this presumption in its favour,—that it is from the same source; that is, that it is from God. (3.) A third objection to the doctrine of the atonement may be met in the like manner by the analogy of nature, while at the same time that analogy may furnish an argument in defence of the doctrine itself. It is an objection to the doctrine of a general atonement. The objection would be, tnat, on the supposition that Christ died for many who will not be saved, the atonement is so far a loaste; that is, that he who made the atonement, to just the extent to which it would not be applied, endured sufferings which would avail nothing, and which benevolence required should not have been inflicted on him. To what purpose, it would be asked, were those uncompensated sorrows? Why should the Kedeemer be subjected to sufferings which would be of no avail? How could a benevolent God give up an innocent being to sorrows which it was known would never be made available to the salvation of men, and which it was never intended should be thus available? It is not needful now to inquire how far this objection is founded on a commercial view of the atonement, or on the idea that it was necessary that precisely the same amount of suffering, and the same kind of suffering, should be endured by him who made the atonement which would have been endured by those for whom he died; but the objection, even if that were the correct view of the atonement, may be met by considerations drawn from the analogies of nature. (a.) There is, in fact, much suffering in the world, and especially much that is endured in behalf of others, which seems to be mere waste, or which accomplishes none of the ends for which it was endured. Not a little, for example, of the toil of a mother, and the anxiety of a father, in training up their children, seems to be mere waste. The child nurtured with so much care is cut down by death just as he approaches the period of usefulness, and all the hopes cherished in his case are blighted forever; or he becomes early a victim of dissipation, and by his vices and follies breaks the heart of a mother and brings down the gray hairs of a father with sorrow to the grave. Much of the hard service expended in defence of a country’s rights seems to be a waste. The liberty that is sought is never gained; and, after prolonged and dreadful sufferings, the chains of tyranny are again riveted upon helpless millions, and for ages the nation groans in hopeless bondage. Thousands bleed on the field of battle; thousands of wives are made widows; thousands of children are made orphans; fire and famine spread over the land; but nothing apparently is accomplished as a compensation for so severe and protracted sufferings. In like manner, not a few of the sacrifices made in the cause of benevolence seem to be mere waste. Hundreds of valuable lives arc lost before there are any indications of success; schemes of benevolence, formed apparently under the direction of God, and prosecuted under much suffering and self-denial, arc ultimately abandoned, and all that remains to mark the effect and to perpetuate its memory may be the gravestones of those who have fallen in the field of toil and disappointment. If we should make an exact estimate of the suffering thus endured that seems to be mere waste, we should be surprised at the amount which the investigation would disclose; and, from the analogy, we should not be surprised to find that the same principle existed in the work of redemption. (b.) But it may be true, after all, that this is in appearance only; for we may not have seen all the ends to be accomplished by suffering. Though it seems to be wasted, it may have bearings as yet imperfectly known to us, which, if known, would satisfy us of the wisdom and benevolence of the arrangement. We assume more than we have a right to assume,—that we know all that is to be known of any of the arrangements of God. We cannot take it for granted that his plans may not have ends and uses as yet unknown to us. We assume more than we have a right to assume when we say that the toils of a parent in behalf of a child that is early cut down by death, or that the sacrifices of patriots who are unsuccessful in the establishment of freedom, or that the sufferings of those who have laboured to spread salvation abroad and who die seeing no fruit of their labours are in vain. To be able to settle this point, we must take in the whole of the Divine plan, and see all the effects which may, by any possibility, grow out of such acts of toil, self-denial, and suffering. In each and every case the mere manifestation of benevolent feelings—the development and the display of character—may be a great object, perhaps an object in itself sufficient to justify all the sacrifice that is made. It must be remembered that the display of character seems to be the main design of a large portion of the arrangements of the universe. Indeed, it is commonly held, and the position cannot be demonstrated to be an erroneous one, that the great and leading design of the universe is to display the Divine perfections. If this be so, then any thing that would exhibit benevolence, wisdom, power, or skill, would fall in with that general design, though it should seem to accomplish no other end. (c.) But it should be remembered further that though the atonement may appear to be made in vain; though there may seem to be a superabundance of merit which will never be of avail in the salvation of men; though many for whom Christ died may perish, yet that even such a fact would fall in with what is undoubtedly the analogy of nature. How much is there in nature that seems to be in vain! How often does the rain descend on barren rocks or on sterile fields, where are neither man nor beast, to our eyes apparently in vain. What floods of light are poured each day on barren wastes and untraversed oceans, to our eyes in vain! How many flowers shed their fragrance and ’waste their sweetness on the desert air,’ apparently for naught! How. many majestic trees rear their heads in the wilderness, and stand there for ages in undiscovered grandeur, and then fall and decay, apparently in vain! How often does fruit ripen and fall in regions where there is no man to gather it, apparently in vain! What vast prairies have been covered for ages with flowers, apparently in vain! What mines of coal, and diamonds, and gold are buried deep in the earth, so far as we can see, in vain! What mighty powers of intellect are created in each generation that remain undeveloped and uncultivated, or that are wasted in wild and visionary schemes, to our eyea apparently for naught! How many ’Hampdens’ and ’Miltons’ lie in ’village churchyards,’ when far inferior intellectual endowments than they actually possessed would have been ample to accomplish all the purposes which they did accomplish in their lives! And how often do healing fountains run for ages before they are discovered, flowing apparently in vain, while thousands suffer and die for whose maladies their wasted waters would have been an alleviation or a cure! No one can stand near the fountains at Saratoga, for example, and not have before him an illustration of the very point now under consideration in regard to the atonement. So far as appears, and so far as we have any evidence, those waters have been flowing on a barren region since disease and suffering began. Day and night, summer and winter, those streams flowed forth in abundance, and apparently with no tendency to exhaustion, for thousands of years. Yet they flowed apparently in vain. No one knew of their existence or their healing powers, and myriads suffered and died who might, if they had known of them, have been kept alive. And even now what a waste! What vast quantities of those waters flow off and mingle with common streams, and make their way to the great waste, the ocean! Why did God make these fountains in the wilderness so long before they were needed? Why did he not cause their healing qualities sooner to be made known to the suffering? Why did he at first—why does he now—create more than is absolutely necessary for the purposes of healing the sick? Why suffer these healing streams still to flow off on barren sands, lost as to any healing purpose, while so many suffer and die for the want of them? He that can answer these questions can answer most of the questions which are asked about the atonement,—perhaps can solve all the difficulties which press upon the mind on the supposition that an atonement has been made which will never be available to large portions of a suffering and dying race. How much like those running fountains is such a plan of redemption,—so full, so free, so adapted to the suffering and dying, and yet apparently so much of it in vain! II. The presumptions from the nature of the atonement, .and from the rank and dignity of him who made it, are, that it was designed to be general. The atonement, in respect to the points now under consideration, is such as it would be on the supposition that it was intended to be applicable to all men. In other words, looking at the atonement as it is represented in the Scriptures, it is such that, unless there were positive evidence to the contrary, we should naturally infer that it was intended for all mankind,—as light, air, water, flowers, and healing fountains appear to have been designed for all men. Or, to express the same thought in another form,—if it were revealed that the atonement was designed for all men, it is actually such in respect to its nature, and to the rank and dignity of him who made it, as we should suppose it would be if that were the idea. This general thought may be presented under two subordinate heads:—the nature of the atonement; and the rank and dignity of him who made it. (1.) The nature of the atonement. I refer to it now as an exhibition of suffering in behalf of others; and the idea is that, as a general principle, all suffering in behalf of others is of such a nature as to have a general applicability, or such that any number of persons may avail themselves of the benefit. It is true that the purpose of suffering may be intended only for a few. It may be limited by express statement to a particular class of persons. A friend may submit to voluntary sacrifice for a friend, intending that the benefit shall be confined solely to bim. A father may submit to toil and sacrifice for his children, expecting, and perhaps designing, that the benefit of his toil and suffering shall be extended only to them. A sufferer might state that his toil and sacrifice were only for a particular object, or to benefit only a particular circle of friends, and no one could doubt his right to do it. If such a limitation were found in the Scriptures in regard to the atonement, no one could question the fact in regard to the limitation of the design, as no one could question the right of the Redeemer to die for any portion of the human race that he might select. But if there is no such limitation, then it is right to argue from the nature of the transaction, and to see whether we can find any thing in it to determine the question whether it is general or is limited. It is to be admitted that the atonement must be limited, and that we should expect to find an explicit statement of that fact in the New Testament, if the following.ideas expressed the true nature of the atonement. (a.) If it were a literal payment of a debt; for a payment of a debt could not be general; that is, the payment of a specific sum of money due to another would not be a transaction of such a nature that a third person could avail himself of that payment as a reason why he should be discharged from the obligation of paying a claim on him; and still less could it be the ground of a general statement that all debtors might be discharged from the obligation to pay their debts. The amount paid can be of avail only in the case where the payment was due. If, therefore, the atonement was a commercial transaction,—the exact payment of a debt due to justice by the sinner,—it could be applicable only to those for whom it was made; and all who embrace this view of the work of the Redeemer must maintain the doctrine of limited atonement, and all offers of salvation made by them to those for whom Christ did not die, must be based on falsehood and insincerity. (b.) If the proper idea of the atonement is that the same kind and amount of suffering were endured by him who made it which would have been by those for whom he died, then also the doctrine of limited atonement must be held, and we should expect to find that doctrine plainly laid down, or fairly implied, in the New Testament. For the idea in this view of the atonement is, that there has been no gain to the universe, but that there has been merely a transfer of so much pain from the guilty to the innocent. Whether the substitute or the guilty person himself suffered, the entire amount of suffering, and the same kind of suffering, have been endured which would have been under any circumstances. Of course, according to that view, the atonement would not be of a general nature, and could be made available only to those for whom this identical suffering was endured. The doctrine of a limited atonement, if this idea is correct, must be found in the New Testament, and all consistent preaching must be based on the supposition that no one can be saved except the elect for whom Christ died, and all offers of salvation made to others must be based on falsehood and insincerity. (c.) If the true idea of the atonement is that Christ endured the literal penalty of the law, then the doctrine of a limited atonement must be true. For, in that case, all that the law demands has been accomplished; all that a penalty implies has been endured. But there is no such thing as a general penalty. The penalty of law pertains always to individuals. The demands of the law are demands on individual men; the penalty for violating law pertains to the individuals who do it. If they could themselves bear the penalty, they would have a right to a discharge; and if another should bear it for them, they would have an equal right to it. If, therefore, the literal penalty be borne, the transaction must pertain to the individuals in reference to whom the claims of the law have been ’satisfied,’ and can be extended to no other. If a murderer pays the penalty of the law on the gallows, that fact cannot avail to the acquittal of another murderer; still less can it be the ground of a proclamation that all murderers may now be acquitted. The murderer himself, if he should return to earth, could not be again indicted, convicted, and executed for the offence; for he has met all that the law prescribed as a penalty, and, so far as the laws of human legislation go, he is free. If a man who is sentenced to a penitentiary for a certain number of years ’serves out’ that time, he has a right to a discharge. He has endured all that the law has prescribed in the case as a penalty. He cannot be tried and convicted again for the same offence. But the fact that he has borne the penalty of the law cannot be made available to the benefit of any other offender; still less could it be made the ground of a general jail-delivery, or of a proclamation that the doors of all the penitentiaries in the land might be thrown open and all convicts be discharged. In like manner, if Christ bore the literal penalty of the law, it could avail only for those for whom he endured it. No offer of pardon could be made beyond that; or rather, since the penalty of the law has been borne, and the law has been ’satisfied,’ there can be no pardon in the case, any more than there is ’pardon’ when a burglar has borne all that the law prescribed as a penalty, and now claims, as an act of justice, a discharge. If this were the true nature of the atonement, then it would follow that the doctrine of a limited atonement must be found in the Bible; and then also, as in the other cases, all offers of salvation made to those for whom Christ did not bear the penalty of the law must be based on falsehood and insincerity. I have endeavoured (ch. vii.) to show that these are not just views of the atonement; and if they are not, then the way is open for the inference which I am endeavouring to show necessarily follows from its nature. If, as I endeavoured to show, the atonement is (a) something substituted in the place of the penalty of the law, which will answer the same ends as the punishment of the offender himself would have done; (b) that it secures reconciliation between God and man; and (c) that it is a manifestation of the character of God to the inhabitants of other worlds, in showing to them how justice and mercy may be blended in the pardon of offenders, then it would seem clearly to follow that it may be general in its nature, and may be applicable to any number of individuals. So far as appears from this view of the atonement, the benefit might be extended to any number of offenders. It has no peculiar adaptedness to one more than to another. It is in this respect like the light of the sun, or like running fountains or streams,—adapted to all; like medicine, —applicable to no one class of the human race exclusively, but having an original applicability to disease wherever it may be found. Thus it is with the sufferings of martyrs. The benefits of those sufferings are unlimited. Any number of persons, through any number of generations, may be benefited by their sufferings in the cause of religion. Those benefits flow over all lands, and will flow on to the end of time. So far as their applicability is concerned, they have no limitation; and so far as we understand the Divine purpose in permitting the sufferings of martyrs, there appears to have been no intention of limiting the benefits of those sufferings to any one class of mankind. But even though there should have been an intention of that kind, yet the might of those sufferings was manifestly such that the benefit might be extended to any number of individuals, and that the world at large, and to the end of time, might be made more happy by what prophets and apostles have endured. Indeed, we may suppose a real, if not a formal, invitation to go forth from every rack on which a sufferer has been stretched in the cause of religion; from every stake where the flames have kindled around a believer in Christ; from every prison where the patience and power of religion have been manifested by one who loved the Saviour, to partake of the benefits of those sufferings. For those sufferings were endured to show the reality, the power, and the Divine origin of the religion of Christ; to secure its establishment and perpetuity on the earth; to furnish examples of what it is fitted to produce; and all who choose may avail themselves of the benefits which have resulted to mankind from what those sufferers have borne. The same is true in regard to the sufferings of patriots in behalf of their country. The benefits of their sufferings are limited to no class of men, to no time, and, in an important sense, to no land. This whole nation is reaping the benefit of the sufferings endured at Valley Forge, and the world at large may yet acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Washington; for his patriotic self-denials may yet be among the means of diffusing the blessings of liberty afar among the nations of the earth. In such cases we should feel that a statement that the results of benevolent suffering were limited to any particular class, or that there were any who were shut out from the privilege of availing themselves of the benefits which flow from such sufferings, would be as much a departure from the arrangements of nature as a similar statement in regard to the light of the sun, to running fountains, or to the materia medica of the world. The idea of being originally applicable to one as well as to another; the idea that all may avail themselves freely of all the benefits which flow from them, seems to be enstamped on every thing. Why should we not expect to find the same idea pervade the doctrine of the atonement? (2.) A presumption in favour of the doctrine of general atonement may be derived from the rank and dignity of him who made it. His rank and dignity were such as we should infer that they would be on the supposition that the atonement was intended to be general, but are not easily reconcilable with the supposition that it was limited. In other words, the doctrine that the atonement was general better Jits in with that rank and dignity than the doctrine of a limited atonement; for it t>eems necessarily to follow from the fact that one so exalted was selected to make it, unless there is an express statement that it was designed to be limited. If the sufferer had been a mere man, then it would seem necessarily to follow that the atonement must have been limited. It would be impossible to conceive how a mere man, however pure in character, elevated in rank, or lofty in virtue, coutd have such merit that his sufferings could avail to the redemption of the entire human race, or could constitute a basis Oti which an offer of pardon could be made indefinitely to the dwellers in an apostate world. If the sufferer were an angel, the same inference would follow. Limited as an angel must be in his capacity for suffering, occupying a rank far indeed above that of any man, but farther below that of a Divine being, it would be difficult to see how, on the supposition that an atonement could be made by him, his sufferings could have such merit that they could constitute a basis for an unlimited offer of pardon to all the dwellers in a fallen world. That is, it would be impossible to see how his sufferings could so express the Divine sense of justice; how they could so supply the place of the punishment of all these fallen beings themselves; how they could so become a security for the good order of the universe; how they could be made so effectual in bringing fallen millions to repentance and to holy living; how, in one word, they could meet and remove the difficulties which, as we have seen, everywhere attend the subject of pardon, that it would be proper for God, on the ground of these sufferings, to offer unlimited pardon to all the dwellers in a fallen world. It may be mere feeling, but the feeling is a very strong and a very natural one, that an angel could not be the redeemer of a world. But we have no such feeling on the supposition that the Redeemer was Divine. There is no incongruity in the idea that he was Divine, and that the atonement was for all mankind. The one doctrine is adapted to the other; and if the one is true, the other seems naturally to follow from it. "We cannot but be impressed with the idea that one design in the selection of such a being must have been to guard against the supposition of any limitation in the case. And although we would admit the idea, on an express Divine statement, that there was a limitation, yet, looking at the rank and dignity of the sufferer, we could not but ask the question why it was limited to a portion of the human family. To see the force of this remark, we may place ourselves in three imaginary positions, and endeavour to interpret the nature of the atonement from each point of observation. (a.) We may look at the rank and dignity of the Eedeemer as such. Supposing that he was in a true and proper sense ’God manifest in the flesh;’ that in him ’dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;’ that he was a strict and proper incarnation of the Deity; the question would be, what would be the proper interpretation of his work in regard to its extent from the contemplation of that fact. It would seem that there would be but one answer to such a question. The idea of its being designed for all the human race would be at once suggested by that fact; the idea of its being limited to a few would appear to be wholly incongruous with it,—more incongruous than the idea of limitation attached to a running fountain, to the air which we breathe, or to the light of the sun. It might, indeed, be limited by the express purpose of a sovereign God, for man has up claim to a pardon, even after an atonement is made, and God must in all things retain his right to bestow his favours as he pleases; but even in such a case the idea could not be avoided that the limitation must be in the mere purpose of God, and not in the nature of the transaction. (6.) We may look at the manifested character of the Redeemer. So far as this would be a guide in regard to the extent of the atonement, it would seem to be clear that it must be unlimited, or that he would be willing that its blessings should be imparted to all who needed pardon. In other words, if we take our views of the atonement from his character, and allow those views to interpret the atonement, we could not fail to come to the conclusion that it was designed to be unlimited. For in the benevolence of his character there was no limit or stint. There was no class of men for whom he showed any exclusive or especial favouritism. There was no class of sufferers who were excluded from his bounty, and no portion of any class. There was no act of his life which would imply that there was any limitation of design in imparting relief to the suffering and the sad; no indication of exhaustion in his capability of relieving those who were in distress and want. In respect to the blind, the only condition for receiving his aid was the fact that they were blind. There were no blind persons who might not freely come to him; there were no cases in which it could be supposed that there was any limitation of his willingness to heal them, or in which there was any indication that his power of restoring sight had been exhausted. In respect to the deaf, there were no cases so obstinate that he could not cause the deaf to hear; in respect to the lame, there were none so lame that they could not be made to ’leap like an hart;’ in respect to disease in any form, there were no cases so obstinate that he could not remove the disease in a moment; in respect to the suffering and the sad, there were none whose hearts were so deeply stricken, so crushed, so broken, that he could not give them ’the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;’ and the numbers of the sad that thronged his path were never so great that he could not grant them relief. So of those whose hearts were crushed by the remembrance of sin. None ever came to him whose sins were So great that he could not forgive them; none so unworthy, so debased, so degraded, that he was not willing tc receive them. If we go to the records of his life, and look at his acts of benevolence when on earth, and ask what would be likely to be the character of an atonement made by him, we should be at no loss for an answer. We should anticipate most confidently that it would be a general atonement. If assured that it was general, we should feel at once that this fact was in perfect harmony with his whole character. If told that it was not general, we should be conscious of a shock on our anticipations, and should ask at once how such a fact could be reconciled with the other actions of his life. (c.) The same result would be reached if we took our point of observation from his sufferings. The idea here is, that the atonement, in respect to suffering, was such as we must believe it would be on the supposition that it was intended that it should have reference to the whole of the human race. In other words, if it is assumed that the atonement was general, the sorrows which the Redeemer endured in making it were just such as they would be on that supposition. The whole transaction would be harmonious in respect to the design and to the manner of accomplishing it; for in contemplating the Redeemer on the cross we cannot but feel, in the language of Dr. Chalmers, that he "bore the burden of the world’s atonement;" in the language of Isaiah, that "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all," (Isaiah 53:6) in the language of Paul, that he "tasted death for every man," (Hebrews 2:9) in his own language, that "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. III. The remaining point is, the testimony of the Bible in regard to the extent of the atonement. (1.) It is declared in the Scriptures that he died for all mankind. Such passages as the following would seem to place the matter beyond all doubt; for the doctrine is expressed in them.as clearly as it is in the creeds of any who profess to hold the doctrine, and so clearly that if this language does not convey the doctrine it would be impossible to express it in any forms of speech. "God so loved The World that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "God sent his Son that The World through him might be saved." (John 3:16-17) Such declarations are as general as they could be made. It is not the ’Jewish world’ which is specified; nor the ’elect world;’ not the ’world’ of wealth, refinement, rank, honour; not the ’world’ of poverty, servitude, and wretchedness: it is the ’world’ as such, embracing all ranks, all classes, all complexions, all conditions. If Christ died only for a part of the human family, though that fact were known only to Him who gave him to die, then the declaration should have been such as to embrace that fact, and not such that its obvious interpretation would be contradictory to it and irreconcilable with it. Then the doctrine should have been expressed in some such language as this:—’ God so loved the elect world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish.’ But this is not the language of the Saviour in explaining the purpose for which he came into the world. It may be added further, in explanation of these passages, that they occur ia a formal statement of the Redeemer as to the design of the plan of redemption. Nicodemus came to him for information. The Saviour intended manifestly not only that he should personally receive a just account of the nature of that work on which he had entered, but that, being one of the Great Council of the nation, he should be able to convey to that body a fair statement of the peculiarity of his doctrines. He gave to him, therefore, this statement of what he purposed to accomplish. He showed him that his religion was designed to overstep the narrow boundaries of Judea, and that he purposed that its benefits should extend to the whole world. It was to a Jewish mind a new idea that a system of religion could embrace the world, or that any could become the friends of God without first becoming Jews. These statements contain the first intimation with which we meet in the ministry of the Saviour of that glorious feature of his gospel which afterwards became so prominent in his own preaching and in that of his apostles,—that the benefits of his religion were intended to be limited by no age or country; that the plan of redemption was adapted to human nature as such; that it was regardless of colour, caste, or rank; that it demanded, as the condition of receiving its benefits, only the consciousness of guilt and a willingness to accept of it. If these passages stood alone, they would demonstrate, by every fair application of the rules of interpretation to language, that the death of Christ was designed for the human race as such; that the atonement was for all mankind. But they do not stand alone. Such statements as the following show that this is the natural and regular mode of speaking on the subject in the New Testament:—"We see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honour, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Hebrews 2:9) "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2) No language could express the universality of the design of the atonement more clearly or strongly. No rules of fair exegesis can make this language consistent with the idea that he died for a part only of the race of man. No one can explain the fact that, if the atonement was only for a part, the sacred writers should have used language so unguarded; so certain to convey erroneous views of the subject on which they wrote, and to deceive mankind on the most vital of all the doctrines of revealed religion: language which, if the atonement is limited, has actually led, and will forever lead, a large part of the world into error. (2.) On the ground of the atonement made by the Redeemer, salvation is offered to all mankind. The fact that in the New Testament salvation is offered to all mankind cannot be disputed. The only question that can be raised on the point is, whether it is offered on the ground of the atonement, or in connection with the death of the Redeemer. If it is, then that will settle the fact that the atonement must have had such a reference to all mankind as to constitute a basis for such an offer, or such a reference to all men that if they should believe they would obtain eternal life. In regard to this point, it will be admitted, by all who hold to the necessity and the truth of the Christian revelation, that no offers of salvation have been made to man except in connection with the atonement made by the Redeemer. If salvation could be offered on any other ground to one, it would be to all; and if it could be thus offered, then the work of Christ was unnecessary. God would not have two plans of salvation. He would not offer eternal life to one class without any reference to an atonement, and make the offer to another class in such a form as to involve the Redeemer in the sufferings of the Garden of Gethsemane and Calvary. It should be borne in mind that when an offer of salvation is made to man it is God, and not man, who makes the offer. Whoever is employed to make the offer, it is as really his as though it were made by a distinct and audible voice from heaven. Man has no offer of salvation of his own to make to his fellow-men; he can make none except as he is authorized to do it from on high. Supposing, then, that the numerous and free invitations found in the Scriptures addressed to all mankind are actually the language of God, it remains only to ask whether God would make such a proclamation to those for whom no atonement had been made. Can it be believed that he would offer heaven to those for whom no heaven has been prepared? Can it be believed that he is tantalizing his creatures with offers which are insincere, hollow, and unmeaning? Can it be believed that he assures men that if they will accept of Christ they shall be saved, when he knows that Christ did not perform any part of his work with reference to them, and that salvation through his merits would be impossible? Not thus does the Eternal Father deal with men; and of nothing can we be more certain than that when he makes an offer of pardon he is sincere; when, on the ground of the gospel of Christ, he assures men that he is ready to save them, nothing can be more certain than that the Redeemer died for them. It will not meet the case to say that the atonement is ’sufficient’ in its own nature for all men if God had chosen that it should have been made with reference to all. So far as he may choose to apply it to any portion of the human family, when made, there can be no doubt that that right remains in him as a sovereign. And so, if he had chosen that the atonement should have been made for only a part of the race, there could have been no reason to call in question his right as a sovereign to do it, as he has, in fact, made such a discrimination between fallen man and the apostate angels. But the point now does not relate to this question. It is this:— that the offer of salvation is made not on the ground of an original sufficiency in the atonement itself, but on the ground that it had such a reference to sinners as to justify an offer of pardon. So far as that offer is concerned, there is no difference between those who will be saved and those who will not be; between the elect and the non-elect. It is not offered to the one class on the ground that it was made for them, and to the other on the ground that it was sufficient for them though not intended. for them. Of any such distinction there is no trace whatever in the Scriptures. If there had been such a distinction in the mind of God, every consideration of sincerity and truthfulness required that all the facts should be made known; or, at least, that the communication made to men should not be so made as to leave a false impression. A number of men are captives in a foreign land. There is a settled price demanded for their ransom. A messenger comes from a man who is known to be able to ransom them all. They are told that he who has undertaken to ransom them is able to redeem them all, or that his wealth is sufficient for this. ’All that may be very true,’ would be the reply; ’but that is not what we wish to know. What we wish to know is, whether it is his intention thus to appropriate his wealth; whether the offer now made is based merely on the fact that he is a man of wealth, or on the fact that the ransom has been so paid, or will be so paid, that we may avail ourselves of it. Is this proclamation designed merely to excite our admiration at the ability of the man of wealth, and to mock our misery by the exhibition of wealth which cannot in any way be ours? or is it made in good faith? Has his wealth been appropriated in any way to our release? May we avail ourselves of it? Or is it intended to release only » part, while there shall be, by the language used in the proclamation, a wholly erroneous view conveyed of the real character of him who is a benefactor towards a part, but who wishes to secure to himself the reputation, on felse grounds, of being a benefactor in the largest sense V Who would tantalize miserable men in an Algerine prison with vain and hollow declamation about the vast wealth of some man in a distant land, or about the ’sufficiency’ of that wealth to ransom any number of Algerine captives, when it was certain that there was no intention of applying that wealth to their release, or when it was known that the arrangement contemplated only the release of a part? And yet does the doctrine that the atonement was ’sufficient for all, but was not intended for all, mean any thing more than this? If we should find it difficult to vindicate the conduct of a man in causing such a proclamation to be made, can we easily vindicate the character of God if he does the same thing? (3.) It is a proof that the atonement is general, that it is made in the Scriptures the basis in proving other doctrines. Thus, it is said in 2 Corinthians 5:14, "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead." That is, on the supposition that one died for all, or assuming that to be an admitted fact, then, by fair inference, it follows that all were dead. Or, in other words, from the fact that Christ died for all men, the doctrine of universal depravity legitimately follows. On this passage it may be remarked: (a.) That the apostle assumes it as a wellknown and admitted fact—a point about which there could be no difference of opinion, and which might be made the basis of any inference that might follow from it—that Christ died for all. He did not deem it necessary to go into an argument to prove it, or even to state it formally. The fact that Christ died for all, or that the atonement was general, was so well known, and so universally admitted, that he made it a first principle; an elementary position; a maxim, (b.) It is the obvious interpretation of the language used, that Christ did die for all men. 11 is the sense which would commend itself to any one on reading the passage, unless he had a theory to make out to the contrary. It is impossible now to express the idea of a general atonement in words more unambiguous. They who maintain the doctrine of a general atonement can find no more appropriate words with which to express their belief than these; and, as they use this very language in their creeds, it may with as much propriety be doubted whether they really believe the doctrine as whether the apostle believed it; for if these words do not convey it, it would be impossible to express so plain a thought in human speech. So in similar cases. If a man affirms that all men are mortal, the obvious interpretation of the language is that the statement applies to each individual of the race. If we are told that all the passengers on board a steamboat were drowned, the obvious meaning is that the statement includes each individual on board. If told that in a case of shipwreck a raft was constructed for all the passengers, it would be inferred that it was for each individual; and it would be right for each individual, under such a general statement, to avail himself of this means of escape; nor could any one reconcile it with honesty or benevolence should he attempt to escape on the raft, if he was told that he was not included in the arrangement. If, in such a case, language like the following should be used,—’We infer that if a raft was made for all, then all were in danger of perishing,’—the fair inference would be that the danger pertained to each individual in the ship; and if it should appear at last that the raft was not made for all, then, so far as the argument was concerned, there would be no proof that all were in danger of perishing. If we should be told that all the inmates of a hospital are sick, the obvious interpretation of the language would be, that there was no one who was in health; and if we were told that medicines were provided for all because all were sick, we should infer that the healing arrangement contemplated each one in the hospital, and that each one might avail himself of it. Just such as this is the argument of the apostle, that it is proper to infer because Christ died for all that all were dead. The one fact, that Christ died for all, is commensurate with the other, that all were dead in sin. (c.) If this interpretation is not correct, then the passage affords a case of false reasoning. The proof of universal depravity on which the apostle relies is, that Christ died for all:— "If one died for all, then were all dead." But let it be supposed that the apostle believed that Christ did not die for all; that he died only for a part—for the elect portion of mankind, and that the atonement was limited in its nature and intention to them: then what must have been the real fact in the case as it lay in his mind, and what must have been the form of the argument if it had been put into words? It would have been such as the following:—’ Christ died for the elect: therefore all men are dead in sin.’ Such reasoning would be of the same nature as the following:—’ Medicine is provided for a part of an army, therefore all in the army are sick; pardon is offered to a part of mankind, therefore all are guilty; arrangements were made to save a part of the crew on board a ship, therefore all were in danger.’ Paul never reasoned in this way. He undoubtedly believed that Christ died for all mankind; and on the ground of that he inferred that all men needed such an atonement, for that all were dead in sin. (4.) The next point in proof that Christ died for all men is, that it is expressly said that some for whom he died will perish, thus showing that he died for some who are not of the ’elect’ and who will not be ultimately benefited by his death. Thus in x 30* 2 Peter ii. 1:—"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." In the expression ’the Lord that bought them,’ there is, by fair interpretation, undoubted reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. "When the word ’bought’ occurs elsewhere in the New Testament with reference to redemption, the allusion is to him. Thus, in 1 Corinthians 6:20 : "For ye are bought with a price;" in 1 Corinthians 7:23 : "Ye are bought with a price." So the corresponding word purchase: (Acts 20:28) "Feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." So also the word redeem:— 1 Peter 1:18-19 : "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ." Revelation 5:9 : "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood." In the passage now under consideration, it is affirmed of the ’teachers’ referred to, that, though they had been bought, they would deny the Lord who had made the purchase, and would bring ruin upon themselves. There could not be a more unequivocal declaration that some for whom Christ died would perish, and consequently that the atonement must have been made for some who would not be saved. The case is similar to the following. An American citizen is made a captive. The price that is demanded for his ransom is paid by the consul, and he is told that he may go at liberty and return to his native land. He refuses; disowns all allegiance to his country; scorns the interposition of the consul; enlists in the armies of the foreign power; makes war on his own country, and is ultimately slain in battle, and ’brings upon himself swift destruction.’ So he who embraces error; he who denies his Saviour; he for whom Christ died. He rejects his claims and his offers; throws in his influence with the enemies of the Saviour; is found among those enemies, and perishes, bringing upon himself swift destruction, though Christ died for him, and though he might have been saved. (5.) Another argument may be derived from the fact that the atonement is found to be ample for all. For eighteen hundred years the offer of salvation has been made to mankind on the ground of the atonement. All classes and conditions of men; men of every complexion and in every condition of life, have applied to God for pardon on the ground that Christ died for them. Not one who has urged that ground of appeal has been rejected. It is susceptible of all the proof that the case will admit of, that not one sinner has ever been rejected on the ground that the atonement was not made for him, or that its efficacy had been exhausted. Not one has gone to God with a broken heart and been ’sent empty away;’ not one has come to the cross and been told that the blood that was shed there was shed for others, not for him. Thousands of the profane have been pardoned through the blood of Christ, and not one profane man has been told that his blood was not shed for him; thousands of the intemperate have been saved, and not one intemperate man has been repelled because the blood of the atonement was not shed for him; thousands of the gay, the proud, the unbelieving, have been made sensible of their sins, and have supplicated pardon on the ground that Christ died for them, and not one has been rejected on the ground that Christ did not die for them; and should millions more of the same classes come, they would find the fountain that is ’set open for sin and uncleanness’ as full as ever, and would be as welcome as those were who went before them. For in the gospel there are no symptoms of decay or exhaustion; there are no indications that it is losing its power; there are no evidences that the streams of salvation will ever be dried up. Of the profane man it is just as certain now that he may be forgiven as it was of the first scoffer that made an application for salvation; and the fact that the first one who made the application was forgiven, constitutes the fullest demonstration that all who come with the same spirit will be accepted and saved. Of the proud or the unbelieving man it is just as certain that he may be pardoned as it was of the first proud man that was humbled before the cross, or the first infidel that came and sought mercy through the atonement; and the fact that they were saved is a proof that all of the same character may be saved also. Of the worldly and the vain it is as certain that they may be saved as it was that the first worldly and vain sinner might be; and the fact that the first was saved is a proof that all of the same character now may be. Of the guilty female— the wanderer from the paths of virtue—it is as certain that she may be saved as it was of her’ who washed the feet of the Saviour with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head; and the fact that she was saved is a proof that all, to the end of time, and in every land, who come to the Redeemer in the same way, will be saved. Of the infuriated persecutor now it is as certain that the merits of the atonement are ample for his salvation as it is that they were for the salvation of Saul of Tarsus; and the fact that he was pardoned will be to the end of time a standing demonstration that all of the same character may be saved. (Compare 1 Timothy 1:16.) The merit of the Redeemer is unexhausted by time. The stream of salvation never runs dry. As healing fountains flow from age to age, no matter what numbers apply for healing; and as they retain their power, no matter what the forms of disease which are healed; and as they flow in large abundance above all that is needed and is applied, pouring their streams on the sands of the desert, or mingling with other waters, so it is with the waters of salvation. The fountain ever flows, by day and by night, in seed-time and harvest, in summer and winter. It is ample for all that apply. It is unexhausted by the numbers that come, and by the nature of the maladies that are healed. It flows in large abundance above and beyond all that is needed, and though it seems to be useless or wasted, it is neither; for, whether men avail themselves of it or not, it is a standing proof of the inexhaustible and illimitable benevolence of God. It will flow on to the end of time. When all the fountains that now pour forth healing waters for the cure of the sick shall—if they ever do—exhaust the source of supply, the streams of salvation will still pour forth their unexhausted floods over a lost world. Never till time shall end will the sentiment of the beautiful stanzas with which this Treatise on the atonement may appropriately close, cease to be true:— "There is a fountain, fill’d with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains. "Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood Shall nover lose its power, Till all the ransom’d church of God Be saved, to sin no more." ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-albert-barnes/ ========================================================================