Pecer net trees a BT wor B6Sv 13S 51. Bonar, Horatius, 1808-1889. Truth and error, or, Letters to a friend on some of the. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/trutherrororlettOO0bona ed TRUTH AND ERROR: F -OR, TO A FRIEND, " ON Sut ie of the Cuutroncrsies of the Day. | ew ee oe * - "O a ae, ees ¥ ? “ ie ‘ ‘ ters ne a ‘ “Thor e must be also heresies among you, that thoy whiot are approved may be made manifest among you,”—1 Cor. xi. 19. BY THE REV. HORATIUS” BON KR; AUTHOR OF “NIGHT OF WEEPING,” * MORNING OF Jo¥,” “STORY OF GRACE,” ETC. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, No. 285 BROADWAY. 1851. 4, “What is it all? Nothing but a self-achieved and self-wr ought acquisition, earned wages, human handywork. He has read hi meself into it, or it has been talked, preached, persuaded, or practis “1 into him by others; but the Holy Ghost has no share in his it mina- tion; he has not been taught of a... and therefore, als, 0, all that he has thus swallowed down, like a dead capital, bri| nging in no interest; the food has not been digested, and therefor)e not converted into juice, blood, and life, and his spikenard give no scent.”— Krummacher. j “Let us be prepared for such a spirit (of error;) let us me ot be stumbled if it come glowing with the message of God’s love; r, ebuk- ing, exhorting, encouraging ; weeping over the recital of Cl) irist’s sorrows. All this will Satan be likely now to do; for nothing | short of this will be likely to deceive the elect.”—Letter to a Friend «on the Religious State of the Country. 1837, P. 10. CONTENTS. PREFACE, INTRODUCTION, A Lerrer I—General Principles, Lerrer II.—General Principles, continued, . Lerrer II].—God’s Will and Man’s Will, LETTER ‘IV.—Election, : Lerrer V.—Predestination and Foreknowledge, . Lerrer VI—The Work of Christ, Lerrer VII—Faith—the Gospel—Assurance, Lerrer VIII.—-Man’s Inability, Lerrrr IX.—The Spirit and the Word, Lrrrer X.—Present State of Religion, . 126 . 145 . 206 . 263 * ‘ PREFACE BOVUTEE THIRD EDMPTON. I resent thankful that God has so prospered and blessed this little work, that now, two large editions having been exhausted, a third is called for. In revising it for the press, while I have felt the many defects which exist in it, I have been led to rejoice more and more in the truth for which it is designed to be a testimony. The errors against which it is pointed are, I believe, in some measure subsiding ; but still it is most needful that the warn- ing should be kept up. ‘The doctrines at stake are not subordinate and unessential. They are momen- tous and vital,—both in themselves and in their consequences. ‘They lie at the very foundation of true theology, and are imbedded in the very heart of the Word of God. The denial of them involves not only a misinterpretation of Scripture, but a mis- representation of Jehovah’s character. In such a case there can be no compromise. The man who denies the sovereignty of the Father, the sudstitu- “ > vl PREFACE. tionary work of the Son, the direct operation of the Holy Spirit upon the soul, and who expunges the doctrine of absolute election from the ninth of the Romans, may not be a Socinian himself, but he holds radically Socinian principles, and his followers will assuredly carry out these into open and broad Socinianism. Ketso, April, 1850. NOTE. I nave carefully revised these Letters, correcting and supplementing very considerably, so as to ren- der them more complete and more useful. In the first edition I referred but sparingly to writers upon the different points in question. In this edition I have thought it best to give what references I had collected, both in order to render the book more complete, and also for the sake of those who desire to study the various subjects. Still, I build nothing upon these in the way of authority. It is to the law and to the testimony that the appeal is taken. Let God be true, and every man a liar. «Buy the truth, and sell it not:” that is, get truth at whatever price or cost; but part with it on no consideration, and for no price whatsoever. INTRODUCTION. ——~+- >—_—__—__ Tuxse Letters are little more than fragments. They do not aim at a complete statement of the truth, or a systematic arrangement of it. It is only a few important points that they touch. ‘To have extended them and embraced a wider range of doctrine would not have suited my design. I wished to warn you against some of the prevailing errors of the time, lest ye, being “led away from your steadfastness,” should follow after the “ diverse and strange doctrines” of these last days. Hence it was necessary to dwell upon those errors which have been most prominently advanced, and to open up those truths which have been most perverted and denied. There may be found here and there a few repetitions. These I tried to avoid as much as possible, but could not altogether succeed. . I found that so close is the connection between Viil INTRODUCTION. the different truths as well as the different errors, that after I had discussed them in one place, they would rise up in a second, or even a third, springing now out of one doctrine, and again out of another. Ido not regret this. It may tend to show more fully the harmony of all the different parts of the truth, and their connection with each other, so that it will be ‘seen that as all truth is linked together in its different parts, so is all error. How great, then, the danger of slighting any truth or giv- ing way to any error! My appeal is to the Word of God. What are the reasonings, or opinions, or inferences of men? What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. Let the Bible decide each question. It is for this end that I have ap- pended to each letter a selection of passages at length. The real question of the present day is just this,—Is man a totally and thoroughly de- praved being by nature ?—Is he ruined, help- less, and blind, dead in trespasses and sins? Many other questions have arisen, but this is the centre one. According to the views we entertain regarding this, will be our views on other points. It is upon the truth of this doc- trine that the whole Bible proceeds. And INTRODUCTION. 1X hence I would at the outset warn you strongly against any attempt to modify, or abate, or dilute the statements of Scripture on this point. Man being thoroughly depraved in nature, is it possible, I ask, to save him without a special and direct intervention of Father, Son, and Spirit, in his behalf? In other words, can he be saved in any way which does not involve personal election by the Father, par- ticular redemption by the Son, and direct, immediate, overcoming operation of the Holy Spirit? Or, putting the question in another form, and using the language of science—given a totally depraved being, is it possible to save that being by any plan which makes the pre- vious concurrence of his own will an indispen- sable preliminary, or which makes it neces- sary that he should take the first step in the matter of return to God? If you place the different errors of the day before you in this light, you will find that they all more or less directly deny or encroach upon the doctrine of man’s original and actual de- pravity. You will find, also, that the objections urged against God’s sovereignty and man’s helpless- ness, are just diflerent manifestations of hu- x INTRODUCTION. man pride,—the pride into which Satan tempted Adam, “ Ye shall be as gods,” and into which all his offspring have fallen along with him. Man will not consent to be noth- ing, that God alone may be atu. And it is curious to observe that the objections urged against these truths are not passages of Scrip- ture, but human reasonings—man’s inferences and opinions. ‘Take, as a specimen, the doc- trine of God’s sovereignty. We have many passages breadly declaring this, but not one setting forth the opposite. How, then, do men contrive to deny this truth? They begin to reason and speculate upon it; and by means of certain ¢nferences of their own, try to make it appear inconsistent with other doctrines to which they attach great importance. They say, ‘‘ Does not God invite the sinner to come to Christ, does he not tell us that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn and live: now, how can this be true, if He be absolutely sovereign in his proceedings? We cannot reconcile these things together, therefore we must explain away the passages which assert God’s sover- eignty and electing will. They cannot be understood in their plain and literal sense: we must devise some other meaning for them INTRODUCTION. Xl * which will accord with our ideas of God’s love.” Thus, pride of intellect, confidence in human reason, eagerness to establish one favorite doc- trine and to make everything bend to it, super- sede and overturn the Word of God. Scrip- ture is not implicitly relied upon, unless borne out by the systems or the syllogisms of reason and the conclusions of man’s poor fallen in- tellect. Cleave, then, to the Word of God. Dis- trust your own hearts, lean not to your own understandings,—but receive with meekness the ingrafted word. “The world through wisdom knew not God :” and we must stoop to “become fools, that we may be wise.” “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.””* It is a singular fact, that the tendencies of the present day are to substitute the operation of general laws for the direct interposition of God. This is Satan’s present device ; and it is a device which he is carrying out into all departments of knowledge,—philosophy, sci- ence, literature, and theology. Some ten or * See first and second chapters of First Corinthians, “> xil INTRODUCTION. twelve years ago, for instance, we had a speci- men of this in a work called “‘ My Old House, or the doctrine of changes,” by an individual taking to himself the name of a minister of Christ. He had conjured up a magnificent system of laws, a self-moving universe ; and though he frequently spoke of Divine Provi- dence, it was evident that the idea of Provi- dence was a disturbance of the harmony, a disfigurement of the graceful beauty of his system. Just so is it with the theology of some in our day. ‘They would carry on every- thing by means alone, by intermediate agen- cies ; and though they often speak of the Holy Spirit, yet it is very manifest that the doctrine of the Spirit’s work sets their system out of joint, and is quite an incumbrance to it. Their system is quite complete without any such agency.* This is already felt, and hence His direct personal operation is set aside. What may be the issue of this in a few years, * If this seems a strong statement, I just ask what is meant by a sort of proverbial expression of theirs, in com- mon use, “that man needs no more help to believe God’s truth, than to believe the devil’s lie.” A more complete denial of the Spirit’s entire work there could not be. For as man does not need the Spirit at all to enable him to be- lieve the lie, so according to them he does not need in any sense the Spirit to enable him to believe the truth, See this adverted to in Letter Ninth. INTRODUCTION. Xl we shall not venture to predict. Whether such a theory can long subsist with the belief of the Divine personality of the Spirit, or which of the two is likelier to give way, we shall leave to others to determine. Of late, the well-known work, “* Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation,” is an- other specimen of what we mean. In that work the author tells us that he has sug- gested “a physiological explanation of the development of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, leading to the conclusion that the designs of Creative wisdom were entirely effected by the intervention of natural laws.” His object is to prove that God works only mediately and indirectly, through his law, but not by the forth-putting of his power in any more direct manner. Now it is this very principle that pervades the new theology. Like the above writer, the new divines fre- quently speak of the Spirit, so as to lead many to suppose that they do not at all ques- tion his work; but they never fail to add, that He only works “in the use of means,” not by ‘‘an inward direct energy.”* Now, in re- * See the Correspondence of the Congregational Churches, p. 26, and other places. The Churches who held fast the truth, and remonstrated with their brethren, thus express 2 X1V INTRODUCTION. gard to the statements of the man of science, we are quite willing to admit that God does work “by the intervention of natural laws ;” but the question is, does He work in that way alone? He affirms; we deny it, and maintain that such doctrine is philosophic scepticism. So in regard to the statements of the divines alluded to, we are equally will- ing to grant that the Holy Spirit does work by the use of means ; but the question is, does he work by the use of means alone? ‘They affirm; we deny it. We say that he operates directly upon the soul, and maintain that the opposite of this is theological scepticism. Both of these are truly signs of the last days—signs arising in different quarters of the heavens, yet obviously the same in kind. They manifest singular wnity of design on the part of Satan. In both, we see his repug- nance to the direct will of Jehovah. In both, their judgment as to their opinions: “Honesty requires us to say that you seem to us to admit in words what you deny in fact,’ p.10. Again they remark on the ambiguous and equivocal language used by their correspondents—* It is the hackneyed subterfuge employed in all ages by those who have held the errors that we are opposing, to say that the influence of mere means is the influence of the Spirit, since the means have proceeded from and express the mind of the Spirit, and thus they have sought to cheat the unwary with words, spreading the belief that they have admitted the Spirit's influence, when in fact they have denied it.” INTRODUCTION. XV his object is to separate men from Him in whom they live, and move, and have their be- ing. In both, he is seeking to make the crea- ture’s communication with the Creator less personal and direct; to set aside the necessity of His ever-interposing agency; to impugn the equity of making the creature thoroughly dependent upon the all-regulating will and pleasure of the Creator; to deny the great Bible truth which is the very basis of re- demption, that separate from God, there can be no stability for the creature, and that it is only by the grace of His own continually- imparted power that the creature can be holy, or even Je at all. Were these new theories correct, most mel- ancholy were our case! For where would be the blessedness that flows from our direct dealings with God in prayer and praise? Are prayer and praise to be mere messages, sent by us to a far-distant Being, whose feelings and ours can never intermingle? Or are they to be the close, real, personal converse of one friend with another, face to face? Admit the modern theory, and direct communion with God must be a thing unknown. For, if God only communicates with us through means, then we only communicate with him through XV1 INTRODUCTION. the same. The far-off influence of the moon upon the tides of ocean is, in such a case, the true emblem of God’s operations upon Us, and the responsive but cold heaving of the billows upward would be the only figure of our inter- course with Him. The living God and the living soul could never meet and embrace each other in love. ‘They could only carry on their intercourse by signs, and means, and in- fluences.* But let these remarks suffice as an Intro- duction. I put these Letters into the hands * «The distinction which is sometimes made, that in a miracle God is immediately working, and, in other events, is leaving it to the laws which he has established to work, can- not at all be admitted, for it has its root in a dead mechan- ‘cal view of the universe, which lies altogether remote from the truth. The clock-maker makes his clock, and leaves it ; the ship-builder builds and launches his ship, and others nay- igate it; but the world is no curious piece of mechanism which its Master makes and then dismisses from his hands, only from time to time reviewing and repairing it; but, as our Lord says, ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work, ‘he upholdeth all things by the word of his power’ And to speak of ‘laws of God, ‘laws of nature, may become to us a language altogether deceptive, and hiding the deeper reality from our cyes. Laws of God exist only for us. It is a will of God for himself, That will indeed, being the will of highest wisdom and love, excludes all wilfulness, is a will upon which we can securely count ; from the past expressions of it, we can presume its future, and so we rightfully call it alaw. But still from moment to moment it is a will; each law, as we term it, of nature, is only that which we have learned of nature concerning this will in that particular re- gion of its activity.’"—Z'rench on the Miracles, pp. 9, 10. INTRODUCTION. Xvi of you, my dear people, that you may be helped to understand the truth of God, and may be kept steadfast therein. You know that these are the very truths which, during these eight years of my ministry among you, I have ever sought to teach you. My desire is to lay before you, in a more abiding form, the substance of my teaching from the pul- pit. In the freeness of the glorious gospel, I have endeavored to instruct you in many ways; and I would not that you should be left unwarned against the errors which some are introducing amongst us, under pretext of preaching that gospel more freely; ‘lest Satan should get an advantage over us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.” ‘‘ Little children, it is the last time; and, as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time.” ‘Behold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” 2% ot fans. cob hirr tt Per wie RaAP Mle ty dhe url haere Wee}. etre ; j ‘ - Jas b Bars Hive LETTER I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. “ Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For itis a good thing that the heart be established with grace.’’—Hen. xiii. 9. My pear Frienp, You seem bewildered amid the opinions of the day, almost as much as you would be in the midst of a company where each spoke in a different tongue. The difficulty of judging what is truth seems increasing, instead of dis- appearing. You know not what to think, nor which way to turn, in order to discover who is right, or where certainty is to be found; so many novelties stagger and amaze you. ‘There seem to be good men on both sides, and that perplexes you still more. You long for peace amid the jar of these unruly elements, and for stability amid these shifting sands. Yet rest comes not. 'There is no end of change. One novelty begets another, and that, in its turn, becomes equally productive. One error requires another to 20 LETTER I. maintain it, this second must have a third or fourth to lean upon. One false step leads to twenty, or perhaps a hundred more. Who knows where all this is to end ?* The changes are numerous. Every month produces some new doctrine, or at least some modification of the old. Fickle minds he in wait for something new. As the edge of one novelty wears down, another must be provided in its place to keep up the unhealthy excite- ment. Thus fickleness becomes doubly fickle by being gratified; novelties multiply, and the sore evil spreads. Men do not tremble at the thought of falling into error. ‘Io change opin- ions upon some casual impulse, or some shal- low catch of an argument, is thought but a light thing; as if the falling into error were no great matter, instead of being a fearful calamity; or as if the entrance upon truth were an indifferent occurrence, instead of be- ing the occasion of deep and solemn joy. Many who but lately were high Calvinists are now Arminians of the lowest grade, pass- ing through the different levels with the most singular facility and flippancy, as easily and * “They want something new, something which has a pe- culiar relish; old things have grown wearisome to them.” —Dr. Merle D Aubigne on the character of the theologian. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 21 airily as the musician runs up and down the scale with the finger or the voice. How is all this? you will ask. It might be enough to answer that it is written, ‘‘ There shall come in the last days perilous times, when men shall be heady, high-minded, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowl- edge of the truth ;”* ‘‘ when they shall not en- dure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and shall turn away their ears from the truth.”t But let us inquire a little farther. ‘There seem to be chiefly three rea- sons for this; first, the soul is not at rest; sec- ondly, the conscience is not at work; thirdly, there is little “trembling at the word.” I might refer to others, but these are the prom- inent ones. 1. The soul is not at rest—There is a rest- ing-place for the weary,—deep and broad, im- movable and sure,—Jesus, the sin -bearing Lamb of God. But these unstable ones have not reached it. They speak much of it, talk as if they alone knew anything about it, as if none could state the gospel so freely as they ; yet it is manifest that they have not yet real- * 2 Tim. iii. 4, 7, +2 Tim. iy. 3. 22 : LETTER I. ized that. stable peace which comes from the knowledge of the living Jesus. They are not at rest; and till the sowl be at rest, the mind cannot. It will always be making vain fetch- es after new opinions, in the hope that this or that new doctrine may perchance bring to it the peace which it has hitherto sought in vain. Be assured of this, that a mind not at rest be- speaks a sowl not at rest; and whatever men may affirm to you about their assurance or their peace, if you see them ever on the watch, ever on the wing for some new opinion, you may be sure there is little rest within. In many cases it may be vanity, attachment to a sect, desire for proselytizing others, or sim- ply self-will; but in most cases I have no doubt that it is really in quest of peace that these poor souls are stretching out their weary hands, ready to embrace anything that will fill the dreary void, and pour over their souls that settled calm and sunshine, to which, in spite of all their profession, they are really strangers. ‘They are not fastened to the an- chor cast within the veil, or else they have let go their hold; and hence they are drifting from place to place in quest of anchorage, but unable to find it. They try, by means of change, to allay the fever and fretfulness of an GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 23 unsettled spirit, yet all the while they boast of their assurance, and perhaps censure you sorely if you cannot speak their language and assume their tone. 2. The conscience ts not at work.—The conscience has far more to do in receiving or rejecting opinions than many suppose. It should stand like a sentinel at the door of the mind, to try all truth before it enter. A ten- der conscience is cautious, and oftentimes very slow ia admitting truth, and, on this very ac- count, most tenacious in holding it fast. Hence, a child of God, with a tender con- science, is often much slower in receiving truth than others. For it has to do with conscience in his case; it has to pass into the mind under a watchful eye, which fears to be rash and hasty, and trembles at the thought of giving entrance to error. A conscience asleep, or seared, or secure, makes quick work. A specious objection is presented to some old. truth, or a plausible argument in favor of some new opinion, and, forthwith, the former is thrust out, the latter taken in, without any resistance, or delay, or trembling on the part of conscience, or any light and guidance from God, sought and obtained upon the matter. Nothing is more needed in our inquiries 24 LETTER I. after truth, than the watchful jealousy of a tender conscience. Yet how little is there of conscience at all in these last days! ‘There is what is called independence of mind, or thinking for one’s self; but that is not con- science. There is a spurning of creeds, and catechisms, and all olden theology, but that is not conscience. It is not waiting upon God for teaching. It is trusting our own heart, ‘ and taking the guidance of our own eyes. It is not ‘ceasing from man,” but the mere pre- tence of it. It is ceasing from one man in order to trust in another, from one age to trust in another, from one book to trust in another, from one heart to trust in another, and that other perhaps the most deceitful of all,—our own. Hence there is such running after novelty, such readiness to receive any plau- sible error, such instability of opinion and fickleness of spirit; such self-willedness and headstrong precipitancy of judgment; such high-mindedness, pride, and censoriousness of others; so little thought of our own foolish- ness and fallibility ; so slender a sense of the awful responsibility we:are under to God, for what we believe for ourselves, and propagate among others, as his precious and eternal truth. ee GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 25 3. There ts little trembling at the word.— It is a solemn thing for man to be spoken to by God, the God of heaven and earth. Each word coming from His lips should be listened to and received with profoundest reverence. ‘The Lord has spoken” is enough for us. There is no room for questions or cavil where His voice is heard. Each word in the Bible is to be dealt with as a sacred thing, a vessel of the sanctuary, not to be lightly handled or profanely mutilated, but to be received just as it stands. There may be passages difficult to reconcile, doctrines which apparently conflict with each other. But let us beware of smooth- ing down, or hammering in pieces, one class of passages, in order to bring about a reconcilia- tion. Let us be content to take them as they are. We shall gain nothing by explaining them away. God has spoken them. God has placed them there. ‘They cannot really be at variance with each other. The day is coming when we shall fully understand their har- mony. Let us wait till then, and meanwhile tremble at the thought of misinterpreting or distorting so much as one jot or tittle. Most assuredly we shall not bring about the agree- ment in any such way. We are only wi- 3 26 LETTER I. dening the breach, and opening out new dif- ficulties.* If I am asked, how can you preach a free gospel, and yet believe in election? I answer, I believe in both, and preach both, because I find both in the Bible. I have no authority for preaching an unconditional gospel but what I find in the Bible; and I have the same au- thority for preaching an unconditional personal election. God has told me that both are true; and woe be to me if I profanely attempt to mutilate either the one or the other. If one man refuses to take the simple meaning of election,” another may refuse to take the simple meaning of “gospel.” And were I called upon to say which is the worse, the more profane of the two, I should say the for- mer. I should, indeed, tremble at the thought of denying either election or the gospel; but I confess that I think the denial of the latter a less direct, and a less daring insult to the sov- erelgn majesty of Jehovah. It would be a shutting out of his grace, a closing up of all the manifestations of his character which have * “The mind of that man has a strong bias to scepticism, who insists on having every difficulty satisfactorily explained before he will apply the sacred truths to himself.”"—Henry (of America) Letters regarding the difficulties of an anxious inquirer ; Letter LX. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. py come out to us since Adam sinned; and it would be drawing a dark cloud over our eter- nal prospects,—but it would not be taking the ceins of government out of his hands,—it would not be the usurpation of his throne,—it would not be giving the right hand of fellowship to atheism. But there is no need of any such compari- son. Perhaps it was wrong to make it. I have done so, however, in order that you may be led to see that election belongs to the high- est and most sacred order of truths—that it’ is not a doctrine to be concealed and muffled as if we were either ashamed or afraid of it, but to be firmly held, and faithfully preached, whether men will hear or forbear. Mere philosophy might tell men that, if there be a God, he must be entirely and absolutely sovereign in all things. Mere philosophy might expose the shallowness and selfishness of those who tram- ple on God’s free will, in order to establish man’s—even if theology and Scripture were silent on the matter. Why do I believe in a free gospel? Is it because reason has revealed it? Is it because I find it suits me best? No. It 1s because God has declared it ; that is my sole authority. Why do I believe in election? Just because 28 LETTER I. God has made it known. I may find that reason confirms this. I may see that there can be no really free gospel without election; but still my ground for believing it is because I find it most plainly revealed. You can only get rid of election by getting rid of the Bible. And hence you will find, among those who deny election and the work of Christ for his church, a great dislike at those passages of Scripture which allude to these topics. They pass them by, they turn away from them, they are anery if another even quotes them, though without a comment. Now I ask, would they do and feel thus, if they believed that these passages really con- tained the meaning which they put upon them? If these passages are quite in harmony with their views, why do they shrink from quoting them, or hearing them quoted? Is not this the plainest of all proofs, that they feel that theirs is not the honest interpretation? Does it not show that they themselves are secretly persuaded that these passages do teach uncon- ditional election, and the absolute sovereignty of Jehovah? They feel that they have twisted them from their plain sense, and that the mere reading of them is enough to expose their dis- tortions. They feel that they have not dealt GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 29 fairly with the word of God, and that their one-sided dealings cannot bear the light of day. Let us learn to ‘tremble at the word.” Let us take it plainly and honestly in its simple sense. Let us not be afraid of its apparent contradictions. Let us not think ourselves capable of reconciling and harmonizing all its declarations. We see here but through a glass darkly. ‘he day of light and harmony is com- ing. All shall then be plain. God will solve our difficulties. Meanwhile, let us reverence every jot and tittle of his holy word. Let us trust our own hearts and reasonings less, aud God’s word more. Let us not be so anxiously asking, how can this be? how can we recon- cile God’s sovereignty with man’s responsibill- ty? how can we harmonize the Spirit’s free agency with man’s free agency? Let us leave difficulties in the hands of God; and let us beware of making those difficulties greater by our miserable attempts to reach at things too high for us, or our more miserable efforts to pervert and mutilate the simple word of the God who cannot lie. I do not mean, by any of these remarks, to imply that there is not the most perfect har- mony between all the different doctrines taught 3* 30° LETTER I. us in the Bible. Nor do I mean to say that this harmony is incapable of being discerned here. I believe, on the one hand, that all is harmony in the truths of God, and that that harmony is discernible and demonstrable even now. But still there is an apparent jar. ‘To a certain extent we can reconcile every one of the supposed discordances. Yet there are dif: ficulties connected with them which no theory can solve, and which will remain difficulties till the great day. To attempt to remove or reconcile these by denying the plain and natu- ral sense of Scripture is sinful and pernicious. It accomplishes nothing. It only takes away one difhiculty to replace it with a greater. There are doubtless other causes of the evils over which we mourn; but these are the three chief roots of bitterness. ‘To these may be traced more of the manifold errors of our day than many may be willing to allow. Till these are removed, I have little hope that the insta- bility of the times will die out, or cease to op- erate for the, injury and subversion of the truth. Till the soul gets rest—not the name, but the reality—and till the conscience is awake and sensitive, and till the Word of God is reve- renced and honestly interpreted, I see small prospect of an end to these changes, if, indeed, GENERAL PRINCIPLES. au we may venture to hope that such can be until the Lord shall come. Yet be not amazed. Jehovah changes not; neither does his word. It abideth forever, firm as the rocks of earth, undimmed as the azure of the heavens. Seek unto God for light, and to his Word for wisdom. Take his Holy Spirit as your teacher. Heed not the jar of men’s warring opinions. Let God be true, and every man a liar. The Bible is the Bible still. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. Do not be alarmed, as if all this were some new thing in the earth. Many speak as if truth had never arisen among men till they arose to teach it. But the errors of the day are those of former times. ‘They have shot up once and again, and been so often silenced and put to shame. They are old and worn-out errors, though, perhaps, more daringly set forth now than heretofore; for the time seems at hand in which “the earth shall reel to and fro . like a drunkard,” and when false teachers and prophets shall deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. Yet do not suppose the attain- ment of truth to be a hopeless thing. ‘ The Son of Ged hath come, and hath given us an 32 LETTER I. understanding that we may know him that is true.” It was He who taught the multitudes in the days of his flesh; and it is he who teach- eth the multitude still. If he teaches not, all is vain and false; if he teaches, all is true, all is blessed. Light and knowledge are with him; and how willing is he that all that light and knowledge should be yours! Learn of me, he says, for [am meek and lowly ; and to what teacher can a foolish, erring soul betake him- self, like this meek and lowly one, who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way? He received gifts for men, when he ascended on high, even for the rebellious; and to whom can you go, save to him who has the Holy Spirit, with all his gifts and graces so freely to bestow ? I am yours, &c. THUS SAITH THE LORD: “Holding faith and a good conscience; which some hay- ing put away, concerning faith haye made shipwreck.”— 1 Tim. i. 19. “Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women, laden with sins, led away with divers lusts; ever learning, and never able to come to the knowl- edge of the truth.”——2 Tim. iii. 6. “The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to them- selves teachers having itching ears; and they shall turn away from the truth, and shall be turned into fables.”—2 Tim. iv. 3. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 33 “There are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers.”— Titus i. 10. “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”—Eph. iv. 14. LETTER II. GENERAL PRINCIPLES, CONTINUED. “Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou ? or thy work, He hath no hands ?’’—IsaiAu xly, 9. My pear FRienp, Having stated what appears to me to be the origin of the theological opinions that are now trying to make way among us, I would briefly advert to some of the principles out of which they spring. I might at once have gone on to discuss the different points or opinions them- selves; but I think it may be useful to notice some of the principles which they involve, or what may be called the general aspect and es- sence of these opinions. We have already seen the sow! in which they flourish,—we shall forth- with proceed to advert to the branches and fruit ; but, before doing so, it may be well to call attention to the roots of the tree. Speaking generally of the new doctrines, and of the movement which has taken place in connection with them, we may affirm several things. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 35 1. Man has too much to do with all this,— God too little. We hear much of what man does, and can do, and ought to do, but by no means so much of what God is doing, and has purposed to do. Man’s agency stands very prominently out to view,—God’s arm and power are hidden. It seems almost as if man would thrust aside God, take the reins of gov- ernment out of his hands, and be to himself a god. Man gets much credit for doing and say- ing great things,—God gets little glory. The position of the sinner, as @ mere receiver of salvation, and every blessing connected with it in this life or the next, is denied; and he is exalted to be a co-operator with God in the matter of salvation. He begins the work by becoming willing, and God ends it. He does what he can, and God does all the rest. He is represented as helping God to save him; or rather, we should say, God is represented as helping man to save himself! In the old cre- ation, God did all; but in the new creation, as being a far more stupendous work, he re- quires the assistance of man,—nay, he commits half the work, at least the most difficult and momentous part of it, to man himself! If some of the new theories be true, God is not all in all, but is, on the contrary, considerably 36 LETTER It. indebted to man; and man, in like manner, is not a little indebted to himself. In all this, we hear still the whisperings of the old ser- pent, ‘“ Ye shall be as gods ;” and we see man, like his first father, aspiring to the Divine prerogative. _ 2. Man’s way, and not God’s, is taken as the guide of action? God has a way, a plan, a purpose, well and wisely ordered. This plan, which he acts by, he has revealed, and he expects us to take it as our guide in all our schemes. This plan touches and rules things both great and small,—nations, communities, churches, with all their movements. Man’s wisdom would be to search out this plan, and shape all his movements accordingly. Inat- tention to this must not only lead to fruitless efforts and unscriptural schemes, but to much false religion, self-will, formality, excitement, and sectarianism. (God’s design is to glorify himself,—to show to the whole universe what an infinitely glorious Being he is. This is his mighty end in all he does and says—to man- ifest himself and show forth his glory. For this, sin was allowed to enter the world; for this, the ‘‘ Word was made flesh ;” for this, the Son of God shed his blood and died; for this, He is taking out of this world a people to him- GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 37 self; to this all things are tending, and in this shall they be consummated ere long. Noth- ing less than this does God propose to himself in his doings; and nothing less than this should we ever make our aim and end. All things are but means to this one end. Even the incarnation of his own Son is but means toward an end, but not the end itself. The ingathering of his chosen ones is the means, not the end. The salvation of Israel, the con- version of the world, and the restitution of all things in the day of the coming kingdom, shall be the means, but not the end. ‘ For of him, and through him, and to him are all things; to whom be glory forever.” Whenever we overlook this, we go wrong, and our efforts are but the beating of the air. When we make an end of anything lower than this, we are sure to fall into error; because, when we fix on ends of our own, we are cer- tain to adopt means of our own. ‘Take the case of the conversion of asoul. We cannot be too much in earnest about the saving even of one lost one. I believe we know almost noth- ing of that deep compassion and yearning love for a dying world which, as saints, we ought ever to feel.* Yet still it is quite possible to * What an example, and, at the same time, what a re- 4 38 LETTER I. err in this matter,—not in being too earnest, but in being so intent on having men converted as to lose sight of the mighty end for which this is to be sought. Hence the glory of God is hidden from view ; I do not say denied, but hidden from view. And what is the conse- quence? We cease to look at conversion in the light in which God regards it, as the way in which he is to be glorified. We think if we can but get men converted, it does not so much matter how. Our whole anxiety is, not how shall we secure the glory of Jehovah, but how shall we multiply conversions? ‘The whole current of our thoughts and anxieties takes this direction. We cease to look at both things together ; we think it enough to keep the one of them alone in our eye; and the issue is, that we soon find ourselves pursuing ways of our own. Bent upon compassing a particular object, we run recklessly forward, thinking that, as the object is right, anything buke in regard to this is conveyed to us in Edwards’ state- ment of the feelings of some during a time of revival. “There was found an universal benevolence to mankind, with a longing to embrace the whole world in the arms of pity and love. Sometimes a disposition was felt to a life given up to mourning alone in a wilderness over a lost and miserable world; compassion towards them being often to that degree that would allow of no support or rest but in going to God and pouring out the soul in prayer for them,” Works, vol, i. p. 877. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 39 that can contribute towards the securing of it cannot be wrong. We thus come to measure the correctness of our plans, simply by their seeming to contribute to our favorite aim. We estimate the soundness of our doctrine, not from its tendency to exalt and glorify Jehovah, but entirely by the apparent facility with which it enables us to get sinners to turn from their ways. The question is not asked con- cerning any doctrine, Is ¢¢ tn itself a God-hon- oring truth, but will it afford us facilities for converting souls? Will it make conversion a more easy thing,—a thing which a man may accomplish for himself and by himself? Will it make conversion less dependent upon God, and more dependent upon man? Will it make a man’s salvation to hinge less pure- ly and solely upon the will of Jehovah, and more entirely upon the will of the sinner him- self? Will it enable us to meet such a text as—‘‘No man can come unto me unless the Father draw him;” ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you;” ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ?” The man who thinks of nothing but how he may (as he calls it) get sinners converted, is continually apt to take these devious courses. 40 LETTER II. Impelled but by one force, in one direction, from one motive, he soon errs and loses him- self in mazy thickets, which, as he plunges on, thicken into deeper intricacy and darkness. Such texts as these present themselves and cross his path. Intent on but one thing, he either shuns them or treads them down. ‘They are incompatible with his one idea,—they seem to impede him in the pursuit of his one end. And therefore they must be got quit of. It does not occur to ask, Am I not looking at ob- jects in a partial light, from too low a position, and with a false bias which unfits me for com- ing to a right judgment ? Were such a ques- tion but asked and answered as it ought, there would be less of one-sided doctrines, mis-shapen systems, got up to accomplish a favorite and engrossing object. Were the glory of the infi- nite Jehovah seen in its true light, as the mightiest and most majestic of all objects and ends, not to the exclusion of other matters, but simply to their regulation and subordination,— then should we be saved the pain of seeing men rushing headlong over Scripture and reason, striking out strange by-paths of their own, in their eager pursuit of an object on which they have fixed an exclusive and par- tial eye. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 41 I do not wonder at men, who either have lost sight of the glory of Jehovah or have made it a subordinate object, or who think that if they can only get men converted, God will look after his own glory,—I do not wonder at them being fretted when such texts as those I have referred to, confront them in their schemes for facilitating conversion, and mak- ing man the converter of himself. A man with only one object in view, and that not the high- est, must be stumbled at such declarations, and feel at a loss to reconcile them with others. But the man who has set his heart upon the glory of his God, and views everything in re- lation to that, feels no such difficulty. He takes Scripture as he finds it. He has no need to explain away even one verse or clause of the Book of Truth. He enters into the pur- pose of God; he looks at things in the light in which God looks at them. He tries to see them as they might have appeared in the long past eternity,—or as they will yet appear in the eternity to come. And he finds all har- mony. ‘There is no conflict, no discord at all. One class of passages show him the yearnings of God’s heart over sinful man. They show him that God is in earnest in beseeching men to come to him; that he really means what he 4* 42 LETTER II. says when he makes proposals of friendship and reconciliation to them. They show him that the sinner’s unbelief is the cause of his damnation ; and that if he is lost, it is not be- cause God would not be reconciled to him, but because he would not be reconciled to God. They show him that the water of life is free ; free to every man; free to every sinner as he stands; and that he is invited to partake, without*price or preparation, not only although he is a sinner, but just because he is a sinner. They show him these things, and in them he greatly rejoices. He does not wish to abate one jot of the blessed freeness, or cloud by one restriction the joy of the glad tidings. No. He takes these passages just as he finds them. He sees how suitable they are to one of the objects on which his heart is set,—I mean the conversion of souls. But then he finds another class of passages which follow out another line of truth. They will run him up at once into the purpose and will of Jehovah as the fount and cause of everything great or small. ‘They are quite explicit; just as much so as the other. He cannot explain them away. They are so plain and simple, that a child may see what they mean. He has no wish to take them in any other than their obvious sense. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 43 He sees in them that which exactly meets his own feelings, and coincides with his view of God’s glory as being the paramount and all- regulating end in all the movements of the universe. He sees in them not a restriction upon the gospel, but the simple statement of an infinite truth—a truth not arbitrarily thrown across the sinner’s path as a stumbling-block, but a truth necessarily arising from the fact that God is God, the Creator, and that man is man, the creature, the sinner. That truth is just this, that God’s will is the law of the uni- verse,—his glory the object and end both in creation and in redemption—his everlasting purpose the mighty and all-perfect mould in which all things are cast, and from which they take their shape and fashion from first to last. In such passages he sees God pointing out to men the true end which they ought to have in view, and by which all their movements are to be regulated. In them he sees God setting a fence and guard around his own majesty, lest men should imagine that their will is everything, their salvation God’s only end, and that in the gospel He has thrown the reins of this fallen earth into the sinner’s hands, telling him that everything depends upon his own will and power, and that he has but to put forth that 44 LETTER Il. will and power in order to save himself, and restore a ruined world to the perfection of its former beauty. Whenever we lose sight of God’s great end in all things—his own glory,—we fall into a wrong track. We go wrong in judging of doctrine; we go wrong in the formation of our plans; we go wrong in the bent of our efforts; we miscalculate the relative impor- tance of different truths. Thus our whole tone of feeling, judging, and working, is low- ered and contracted. Zeal for our own ways and opinions takes the place of higher aims. A revival is got up to propagate these opinions, or to prop up asect. Sectarianism and selfish exclusiveness steal in. Egotism, boasting, censoriousness are introduced. Religion be- comes an instrument for working out our own views and ends. ‘T'he most solemn and spirit- ual things are spoken of with levity and irrev- erence. Conversion soon becomes the same as the holding of certain opinions, and the mark of an unconverted man is, that he rejects these opinions. Being loosened from their anchor- age, men drift away without a guide. One doctrine after another is embraced, and change succeeds change, as month follows month. To make conversion easy is the great object ; and GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 45 to accomplish this particular end, favorite pas- sages are dwelt upon incessantly, doctrine after doctrine smoothed over, and text after text pared away. And after all this toil and change, what is the issue? Is anything gained? Nothing. Scripture has been perverted, man all but dei- fied, and God all but dethroned,—byt has any difficulty been cleared off, have contradictions been harmonized? No. One class of diffi- culties has been substituted for another, that is all. The new system gets quit of the alleged contradictions of the old, only to substitute others of its own of a more serious kind. If for instance I deny that Christ is truly God, I certainly get quit of the mystery of the incar- nation, but I land myself in endless scriptural difficulties, for the passages which declare his divinity are numerous and explicit.* In like manner, by denying the direct operation of the Holy Spirit upon the soul of the sinner, 1 get quit of certain apparent difficulties . about man’s free agency and responsibility, but I * If, to take another instance, I deny the pre-millennial advent, and personal reign of Christ, I rid myself of some things which I find hard to be understood, or even conceived of, things which appear to some low, carnal, derogatory to Christ,—but I call up a whole host of scriptural difficulties which are far more formidable. 46 LETTER It. substitute for these most serious difficulties as to man’s utter depravity, and as to the per- sonal agency and operation of the Spirit. But old difficulties are to some minds so stale and threadbare as not to be endurable. New diffi- culties recommend themselves by their fresh- ness and novelty. ‘T'o get quit of a single old one, someswould welcome a hundred new ones. From such roots many other evils spring, which I cannot here enumerate. There is often manifested a narrow-mindedness, a con- traction of the spiritual eye, and a limitation of the spiritual horizon, which is apt to end in engrossing selfishness. Hence, we often see ereater zeal to proselytize to a sect than to win men to Christ. We see great activity displayed in making known and forcing upon others the points on which the difference ex- ists, and much less concern about propagating those in which all believers are agreed. We hear much talking about doctrines and pecu- liarities, little about Christ himself. We find conversation turning too much upon the spirit- ual state of others, and that often in flippancy or censoriousness,—this one being pronounced unconverted, that other converted,—this one being mentioned as having joined the sect, or that other as being inclined to join it, or that GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 47 other again as standing aloof. We find dis- cussions arising as to whom this one was awakened under, or whom this other, as if this were a matter of any moment, provided the soul be saved, and Jesus glorified. We find people extolling the exploits of their min- isters, or the doings of their sect, numbering up the conversions that took place at this or that revival, under this or that minister, in this or that town or village. How much is there in all this of selfishness and sectarianism ! how little of simple zeal for the glory of the name of Jesus!