IA Ἴ. ἘΠ ΠΝ ; Ϊ ἮΝ i 4 | poke ht BESANT) fea eee ats a tc eT ἀ Π ΠΝ {ΠῚ Π ΠΠ ia ΠΗ, See SE A ya) eee 1 ind Ol Sid Sie ΡΟ | Theological Seminary, | PRINCETON, N. J. | ae oe ᾿ Εν cd we TEN SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. Cambridae: Wrinted at the Anibersity Wress. TEN SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, INCLUDING The Hulsean Lectures for 1853: AND TWO OTHER SERMONS. BY THE REV. MORGAN COWIE, M.A. FORMERLY FELLOW OF ST JOHN'S COLLEGE. LONDON: F. AND J. RIVINGTON. CAMBRIDGE: J. DEIGHTON. 1853. Rib cir Ge Oa a ee ΠΥ ἰ vie aA EW OU AAO RO OY a if oti ᾿ ΠῚ τ ἀπ γ | ΑΝ, ᾿ ae ae Ἢ BO von a WA Νυ AoA eRe υ : TO THOMAS CHARLES GELDART, LL.D., MASTER OF TRINITY HALL, VICE-CHANCELLOR, TO THE REVEREND WILLIAM WHEWELL, D.D., MASTER OF TRINITY COLLEGE, TO THE REVEREND RALPH TATHAM, D.D., MASTER OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE, THESE LECTURES DELIVERED BY THEIR APPOINTMENT ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. Stoke d Abernon, Cobham. November, 1855. ΕΝ naa ἢ ἫΝ ἰ atte wen a) Pict Surin ΓΝ [να esac ound ΤῊΣ Ἢ Ἀπ ας τ ἤν ἡ να MAIL, mre mer ταν ΝΡ Me i i iy ἀνόμου ἀνθὸ (ἃ πὰ ΣΝ ᾿ ᾿ ἥν δι Τὴ 7 3 ὶ πο ' ᾿ Ν ἡ ad ie iyi! πα να 4 ra — ὼ ᾿ ἔμ Pra yA A EROS hai, τὰ cig ee ἢ ΤῊ ᾿ oi ᾿ ΓΝ ὙΠ qugpeeroavela “πὰ id Tue Rev. Jonn Hunse, M.A., by his will bearing date July 21, 1777, founded a Lectureship in the University of Cambridge, to be held by a Clergyman in the Univer- sity of the degree of Master of Arts, and under the age of forty years: the Lecturer to be elected annually on Christmas-day, or within seven days after, by the Vice- Chancellor, the Master of Trinity College, and the Master of St John’s College, or any two of them: the subject of ᾿ the Lectures to be as follows; “The Evidence of Revealed Religion; the Truth and Excellence of Christianity; the Prophecies and Miracles; direct or collateral proofs of the Christian Religion, expecially the collateral arguments; the more difficult texts, or obscure parts of Holy Scripture ;” or any one or more of these topics, at the discretion of the Lecturer. ΠΝ ἥ a . ᾿ fei erly bo: by ; ἢ δ ἢ ! a ; J ὙΠ Ν᾿ ἢ arr a. ὦ r y ἜΣ δ Ν ΠΝ ἂν ha) ΤῚΝ dork!) Vaat\a he) bare ata r νὼ wide ἀν γα οὐ μῶν ἡ αν δι ν᾿ mn on yeas, μον We Fe » ΤΥ Ae , mil ; re ἢ SAY ¥ \ ‘ Σ i 4 CONTENTS. LECTURE I. THE SUBJECT OF SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES CONSIDERED GENERALLY. PSALM CXIX. 18. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law . ὃ LECTURE II. THE HISTORY OF BALAAM. NUMBERS XXII. 20—22. And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them: but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab, And God’s anger was kindled be- cause he went : : ; : : : LECTURE III. THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM, AND ST PAUL'S ARGUMENT IN GALATIANS III. 16, 19, 20. To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ ... Wherefore then PAGE LS) οι x CONTENTS. PAGE serveth the law? It was added because of transgres- sions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one . ὃ : 4 Pgs 37! LECTURE IV. THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY GHOST. 5. JOHN XVI. part of v. 7, vv. 8—11. Tf I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged : «ies LECTURE V. THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH. GENESIS I. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth . 103 LECTURE VI. MIRACLES. ISAIAH VII. 11. Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask ἐξ either in the depth, or in the height above . : : d ul 29 CONTENTS. xi LECTURE VII. THE MIRACLE OF JOSHUA AND THE SUN. JOSHUA X. 12—14. PAGE Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered wp the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon ; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves wpon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel . 1d Or LECTURE VIII. CHRISTS HUMILIATION CONSIDERED AS AN ARGUMENT FOR HIS DIVINITY. PHILIPPIANS II. 6—8. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. : : a Lae xii CONTENTS. SERMON PREACHED ON ASCENSION DAY 1853. SPIRITUAL CITIZENSHIP. PHILIPPIANS III. 20. Our conversation (or citizenship) is in heaven : : 1 A SERMON ADDRESSED TO THE JUNIOR MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY. A WARNING AGAINST SELFISHNESS AND RASH SPECULATION. ROMANS XIV. 7. None of us liveth to himself : 5 : ; 10 LECTURE I. Tue Contest with Evil. Origin of Lectures against infidels. Extent of Mr Hulse’s designs. Scripture difficulties, This object not superfluous when we consider, (1) That the Lectures are to be preached before a mixed audience. (2) That the young Christian’s faith is more tried by dif- ficulties than by open attacks. This is not the case of hardened unbelief. The trial of faith by difficulties not to be extended too far. All hard sayings that can, ought to be explained. Office of the human Reason in religious investigations. Present object does not involve consideration of ἃ priori objec- tions. Removal of difficulties—how it strengthens faith. Indirect influences of certain Evidences of the Truth of Christian- ity.—Classes of persons with whom they have weight.—The teachable disposition, not the capacity of the child, commended in Scripture. How this disposition brings Christians through difficulties occasioned by imperfect comprehension. Christian course a journey—how to be understood in this case—how stumblingblocks are to be treated. Duty of gaining clear com- prehension of difficulties. How explanations should be con- sidered. Diligent study of God’s Word will lead to a sure result if men honestly and perseveringly pray for the Aid of the Holy Spirit. saben bi ep ὙΠ | bet ; ἤδι ἯΙ pen ΠΝ τὴν ἀν Ahh Ἧ siete nai ay cra ania , a δ νὰ ᾿" ἢ ea Υ pil | ig a etait, | Μα τ: ig i on ae ae th ἘΝ πὴ WM a Bish as ΩΣ iste =p fy." | if at ᾿ 4 ah shai Ps (aes rf ᾿ ve pan | y a PSALM CXIX. 18. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law. eb schemes of the Evil Spirit for opposing and undermining the designs of the Almighty for man’s salvation—as they are the offspring of a powerful and vigilant enemy—must be conceived with wisdom, and executed with subtilty. The nature of the opposition must depend in great measure upon the progress and vigour of the ad- vances which the kingdom of the Gospel makes into the dark recesses of ignorance and super- stition, in which the Prince of the power of the air exercises his gloomy sway. We have not always to contend against the same form of oppo- sition. According as Christ’s servants shew pru- dence, wisdom and zeal—or the contrary—that is, according as the Holy Spirit prevails over our rashness, ignorance and selfishness, or the con- trary, so the Gospel of the glorious God makes its way. And the tactics of the retreating foe will be varied according to the places, the vigour, the promptness of the conquering army. At a time when the Church is lukewarm, when morality is low, and there is no practical evidence of the Christian spirit at work, direct attacks upon the divine origin of Christianity may be expected ; inasmuch as there is great force in the argument, when it can be urged to our shame, that Christ- 1—2 4 LECTURE I. ianity seems to have no real power over the lives and consciences of its professors. But this open attack has but little influence when Christ’s dis- ciples are shewing themselves sincere, holy and self-denying—when they labour earnestly for the good of their fellow-men—and when the general tone of society, and the voice of mankind, are rather in favour of piety and devotion, than against them, At such a time, other methods of seducing souls from God will be employed. And we must recognize the busy agency of Christ’s enemy in those more insidious attempts which, assuming the truth of Revelation, undermine and attenuate its teaching—professing attachment to Christian doctrines, presently endeavour to fritter away their real strength, to dry up or poison the fountain from whence our spiritual life is to be drawn. At no time perhaps can it be said that either of these methods, the bold offering battle to the hosts of the Lord, or the secret ambush and the stirring up of rebellion in the camp, will be ex- clusively resorted to. There is always, alas! sufficient encouragement for both in the perverse- ness and waywardness of man; but one or the other will prevail more, be more apparent, accord- ing as circumstances seem to favour its success. There have been times when infidelity has reared its head in insolent boldness to ridicule the Book Divine, wherein God’s will is revealed to us; when the character of the blessed Redeemer has been calumniated, and the devil’s agents, SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. ὄ speaking blasphemous things against God and against Christ, have dared to shew themselves in their true colours, as rebels and apostates; but God reared up, as of old to his ancient people, deliverers, who came out as champions of the Lord’s hosts, and smote the enemy with disgrace- ful defeat. The violent overthrow of settled insti- tutions at the end of the last century was, if not commenced, at least instigated by the infidel spirit which was so powerfully present. And it seems to have been in consequence of its prevalence that pious men devoted their benefactions to the esta- blishment of Lectures, both in this and the sister university, which should be preached in defence of Christianity, against profane scoffers and blas- phemers, and which should have for their prin- cipal object to resist the encroachments of impiety and infidelity. The terms however in which the benevolent Founder of this Lecture, which I have been ap- pointed to preach to you, has left his instructions, are conceived with a liberal and comprehensive spirit, and allow of such an extension of his design, according to the circumstances of the times, as shall most conduce to the instruction and edifica- tion of mankind. In this view they enjoin the Lecturer to em- brace not only such subjects as shall meet the direct attacks of unbelievers on the Gospel and Divine Revelation generally, but further to eluci- date particular doctrines which are made vehicles 6 LECTURE I. of error by the arch-enemy—to point out those subtle perversions of Gospel tenets which ob- scure the truth, and blind men’s eyes to the vital and essential dogmas of Christianity—to ex- plain difficulties in the sacred Scriptures, and, with the help of God’s Holy Spirit, to follow in the steps of the Messiah’s precursor, John the Baptist, and assist in filling up the valleys, and laying low the mountains and hills—to shew the straightness of that which appears crooked, and the smoothness of that which seems rough, that those impediments to the entrance of the divine erace into the heart, which spring from imperfect comprehension, or distortion, or obscurity of the Word of God, may be as much as possible swept away or lessened, and thus some assistance, how- ever imperfect, be given towards attaining the blessed result, that all flesh may see the salvation of God. It may be said that such duties are amply rendered already to the holy cause, by the labours of the learned; and to a great extent this is true, and would be a valid objection to a mere repub- lication in books of such answers to objections, and explanations of difficulties; but the case seems to be much altered, when, as in this case, the lectures are to be preached, not as conciones ad clerum, but before an audience like that of a University Church, including many who have not yet become acquainted with the great storehouses of biblical criticism, and a greater part of whose SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 7 time is necessarily occupied with studies scientific and literary, preparatory to their theological training. Moreover, the difficulties which arise out of the Scriptures themselves, are those which weigh with youthful minds. It is very often through these that the first breach is made into faith. That which we have been taught from infancy is the bread of life, we should not suddenly reject as a stone. The plant of faith, tender though it be perhaps, and weak, having as yet brought no fruit to perfection, may tenaciously cling to the soil of the heart, and refuse to be violently wrenched up. Its leaves, like those of the sensi- tive plant, may recoil from the rude grasp of the destroyer; but, though it can withstand open vio- lence, it has not immunity from the ravages of the cankerworm ; it may dry up, when blighted by insects at first scarcely perceptible, and then its tenacity is gone; it is easily plucked up, and the place thereof knows it no more! Now the first shock to faith may arise from stumblingblocks in God’s Word. The difficulties of the doctrine of spiritual and sacramental union with Christ, drove away from him many of the Jews. His disciples also said, ‘ This is an hard saying.’ ‘The unlearned and unstable,’ says S. Peter, ‘ wrest’ generally the hard things of Scrip- ture ‘to their own destruction ;’ and this must be by misapprehension leading to erroneous faith, or petulant rejection of difficulties leading to the 8 LECTURE I. absence of all faith. I am not here alluding to another danger to which faith, the tree of life, is subjected, viz. the way in which sin reacts upon the faculties, and convictions having become weak through the violence done to their practical con- sequences, the unruly will acquires empire over the judgment, and difficulties are imagined or invented—sophistical self-delusions—opiates of the conscience!. This corresponds more to the hard- ening of the soil in which the plant has to grow, sterility and barrenness becoming its character- istics instead of fertility. This is to be feared at a more advanced age, and is not so much the danger of the youthful mind. Nor would I insist much on a principle laid down by early writers’, that difficulties in things divine are meant to be trials of faith. Of course ina certain sense this is true: mysteries, avowedly propounded as mysteries, we must recognize as exercises of faith, when they are things that rea- son cannot reach: but there are also obscurities which may be cleared up; and when this is accomplished so as to produce conviction of the 1 See Dr Barrow’s Sermon, Of Faith, Vol. τι. Serm. τι. 2 S. Augustin. contr. Donatistas Ep. Ed. Benedict. Tom. rx. p. 3425. ‘Multa propter exercendas Rationales mentes figurate atque obscure posita,’ and ‘ Deus noster non solum manifestis pascere, sed etiam obscuris exercere nos vult.—JLib. de Diversis questionibus, Tom. vi. p. 22a. ‘Alia secretius posita ut querentes exerceant, alia in promtu ut desiderantes curent.— Sermo xxx. on Psal. exliii, ‘ Pascimur apertis, exercemur obscuris. — Sermo LXXI. on Matt. xii. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 9 unreasonableness of considering them offences— we see another use in the allowed obstacle. These difficulties ought not to be left to try any man.— To such cases as these the general proposition is applicable, that ‘God tempteth no man;’ while it is equally true that he may make trial of our faith by leaving us deep things to meditate on, con- gruous to his own unapproachable and unfathom- able nature. But all difficulties are not of this class; for whatever admits of rational explana- tion is surely intended to have that explanation brought to it. Right reason must judge of the applicability, or the correctness of the explana- tion of a difficulty. This may be judged insuffi- cient, or beside the mark, and then the difficulty remains, not increased or insurmountable, but awaiting another more successful attempt. The office of the reason in matters of doctrine, about which much has been written of late years, both to preventa too free use of criticism on things supposed to be above our powers, as well as to guard against the absurdity of those who demand an unconditional surrender of private judgment, seems to me to have been laid down by Jeremy Taylor, in his Ductor Dubitantium, in few words indeed, but such as commend themselves at once to sensible persons. And as preparatory to at- tempted explanations of Scripture difficulties, it will be opportune to quote them : ‘We are commanded to try all things: Sup- pose that be meant that we try them by Scrip- 10 LECTURE I. tures; how can we so try them but by comparing line with line, by considering the consequents of every pretence, the analogy of faith, the measures of justice, the laws of nature, essential right, and prime principles*? And all this is nothing but by making our faith the limit of our reason, in mat- ters of duty to God; and reason the minister of faith in things that concern our duty. The same is intended by those other words of another apo- stle, ‘‘ Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they be of God.” How can this be tried? by Scripture? Yea: but how, if the question be of the sense of Scripture, as it is generally at this day? Then it must be tried by something extrinsical to the question, and whatso- ever you can call to judgment, reason must still be your solicitor, and your advocate, and your judge?.’ ‘When both sides agree that these are the words of God, and the question of faith is con- cerning the meaning of the words, nothing is an article of faith, or a part of the religion, but what can be proved by reasons to be the sense and in- tentions of God. Reason is never to be pretended against the clear sense of Scripture, because by reason it is that we came to perceive that to be the clear sense of Scripture. And against reason, 1 What these prime principles are, will probably be subject of discussion as long as the world lasts, yet their existence is admitted by all. Rerum plurimarum obscuras et necessarias intelligentias enudavit (sc. natura), quasi fundamenta quedam scientiz.—Cvc. de Leg.1. 9. 2 Ductor Dubitantium, Book 1. ο. 2. Rule iii. 52. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 1 reason cannot be pretended; but against the words of Scripture produced in a question there may be great cause to bring reason’.’ ‘ Where- ever the effect would be intolerable, the sense is unreasonable, and therefore not a part of faith, so long as it is an enemy to reason, which is the elder sister, and the guide and guardian of the younger®.’ ‘ For as, when the tables of the law were bro- ken by Moses, God would make no new ones, but bade Moses provide some stones of his own, and he would write them over, so it is in our religion, when God with the finger of his Spirit writes the religion of the laws of Jesus Christ, he writes them in the tables of our reason, that is, in the tables of our hearts. Homo cordatus, a wise rational man, sober, and humble, and discursive, hath the best faith, but the ἄτοποι (as S. Paul calls them), the unreasonable, they are such as “have no faith” (2 Thess. iii. 2). For the Chris- tian religion is called by S. Paul λογικὴ λατρεία, a reasonable worship, and the word of God is called by S. Peter yada λογικὸν ἄδολον, the reasonable and uncrafty milk ; it is full of reason, but it hath no tricks; it is rational, but not crafty, it is wise and holy; and he that pretends there are some things in our religion which right reason cannot digest and admit, makes it impossible to reduce atheists or to convert Jews and heathens. But if 1 Tbid. Rule iii. 54. 2 Tbid. 12 LECTURE I. reason invites them in, reason can entertain them all the day'.’ Now it must be observed, that in the present case we do not attempt to solve difficulties or remove obstacles,—as if to pave the way for the reception of the Bible as a Divine Revelation ; such a plan would require the investigation of. all ἃ priori objections, not of such difficulties as may consist with a reverent reception of the Bible as The Book of Truth. It will not therefore be necessary to shew in such cases as we take up in these lectures, that the hard sayings or stum- blingblocks discussed are not necessarily anta- gonistic to the natural conceptions of the Deity and His perfections—but rather shall we endea- vour to shew that apparent difficulties may be cleared away, and real difficulties lessened,—as- suming the Divine origin of the Scriptures, and, as soon as possible, hastening from the strictly technical part of the subject to those practical lessons which most passages of the Bible convey to us, when considered in a large and comprehen- sive spirit. In one sense, and that an important one, those parts of the Divine records which require elucida- tion by study and reflection, minister considerably to our comfort. For as, before they are cleared up, they are hinderances and shocks to faith; so after our reason is reconciled to them, they be- 1 Ductor Dubitantium, Rule iii. 55. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 13 come its adminicula, props and supports. We are the less inclined to waver in our adherence, when any new difficulty is started, if from expe- rience we have found that investigation has cleared up past hesitation. As the Church teaches us in the Collect for the Feast of S. Thomas, who for the more confirmation of the faith was suffered by God to be doubtful of our Lord’s resurrection. ‘There is also another advantage to be gained by such an extension of our design. Practical deductions from the sacred volume not unaptly introduce in the way of remark, reflections on a kind of evidence of the truth of the Christian religion, which, when expanded into a lengthened discourse, fail to interest and impress the hearer ; such as the proof which the free action of Divine grace on men’s hearts affords to us of the present carrying on of a great spiritual work in the world. There are considerations which sway men, without convincing them ; these ought not to be extended, and by extension attenuated ; but lightly touched, pointed out rather than proved; and are of avail to produce reverence and affectionate regard for Christianity in the unprejudiced, unhardened breast—just as the gentle pleasures derived from the contemplation of natural objects are soothing and suggestive of religious thoughts, not powerful arguments, but persuasive in mildness, like the smaller weights of the scale, almost impercept- ibly turning the beam in the right direction. These ought not to be rendered valueless by un- 14 LECTURE I. wise attempts at straining them beyond the limit of their legitimate influence. Few are the men who sit down to balance the evidences of religion mathematically,—to hold a rigid trial of all the logic by which the great con- clusion is built up. Christianity does not shrink from the trial:—Christ himself appeals to our judgment guided by right reason,—‘ Why even of yourselves do ye not judge that which is right!” but the majority of men do not feel themselves called to such a task,—the great contention of the ambassador for Christ is with men’s indolence, indifference and carelessness. ‘ Faith is the evi- dence of things not seen ; and in this character it will occupy no prominent part in the system of the man to whom things unseen are matters of indifference. When he has Christian hopes, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the anchor of his soul; but till then the evidences of our holy religion, which are the foundations of faith, excite no attention. It is important to avail ourselves of all the op- portunities which present themselves, of urging upon men the reality, truth, vitality of the Chris- tian scheme, by suggestions, and by the removing of palpable obstacles and difficulties, so as to create confidence. A plan not to be followed exclusively, but as an auxiliary to contend with the mental indolence of mankind, to strive against the tempter who supplies such occasions of un- belief and careless indifference. 1 §. Luke xii. 57. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 15 The Saviour teaches us that the message of life eternal must be received by us as little chil- dren. Saving grace is sent to the teachable and humble, to those who are swayed by the affec- tions, by early associations, by authority, by long custom. To clench all these tendencies to the right path, and to clear away possible hinderances to their having a favourable and happy issue, is one business of the Christian preacher; and one which may have a more extensive and wide- spreading influence than even a successful com- bat with the open enemy without the camp. Wavering loyalty may be confirmed by words which would fail to convince a sceptic ; and more souls may be eventually gained to the cause of Christ by strengthening the cords that now bind them to the cross, than by active warfare, taking captive those whom Satan has led away from the house of their baptism. We are not again, on the other hand, to require of men the teachableness and humility of mind, to which we have alluded, in any sense which would import a feebleness of understanding, a refraining from the full exercise of the intel- lectual powers. The qualities which are insisted upon by inspired writers, when they compare the hearer who is to be blessed with success to a child, are willingness to receive the truth, trust in appointed and recognized guides‘, openness of 1 ‘Implicit faith, indeed, in our spiritual guides, (such as the church of Rome holds) I own to be a great absurdity: but a due 16 LECTURE I. heart, freedom from guile, not by any means a suspension of the exercise of our faculties guided by right reason. ‘Brethren, be not children in understanding, howbeit in malice be ye children ; but in understanding be men.’ ‘ Be wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. And this should be remembered in judging of the explanations offered of any difficulty in Scripture. There is probably no explanation of any obscurity which is not liable in some degree to the criti- cisms and objections of a captious mind, keenly alive to dialectical subtilties, and predisposed to object rather than agree. This is the disposition which the first preachers of Christianity taught was a great hinderance to the reception of the truth. And it is the same now; the practical conclusions of Christianity are made less influ- ential by our carping and disputing over the rea- sonings by which they are established. Those who are dainty of palate are not always those who have the best digestion; and how often do we see men of small power of acquisition in science the most captious and querulous over first principles and elementary truths. All these in- stances point one way: they justify by analogy the assertion, that the mind childlike in purity and freshness, but manly in vigour and free ac- tivity, is that which is most accessible to the pleadings of the Spirit of God. deference and submission to the judgment of the said guides in the discharge of their ministry, I affirm to be as great a duty.—Dr South, Vol. τι. p. 403. Oxf. Ed. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 17 In connexion with this consideration of the disposition in which a man should be, who, ac- cording to God’s word, may expect to be set free from doubts and perplexities, we may also notice the influence it will have in bearing him harmless through such difficulties, even when they cannot be cleared away. The comparison of the Christian’s course to an arduous ascent by a road in which are dangers, temptations, and difficulties, has ever been popu- lar amongst the faithful as it was among the ancient heathen, to symbolize the life of virtue and duty'. Sincerity must be evinced in such a matter by great eagerness as well as prudence, exertion as well as caution. The Christian pilgrim toiling up the mount of God, with his face Zion-ward, seek- ing his way while he is going onwards’, has to pass by stumbling-blocks, over chasms, under overhanging rocks. There are precipices to be avoided, and enemies to be encountered and beaten back. Of his three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, the latter will suggest doubts of the accuracy of the chart, the Word of God. When his faith is thus assailed, what will be the part of the traveller, who has a real desire to get to the journey’s end? Will he not while yet 1 From the χαλεπὴ καὶ μακρὴ ὁδὸς τῆς ἀρετῆς of Prodicus apud Xen. Mem. τι. 1, to the Pilgrim’s Progress of John Bunyan. 2 Jer. 1.4. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward. Heh. 2 18 LECTURE I. perplexed, and seeking out the truth, go on his way carefully, according to the best light, informa- tion, and guidance, that he has? If the city set on the hill is really before him, and he longs to enter into that appointed haven of rest, he will surely persevere; he may pass on amid the rocks that bestrew the path, overleap the chasm in confi- dence, though the ground beyond seems danger- ous and untrustworthy, and he may then find, as he undoubtedly will in many cases, that what seemed a formidable obstacle when he was look- ing up to it, appears contemptible when it is passed; that where the road seemed impassable at a distance, it really is sound and firm, and bears the marks of many a previous fellow-travel- ler’s course. Now, transfer this to the case of the Christian, and it reminds us that difficulties and obscurities are according to our apprehension, and not in themselves, great or little, real or imagi- nary ; that it would be insane to let such things rankle in our judgments, till we come to mistrust God’s word; that if Christ’s blessed promise is before us of many mansions in the house of his Father, we shall rather prepare ourselves in every way to do his will, as far as we can clearly learn it, and study earnestly by all means to clear up what seems strange and inexplicable in those things which have been written aforetime for our admonition. As God’s Holy Spirit influences our minds, and generally by ordinary means, such as the appointed ordinances of the Church, the exer- SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 19 cise of our senses of discerning, the diligent and careful bringing of our powers of reasoning and reflection to bear on every subject with reverent caution, we shall certainly be making real pro- gress in our upward celestial journey, and we shall find, in numerous instances, that as we are going on, in obedience to the Lord’s word, we shall see our difficulties disappear ; the dark and the obscure will be cleared up, illuminated by the Divine light which shines brighter and bright- er aS we ascend. In this case is there a true application of the words, ‘ He that will do his will shall know of the doctrine.’ Obedience brings with it a reward. As the ten lepers obeyed our Lord’s injunction, ‘it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed; and obedience with diligence and industry shall certainly succeed’. Let none, therefore, who find difficulties in God’s word be thereby deterred from the practical part of religion, no difficulty reaches to interference with that. Let them while diligently striving to fulfil God’s will, also labour in the Scriptures. Let there be no frittering away of time and talent in fruitless? (because they are indolent and desul- tory) attempts to unravel intricacies, while plain 1 St Peter says: ‘Add to your faith, virtue, &c. If these things be in you, and abound, ye shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ ἃ δεῖ μανθάνοντας ποιεῖν, ταῦτα ποιοῦντες μανθάνομεν. Aristot. Ethic. τι. 1. 4. 2 Πόνος οὐδὲν κέρδος ἔχων ἐγκωμίον παντὸς ἀποστέρηται. SS, Chrysost. Tom. v. Orat. 64. ee 20 LECTURE I. duties are neglected or suspended. Nor again, let any be satisfied with imperfect knowledge, because, as they sophistically allege, Christ- lanity is too vast and unlimited a subject. Though it be a true proposition that Christianity is a scheme imperfectly comprehended, yet compre- hension, as far as it is attainable by us, may be an exact comprehension. If it cannot reach to the whole or to each of its manifold relations, yet at all events let it be clear to the extent that it does reach. To assist in some degree the desire for seeing clearly into that which occasions perplex- ity—for understanding better what seems obscure and difficult—will be the object of this Course of Lectures, and in the execution of this design, I would again remind my hearers that if they should not agree in the explanations offered, or the solu- tions given, it ought not to have the effect of making them believe the case to be one of any greater difficulty than it was before the attempt was made. On the contrary, one erroneous ex- planation cleared away is really a step to dis- covery; let the failure merely induce greater vigour and industry in endeavours to find out the truth: Sed magis acri Judicio perpende, et, si tibi vera videtur, Dede manus, aut, si falsa est, accingere contra. Lucret. 1. 1042. Yet even if not completely satisfactory, a proba- ble explanation is to be accepted, and the mind not kept in suspense—for in this we must hold SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES, 21 with the Academics and not with the Pyrrhon- ists—although nothing human is to be laid down with absolute certainty. ‘If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts,’ says Lord Bacon'. Happy shall it be for all of us, if the contrary be verified in our case, if a wise enquiry and study of God’s word to clear up our difficulties lead us eventually, as it ought if con- ducted with discretion, industry, and sincerity, to the sure result, and we are numbered among the sons of God in glory, filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understand- ing. The one essential aid in our researches, is God’s grace. The guide, and the light by which we see, must all be sent from heaven. ‘Open thou mine eyes, that I may see wondrous things in thy law*’ Let us then pray to God earnestly for this divine guidance, while we diligently make use of the faculties he has given us, and we may with confidence expect to find the words of our Lord verified ; ‘When He, the Spirit of truth is come, he shall guide you unto all truth. May God of his great mercy grant unto all of us this most blessed answer to the prayer of faith. 1 Advancement of Learning, B. τ. p. 31. 2 «Nemo potest Deum scire nisi a Deo doceatur.’ §. Jren. νι. 13. ‘The Spirit of Grace is the Spirit of wisdom, and teaches us by secret inspirations, by proper arguments, by actual persuasions, by personal applications, by effects and energies, and as the soul of a man is the cause of all his vital operations, so is the Spirit of God the life of that life, and the cause of all action and productions Spiritual.’ Bp. Taylor, Sermon before the Univ. of Dublin. he baat, auat hilo if i ait At i NERS we Te ak BB win Oe ah (Vad ΕΣ νη ΜΙ Ἢ ion ἢ ἀν Ly mE ONG, ‘I νὴ LiKe ΓΝ shit's iy εὐ τ oe ΠΝ ay.’ io ΠΡῚΝ ᾿ ΕΛ ΝΕΙ͂Ν, iS NT, y he ἡ the uy Wien wth on δὴν Calan ᾿ wo x ᾿ Ap big i Le ae DERE AN ait us iF Bt iio Ἢ y cab ΠΝ ἐν p> ΑΝ se at Ἂ Δ ἀ ΩΝ ᾿ ἶ Ἢ Ae δ ὦ τὸ, {0} ἃ Ἀ ' LALPOAD "4 Hf oti at Pay Ἶ ὩΣ ἐνῶ! ety is panies ΠΝ oe noe Ak bi ὍΝ Ha Ae we ity δὶ Ui ree “ ate iif, rer ey fs ey ἥ τῇ ᾿ Ἰὼ ve ue Ἧι Or Re 1) i δὴ ἀμ Ι tice Thy Lo ἭΝ ὙΠ ΝΥΝ Mey at te bia woblis ΤῊ ΤΥ" ἢ εν}. bint At a ‘ i 1 ὅδ δ ; it “lly ὲ ἵν. ἼΩΝ re fan oy (a nant ἡ Al Me oe ik y ὧν Γ 7}: Piet ihe ΤΥ ΔΙ ἫΝ i. ey Hal an Me ἐν nee of ss Va γι. ΠῚ 1 {a ve at te hae ane ὙΠ 4 We ht mn), Ny Aft ned Wor: ΠΡ Ἢ ri Oy, } ΠΥ ως Hei i pe a Ce i uly E Δ ΓΝ AN sc ae “ah LECTURE II. The Subject proposed. Who Balaam was. His knowledge of the True God combined with idolatrous observ- ances—as in the case of Laban the Syrian. Gentile Prophets. Balak’s estimation of Balaam—the prophet’s conduct towards the ambassadors. God’s anger with him was for his perverse concealment of the Truth. His behaviour reviewed, and the reasonableness of the Divine displeasure vindicated. Balaam’s character further shewn from his subsequent conduct. His prophecy of the Star of Jacob. Reference to him by the prophet Micah. His steady resistance to convictions of God’s Truth. Description of those who now acknowledge the Truth of Christi- anity, but dismiss from their minds all thoughts of consequent duties—danger of resisting warnings—outward appearance of propriety deceitful—Selfishness is to be destroyed. Balaam’s pursuit of things carnal, while he knew the truth and the unchangeableness of God.—His doom. Our fearful loss if we seek things present and earthly, and shut our ears to the Voice of God. Balaam an instance of one distorting God’s word. How this is done now. General lesson of obedience—and honesty in handling God’s word, ely ey NUMBERS XXII. 20—22. And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. And God’s anger was kindled because he went. ges history of Balaam, which is the subject of the lessons from the Old Testament for the Ist and 2nd Sundays after Easter, is one which generally arrests our attention in a powerful man- ner. The interest attaching to it is of various kinds. In the first place we are struck with the singularity of this man of Mesopotamia being acquainted with the true God, and being under Divine Spiritual influence. Then we have some difficulty in seeing the exact fault that Balaam committed in the circumstances recorded in the verses chosen for the text. And his whole cha- racter is one which seems so forcibly to set before us the power of the world over one who knew of better things, that in this respect it comes home tous as a warning, and a subject for thoughtful meditation. Under the first two aspects, it may fairly be said to come within the denomination of a difficult and obscure portion of Holy Scripture, and therefore these will form the subject of the first portion of this Lecture, and we shall then, by 26 LECTURE II. dwelling on the character of this singular man, endeavour to extract some godly admonition for ourselves. Balaam, the son of Beor, is said to have ‘ dwelt in Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people!.’ In his first prophecy he describes himself as ‘coming out of Aram, out of the mountains of the East?.’ In the book of Deuteronomy he is designated as ‘of Pethor in Mesopotamia’, and in the book of Joshua‘ he is called a diviner or soothsayer. Perhaps he may have been a Chaldean priest’, and the prophecy of the Star of Jacob, may have been preserved among that learned body, till the three wise men came to seek our Lord in his infancy at Bethle- hem. The knowledge of the true God may have remained among them since the time of Abraham, who had migrated, in obedience to God’s call, from their country into the land of Canaan ; and we need not be at any loss to account for the mixture of divinations and enchantments with this true knowledge, for instances are not wanting of a similar kind. Laban, the brother-in-law of Isaac, had a knowledge of God, and believed in his pro- vidential government of human things. He ac- knowledged the Divine direction which sent 1 Numb. xxii. 5. Euphrates is called the River in Isai. viii. 7. 2 Numb. xxiii. 7. 3 Deut. xxili. 4. 4 Josh. xiii. 22. 5 «It may not seem altogether improbable, that Balaam*the famous soothsayer, was one of these Zabii. Stillingfleet, Orig. Sacr. 1. 3, 3. Salmasius reckons the Zabii as Chaldeans inhabiting Mesopotamia. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 27 Abraham’s servant, when in search of him, direct to his dwelling, saying, ‘The thing proceedeth from the Lord'. Moreover he acknowledged that God had blessed him for Jacob’s sake. ‘I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake’.’ Yet he had ¢eraphim, or idola- trous images, whose character we learn from Jacob himself. For after Rachel had stolen them, they had been preserved till God called him to renew his covenant with him in Padan-Aram, and on that occasion of the purifying of his household, Jacob calls them strange gods. ‘ Put away the strange gods that are among you'.’ Laban then, though he had a knowledge of God, yet used idolatrous rites: nevertheless to him God vouchsafed to appear by dreams, and in the way of special revelation. ‘God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad*’ So that we have in this Syrian of Mesopotamia, the same kind of mixed knowledge and worship, as in Balaam’s case some hundreds of years afterwards. This scattered knowledge of the One True Deity is met with elsewhere, as in Abimelech, king of Gerar, and Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, in Arabia; and we should expect that the know- 1 Gen. xxiv. 50. 2 Gen. xxx. 27. In this place Selden (de Dus Syriis Syntagma, 1 2) translates auguratus sum, for spy, as if Laban had learned this from consulting his Teraphim. 3 Gen. xxv. 2. 4 Gen. xxxi. 24. 28 LECTURE II. ledge of God, which men had before the disper- sion, would not perish in every separated tribe, either immediately, or universally, or simultane- ously, but by degrees, partially and at different in- tervals of time. Among the children of the East, inhabiting still the plains of Shinar, the common abode before the confusion of tongues, and espe- cially amongst those given to the higher contem- plations of science, like the Chaldee priests and soothsayers, this knowledge would by tradition remain probably longest. Generally it would get debased by neglect and mixed with errors, until the revelation of God were fixed by a recognized, and heaven-defended oracle, or unless it were renewed from time to time by special messengers and prophets. Balaam’s knowledge of God, then, is explained by his position as a Chaldean’, and his being of the number of diviners, whose settled habitation was in Aram Naharaim, between the rivers. But he also enjoyed communion with God of a higher kind. We cannot but conclude from the estimation in which he was held by the surround- ing tribes that this must have been habitual, and popularly known. He was a prophet. The Spirit of God moved upon him. His tongue was guided when God so willed it by a knowledge far above his own. Hereafter the supernatural light from 1 Dr Waterland however conjectures that he was a Midianite, the descendant of Abraham by Keturah. Works, Vol. v. Serm. 32. Oxf. Ed. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 29 heaven was concentrated in the land of Israel, and the fitful and scattered gleams of heavenly illumination which Gentile prophets had enjoyed, were gathered in. These occasional glimpses of the Divine mind resemble those strange bodies which, as comets, flit across our system, and light up the depths of space about us. The vast sepul- chre of heathendom was lit up here and there by a lamp of heavenly fire, mysteriously coming and suddenly departing—the sparks and scintillations as it were of that fire which in Israel’s prophets burned with steadiness and increasing energy, till the temporary removal of their kingdom, which led the way to the dawn of the True Light of Life and Immortality. Amongst Gentiles, however, the estimation in which this man of strange powers was held, must have been according to their knowledge. Thus Balak probably looked upon Moses as a magi- cian; he might have heard, as Moses intimates in the song of triumph by the Red Sea!', the par- ticulars of the mighty deliverance wrought in Egypt for the sons of Israel, the wonderous signs which had been given in the wilderness. Moses’ reputation in Egypt, moreover, must have been of this kind, and hence Balak may have con- ceived the idea of opposing to him, one who had the like intercourse with the superior powers of the world invisible. Pharaoh had done so, when before him Moses exhibited his wonders, the 1 Exod. xv. 15. 30 LECTURE 11. credentials of his power. He sent for his magicians to try their skill against that of Moses. Balak an- ticipated from the curse of Balaam on the people, an easy victory over them, for, said he, ‘I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed'.’ It is quite in accordance with Eastern notions on the subject of the dominion of the diviner over the affairs of life, to imagine that Balak’s trust was in the superiority of Ba- laam’s power over that of the leader of Israel. ‘He whom ¢hou blessest is blessed: he whom thou cursest is cursed.’ He wished to have his ene- mies devoted or cursed as among the Romans?, and to this day among the Hindoo tribes. Ba- laam’s sacrifice of seven rams and seven bullocks on three different hills, on three sets of seven altars, all has an air of mysticism and superstition about it, such as generally accompanies idolatrous rites. It was part of his enchantments and divi- nations, and confirms the supposition made as to Balak’s ideas concerning Balaam, the estimation in which he held him, and the kind of assistance he expected from the prophet. However Balaam had acquired his reputation, whether by craft in times past, or by having really been favoured with revelations from God, it is evi- 1 Origen says, Hom. xu. on Numbers, that Balaam’s power consisted only in cursing, because he acted under the influence of the devil only, and could not bless; but surely this is contrary to what Balak thought of him. 2 See Macrobii Saturnalia, Lib. m1. 6. 9, where the form used in devoting Carthage is preserved. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 91 dent that on this occasion God appeared to him and spake by his mouth. The most difficult circum- stance in the story is generally taken to be that which has been read in the text. When king Ba- lak’s messengers arrived, he told them that he would consult his God, and tell them the result of his enquiry. ‘Lodge ye here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the Lord shall speak unto me.’ The answer from God was, ‘Thou shalt not go,’ and he faithfully reported this to the ambassadors. ‘The Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you, get you into your own land.’ On being further entreated by a second embassy, he says, ‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord, to do less or more;’ but he begs them to tarry and see whether God had a mes- sage for him that night again, and then we have the words of the text. God says to him, ‘If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them.’ He went, and it is said, ‘God’s anger was kindled because he went.’ On the arrival of the first mes- sengers his conduct is apparently blameless: he enquired of God, found that they had come on an errand which he was not allowed to fulfil, and sent them away. But we may remark that he does not appear to have given them the whole truth which he had heard from God, ‘Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the peo- ple, for they are blessed.’ He only told them the first part of his message from God, ‘The Lord 92 LECTURE II. refuseth to let me go with you.’ He did not tell them that the God whose name he was privileged to invoke, had pronounced the people blessed, and therefore his power of divination was useless to the king their master. He kept back that Balak wished for what was absolutely impossible. He merely said that he was not permitted to go with them; from which Balak might naturally infer that he was far from being unable or un- willing to perform the duty required of him, but that there was an impediment in the way, short of absolute impossibility, one which perhaps a greater reward, a promise of higher honours, a more noble embassy might succeed in removing; for the belief in supernatural powers never seems to have created in the minds of those who had it, any great opinion of purity of motive in those who were privileged. Balak then endeavoured to overcome this difficulty in the second time of making request to the prophet. ‘He sent yet again princes, more and more honourable than the first, with this pressing message; “ Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me, for I will promote thee unto very great honour, and will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me. Come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.’ If Balaam had been an upright honest man, his answer truly would have been, ‘I cannot transgress the command of God. He has warned me that I may not curse the people. They are SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 33 blessed. ‘The answer I have received is one which comes from an unchangeable God, who will not repent, and therefore I cannot render this service to the king your master:’ but he tempts God by inquiring a second time, ‘Tarry ye here this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more.’ The word of God came to him as before, only now God says thus, ‘If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them, but yet the word that I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.’ The import of which communication surely seems to be this: ‘If the men be urgent with thee, thou mayest go with them; but thou know- est that I have told thee that the people are blessed, and that thou canst not curse them; therefore thou shalt not be at liberty to do what Balak requires of thee; the word that I speak unto thee, that shalt thou say.’ Balaam then in honesty and sincerity ought to have waited till they urged him, and then should have warned them that he could not do their bidding. If they insisted on his going he might go, but it could not profit them. They demanded of him to curse the Blessed of the Lord. Jf he went with them, he could only say what the Lord said, and that was, ‘Thou shalt not curse them.’ Now so far from all this, he rose up, and went with them with all apparent alacrity. He never warned them, as God had revealed to him, that com- pliance with the demand they made was imprac- ticable. To all appearance, and in their estima- H. L. 3 94 LECTURE II. tion, he was going to render them the required service. The enemies of Israel were led by his concealment of the truth, to conclude that the God of Balaam was against the invading tribes. The apparent backwardness of the prophet had been overcome by the larger offer of honour and reward, and he, who refused at first, and sent the messengers away, now joins them without any intimation that he had been, and was still, totally unable to fulfil the object they had in view in sending. This was evidently Balak’s impression, he seems to have had a contemp- tuous opinion of Balaam’s mercenary spirit, and urges him with a proud and petulant question, ‘Did I not earnestly send unto thee to call thee? Wherefore camest thou not unto me? Am I not able indeed to promote thee to honour?’ The king evidently refused to consider that there was any meaning in the saying of the prophet, that a divine influence had prevented him from coming at once. He regarded the backwardness exhi- bited as a sign of distrust in his power and his word pledged to Balaam,—a mere pretence and deceit to extract a larger reward. If we consider this effect of Balaam’s conduct, we must conclude that a great deceit had been practised by him. He knew that Balak required what was sinful in him to do,—what in fact he could not do,—yet he might go, according to the Divine permission, if this were all clearly stated. If the men had urged him, and he had laid before SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 35 them what he knew, and forewarned them that the journey they pressed him to take could not by any means answer their expectations, and they still insisted, he was authorized to go. But so far as we can judge from the narrative, Balaam en- tirely omitted this part of the divine communi- cation to him. ‘He rose up early and went with them.’ And the king, instead of being in the least surprised at his first reluctance, taunts him with it as unbecoming the power and honour of the throne of Moab. I do not think, if we weigh well what Ba- laam’s conduct should have been, we can avoid coming to the conclusion that the permission to go must be limited in the way I have described. And therefore, when he went, omitting to inform those who came for him of the conditions with which his permission was clogged, God was angry with him for his subterfuge and deceit, and though he might plead the words of God, partially understood, as authorizing him; yet he wilfully and obstinately disregarded the full meaning of the revealed counsels, and therefore on this ac- count and in this view, God’s anger was kindled because he went, and he was reproved in the most singular manner by God’s opening the mouth of the beast whereon he rode, ‘He was rebuked for his iniquity, the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice, forbade the madness of the prophet?.’ If we pursue the history, we find the same 1 2 Pet. 11. 16. 3—2 36 LECTURE II. prevalent idea. Balaam, with full knowledge of God’s goodwill towards the people, fwice tempted God by seeking counsel from him before he made his prophetic declaration. With his certain con- viction that the people were blessed, he allowed the king to endeavour to extract the curse from his lips at zhree several times. And when his prophecies were nearly all uttered, and Balak in his indignation smote his hands and addressed the faithless prophet in threatening tones, ‘ Flee thou to thy place, I thought to promote thee to honour, but lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honour,’ Balaam yet lingers, and tells him of what shall be hereafter. He still hoped to receive the wages of unrighteousness. But in this he was again signally foiled. The divine energy which had filled his spirit when he sought for his enchantments, burst forth in fiery language of denunciation on the enemies of Israel, and amidst the threatenings of God’s vengeance, was there a picture drawn of the prosperity of Israel; and besides their deliverance from the neighbouring enemy, the coming of that Great One is foretold, who was to save his people from their sins, and overcome their spiritual foes. This remarkable prophecy is, I think, rightly described by Bishop Warburton in his Divine Legation of Moses, as importing something more than is ordinarily understood by its terms}. This prophecy may in some sense, says he, 1 Warburton’s Divine Legation of Moses, B. τν. § 4. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 37 relate to David; but without question it belongs principally to Jesus: the metaphor of a sceptre was common and popular to denote a ruler like David; but the star though it also signified in the prophetic writings a temporal prince or ruler, yet had a secret and hidden meaning likewise: a star in the Egyptian hieroglyphics denoted God’: the same figure is used in the prophet Amos: and hence we conclude that the metaphor used by Balaam of a star was of that abstruse myste- rious kind; and is so to be understood, and con- sequently that it related only to Christ, the eter- nal Son of God. After this, Balaam still perseveres. He gave Balak such counsel as most effectually tended to the undoing of Israel. It was by his advice as we read further on, that the Midianitish women were made snares for the people. For when they were taken prisoners, Moses said: ‘These caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Ba- laam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor?.’ We hear no more particulars of him in Holy Scripture till his death, when he is reported among the slain of Midian*, by the children of Israel; though he is referred to in the New Testament by S. Peter’, S. Jude®, and S. John® l’Aotnp παρ᾽ Αἰγυπτίοις γραφόμενος Θεὸν σημαίνει. Horapol. Hierog. Lib. 1. ο. 1]. 2 Numb. xxxi. 16. 3 Numb. xxxi. 8; Josh. xiii. 22. ~ 2 Pet. tm. 15. 5 Jude 11]. 6 Rev. ii. 14. 38 LECTURE IL. in the Revelation, and by all with a mark of infamy attached to his memory. There is indeed a singular passage in the book of Micah', where Bishop Butler thought that we have the words of the controversy between Balak and Balaam. The 6th chapter of that prophecy commences with a solemn appeal to all the earth to hear God’s controversy with his people: in the first place the Almighty urges them with the remem- brance of his former kindness, how he brought them up out of Egypt, sending before them Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Then follows the fifth verse, ‘O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord.’ Then follows the controversy about the means of pleasing God, and atoning for sin. ‘Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thou- sands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgres- sion, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” The answer is : ‘He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God? 1 Micah vi. 5. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 39 Bishop Butler, whom Bishop Lowth follows, would make the question that of Balak, and the answer that of Balaam. I confess I do not see how the case applies. Balak is nowhere repre- sented as seeking to find favour with God. Nor is Balaam’s answer to him at all with reference to his personal qualities. It does not relate to any supposed desire on Balak’s part to enter into covenant with God. It seems to me that the fifth verse coheres more naturally with the preceding, and that when God reminds his people how mercifully he had hitherto dealt with them, how he had brought them out of the house of bondage, he also reminds them of the signal dis- comfiture of the Gentile prophet Balaam, and his employer Balak, seeking to turn away his_ favour from the people, and that from that verse the general expostulation proceeds, as in fact the verses are divided in our Authorized Version. Let us now pass on to draw from the character and fate of Balaam some instruction and reproof for ourselves. The chief feature of Balaam’s conduct is his steady resistance to conviction of God’s truth. What induced in him this resistance, was cove- tousness and ambition, i. e. selfishness in its most extended signification. He loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. He sought the honour that cometh from man, and did not regard -that which cometh from above. And though he 40 LECTURE II. knew what was true and right, he rigidly set him- self against it. The death of the righteous he had light enough to know was a desirable death: he could only utter a vague, empty wish for such a blessing. He set at nought God’s counsel, and would none of his reproof. He knew, and won- dered, and despised and perished. And_ he is become in apostolic warnings, the beacon by which to deter men from the love of this world, from running greedily after those rewards and honours, which are the portion of this life only. Now, we cannot but conclude when we reflect, that this character is one not uncommon. Many mem- bers ofthe Christian Church hear the glad sounds of reconciliation for years, and believe in their truth; they acknowledge that in the practice of Chris- tianity alone, can there be good hopes of eternal salvation ; the faith of Christ approves itself to their understandings and their judgments: it is recog- nized, but they go no further. They steadily resist the convictions of their better moments ; they will not relinquish pleasures, or honours, or riches; they will not give up any ease or any comfort. The practice of religious duties—the exactions of a Christian life—they will not endure. A general apathy, and carelessness of the results of self- indulgence, and neglect of personal holiness, have seized upon them, and they give themselves up to worldly pursuits, while they acknowledge the truths of Christianity, and will confess that their course of life cannot warrant reasonable expecta- SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 41 tions of a happy futurity. It is true that they do not hold these as concomitant ideas. It is not in the midst of foolish amusements, that the votary of pleasure ever recalls to his mind the scenes of Mount Calvary. It is not in the gorgeous pageant, that the proud in wealth sees before him his Master, poor, lowly, in want and despised! It is not in the heated chase after power and place, that the ambitious calls to his recollection his Saviour—a servant, humbled even as a man, and rejected. with cruel scorn by his own children. They feel that the reflections arising from such contemplations are inconvenient and misplaced, and they dismiss them. It is sufficient for them, if they occasionally and with weariness take up a pious book, or indulge in a serious meditation. Yet they take care that such employments, such meditations, shall be as few and scarce as pos- sible. They know that much time should be spent in religious exercises, if the soul’s health is to be cared for, yet they determine to banish the thought, and, even in spiritual matters, to let the morrow care for the things of itself. They ex- hibit in these, that recklessness and that indiffer- ence, which, in worldly concerns, ever meet with the deserved contempt of the wise and prudent. They are prodigals of the time which should be spent in repentance and amendment. The extra- vagance and senseless folly of the spendthrift, which they condemn, they exhibit in their own persons, as far as their chief interests are con- 42 LECTURE IL. cerned, and yet they know, and at times they must feel, that all is going wrong. They some- times hear the joyful sound, which tells how the death of the righteous may be attained, but all this they put away from them—they will none of it. ‘Gloomyand disagreeable thoughts,’ think they, ‘are those of future retribution. Let us away with them! Let us eat and drink, for not to-day, but to-morrow we die. Let us not now think of things so unpleasant, so unsuitable to our habits.’ And thus, without being infidels (the accusation would shock them), they are partakers of all the in- fidel’s recklessness of the future. Yet their cup is dashed with wormwood. The still small voice is occasionally heard, whose sound is not that of peace. They cannot always escape from this. It is the last slender cord that binds them to the Tree of Life. These are men of whom I would take Balaam as a type. Are there none amongst us? Are there any of us who like Felix have trembled, when, in solemn earnestness, some one has reasoned before them of righteousness, tem- perance, and judgment to come? Are there any on whom the reproof of God’s ordinances, or the power of his word, have produced a momentary wavering? Have they ever been disturbed while going on in their course? And have they, like the heathen governor, slighted the warning, and said, that a more convenient time would come for a consideration of these things? Have a care what you are doing, brethren, if any of these SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 43 remarks tell upon you. You are then running in the way of Balaam. You have a knowledge of God, but you set at nought that knowledge, and will not act upon it, because your attachment to things temporal is stronger than your desire for salvation after death. Surely this is a fearful case, if persisted in. Christians, you call your- selves! You may, to all outward appearance, pass for such in the careless crowds who sur- round you. You may be had in honour as those who are regular in their devotions, whose privi- leges are largely made use of. You may be thought by the world religious and exemplary, while you know all the time that your heart is not God’s, and that if you were to die this day, you have not any hope of acceptance. This is a terrible thought! Let us search out our own hearts, brethren, that we be not deceived. If covetousness and selfishness reign there, in vain are we called Christ’s brethren. In such a matter the opinion of the unthinking and careless is in- consequent: and the evil may shew itself in a thousand forms; it may be manifest in us, by making us lovers of our own pleasures, covetous, proud or ambitious, but all these have one root, selfishness: the disposition which it is the chief object of Christianity to destroy. And it must be eradicated from the breasts of all who will not bear to be reckoned among the enemies of God. Balaam, the son of Beor, had held converse with the Almighty. In him the divine afflatus worked 44 LECTURE II. mightily, quickening his sight, enlarging his capa- cities, sharpening his faculties so as to enable him to apprehend the deep things of God; the mighty storehouse of God’s future providences was dimly, but really opened to his gaze. He saw the bright harbinger of future bliss—the Star or JaAcos—to be hereafter the Sun of Righteous- ness, illuminating with his genial rays, all nations that dwell upon the earth. He had singular— extraordinary privileges. But great as was the favour bestowed upon him, great also was the despite that he shewed to the Spirit of God’s gift. He knew better than any about him the awful truth of the words he uttered. ‘God is not a man that he should lie; or the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good” Yet while he bore testimony to the Power and the Immutability of God, his secret wishes rebelled against the conclusion that he should have drawn, and sorrowfully and wistfully covet- ing the rewards of divination, he endeavoured to counteract the truth of the God of truth, to change the designs of the unchangeable God; and his doom was that his deprivation of heavenly rewards should be enhanced, by his seeing the scene of glory afar off, like the rich man in the parable ; by his beholding at an impassable dis- tance the great things that God hath prepared for them that love him; by knowing the blessedness SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 45 of which he was to be deprived, that the righteous hath Hore in his death. Let us take warning from his covetousness and its reward. The Holy Spirit strives with us. We feel within us at times the throes and pangs of the divine energy, struggling with our pro- pensities till Christ be formed in us. Our worldly pursuits are all calculated to engross our affections and dazzle our eyes. The world entices us with its rewards and honours and pleasures, to refuse compliance with that Voice of God, which we know to be true and unchangeable. Its thousand arms are outspread, its charms are set, and its enchant- ments are woven. Shall we, with knowledge of God’s requirements of our whole hearts, delibe- rately endeavour to be the world’s now, and yet hope to be God’s hereafter ? Choose ye whom ye will serve, is the voice of holy Scripture. Let us not then, like Balaam, profess belief in God’s unbounded sovereignty and immutable purpose, while we seek to thwart his laws. We are to live for heaven, not for earth. Here we are pilgrims, we belong to the kingdom above; we are really on our road, in the thres- hold of the great palace, but not to delay there, admiring and coveting its inferior splendours; houses full of silver and gold must not tempt us from the onward path: to loiter and let these things detain us is to lose Immortality. And, lastly, there is yet one other serious warning to be taken from Balaam’s story, We 46 LECTURE II. have said that he might plead God’s word par- tially apprehended in justification of his errand, but it was only partially, not fairly and honestly. Surely in this he is an example of those whom S. Peter describes, as wresting the Scriptures to their own destruction. This is also done amongst us, when a few favourite sayings from Scripture are pressed with their fu//, sometimes, forced mean- ing, without reference to the general tenor of God’s word’. When men have a purpose of their own—a religious system to maintain—they can always from holy Scripture get some countenance for their errors; but they should remember, that as the Scriptures can be wrested and perverted, so also have we examples of such perversion, and one of the most remarkable is that of Balaam, who studiously avoided the plain and palpable meaning of God’s message to him, in order to seize upon those few partial and separated words which favoured the design in his heart. And what an end has all this wilful obstinacy and deceit? He was slain among the enemies of God’s Church! This man of superior powers and perilous knowledge. Oh, let us strive earnestly to avoid that end, 1 Ἐν προσποιήσει ἐξηγήσεως τὰ ἑαντοῦ παρεισάγουσιν. BS. Basil. ‘We must not distort the Scriptures, as Hilary saith, “non af- fere sensum ad Scripturas sed referre,” not to devise a sense for scripture, but to give it its proper sense. Bp. Andrews, Pattern of Catechistical Doctrine, Part τ. ο. 5, δ 3. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 47 dark and bitter, which the worldly and the per- verter of holy Scripture shall meet! Let us do it by keeping ever before us our Lord Jesus Christ, as our ensample of godly life, who in all things did the will of him that sent him; who bid us search the Scriptures, because im them is the knowledge of eternal life, that when our course is ended, we may really die the death of the righ- teous, and not in sad and hopeless despondency have to surrender up our souls to a future full of dismal foreboding and gloomy apprehension. May our evening star be the Srar of Jacos ; the sign of peace, joy and hope! On us, as on the Israel of God, may the divine goodness be poured out, that we may re- alize, in their full and spiritual meaning, the blessings which Balaam prophesied of Israel, abiding in his tents according to their tribes :— ‘How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.’ See Sherlock’s Miscellaneous Tracts; Answer to Chubb. Dr Shuckford’s Connection, Vol. ut. pp. 199 -- 914. , pat ΤΠ μὴν a ete ΠΥ al Sara ven Mate. sabe hth eh ey Were ele rete: Ἢ Ἐν no Gail thong huts ΤῊ ΓΤ half Resse ὰ eet ae eT CAM ew UOMO TNT ices ave ᾿ i ἢ ᾿ Ps ἠ ἀν το αν OE Gant bm iP el of Pythads on he at | ‘ ; oe walt “Ὁ tH Yat Previa Ὅν 4 woe re Fabs | op τὺ Mat by δ ARN μωμοι ΟΝ - bh eae bd ἰών paar & aihty ἐν Ns δον : i. Ὁ 1}: 6. ΠῚ ἃ ΕΝ Ria. Ὁ ΝΊΝΗΓ, ἀφ we Haha fe i π΄ Or mas ACID EAC ERROR IT |» γι ee ᾿ Ν si “a ek Wiehe: 1. DL Moncey ee a ἕω δ υὐϑὴ} οὗ Ἀδίδτο ΥΩ ἀν ἰδῆ a ἢ iz 2 Tie ἡ . TN). ¢? Bl tk Me, AE BY Ἷ Wi ὙΠ ἐν Ped th) ᾿ — , τῶ δι τὴν AKON ὦ oi ΤΕΥ ‘on ent na £4) Ms : εν ἘΝ η at in! WoW ΠῚ μα δεν hoy ail ei Mar yt a | t alia f " PAG, FN ut aa mY! | ha ἴτω ΠΝ ἢ ἜΝ Ἰὼ ΥΩ Νὰ ΠΟΎΣ ὕω ἥλω μὰ “ὦ ith Wi «4 1. τῳ ut) ΠΝ bri, q q ᾿ a , i PUY” ὦ nana Bey: 4 ἔν ve NA ὙΌΣ By: are 7: Ἢ : a i as Hts pe ( ie ΒΟΥ ἢν rts. igteoten τ΄. Ἢ 4 ΝΠ Ἐ-ᾧτ---- -. ᾿ J | i A ‘ an :; ἣ eee ae re r Kart = ᾿ LECTURE III. Tue extension of God’s covenant to the Gentiles apprehended im- perfectly by the Apostles at first. Consequent difficulties. S. Paul’s argument with the Galatians. The promise, not the Law, the foundation of the covenant. This promise made to Christ. Usage of words Thy seed, collective and particular. S. Peter's application of the promise apparently contradicts S. Paul’s. How the two are reconciled. What should be our conclusion, when explanations of apparent verbal obscurities are unsatisfactory. The argument about the word ‘ Mediator, (vv. 19,20); ‘ because of transgressions,’ its meaning discussed. Summary of argument. Practical conclusions : (1) The sureness of salvation, based on God’s promise, laid hold of by faith. The power of the Christian Preacher derived from con- viction of its infallible certainty. (2) How Christ is the end of the Law to us. The object of the Gospel is the subjugation of man’s Will. In Self-examination, we should call our Wills to judg- ment. Are our desires earthly, or heavenly 7 ἣν ᾿ ai Bisbee mei a γὴν ΤῊΝ ον. ghey A, | sarc oa wW μολεηλνίω ΜῈ ῬΑ Δ, ὁ} ἐδ ἀγαθά: ἀν αὐ οὐ αὶ αὐ δι τον: ὩΣ διὰ yee ΔΝ τὰ "a nits ὙΠ et! \atnahtig Uhh γὦ panera. dealtaaboes ra oie ri tl eg hhy ANAT ᾿ ὀσμαῖς, ΠΩΣ κἀν “ἰαμότων ooh, Me signet μων μὲ sitesi π΄ ib Ein)? daha Sigal bg 7 iach | tena Fe ἣν Μὰ wires. ok ie Mh hit aan fae Fe. canna Malin mek ee | 2 ANE υ he ae ee. ᾿ ὕω» “μὰ feist πριν τ. Aino ete) Bt verge i ane ΟἹ ye) Oh) ee seaatodtis, Mareen: maw: ty Way ἘΠ “Ev ἡ rod li ἥν Sieeo ok αὐ cubist ale Pie Ὧ πὰ “μιν ἴα {ΝΣ ον ΙΝ ΤῊΣ ᾿ δὲ Pu WAN. ie here uve reading ed ay πᾶ ivy : νὰ Wn i 4 i PA ΠΥ Ann gly dite * uhan rnd Py} Titan mii A ey | ὴ es Ρ ἡ [ ΔΝ ᾿ ; ce: ad: ai ν GALATIANS III. 16 and 19, 20. To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ...... Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgres- sions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. T was natural, when Christianity was first promulgated, that the Jews should have ex- pected, that all men who became Christians should also be absorbed into their religion. The carefulness of our Lord to fulfil all righteousness, and the scrupulousness which the Apostles at first shewed to conform to all the ritual observ- ances of the Law, were calculated in some degree to make them think so. It was only gradually that the Apostles themselves became aware of the great expansive power of Christianity. It required the special direction of the Holy Ghost to con- vince them of the conclusions to which they were finally led in the Council of Jerusalem. They only learned by degrees the real object of our Lord’s submission to the Law for man’s sake; that he might, having fulfilled it, throw down the wall of partition by which the people of God had been kept in. That the glory of the Lord which had shone only hitherto upon the family of Abraham was to be revealed unto all nations,— 4—2 52 LECTURE III. they might have apprehended ; but they did not readily become persuaded of the abolition of what they conceived the great work of God, the Law of Moses, with its ceremonies, its festivals, its minutie of conduct and requirement. And when the Apostles had themselves become aware, in its real extent, of the enlargement of the covenant to all mankind, and the consequent rejection of the restrictions of the Law, they had to contend with the difficulties which resulted from the con- trary persuasion of the Jews; not only was it at first a matter of discussion and perplexity among themselves, but as Gentile converts were gra- dually called into the kingdom, they became exposed to the erroneous teaching of men, who, unlike themselves, had been before under a cove- nant with God, and wished that all others should pledge themselves to the bonds of the elder dis- pensation. These teachers urged the Galatians with the danger of losing the privileges of being Abraham’s children, unless they became circum- cised, and took upon themselves the subsequent obligations which God had imposed upon Abra- ham’s descendants. To meet this error, S. Paul teaches, first of all, that the Gentiles were to have a share in the blessing of Abraham, not through the Law, but, independently of it, through Jesus Christ. That they were to inherit the promise to Abraham, not by incorporation into the family of the Jews, but in virtue of another covenant on God’s part with SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 53 Abraham, one different from that by which the Jews held themselves distinguished. This he proves by reminding them that there was a pro- mise, made to Abraham and to his seed. He saith not seeds,as of many, but to thy seed ; which seed, says the Apostle, is Christ. It is important then that we should verify this quotation made by the Apostle, for his whole argument seems to assume that God’s promise was made to Abraham’s seed in the singular num- ber and not in the plural, so that not the descend- ants of Abraham generally were intended to be heirs of the blessing, but one descendant pre- eminently so. Now there are many promises of God to Abraham in which the words Thy seed are used. In every one of them the word is used in the singular number; but in some cases it is used as a noun collective, and that undoubtedly in the majority of such cases. In all these the pro- mises are made to the Jews, the lineal descend- ants of Abraham. All those, namely, which refer to the temporal possession of the land of Canaan, are made to Abraham’s seed in terms which for- bid our applying to them the commentary of the Apostle. Such as, ‘Thy seed after thee in their generation,’ (xvil. 7). ‘All the land will I give to thy seed for ever,’ and ‘ I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth,’ (xiii. 15). ‘In multiplying I will multiply thy seed, and thy seed shall pos- sess the gate of his enemies,’ (xxii. 17). All the promises of temporal prosperity may therefore 54 LECTURE III. be set aside; in fact we reduce the cases for con- sideration to the single one, ‘In thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed,’ (xxii. 18) which is a repetition of a promise made in ch. xii. 3, without the words thy seed: ‘In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Now if it be objected, that the words thy seed in this promise must be taken in the same collective sense as the singular ‘thy seed’ of the preceding verse, we shew a clear difference in their usage by coupling together these parallel passages of Scripture; in the latter of which the promise is made personal to Abraham, without any implied extension of its recipient, and in which form it is also quoted by S. Paul in this very chapter as the preaching of the Gospel to Abraham!. So that the promise to which the Apostle refers in the argument about the words ¢hy seed in the singular number, must be that contained in ch. xxii. 18, ‘In thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed.’ And the limitation which he puts upon them (which seems at first sight rather strained, inasmuch as the word seed is never used in the plural number at all, even when it refers to the Jews’) is justified by joining it with the pre- 1 Warburton (Divine Legation, B. v1. ὃ 5, 1,) does not seem to me to allow the full force of the Apostle’s reasoning in this place. He denies that there is any revelation of the redemption of mankind in this promise to Abraham ; and restrains the revelation of redemp- tion to the offering up of Isaac. 2 It is used to denote a single person, as in Gen. iv. 25, ‘God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew,’ referring to Seth. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 55 vious form in which the same promise had been made; viz. ‘ In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed’—referring in a more exclusive and personal manner to the patriarch himself. The collective sense of the words thy seed is, no doubt, also contained in this latter promise when Christ is considered the heir; for all the faithful are included in him, as all the Jews were, at the time the Apostle wrote, the descendants of Abra- ham in their forefather Israel. So that though the argument applies to distinguish Christ from the people of Israel, the collective meaning is still preserved; the Christian Church in one case, and the Jewish Church in the other, being repre- sented by their federal heads, Christ, and Israel. The chief difference is that the promise to the descendants through Israel had been fulfilled, and the Jews, collectively taken, were the seed of Abraham to whom the land and temporal bless- ings had been promised; whereas our Saviour, though in one sense the federal head of the Church, and thus a representative of all the faith- ful as the descendants or heirs of Abraham, yet in another sense, is ¢ke peculiar descendant of Abraham according to the flesh, inasmuch as in Him personally, and in Him only, is verified in its loftiest sense the promise, ‘in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.’ It cannot be pretended in any sense, that in Israel, taken col- lectively, this promise is fulfilled. It is emphati- cally in the seed of Abraham, which is Jesus 56 LECTURE III. Christ. So that in this respect God saith not, ‘In thy seeds, as of many, but in thy seed, which is Christ.’ The remark made at the beginning of this lecture must here again be remembered, viz. how difficult it was for the Apostles themselves to understand the blessing of Abraham _ being through Christ unto the whole world; for we find S. Peter, preaching to the Jews, using exactly the same words of the promise, and apparently as if it applied to the Jews only, ‘ Ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be bless- ed.’ Here we clearly notice a symptom of that difference of exposition between S. Peter and S. Paul to which the latter alludes in writing to the Galatians. S. Peter applies the promise generally to the Jews. Rightly in one sense, no doubt, because they are included in it, but in an apparently exclusive manner, as they would natu- rally expect him to do. But even here the Holy Spirit overrules his application of the text by the subsequent words, ‘Unto you first, God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniqui- ties. The word jirst denoting not any exclusive- ness of claim or pre-eminence, but merely priority of announcement, as S. Paul himself allows, ‘To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.’ The sub- sequent teaching of the Holy Spirit made it clear SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 57 to S. Peter that the Gentiles were, as well as the Jews, heirs of this covenant, through Jesus Christ, and then he became reconciled to the extension of the privilege which at first he and others be- lieved was contracted and limited, when they went ‘preaching the word to none but unto Jews only.’ Moreover we notice that S. Peter here, as well as S. Paul, expressly limits the seed spoken of to Christ. And we may perhaps interpret the whole passage in this sense,—not that S. Peter tells the Jews they were the inheritors of Abra- ham’s promise directly, but by the sending to them jirst the promised seed which is Jesus Christ, they received the fulfilment of the promise made to their great progenitor. ‘ Ye are the children of the covenant which God made with our fathers, when He said to Abraham, And in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed,’ for now is first come unto you, the promised seed, viz. Jesus Christ, whom he hath raised from the dead, as was prefigured in your forefather Isaac, and He is come to bless you, to bring you that blessing which hereafter is for all nations, viz. that He will turn you away from your iniquities. This explanation of the Apostle’s argument about the use of the words, Thy seed, in the sin- gular number, seems to me satisfactory, but we may pause awhile to consider what we should do if no method could be found of reconciling the argument to the facts of the case. There is clearly a middle course between 58 LECTURE III. two extremes—some men in such difficulties of Scripture, would have us immediately recognize a divine superiority which is above all criti- cism; and others treat the Sacred Records with the same rough handling as they would the writings of uninspired men, are ready to emend, omit, transpose, and imagine interpolations, as they may sometimes reasonably do in the latter case. Surely neither of these methods is with- out very serious objection. To put me into the dilemma of believing a contradiction, com- pelling me to follow and admit an inference from premises which do not warrant it, or else to sur- render the inspiration of Scripture, is following the preposterous line taken by Roman Catholic expositors on the text, ‘This is my Body,’ of which those men, who blindly idolize the letter of the Scripture, are the most strenuous of opponents. But as God is not the author of confusion, I can- not believe that in cases where reason, the gift of God, compels me to see inconsequence, or misap- prehension, I am obliged to shut my eyes, and resign myself to a misty credulity. On the other hand, I do not venture to alter the Sacred Text, and manufacture a meaning of my own. While we admit the sober use of a judicious criticism, we must keep ever in mind the fact that these writings are in a certain undoubted sense znspired, and that we must reverently accept in them things sometimes difficult and hard to be under- stood. If, then, I should find no solution which SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 59 should justify to my mind the argument of the Apostle in the verses considered, if I could find no promise to Abraham where the words, thy seed, admitted of an interpretation in the singular num- ber, I should confess that I could not explain the passage ; but I should not pretend to be satisfied with having no account to give of the difficulty, taking refuge in an indolent security of the sure- ness of the Word of God: remembering that ‘the letter killeth, the Spirit giveth life,’ I should endeavour to get the general argument of the Apostle from the passage in question, and hope that in God’s good time, a solution of the diffi- culty may be proposed. My faith in the Holy Scriptures would lead me to embrace heartily the teaching conveyed, without forcing any part of the text to my own ideas, but leaving the stum- blingblock honestly and fairly acknowledged, ad- mitting the existence of an anomaly, just in fact as we must sometimes do in natural philosophy. Problems may be proposed to which we cannot give a solution, but that does not shake our faith in prime principles, nor does it make us talk of all these things being above our comprehension, hidden meanings, and such like. But we try to the utmost of our ability to give an account; and if we fail to find satisfactory explanations, we trust that some other investigator may be more _ successful. So in Scripture difficulties, if no rational account can be given of them, we must not begin to question the inspiration of Holy 60 LECTURE III. Writ—not rashly propose to mutilate and alter— still less must we take refuge in vague and incon- clusive generalities of sacred things being myste- ries, and so on, which only suggest in an intelli- gent enquirer a suspicion of incompetency in him who mentions them: but while candidly confess- ing the difficulty, labour earnestly to understand more of the Scriptures, and trust that either by fresh light shed on the subject, or by the labours of a more penetrating judgment, God will make clear that which is a present source of per- plexity. To return,—the promise of God to Abraham had then respect unto Christ, and not to Isaac or Jacob; and therefore the law which affected the descendants of Israel according to the flesh, could not interfere with or annul the promise so as to cause any avoidance of it. This promise being of a blessing to αὐ nations, does not, there- fore, come to them through the law, it depends upon the unchangeable God’s irrevocable word pledged to Abraham. ‘What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come, to whom the promise had been made.’ προσετέθη", it was added, or ἐτέθη, it was 1 Προστίθεσθαι has sometimes the meaning wrogare, infligere. See Goeller, Thucyd. τι. 37. So that we might construe ‘the Law was laid upon them on account of their sins.’ The only other place where προστίθεσθαι is used by 8. Paul is in Heb. xii. 19, ἧς οἱ ἀκού- σαντες παρῃτήσαντο μὴ προστεθῆναι αὑτοῖς λόγον, ‘which they that heard, begged the word might not be inflicted upon them any more.’ SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 61 established, as Mill, Griesbach, and Scholz read, on account of transgressions. Two explanations are given of this latter expression. The first is, that it affirms the law was given to preserve the Jews from idolatry. The other, in accordance with S. Paul’s teaching elsewhere, that it was given to make manifest the nature of sin. Of these two interpretations Bishop Bull! adopts the former, and it seems with reason. It is asserted by Jewish writers that the law was given for the extirpation of idolatry: and the ancient Christian writers all held this opinion ;—that God gave the Jews at first the Decalogue only, till they had made the golden calf, and that afterwards he laid this yoke of ceremonies upon them to restrain them from idolatrous rites’. There is, moreover, this objection to the latter interpretation, that * Bp Bull, Examen Censure. Ans. to Stricture xrx. § 5. 2 See Warburton’s Divine Legation, B.1v. ὃ 5, 2, who refers also to Spencer, De Legibus Hebreeorum. Whitby quotes Maimonides, More Nevochim, τι. c. 32. ‘ For when God sent Moses to redeem his people out of Egypt, it was the usual custom of all the world, and the worship in which all nations were bred up, to build up Temples in honour of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and to offer divers kinds of animals to them, and to have priests appointed for that end. Therefore God knowing it is beyond the strength of human nature instantly to quit that which it has been accustomed to, and so is powerfully inclined to, would not com- mand that all that worship should be abolished, and he should be worshipped only in Spirit: but that He only should be the object of this outward worship, that these temples and altars should be built to him alone, &c. See also Justin Martyr, Dial. cum Tryph. c. 19. ILrenwus, Lib. 1v. adv. Heres. c. 15. Cedrenus, Comp. Hist. p- 239, all quoted by Whitby. 62 LECTURE III. when we read, ‘ By the Law is the knowledge of sin, we know that this refers to the last com- mandment of the Decalogue, ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ and not to the Ritual Law, which S. Paul here designates as ‘The Law.’ The nature of sin is made manifest by the Moral Law, which is of perpetual obligation, and not by that law which was only established till Christ should come, and which therefore had an end. If we understand the words, ‘on account of transgressions’ to mean, to make manifest the nature of sin, we lose sight of the fact that it is the perfect Moral Law of God which fulfils this office, and which, so long as we need to have this conviction of the sinfulness of sin wrought in us, continually remains as the standing witness to bring the sinner to the con- fession of his unworthiness, and his need of the all-sufficient atonement made by the Saviour of men. Without enquiring to what extent the Ritual Law may have served this end or not, it seems much more reasonable to understand, with the primitive Church, these words to import that the Law was added on account of Israel’s transgres- sions, and to keep the people from idolatry. Bi- shop Bull gives several quotations which most clearly shew the opinion of ancient Christian writers on this point’. Moreover, this interpreta- tion of the words agrees well with the following 1 Kal ὅτι διὰ tas ἁμαρτίας τοῦ λαοῦ ὑμῶν, καὶ διὰ τὰς εἰδωλολα- Tpias, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ διὰ TO ἐνδεὴς εἶναι TMV τοιούτων προσφορῶν, ἐνετείλατο ὑμοίως ταῦτα γίνεσθαι.---ὔμδίϊη Martyr, Dial. cum Tryph, c. 22. ‘ | eS ~ ~ ~ , A - 9 Ul Διὰ τὸ σκληροκαρὸιον Tov λαον ὑμῶν πᾶντα TA τοιαῦτα ἐνταλ- SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 63 sentence, ‘till the seed should come, to whom the promise was made.’ This indicates in no obscure terms that the Law spoken of was to have an end, and therefore that it must be the ceremonial Law and not the moral. In the following descriptions of it also S. Paul sets forth reasons for its inferiority and consequent displacement by the ratified promise in Christ, ‘It was ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator.’ The sense I apprehend to be this, The Law was given to keep Israel from idolatry, and was only to last till Christ should come; it was deli- vered to the people by angels, and not immedi- ματα νοεῖτε τὸν Θεὸν διὰ Μωσέως ἐντειλάμενον ὑμῖν, ἵνα διὰ πολλῶν τούτων ἐν πασῇ πράξει πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἀεὶ ἔχητε tov Θεὸν καὶ μήτε ἀδικεῖν μήτε ἀσεβεῖν apynobe Id. ο. 64. Quoted by Bp Bull, in loco citato, to which I add, c. 27 of the same dialogue: wore ὃν τρόπον τὴν ἀρχὴν διὰ τὰς κακίας ὑμῶν ταῦτα ἐντέταλτο, ὁμοίως διὰ τὴν ἐν τούτοις ὑπομονὴν, μᾶλλον δέ ἐπίτασιν διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν εἰς ἀνάμνησιν αὐτοῦ καὶ γνῶσιν ὑμᾶς καλεῖ, * Treneeus, B. tv. c. 29. ‘Non oportet mirari si et in veteri testa- mento idem Deus tale aliquid voluit fieri pro utilitate populi, illi- ciens eos per predictas observationes ut per eas salutem Decalogi observantes [sint], munera deut ei, et [detenti] ab eo, non rever- tentur ad idololatriam nec apostate fierent a Deo.’ (Quoted by Bp Bull.) ‘Sacrificiorum quoque onera et operationum et oblationum nego- tiosas scrupulositates nemo reprehendat: quasi sibi Deus talia pro- prie desideraverit, qui tam manifeste exclamat: Quo mihi multitu- dinem Sacrificiorum Vestrorum ? Et Quis exquisivit ea de manibus vestris? Sed illam Dei industriam sentiat qua populum primum in idololatriam et transgressionem ejus modi officiis religioni sue voluit adstringere quibus superstitio seculi agebatur, ut ab ea avocaret illos, sibi jubens fieri, quasi desideranti, ne simulacris faciendis delinque- ret.’—Tertullian adv. Marcion. Lib. τι. ¢. 18. 64 LECTURE III. ately by God himself; it was conveyed to them represented by one person, a mediator, viz. Moses. In all these respects it is vastly inferior in dignity and independence to that promise which God himself gave absolutely to Abraham, without any intervention, for where only one is concerned, there is no place for a mediator, and that ONE is in this case God. I would therefore translate the words: ‘It was ordained by angels at the hand of a Mediator, but there is no Mediator in the case of a single person, and the One (here referred to) is God.’ A promise is given absolutely and is not in the nature of a covenant: there is no need of any Mediator in the autocratic and independent enun- ciation of a promise on the part of One, and here that One is the Almighty himself. In all these respects then S. Paul magnifies the promise above the Law: It was not spoken by angels, but by God himself. It was not in the nature of an agreement between two, requiring a daysman or mediator— it rested solely and entirely on One, and that One, God. So that the words ‘a mediator is not a media- tor of one,’ would be understood, as signifying that in the case of one promising, there is no need of a mediator: an enunciation of a general truth that an agreement between two admits of some intervening person; but where only one binds SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 65 himself without condition, there can be no such intervention. And then the following words ὁ δὲ Θεὸς εἷς ἐστιν, aS if the Apostle had said, ‘and in speaking of One, in this case I mean God as the One.’ The εἷς to which I have referred in laying down the general proposition is ὁ Θεὸς God. Thus explaining the word εἷς as he had before ex- plained the word μεσίτης. Bishop Bull adopts a meaning which seems to me forced. He agrees with Grotius in under- standing the word ἑνὸς as from the neuter ἕν, so that he interprets thus: ‘A mediator does not interfere between those that are at one, i.e. who agree well together—but God is one, i.e. ever like himself, unchangeable.’ I cannot find any justi- fication for the use of the word εἷς as ‘unchange- able,’ and moreover it seems that εἷς must be trans- lated in the same sense in both sentences. The general meaning of the Apostle, however, is undoubted, and agreed upon by all who differ about the translation of the words. We may therefore, after thus arriving at a sense which seems more exactly that conveyed by the original, proceed to draw some conclusions of a general description, profitable for our own instruction in righteousness. The first practical consideration in connexion with our present subject, is the infallible sureness of Christian Salvation ; being based upon the pro- mise of God, and not upon any bargain or agree- ment between God and man. H. Ls 3) 66 LECTURE III. This is peculiarly the result of the confidence we have in the doctrine of justification by faith. While the procuring cause of our Salvation is the merits and atonement of Christ, the condition might still have been ‘ Do this, and live,’ instead of ‘ Believe, and thou shalt be saved.’ But instead of good works being the condition primary of sal- vation, we have now faith standing in that rela- tion—a faith indeed made perfect by works—de- pending for the proof of its living vigour and activity upon our obedience; while on the other hand, that obedience itself is not estimated accord- ing to man’s performance of his duty, but accord- ing to the motive that prompts him. If that motive be faith, a sincere and hearty trust in Christ Jesus our Lord, and if we put away from us all idea of personal merit, relying only on what Christ himself has done to conciliate God’s favor towards us; while we strive, with all our power, to shew ourselves members of Christ, and imitators of his perfect compliance with God’s will,—rHeNn the foundation of our hopes is sure and certain. Our salvation is based upon the promise of God to Abraham, as the Father of the faithful, verified in the actual coming of the promised seed, in whom this blessing was to be secured and completed. And this certainty of salvation is one of the greatest favours we enjoy from God under the New Covenant. It is conviction of the immutable basis upon which salvation rests in the Christian Religion SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 67 which arms the ambassador for Christ with his power, for calling on men to follow up the high destiny set before them in the Gospel. When urging the young and ardent to remember in what grace they stand, what a living and true way is open before them, when setting before them the glories of the Celestial Kingdom, and the noble reward of faith, self-denial, and exertion, he feels that the blessings he has to offer, and the aims he proposes, are not only the noblest, and the most exalted, but that they have one characteristic that all other objects of ambition fail in, viz. an un- doubted and infallible certainty. He recollects that for fame, the student will labour on with feverish pulse, and toil by the mid- night lamp, though nature seems to flag, and come short of the powers which he exacts from her. He knows that ambition and the love of glory give vigour to the arm of the warrior, sus- tain him on the battle-field, and carry him through hunger and thirst, starvation and fatigue. The statesman is nerved to encounter the fierce blast of envious faction, by the consciousness of pa- triotic resolve, and a hope of the approving sen- tence of posterity. In all cases, the men of energy and action are braced up to the manful struggle by a noble desire for a name: a name that shall live for evermore. The Christian preacher exults in the know- ledge that he alone can promise to the expectant 5—2 68 LECTURE IIL. and anxious searcher after enduring happiness and perpetual life, the true object of their search —Immortality ; and he can stand forth, with the credentials of his Master, loudly proclaiming with- out one particle of hesitation, doubt, or uncer- tainty, everlasting life to all who believe, life eternal even to the dead. ‘He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live.’ ‘I will raise him up at the last day.’ And his confidence is based upon the sure promise of an unchangeable God, who hath sworn by Himself, that He will never leave us or forsake us; upon the solemnly pledged word of the Al- mighty and the Omniscient, whose unbounded power assures us of his ability to perform, and whose absolute truth forbids the suspicion of his failing us. Hence without misgiving, he can call upon men to shew in the search for salvation, that vigour, endurance, renunciation of present ease, superiority to the poor opinion of the vulgar, that perseverance and undaunted resolution which are extracted from them by hopes of the uncertain rewards of human fame. He can promise with certainty the rewards of success; he can threaten with certainty the penal- ties of failure: for he knows that he who sitteth above the water-floods is a King for ever ; that his word is gone forth pledged to the Gospel message; that he cannot deny himself. The Gospel that he SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 69 preached afore to Abraham has now come unto us, as it is in all the world, bringing life and im- mortality to light, and placing within the reach of all, even the humblest of the sons of men, rewards ‘greater than the boldest aspirant has yet con- ceived. And in the second and last place, we may observe how the full object of the Moral Law is provided for, and carried out under the Gospel. Though we have been obliged to exclude it from being understood, where S. Paul speaks of the Law having an end, yet we must not forget that Christ is the end of the Law generally, in more senses than one, and specially in this, that the Gospel, the Religion of Christ, is the real and true embodying of the deep and heart-searching principle of that Law. Faith is to produce in us the subjugation of our Wills to Christ's will; and this subjugation of the Will is the great triumph over the world. The regulation of the desires and in- tents of the heart cannot be accomplished by ex- ternal bonds. It requires a deeply-seated internal leavening principle zz man. What can struggle with the unruly Will, contend with the desires of the heart, uproot and destroy all wishes of a car- nal tendency, but some powerful indwelling prin- ciple, which shall prevail over a man, and sub- jugate him by effecting a kind of metamorphosis? This the Christian Religion teaches; the Holy Spirit begets in us faith; faith grows into trust and confidence, assimilates the man’s tendencies 70 LECTURE III. to those of his Master—the object of his faith. It produces a generous self-surrender to the guid- ance, and the Will of the Saviour. And, brethren, by this must we examine ourselves to see whether, after having been admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s Religion, we are really deriving advantage from our incorporation. Is the Will being brought into subjection to the Law of God? It is not so much the question here whether we abstain from sin in act; many motives conspire to keep us from being sinners, preserve us from the actual commission of iniquity ; mo- tives which have swayed men, where the Gospel has never been preached. We cannot then judge of our real state in the sight of the searcher of hearts by our outward conduct. It is the Will that must be called to the bar, and examined, if we would have sure witness; and it is the Will that must be sacrificed; for this is the only offering that we can make. Weare to take the yoke upon us, not have it imposed; our Wills presume too often to hold out against all the attacks of reason and grace. They too often resist every force of persuasion, every allurement of favour, every dis- couragement of terror. In this also, God requires reasonable service, as well as in the matter of doctrine. We must subdue ourselves. God indeed will give us power, if we be willing, and faithful ; but we must be volunteers. The Almighty sum- mons us by his word; he attracts us by his Grace; but we must freely come to him. SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 71 We ought then to look within to see if there be accordance between our Wills, and the pure and perfect Will of God; whether the mind is in us that was also in Christ Jesus; whether, in fact, being by title citizens of heaven, we have love, sympathy, communion with that which is celestial. Are the shadows with which our imagina- tions people the future, those that can ascend with us to the realms of God? What is it which we really wish for, in our hearts, above all things? If it be earthly, of this world, terminating be- low, then we must yet have to pass from Death to Life; but if it be of heaven, if pictured upon the dim mist of futurity, the visions on which we love to dwell are of Christ and His glory, of the Church triumphant, and ransomed saints, and angelic throngs—if our hearts are God’s—then we may hope for a successful issue to the present strug- gle: for the final subduing of our Wills to Christ’s Will in all things; and thus being His, we shall truly be Abraham’s seed; and therefore heirs of the promise of universal and everlasting blessing. . les, geo Nefoaboie Sas Bs ie ay ΠῚ Sy Luna onl” “ay diay SO oh anit ΔΝ ‘a see τ pant oa tren er. ᾿ Beles) τὸν Ney Sere ay Fae ti Fiano did. ing: πο | βάθρα cus ctl φαρν ῴαμν, με, οἰ διε ἀνα" ΤΡ Ladd Shad ta φμιοοτο ἐὰ οὐ ἀεΝ 41. fia, ovorta aaa cto wilh dain ghia. Ne) ‘ai anitanioxad. pisos. sil4,%0