THE CHIEF END OF REVELATION. ALEXANDER BALMAIN BRUCE, D.D., Professor of Apologetics and New Testament Exegesis, Free Church College^ Glasgow; Author of '" 'The Training of t&e Twelve" " The Humiliation of Christ" Etc. NEW YORK: ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY 900 BROADWAY, COR 20th STREET. Edward O. Jenkins, Printer, 20 North William Street, New York. PREFACE. PORTIONS of the contents of this volume were recently delivered as Lectures at the Presbyterian College, London. I have taken occasion from the opportunity thus afforded, to write at greater length, and with mpre fulness, than was necessary for the immediate purpose, on a subject which appears to me of great importance in its bearing both on Chris- tian Apologetics and on the internal life and future fortunes of the Church. Two convictions have been ruling motives in this study. One is, that in many respects the old lines of apologetic argument no longer suffice either to express the thoughts of faith or to meet successfully the assaults of unbelief. The other is, that the Church is not likely again to wield the influence which of right belongs to her as cus- todian of the precious treasure of Christian truth, unless she show herself possessed of vitality sufficient to originate a new development in all directions, and among others in Doctrine ; refusing to accept as her final position either the agnosticism of modern cult- ure, or blind adherence to traditional dogmatism. The last chapter of the book refers more particularly to this latter topic. The views there expressed may V 4 PREFACE. satisfy neither liberals nor conservatives in theology. I do not deprecate criticism, but I ask the critics to remember that the apologist's task in these days is a delicate one. It will be observed that very frequent reference is made to the author of the well-known work, " Literature and Dogma." This was due to one who is the accepted exponent of a wide-spread tendency of thought on the subject of religion, whose significance it vitally concerns the Church of the present to understand. The Author. Glasgow, April, 1881. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. MISCONCEPTIONS. Classification of Misconceptions 13 Kabbalism 14 Dogmatism » . 18 Illuminism 22 Lessing 24 Reimarus 28 W. Rathbone Greg • . . . 31 Spinoza 35 Kant and Fichte 42 Matthew Arnold 44 CHAPTER II. THE CHIEF DESIGN OF REVELATION. Revelation and the Bible 55 Idea of Revelation . . 58 A Credible Idea 63 Theories of Redemption 65 The Purpose of Grace in the Bible 73 CONTENTS. The Call of Abraham .... The Trial of Abraham Elements of Grace in Abraham's History 81 89 95 CHAPTER III. THE METHOD OF REVELATION. A priori Views The Actual Method Congenial to the Idea of Grace Laws of Progress . .... The Principle of Election . Ethnic Religions Salvation not by Doctrinal Knowledge Moral Defects of Early Stages The Agents of Revelation The Destruction of the Canaanites Crude Legislation .... Traces of Legal Spirit in Old Testament 99 99 102 105 108 no 116 120 123 127 134 136 CHAPTER IV. THE FUNCTION OF MIRACLE IN REVELATION. Old View 149 Its Defects 153 True View 155 Mr. Arnold's Typical Miracle 157 Can Miracles be Removed from Bible without Altering our Idea of it 159 Bible View of Miracle 164 Dr. Abbot on Miracles 169 CONTENTS. 7 Spinoza and Miracles 170 Ambiguous Character of Miracles 175 Advantage of our Position compared with that of those who immediately received Revelation . . . 181 Lessing on Miracles 183 CHAPTER V. THE FUNCTION OF PROPHECY IN REVELATION. Older View 193 Prophecy Ethical 196 Not History Written Beforehand 198 Old and New Schools of Interpreters .... 203 Conditional Element in Prophecy 207 Mr. Arnold's View of Messianic Prophecy . . . 210 Function of Prophecy in Revelation . . . .211 In Reference to Law 212 In Reference to Promise 213 Prophetic Idea of God 215 Prophetic Universalism 219 Prophetic Ideals of the Future 221 Fulfilled in Jesus and Christianity 227 The Method of Proof 227 Christ His Own Witness 232 CHAPTER VI. THE DOCTRINAL SIGNIFICANCE OF REVELATION. The Speculative Presuppositions of Christianity . . 240 Mr. Arnold's Agnosticism 249 Dr. Mansel's Modified Agnosticism ...... 252 The Bible Profitable for Doctrine . . . . 254 8 CONTENTS. Use and Abuse of the Bible for Doctrine . . . 257 Qualification for Interpreting the Bible . . . 258 Fundamental Truths of Faith 261 Four Types of Doctrine concerning the Gift of Grace in the New Testament 265 Doctrines of Faith and Theological Dogmas . . . 273 Applications of this Distinction 275 Conclusion 277 Page 51, line " 57, " 1 70, ' 73, " " 108, " ERRATA. 1, for raison d^etre of its own existence, read reason of its own existence. 6, for that it is, read that is. 7, for the exclusion, read its exclusion. $,for on those, read of those. Line b,for of those, read on those. 20, for by the latter, read by them. MISCONCEPTIONS. CHAPTER I. MISCONCEPTIONS. My purpose in this book is to endeavour to form as definite ideas as possible concerning the chief de- sign of revelation, or God's end in making that special manifestation of Himself above the plane of nature, whereof the Bible is the literary record — and to bring the ideas thus formed to bear on past and present con- troversies, as aids to faith and barriers against unbelief. On first view this may appear a very superfluous task. Who, it may be asked, does not know the answer to the question, What do the Scriptures principally teach? Yet nothing is more certain than that vague or erroneous notions have been and still are enter- tained on this subject both by believers and by unbe- lievers ; creating unnecessary perplexities, giving rise to false inferences and objections, affording opportu- nities of attack, and occasions for defence, which dis- appear when the true state of the case is understood. The answer of the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism, to the question above propounded, may itself be cited as an instance in point. " The Script- ures principally teach," we are told, " what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man." The statement is too vague and general, and is thus fitted to become the cause, if it be not it- 1 2 MI SCON CEP TIONS. self the effect, of misconception. But the crude no- tions I have in view are not mere relics of a bygone time ; we meet with them in current literature, in such popular books, e.g., as Mr. Matthew Arnold's " Liter- ature and Dogma," and Mr. W. Rathbone Greg's " Creed*of Christendom." In these books attacks are made on the faith, which are based on certain assump- tions as to the raison d'etre of revelation, and the only- effectual method of meeting the assault is to form exact ideas on the subject to which these assumptions relate. When it is considered how vital the questions involved in the controversy are, it will at once be seen how very incumbent on the apologist it is to under- take that task. They relate to such cardinal topics as the possibility and verifiableness of revelation ; the function of miracle and prophecy in connection with a revelation ; the method of revelation, involving advance from rudeness to perfection along a regular course of development, the employment of morally defective agents, and the adoption of the principle of election, that is, the principle' of first bestowing privilege on the few in order to the eventual communication of the benefit to the many ; and, to specify only one other point, the doctrinal significance of revelation. Though the Bible is not directly, or in the first rank, involved in this discussion (for Revelation must not be confounded with its literary record, or the term used as a synonym for the Scriptures — of this more hereafter), yet it too suffers from misconceptions on the fundamental question, What was God's chief end in making a supernatural manifestation of Himself in the sphere of human history? In view of the momentous issues invoLved, the utility MISCONCEP TIONS. 13 of a careful consideration of the class of topics which cluster around the question will, I venture to think, be generally conceded. This conviction will support me in the endeavour to execute the task which I have taken in hand, not without diffidence and a grave sense of responsibility. What I aim at is not ency- clopaedic completeness, but to suggest some service- able thoughts on the most pressing matters. To achieve even this modest piece of work in a slight and sketchy manner will require six lengthy chapters. I devote this first introductory one to a statement of the principal misconceptions which have been or still are entertained on the subject of our study. These misconceptions, then, fall into two general classes. First, there are those which take a theoreti- cal or doctrinaire view of revelation, and next, there are those which go to the opposite extreme and take an exclusively practical or ethical view of the same subject. This classification does not resolve itself into a distinction between the views of believers and those of unbelievers respectively ; on the contrary, believers and unbelievers or freethinkers may be found on the same side. Especially does this hold good, as we shall see immediately, in reference to the doctrinaire class of ideas. Common to all patrons of theoretical or doctrinaire conceptions are these two opinions ; that Revelation is to be identified with the Bible, and that the Bible was given by God to men for the purpose of com- municating doctrinal instruction on certain topics of importance. This may be said to be the old view held in common both by believer and by infidel. The points on which those who adopted this view differed, 2 H MISCONCEP TIONS. had reference to the subjects on which instruction was supposed to be given, and, as connected with that, the extent and character of the information vouchsafed. The sober, intermediate, what we may call the ortho- dox, opinion was that the knowledge communicated in the Scriptures relates to God and to human duty and destiny, and that it contains numerous items of information which could have been obtained from no other source. From this medium position some di- verged by excess, others by defect. The excess con- sisted in looking on the Bible as a book containing miscellaneous information, of a more or less curious character, on all sorts of subjects ; not merely on God, duty, the future life, and such moral and religious top- ics, but on the secrets of nature, the problems of phi- losophy, the constitution of the heavenly world, etc. The extreme instance of this unlimited construction of the term Revelation is to be found in the Jewish Kabbala, which, by an arbitrary and grotesque system of interpretation, converted the Old Testament into a book of science, philosophy, and magic, as well as a book of moral law and religion. Milder examples of the Kabbalistic treatment of Scripture (using the epi- thet with reference, not to the method 'of interpretation, but to the character of the results obtained) have been supplied in more recent times by those who have been of opinion that the sacred Book, though not meant principally to teach the science of nature, yet contains latent in its pages important scientific hints, and al- ways expresses itself in reference to natural phe- nomena with scientific accuracy. The conflicts in which this view has involved believers in Revelation and science in its onward progress are so familiar to MI SCON CEP TIONS. 1 5 all that it is not necessary to speak of them particu- larly. Suffice it to say, that these collisions have gradually taught faith the necessity of caution in the claims which she advances in behalf of the Bible, and led to the general adoption of the position that the revelation contained in the holy Book relates to dis- tinctively moral and religious truth, that it is not in- tended to make known the secrets of the universe, and that when these Divine writings have occasion to speak of natural phenomena they do so, not in sci- entific, but in popular language. The old Kabbal- istic idea, however, is not yet quite extinct ; it lingers still, for venerable error dies hard ; one meets with it now and then in odd corners of literature, and it may serve the purpose of a fresh illustration of a trite theme, and suffice as comment on the most obvious and gross abuse of the Bible, as a supposed repository of scientific lore, if I briefly allude to the latest in- stance which has come under my observation. I find it in a book with which I became acquainted during a late visit to America, entitled " Life : its true Gen- esis." * In respect of ability and knowledge the book is by no means to be despised ; on the contrary, its author shows himself to be well acquainted with the most recent scientific investigations, hypotheses, and discoveries, and discusses these with much acuteness, vigour, and spirit, which make the volume altogether enjoyable and exhilarating reading. But the writer is a dissenter from the views current in scientific cir- cles on the origin of life, as taught by Darwin and * By Mr. R. W. Wright. Published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1880. 1 6 MISCONCEPTIONS. others. Dissatisfied with prevalent hypotheses and theories, he propounds one of his own which he en- deavours to support by an induction of relative facts. The facts are interesting, and demand explanation on some theory. They are such as this, that when a for- est consisting of a particular kind of tree, say pine, is cut down, it is succeeded by a growth, not of pine, but of oak, and that again by beech. The author believes such facts to be inexplicable on any current views of the origin of life, and he propounds his own theory to account for them, which is, that in the earth there are vital germs (not ordinary seeds) of all plants, and that whenever the necessary conditions come into exist- ence, these germs manifest their presence in the bosom of the earth by sending forth a crop of vegetation. The germ differs from the seed in this, among other respects, in this above all, that a seed is always pre- ceded by a plant, whereas the plant is always preceded by the vital germ. Now, as to this theory and the argument in its support, I am not going to call in question the facts alleged ; they may be all true for aught I know to the contrary : neither do I quarrel with the theory ; it may be as legitimate and as feasi- ble as those it is meant to supplant. I certainly think neither the facts nor the theory should be treated with indifference or contempt ; but, rather, carefully con- sidered. The hypothesis is in some respects very plausible to say the least, as, e.g., when it deals with the question of plant distribution. The " tramp " theory of distribution, according to which each plant had originally one native place on the earth's surface, whence individuals migrated in course of ages, is beset with serious difficulties, which the author of the " True MI SCON CEP TIONS. 17 Genesis of Life " very acutely exposes. How simple and how tempting, in presence of these difficulties, the hypothesis that all the word over, the earth is filled with vital germs which develop into plants wherever the requisite conditions of soil, temperature, and the like prevail. Let the theory, therefore, receive, at the hands of competent judges, fair and full consideration. What I wish to point out is, that the author finds in Scripture support for his theory, on which he seems to rely more confidently than on all the facts of ob- servation adduced. The Scriptural basis is discovered in a few Hebrew words in the first chapter of Genesis, rendered in our English version, " whose seed is in it- self upon the earth," but which we are told ought to be rendered "whose germinal principle of life, each in itself after its kind, is upon the earth." That is to say, we are to understand that the Hebrew word zero, is used by the sacred writer to express the scientific conception of a germinal principle existing in the earth antecedent to all plant life, created there by the energy of the Divine Spirit, not the popular idea of seed pro- duced first by plants, and from which in turn plants are made to grow by the fertilizing influence of the soil. Is this probable ? Even if the theory were es- tablished I should gravely doubt it, and still incline to hold, that in the text referred to, we are to find no anticipation of the new theory advanced by Mr. Wright, but a reference to the familiar fact that plants spring from seeds deposited in the ground. And on the other hand, should the theory on examination turn out a mistake, the authority of the sacred Book will not be compromised, because a sober exegesis will adhere to the principle, which painful experience 1 8 MI SCON CEP TIONS. has taught the Church to respect, that on the phe- nomena of nature Scripture uniformly speaks not in scientific or philosophic, but in popular language. This principle may be held fast without prejudice to the negative scientific merits of the Bible, such as the invariable accuracy of its descriptive references to natural phenomena, and the still more important fact of its steering clear of all false science, especially from any theological and superstitious views of nature, such as were current in the ancient world ; a feature which comes conspicuously out in the Scripture account of creation, compared, e.g., with the Chaldean Genesis, a feature, I may add, so remarkable that even free- thinkers have been struck with it, though unwilling to recognise therein, with believers, the sure trace of a Divine guidance helping the sacred writer to avoid Pagan error, and in all his representations to walk in the light of a pure ethical monotheism. In comparison with those who would treat the Bible as if it were a repository of miscellaneous information on all conceivable subjects, the dogmatist proceeds rationally who uses it as a theological text-book given for the express purpose of conveying doctrinal in- struction on religious and moral themes, which it is his business to draw out into distinct propositions, and set forth in systematic order. He has the merit, at least, of recognising that the proper sphere of Bib- lical teaching is to be found in morals and religion. But even in his conception there is something out of accordance with the actual fact, and unwholesome in tendency. In making this statement I am not to be understood as denying the competency or utility of systematic theology. I not only admit, but strenu- MI SCON CEP TIONS. I g ously maintain, that revelation has a doctrinal signifi- cance ; and I can imagine attempts at exhibiting such significance in a systematic way, which should keep the chief end of revelation steadily in view, and make the whole system of doctrine revolve round it as a centre, and assign to each individual truth its place of importance in accordance with the nearness or remote- ness of its relations to the centre. Such attempts, in- deed, have been made, especially in recent times, and might be referred to if needful. All I mean to say is, that there are certain sins which easily beset one who makes revelation consist in the suggestion by the Di- vine Spirit, to the minds of apostles and prophets, conceptions of ideas and words concerning the dog- mas of faith and the rules of conduct.* In the first place, the habit of using the Bible as a quarry of proof- texts for an elaborate system of doctrine, is apt to render the mind insensible to all Biblical material that cannot be utilised in that way. The amount of such matter is not small. There is much that is beautiful and valuable in the sacred writings which cannot be manufactured into dogma, and possesses chiefly lit- erary or devotional interest. It is to this fact Mr- Arnold points in the title which he has given to his well-known work on the Bible, " Literature and Dog- ma." Then, even that which can.be utilised for dog- matic purposes, is likely, in the hands of the dogmatic theologian, to lose its living characteristics, and be- * In these very terms is Revelation described by Hollaz, a Lu- theran divine, who flourished in the 17th century. His words are : " Spiritus Sanctus Prophetis et Apostolis conceptus rerum et ver- borum de dogmatibus et moribus suggessit." Quoted by Rothe, in 'Zur Dogmatik," p. 55. 20 MISCONCEPTIONS. come transformed into a dead thing. The Bible is a rich wide tract of country, wherein the plants and flowers of Divine truth grow in endless profusion and picturesque variety. What we find in theological systems based on Scripture texts is a Hortus Siccus, or collection of dried plants, arranged according to their specific resemblances for the purposes of science, but with the life pressed out of them. Further, the dogmatic mind, as we now conceive of it, has no notion of progress in revelation. All Script- ure given by inspiration is profitable for doctrine. All texts or books of Scripture are alike good for the purpose, without distinction of date. The earliest books are as available as the latest. It is implied in the dogmatic conception of revelation, that salvation depends on the knowledge of certain doctrines. That being so, the most ancient men of God must be assumed to have been in possession of the requisite saving knowledge, and traces of such knowledge may therefore be looked for even in the oldest parts of the Bible. The patriarchs needed the sum of saving knowledge, therefore they had it, therefore it may be found even in the book of Genesis. How untrue this idea of the Bible, according to which the first book is as good as the last, progress, growth, development is ignored, and Christ is in the Old Testament and in all its parts not merely as a germ, but as a tree, does not need to be pointed out. It is now generally under- stood that even in Revelation the law of progress by development obtains, and it is owing to its full recog- nition of this truth that the modern science of Bibli- cal, as distinct from dogmatic theology, has become the fruitful study that it is. MISCONCEP TIONS. 2 1 Another vice of the dogmatic spirit remains to be mentioned, viz., the lack of all sense of proportion, or of the relative importance of the truths taught in Scripture. Every proposition capable of being sub- stantiated by clear proof texts, is to be received as matter of religious faith. God gave the book to teach men certain doctrines, the number of these being limited only by the extent to which the process of manufacturing theological propositions with proof texts attached can be carried ; and who am I that I should presume to determine which are fundamental and which of secondary moment ? Under the'influ- ence of such notions, a dogmatic system, instead of being an organism of truth developed out of one great ruling thought, is apt to degenerate into a mere en- cyclopaedia of theological opinions professing to be derived from Scripture, in which the least important dogma receives as much prominence as the most fun- damental ; so that the student, while in the act of learning many truths, is in danger of losing sight of the one great truth which sheds its benignant lustre on the sacred page ; the truth, viz., that in the Script- ures we have the record of the manifestation of a gracious purpose evolving itself, in the course of ages, and finding its eventual fulfilment in Jesus Christ. In this way it may happen to the dogmatic student of a completed revelation, to repeat the ex- perience of the Jew in studying the Old Testament. The Jew searched the Scriptures as one who verily believed that in them he should find eternal life ; but his search was all but futile, his labour mostly lost, because he failed to discern God's chief end in mak- ing the revelation of Himself recorded in the Hebrew 2 2 MI SCON CEP TIONS. writings, imagining that it was to be found in the law-giving on Sinai ; whereby it came to pass that the law eclipsed, to his eye, the purpose of grace running all through the long ages of preparation, and blinded his mind even to its sunlight-glory as it shone in the face of Christ. The melancholy failure of the people to whom were given the oracles of God to appreciate the design of the gift, supplies a most significant historical illustration of the serious conse- quences such shortcoming may entail. Let us not imagine it is a lesson which does not concern us. The seventeenth century was the great Protestant dogmatic epoch, during which the conception of the Bible just animadverted on was everywhere domi- nant. In the eighteenth century, on the other hand, we meet on every side a spirit of reaction against theological dogmatism. The dogma-building spirit had done its work amidst much controversy, and with incredible toil it had created vast systems of divinity, embodied in huge tomes which it would take half a lifetime to read. And the task, when done, turned out to be a thankless one. The world seemed weary of theological controversy, and turned away from the learned tomes with apathy, almost with loathing. Deism, Illuminism, Auf kalrung succeeded to scholas- tic orthodoxy, and taught, to willing ears, that the vast structure of supernatural and unintelligible doc- trines was really of no practical value, seeing the essence of religion consisted in a few simple truths which all could understand, and which commended themselves to every unsophisticated mind. But while the dogmas were given up, the dogmatic conception of Revelation was retained. That conception was a MI SCON CEP TIONS. 23 legacy eighteenth-century free-thought inherited from seventeenth-century orthodoxy, which shaped its way of regarding the Bible, and which it even turned into a weapon of assault against the faith in a Divinely revealed religion. The deist, not less than the dog- matist, had a doctrinaire idea of revelation. He could not think of any purpose God could have in view in giving a revelation, other than to communi- cate instruction. The point on which he differed from the dogmatist was the nature and amount of the instruction communicated. Men under the influence of the eighteenth-century Zeitgeist, whether bejievers or unbelievers, were disposed to reduce the truths which God could be supposed to teach men in a special revelation to a very small number indeed — to three in fact, which may be called the Deistic Trinity. These three were— that there is a God just and, above all, beneficent ; that moral obligations are to be acknowledged and obeyed, or the infinite nature of duty; and that man is destined to immortality. If God gave a revelation to man, it must have been to republish and enforce these fundamental truths of natural religion ; whatever more was found in any pretended revelation was either false or of subordi- nate importance. Here was the opposite extreme to Kabbalism; diverging from the via media of dog- matic orthodoxy on the side of defect, as far as the Rabbinical idea of revelation diverged therefrom on the side of excess. All three agreed that the Bible was a scholastic book ; but the Kabbalist thought it taught everything, the dogmatist confined its teaching pretty much to theology, and the deist was of opinion that it taught next to nothing, at 24 MISCONCEPTIONS. most only the few elementary truths of natural religion. The most genial and friendly representative of the deistical tendency may be' found in Lessing, the most cultured and influential apostle of German Illuminism. By the bent of his spirit, Lessing was a philosophic sceptic or free-thinker, but he did not assume an attitude of hostility or unbelief .towards revealed religion. On the contrary, he professed to believe in Revelation, and set himself to discover its chief end and contents. He developed his views on these points in the well-known tract, entitled " The Education of the Human Race." God's aim in giving to the race the Bible, he held, was to educate it out of moral childhood and rudeness into manhood, and He sought to do this by communicating to men the knowledge of truths which reason could find out for itself, but not easily or soon. Education, in general, gives a man nothing which he could not have from himself, but it gives it sooner and easier. Even so revelation gives to man no truths which his reason would not eventually discover, but it gave and gives the most important of these truths earlier. The truths of chief moment which God taught the race in an order determined by the capacity of the pupil were — the unity of God, presented first in the form of belief in a national God, Jehovah; then, finally, in the form of a pure ethical monotheism learned by Israel from the wise Persians while in exile ; the sum of duty set forth in the Decalogue, whose precepts were enforced by a promise of long life in the land of Canaan ; and, finally, the doctrine of immortality communicated first to a select few in Old Testament times, and at length MISCONCEP TIONS. 25 made the property of the million by Jesus Christ. In this process of moral and religious education the Old Testament served the purpose of a primer, and the New Testament was the second lesson-book, put into the child's hands when it had outgrown the first. Both were good in their place and time, but both are destined to be superseded when the child reaches manhood. Then comes in the everlasting gospel of reason, when men shall see without aid truths which, in earlier ages, God beneficently taught men by means of the sacred school-books ; and when they shall have the law so written in the heart, that they will do the right without any hope of reward, whether temporal or eternal, as an inducement ; when, nevertheless, though no longer needed as a motive to well doing, the faith in immortality shall be firmly rooted in the spirit. The theory of Revelation now briefly sketched is very attractive, and not without some elements of truth. It supplies a credible motive for Divine action ; for it is quite conceivable that God should communicate to men, by special revelation, truths of the moral reason which, in the course of ages, they could eventually discover, but not till much later than they actually become acquainted with them through Divine aid, in oder that their higher educa- tion might be thereby accelerated. Then the notion of education, though not exhausting the idea of reve- lation, does enter into it as an element. When God entered upon the process of self-manifestation, of which we have the literary monument in the Script- ures, He did take in hand the moral and religious education of mankind. Even the idea of the lesson- books being superseded when they have served their 26 MI SCON CEP TIONS. purpose has a certain germ of truth in it. That idea is borrowed, we may say, from the Apostle Paul, who justified the abrogation of the Mosaic law by com- paring it to the system of tutors and governors to which the heir of an inheritance is subject only till the time of his majority has arrived. Lessing was mistaken only in assuming that the time might come when Christianity itself, as taught in the New Testa- ment, should be superseded by the religion of reason, even as the Jewish religion was superseded by it ; whereas, according to the teaching of the New Tes- tament, and in truth, Christianity is the perfect religion; God's last, because His full, adequate, abso- lutely true word to men ; which cannot be outgrown in thought as the world advances in wisdom, any more than the Son, by whom that last word was spoken, can be outgrown in moral worth. But it is important to note the source of his mistake. It lay in this, that his idea of revelation was exclusively pedagogic. The Bible consists of two lesson-books, which the pupil outgrows one after the other, as pupils outgrow all school-books. He learns his lessons about the unity of God, the moral law, and the life to come, and goes his way, and thinks no more about the primer and the second book. But suppose that revelation consisted in something much higher than moral education, even in the manifesta- tion of a redemptive purpose, in the exhibition to our faith of God as the God of Grace, so supplying not only knowledge of duty, but power to become sons of God ; and suppose that in the Bible we have the record of such a manifestation and exhibition, — could we then think of outgrowing the holy writings as MISCONCEPTIONS. 27 worn-out school-books ? As well might we think of outgrowing the sun ; for Christ is the Sun of our souls, because He is the Saviour of our souls, and no one who recognises in Him the Redeemer will ever dream of the possibility of His being superseded. Nor will the book which bears witness to His re- deeming love ever lose its interest, or its value as an atmosphere through which the rays of the spiritual Sun are diffused abroad over the world. Only such as think of Christ as merely a Teacher, and of Christianity as a system of ideas, will imagine that they can now dispense with both Christ and the New Testament. Even they are mistaken in their fancy. They are not so independent as they think. Some Christian light may indeed remain in their minds after they have thrown Christ and the gospel aside ; it is, however, but as the twilight which remains in the sky after the sun has gone down, destined soon to fade into darkness.* * " If Christianity be the revealed, and in principle completed, religion of redemption, and therefore the completion of all relig- ion, an advance of religion beyond Christianity, or a perfectibility, or completion of Christianity itself, is neither possible nor neces- sary ; therefore attempts of this kind lead away from religion in order to set in its place philosophy and esthetic for the benefit of demigods, who no more, like us common men, need religion" (Alex. Schweitzer, "Die Christliche Glaubenslehre, vol. iii. p. 5). This writer, in the same volume, p. 31, says again: "If Chris- tianity were not the religion of redemption itself, as living piety, but only the doctrine of the same, we could cherish for Christ essentially only such a feeling as we entertain towards other great Church teachers ; viz., thankfulness for instruction given at a cer- tain time, and for the spirit with which it was communicated in spite of powerful opponents." These views are the more worthy of note that the author by no means occupies an orthodox stand- point. 2 8 MISCONCEP TIONS. If in Lessing we see one who, while a true child of an unbelieving time, still endeavoured to recon- cile faith in a doctrinal revelation with the prevalent theological liberalism, we find in another man, whose name is closely associated with his, an example of a free-thinker, using orthodox conceptions of reve- lation to subvert the orthodox faith in revelation. I refer to Reimarus of Hamburg, author of an un- published work entitled " A Defence of the Rational Worshippers of God," from which Lessing extracted the pieces which he gave to the world under the name of "The Wolfenbiittel Fragments." This man, to whom Lessing, and more recently Strauss, has given greater prominence than he deserves, claims our attention chiefly on account of the principles on which his attack on revealed religion is based. He commenced his inquiries into the claim of the Bible to be a Divine revelation, by laying down these two positions : (i) that if a revelation was to be made it would be given in the form of a system of doctrine expressed in precise terms ; and, (2) that men of irreproachable lives would be selected to be the medium of communication. In the preface of his work, according to Strauss, who took the pains to prepare and publish a digest of its contents, he gives an account of the origin of his doubts concerning the truth of revealed religion. The first thing that caused him to stumble was the fact that the Bible is not a doctrinal compendium. If God were to favour mankind with supernatural instruc- tion for their salvation, He would, without doubt, adopt the most convenient form of an orderly and clear exposition, in which all that pertained to a MI SCON CEP TIONS. 2 9 doctrine of faith, or a system of morals, was brought together and expressed in a definite manner, and not scattered here and there, or confusedly mixed, or left vague and darkly worded. We observe in this assumption an instructive illustration of the way in which men's minds may be biassed in religion by their philosophy. Like most members of the Illuminist fraternity, Reimarus was a Wolfian in philosophy, and an admirer of the demonstrative mathematical method of his master, and hence he was prejudiced against the Bible, because forsooth its Divine Author had not adopted the style of a phi- losopher belonging to the Wolfian school. Another thing which greatly scandalized the doubter, was the character of the people whom God chose to be the recipients of revelation, and of the so-called men of God whom He used as His instruments, or who figure prominently as worthies in the Scriptures. He could not conceive God choosing so stiff-necked, ignoble, and perverse a race to be a peculiar people in prefer- ence to other more teachable and gifted nations ; and in the actions of the Bible characters — the patriarchs, Moses, Samuel, David, etc. — he found traits which made it impossible for him to regard them as men after God's heart, and messengers of His revelation. It is easy to understand how one coming to the ex- amination of the Bible with such assumptions in his mind could not fail to find in it many stumbling-blocks. For in truth the sacred Book is as far as possible from being a systematic compendium of religious instruc- tion. No book in the world has less the appearance of bearing that character. It is most interesting, ex- cellent, edifying " literature," but it is not a book of 30 MI SCON CEP TIONS. " dogma," whatever dogmas may be extracted from it by legitimate exegesis. So far are the recipients of revelation from being men whom God is using for con- veying doctrinal instruction of a formal character to the world, that some of them seem to receive little teaching themselves, and to give none at all to others. The patriarchs for example : what do they learn from God, or what contribution do they make to the com- pendium of religious doctrine ? Why the communi- cations made to them refer, as Reimarus observed, to his amazement, not to abstract topics, such as the unity of God, or the immortality of the soul, but rather to such gross worldly matters as children and lands ; and instead of going about as missionaries teaching the true religion, their whole concern seems to be about flocks and herds and wells, and marriages and offspring. Most perplexing behaviour, truly, on the part of men who are supposed to be God's agents in the work of communicating to the world a doctrinal revelation ! But to infer therefrom that no Divine revelation has taken place, is somewhat precipitate. What if the proper inference were that the conception of revelation, cherished by Reimarus in common with the orthodox, from whom he received it by tradi- tion, was an altogether mistaken one? What if the revelation consisted not so much in the communica- tion of a body of truth, as in the intimation of a gra- cious purpose ? In that case the prominence given to such matters as an heir, or a land, which seems so utterly out of place in a doctrinaire revelation, may be found not altogether inexplicable. In a similar way, revision of the idea of revelation might go far to remove the scandals arising out of the lives of the MI SCON CEP TIONS. 3 1 men of revelation. It certainly must be admitted that they were far enough from being perfect men. No need for a microscope to discover faults in most of them ; no need for such elaborate efforts to convict many of them of grievous shortcomings, as Reimarus makes, till his reader is wearied, not to say disgusted. The fact stares one in the face. But what then ; does grievous faultiness disqualify men for being the agents of Divine revelation? Must God in giving a revela- tion play the Pharisee, and out of a regard to His dig- nity have to do only with perfect Characters ? Or is it due to the world that its teachers should be so very far above the general level in virtue ? There might be something to be said for these positions if revela- tion consisted in communicating ideas of reason, eth- ical precepts, or maxims of wisdom. But what if the revelation consist in a self-manifestation of God as the God of grace ? Then we shall not wonder at the Di- vine Being condescending to have intimate relations with erring mortals, or making known His will for the world's redemption, by men participating, more or less, in the world's sin. The employment of a doctrinaire conception of rev- elation as a weapon of assault against faith in a super- naturally revealed religion is a device not yet anti- quated. We find this same conception used to assail the possibility and the verifiableness of revelation by so respectable and influential a writer as the author of " The Creed of Christendom." In that work Mr. Greg propounds for discussion the question : Is Chris- tianity a revealed religion ? and he thus defines the position taken up by those who answer the question in the affirmative : " When a Christian affirms Chris- 32 MI SCON CEP TIONS. tianity to be a revealed religion, he intends simply and without artifice to declare himself that the doc- trines and precepts which Christ taught were not the production of His own human mind, either in its ordinary operations or in its flights of sublimest con- templation, but were directly and supernaturally com- municated to Him from on high. He means this, or he means nothing definable or distinctive." This state of the question he afterwards paraphrases thus : " It remains therefore a simple question for our con- sideration whether the doctrines and precepts taught by Jesus are so new, so profound, so perfect, so dis- tinctive, so above and beyond parallel, that they could not have emanated naturally from a clear, simple, un- soiled, un warped, powerful, meditative mind, living four hundred years after Socrates and Plato ; brought up among the pure Essenes ; nourished on the wis- dom of Solomon, the piety of David, the poetry of Isaiah ; elevated by the knowledge, and illuminated by the love of the one true God." These two extracts clearly set forth the author's point of view. Revela- tion consists in the supernatural communication of truth which the human mind could not attain of itself, and there is no reason to believe that Jesus could not, in His position and with His training, arrive in a nat- ural way at the thoughts embodied in His recorded sayings ; in other words, no reason to regard Jesus otherwise than as one of the world's wise men. But Mr. Greg goes further than this. He not only holds that as matter of fact no supernatural teaching was necessary to give Jesus His wisdom, but strives to prove that supernatural teaching in general is impos- sible, or at least unverifiable. This he does by means MI SCON CEP TIONS. 3 3 of the two following questions : Can the human mind receive an idea which it could not originate ? and how can a man distinguish between an idea revealed to him and an idea conceived by him ? The questions are rather loosely put. It is assumed, for instance, that an idea and a truth are the same thing. The author indeed affirms that they are. " A truth," he says, " is only an idea, or a combination of ideas, which approves itself to us." But a truth is something more than a combination of agreeable ideas. An illustration will best show this. God is one idea, love is another ; the combination of these two ideas is agreeable to our hearts ; but that is a very different thing from know- ing it to be true, to be a real objective truth that God is love, as the Apostle John affirms. And this illus- tration may also help us to understand how we may be able, without Divine aid, to conceive and even to combine ideas, and yet may require such aid to regard the combination as objective truth. I do not need Di- vine revelation to give me the idea of God ; as little do I need such help to give me the idea of love. I can also, without supernatural succour, combine these two ideas. I can imagine God being love. To do that is easy, but, alas, to believe that God is love is not so easy. After I have conceived such a thing as a pos- sibility, I stand very much in need of assurance that my conception is not only a possibility, but a fact. Suppose now w r e translate Mr. Greg's question into accurate language, and ask : Can the human mind re- ceive a truth by revelation which it could not certainly know to be true otherwise, though it might be able to conceive of its possibility ? Why not ? Where is the difficulty? The puzzle disappears as soon as it is 34 MISCONCEPTIONS. stated in proper terms. To convert possibilities, con- ceived but not firmly believed, into certainties, was one grand design of revelation. And now observe, with reference to Mr. Greg's second question, how this is done. Take again the infinitely momentous truth that God is love. How am I to be assured of that truth with a measure of assurance far surpassing that attainable by the light of nature, which confess- edly leaves Divine love, to a large extent, problemat- ical ? How shall I know, e.g., whether love means for God what it means among men, viz., a spirit which makes a man willing to sacrifice himself for another, as Alcestis sacrificed herself for her husband ? I can conceive such a thing as possible. I cannot indeed think of God as love without the conception entering into my mind. But from the conception to the belief what a distance ! Is it possible that God can or will sacrifice Himself, or stoop to be a burden-bearer to His own creatures? How shall I know, save by God doing the thing, and so showing me that love is the reality for Him that it is for all the moral heroes who sacrifice themselves for others ? And the doing of it is the revelation. Christ's death on the cross is the most important part of His revelation ; far more im- portant than His words of wisdom, precious as these are. And the radical error of Mr. Greg is, that he takes account only of the latter, leaving out of view the revelation which Christ made in His life, in His actions, and, above all, in His passion. It is the old traditional error of a doctrinaire conception of revela- tion reproduced in our age, and made the basis of an ingenious attempt to demonstrate the impossibility of revelation, which is seen to be inept so soon as the MI SCON CEP TIONS. 35 subject in debate is rightly defined. That Mr. Greg's attack would be valid even against revelation as con- ceived by himself, I am not to be understood as ad- mitting. All I mean now to point out is, that there is a way of regarding revelation, with reference to which his argument does not even possess plausibility. In proceeding now to giye some account of the opinions of those who have taken a purely practical or ethical view of the chief end of revelation, I must go as far back as the seventeenth century to find the first influential representative of this tendency in post- reformation times. The man to whom must be as- signed this important position is the famous Amster- dam Jew, Benedict Spinoza, justly regarded as the father of modern pantheism. Spinoza was not only the first, but also the most thorough-going exponent of the purely ethical conception of the aim of the Bible, which is so much in favour with many at the present time ; and on this account, as well as out of regard to his general position in the history of modern speculative and theological thought, he is entitled to very special attention. The fact of his belonging to the seventeenth century, and to Holland, readily suggests the conjecture that his peculiar way of viewing revelation may have been due to reaction against the dogmatic spirit of the age, which mani- fested itself with special intensity in that country in connection with the disputes between the Calvinists and the Armiriians. Such, accordingly, we know from Spinoza himself to have been the actual fact. In the Tract at tts theologico-politicus, the writing in w T hich his opinions on the present subject are set forth, published anonymously in 1670, the author 36 MISCONCEPTIONS. clearly explains the occasion and design of his work. In the preface he tells that he had observed, with pain, the grievous evils of religious controversy, as illustrated in all ecclesiastical history, and especially in the recent dispute between the Arminians and Calvinists (which led to the assembling of the Synod of Dort) : how in such .disputes natural reason was despised, and treated as the fountain of impiety, and human opinions were taken for Divine truth, and credulity deemed faith, and philosophical controver- sies keenly agitated in Church and State ; whence arose savage hatreds and dissensions, breeding sedition and schism. Observing these melancholy phenomena, it occurred to him to ask whether they did not all arise out of an illegitimate use of Scripture, as an authority in matters of philosophical and theological opinion in which reason should be left to its liberty. Men were fiercely wrangling about predestination and election, the depravity of human nature, irresistible grace, and the like topics. What if the Bible was never intended to decide such questions ; what if the opinions it con- tains bearing thereon be not even mutually consist- ent, and are to be taken simply for what they are worth, as the personal opinions of the particular writers speaking according to the best light they possessed ? With this idea in his mind he resolved, he tells us, to examine Scripture anew with unbiassed mind, and to affirm nothing concerning it, and admit nothing as to its teaching, which was not in accord- ance with its ascertained character. His enquiry re- lated to such topics as these : What was prophecy, and how did God reveal Himself to the prophets, and on what ground were they acceptable to God, whether MISCONCEP TIONS. 37 because of the truth or value of their thoughts of God or of nature, or simply because of their piety ; in what sense were the Hebrews an elect people ; whether miracles, so-called, happened contrary to the order of nature, and whether they teach the existence and providence of God more certainly and clearly than the things which happen in the course of nature, and whose causes are known ; whether there was anything in Scripture to justify the vilification of the human intellect as corrupt and blind, a question whose settle- ment depended on this other ; whether the religious or Divine law revealed by prophets and apostles was different from that which the natural light of reason teaches ? On all these questions he arrived at con- clusions radically diverse from those current in the Church. The authority of the prophets, he found, had weight only in those things which bear on life and morals : their opinions no way concern us. These Hebrew prophets, on an examination of their history and writings, appeared to be men of singular virtue, who cultivated piety with great devoutness, and hence, in Bible language, were said to be filled with the Spirit of God, and to be men of God, just as a stately cedar is called a cedar of God. Their chief in- tellectual gift was a lively imagination. They were not endowed with better minds than other men, and therefore it is an entire mistake to seek in their writ- ings wisdom and the knowledge of natural and spirit- ual things. All that we can learn from them is what bears on the fear of God or obedience ; in reference to all else for anything the prophets teach, we may believe what we please. This is apparent when we consider the grounds of prophetic certitude, which 3 3 8 MI SCON CEP TIONS. were these three : a vivid imagination of the things " revealed," a sign specially given for the prophet's satisfaction, and, above all, a mind steadily inclined to goodness. The certainty thence arising was only subjective. The second condition, indeed, may seem to carry with it objective certitude, but it does not, because the signs vouchsafed were adapted to the capacity and opinions of the particular prophet, so \J that what would convince one might fail to convince another. Even the "revelations" made to the prophets, were adapted not only to the temperament? the imagination, and the outward circumstances, but even to the peculiar, and it might be erroneous, opinions of the individual. That the prophets held erroneous opinions, and did not agree in their opinions, is apparent from the record. The con- clusion which results from all the facts, is, that we must not expect to find in the prophetic writings, that is in the Hebrew Scriptures generally, philo- sophically "accurate views concerning God, but merely such as tend to promote piety and morality, the prophets not being raised by their prophetic gift above liability to ignorance and error in regard to matters of speculation, which have no bearing on charity and practice. The author thought himself justified in drawing from the phenomena a similar inference in reference to the New Testament writings. The apostles wrote as doctors, not as prophets sup- porting their statements on a Thus saith the Lord, and they differed from each other in their views. They are not to be blamed for mixing up religion with speculation, for the gospel was new, and they were obliged to gain for it access to' men's minds by MISCONCEPTIONS. 39 accommodating themselves to contemporary thought. But we may now disregard Paul's philosophy and theology, and attend only to the few elementary truths in the teaching of which prophets, apostles, and Christ are all at one. These truths Spinoza pronounced to be neither more nor less than the doctrines of natural religion, which the much decried reason teaches us by its own light. It does not need to be pointed out to what theory of revelation these free and frankly expressed opinions conduct. The substance and the design of revelation have respect merely to piety and obedience. The Bible was not intended to teach, and does not in fact teach, any definite doctrines concerning God, or man, or the world ; but has for its sole object to promote the practice of godliness, justice, and charity. The writers of the Bible did not themselves all hold the same opinions, and therefore it is vain to seek from their writings one uniform system of dogmas. A man may make a very wise, good use of these writings, and be a true believer in the Scripture sense, and yet hold all manner of opinions, theistic or pantheistic, con- cerning God. Faith consists in cherishing such sen- timents concerning God as are necessary to and in- volved in obedience. It requires, not true, but pious beliefs. To the catholic faith belong no dogmas con- cerning which there can be controversy amongst hon- est men ; in particular, no such dogmas as those re- lating to predestination or election. It is idle to ap- peal to the Scriptures to decide the controversy con- cerning election. Election, in the Old Testament, simply means that God chose for Israel a particular spot of the earth wherein they might live in safety 4Q MI SCON CEP TIONS. and comfort. The Hebrew people were elected sim- ply to outward privilege, not to exceptional knowl- edge of God, or to be made in an exclusive sense a holy people. In the New Testament there is a deeper doctrine of election, taught especially in Paul's epis- tles. But then Paul speaks as a theological doctor, and we must take his doctrine for what it is worth. One wonders that a man holding such views should continue to speak of a revelation, or to believe in it in any special, distinctive sense. Indeed, we know that with his speculative opinions Spinoza could not believe in a revelation, in the sense of a communica- tion of truth to men by the living God with the in- tention of promoting their happiness. He was a Pantheist, and believed in no living God, in no God capable of cherishing intentions or performing special acts. But he does not say so plainly in the Tractatus, but keeps his philosophy in the background, and ac- commodates his language to theistic opinions that he may reason with Theists on their own terms. Yet his speculative bias is plain enough from many indi- cations, and very specially from the views which he expresses on the subject of miracles. These are in brief as follows : A miracle, in the sense of an event contrary to nature, is impossible, the order of nature being fixed and immutable. The so-called miracles of Scripture, if real occurrences, were simply events whose natural causes are unknown. If from the nat- ure of the case any recorded event could not possibly have had a natural cause ; e.g., the resurrection of a dead man, then the narrative must be held to be false, and probably added to the sacred writings by sacri- legious hands. From miracles, however conceived, MISCONCEPTIONS. 41 whether as events contrary to nature, or as events due to natural but obscure, unknown causes, we can learn nothing, either as to the being, or the essence, or the character of God. They are simply prodigies or ac- cidents without significance. We can know God only through the fixed course of nature, whose laws are the expression of His eternal will and decrees. Of course, on this view, the miraculous element in Script- ure, so far from being the medium of a very special revelation, is no revelation at all. Nay, on such a view of the miraculous, the very word revelation, as applied to Scripture, is evacuated of meaning, and its use ought to be discontinued, as fitted to foster de- lusion. For a special revelation, made with a definite purpose, is essentially miraculous ; and if miracle is to be discarded, words which imply miracle should be discarded also. In the work we have been speaking of, Spinoza did not choose to be thoroughly self-con- sistent. He preferred to occupy pro tempore the po- sition of one who believed the Bible to be the word of God, given for a special purpose. But he found himself somewhat at a loss to tell what the precise end served was. He supposes some one to ask the question, What is the use of the Bible, seeing we can- not learn from it any definite doctrine concerning the nature and attributes of God, but only a few element- ary truths of morality and religion, such as the light of reason can reveal to thoughtful minds? And he gives this somewhat enigmatical answer : " Since we cannot perceive by the light of nature that simple obedience is the way to salvation, and that revelation alone teaches us that that is accomplished by the sin- gular grace of God, which we cannot attain by reason, 42 MI SCON CEP TIONS. hence it follows that Scripture has brought an exceed- ingly great consolation to mortals. For while all without exception can obey, there are comparatively very few who acquire the habit of virtue by the sole guidance of reason ; and therefore, unless we had the testimony of Scripture, we might doubt concerning the salvation of almost all men." These sentences produce the impression that their author was puzzled to discover a presentable ground for the necessity of revelation. His real opinion, doubtless, was, that a revelation was unnecessary, as, on his philosophy, we know it is impossible. In the century following that in which Spinoza lived, the same tendency to connect the idea of revelation exclusively with practice was favoured by the founder of the critical philosophy and his disciples. Kant and Fichte were specially conspicuous advocates of the doctrine that the proper subject of all revelation is law. The former restricted the sphere of revelation still further, by conceiving of the laws specially re- vealed as statutory or positive precepts, in contradis- tinction from moral laws. The communication of such positive precepts by special revelation he repre- sented as made necessary by the weakness of human nature. Not otherwise can a kingdom of God, or a society of men associated together for ethical ends, come into actual being. Such a society is very need- ful to help individuals to fight with evil and to do good ; and if all men earnestly bent on obeying the law written on the heart were to unite together for mutual aid in the culture of morality, they would con- stitute a kingdom of God, or Church. But unfortu- nately men have never been able to establish an eth- MI SCON CEP TIONS. 43 ical society on the basis of the dictates of pure, prac- tical reason. They have ever been hard to persuade that a good life is all that God demands of them ; they have imagined that their duty to Him must consist in some special service which He requires of them. But we can learn what service God requires of us, how He would have us honour Him, — so far as this honour goes beyond our general moral obligation, — only by an express declaration of His will. This declaration, when made, is a revelation, the contents of which con- sist in a body of positive precepts relating to religious ritual. The abstract possibility of such a revelation Kant did not deny; but to maintain its reality in any given case he regarded as foolhardy, or as probably an act of intentional usurpation on the part of one who wished to increase his influence and authority over the people. Belief in such a revelation comes early in a people's history, and is made possible by their moral rudeness, of which their wise men take advantage to deceive them for their good.* Fichte, on the other hand, conceived of revelation as having for its proper sphere moral law. The design of all possible revelation, in his view, could only be to bring the claims of the moral law to bear with increased power upon the minds of men in a weak rude moral condition. I*i his first publication, entitled An Attempt at a Criticism of all Revelation, which had for its aim to apply the principles of the Kantian philosophy to the subject of revealed religion, Fichte defined the idea of revelation as the idea of an * Vide " Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der blosen Vernunft," III. i. 5; also Zeller, " Geschichte der deutschen Philosophic," p. 500. 44 MISCONCEPTIONS. appearance produced by the Divine causality in the world of sense, whereby God makes Himself known as moral Legislator. Such an appearance he admitted to be physically possible, and, when taking place for the purpose of educating morally rude men capable of being influenced only by what addressed itself to their senses, not unworthy of God ; for, though it may seem to degrade God by making Him a peda- gogue, yet in truth nothing is unworthy of God that is not contrary to the moral law. The Divine Being may humble Himself in the interests of morality ; and if it be found impossible in any other way to promote the moral education of the race than by a promulga- tion of duty amid miraculous accompaniments fitted to awaken awe, right reason cannot object to Deity condescending to man's need. This theory seems to have the merit of making room for at least such a revelation of law as that made to Israel on Sinai. The practical conclusion, however, of Fichte's criti- cism is a sceptical one. While the abstract possibility of a revelation is admitted, its verifiableness is in effect denied. Revelation, in Fichte's philosophy, as in Kant's, comes to mean belief in revelation ; and the belief has its origin, not in any objective Divine manifestation, but in devices of wise men to make an impression on the minds of tjie multitude. It is the old story of deceit for a beneficent purpose.* Coming down, now, to our own time, we find the • ethical view of revelation, so called, espoused and advocated with literary grace and persuasiveness by Mr. Matthew Arnold in the work already referred to. Mr. Arnold's way of regarding the Bible has more Vide Fichte's Werke, 5ter Band, p. 81. MI SCON CEP TIONS. 45 affinity with Spinoza's than with that of ihe critical philosophers, in so far as it insists on the general tendency of the Scriptures to promote the habit of virtue, rather than on any special instruction which they convey on the rules of conduct. Of Spinoza Mr. Arnold remarks, that he is coming more and more to the front. The observation is just ; many things confirm it : the appearance of new editions of his works, of translations in our language of some of his particular treatises, such as the "Tractatus," of which I have already given some account, and of original studies in his life and philosophy ;* the increasing prevalence of Pantheistic modes of thought more or less traceable to his influence ; the prominent notice taken of his opinions on miracles and other topics in Apologetic literature. In one sense, the more he comes to the front the better, for to know Spinoza is the best way to under- stand modern philosophy and theology. In his " Ethics " we find a key which opens to us many mysteries in such writers as Hegel, Schelling, and Schleiermacher, I may indeed almost say in Con- tinental systems of speculative thought generally. In that work is set forth in short compass, and in clear incisive style, and without reserve, the doctrines whereof more recent systems are to a large extent but voluminous and not very intelligible elaborations. In Spinoza we are at the sources of the Nile, starting from which we may with tolerable certainty track the * The most recent work on Spinoza's life and philosophy, is that by Pollock, published in 1880. In the last chapter of this work the author gives an account of the influence of Spinoza on modern thought. 3* 46 MISCONCEPTIONS. downward course of the mystic river of Pantheism. And if one wishes to know the practical outcome of Pantheism, he need not leave the fountain head. As from Spinoza he can learn the essential features of the Pantheistic theory of the universe, so from him also he can learn the weak points of the theory. For in him is no disguise, no prudential reservation, no accommodation to existing fashions of thought, on such topics as human freedom, the reality of moral evil, and the life to come ; but a blunt denial of all our most cherished beliefs on these and kindred topics. But what I wished to say was, that no better evidence of the truth of Mr. Arnold's remark concerning Spinoza need be sought than that furnished in his own writings. In " Literature and Dogma," in par- ticular, Spinoza does come to the front dressed up in attractive modern guise, as a smart modern man of letters and child of nineteenth-century culture, but still plainly recognisable by his unmistakable Jewish physiognomy. " Literature and Dogma " is to a large extent just the Tractatns popularized and reproduced with much expository skill and easy grace of style. Arnold, like Spinoza, conceives of the Bible as a book, not of Dogma, but of Conduct. Its function is, not to teach us doctrines about God or other transcendental topics, but to set forth, the supreme value of right conduct ; and its claim to the lasting reverence and gratitude of mankind rests on the fact that it has performed this high task incomparably well. So far from being a book of dogmatic divinity, the Bible does not so much as declare in a dogmatic theological sense that God exists, or that He is personal, or that He is a Being to whom you can with propriety apply MI SCON CEP TIONS. 47 the masculine pronoun. But there is one thing the Bible does, over and above emphasizing the supreme importance of conduct. It recognises and proclaims with due emphasis the great truth that there is a power in the world not ourselves making for righteous- ness, tending to bring about a correspondence between character and lot, and so to make the good happy and the wicked miserable. This is not a dogma, but a fact which is capable of being verified by observation and by the study of history, and which may be admit- ted by all men, irrespective of their speculative opin- ions, by Atheists and Pantheists and Materialists, not less than by Theists. In this affirmation Mr. Arnold is certainly right, for the fact in question has been acknowledged by men of all schools, and by some it has been asserted with even greater emphasis than by himself; by none in modern times with more power than by Thomas Carlyle. The author of "Literature and Dogma" has the merit of coining a new phrase to describe the old fact; but his phrase means just what other men have spoken of by other names. Even Strauss, Atheist and Materialist though he was in his later days, acknowledged the fact denoted by Mr. Arnold's Power not ourselves, under the name of the moral order of the world, in some respects a preferable expression. But the author of " Literature and Dogma" makes no claim to have discovered the fact. The service which he claims to have rendered in his work, is to have duly directed the attention of his contemporaries to the relation of the Bible writers to the fact, which he thinks has been greatly lost sight of in consequence of the misuse of the Bible by professional interpreters, who have looked into the 48 MISCONCEPTIONS. sacred writings only for their pet dogmas. The Bible writers, he tells us, though they lived many centuries ago, had eyes to discern this great fact. They have also been able in their writings to give it adequate powerful expression. Properly speaking, these writ- ings have no other aim than to assert the fact in every possible form, as a motive to right conduct. They do not all assert it in the same way. The Old Testa- ment writers sought the proofs that the Power not ourselves is at work too much in outward lot; and inasmuch as that power in its working only tends to unite righteousness and felicity, and does not by any means fully reach the goal, their minds became per- plexed, and they set about supplementing their grand fundamental doctrine by inventing fairy tales about a Messiah and a Messianic kingdom, and a life hereafter. Jesus came and taught men a new method of getting the reward of righteousness, which made them inde- pendent of outward events ; the method, viz., of seek- ing felicity within, in the state of the spirit; and a new secret for bringing blessedness into the heart, viz., self-denial. His was the perfect doctrine. But even the ancient Hebrew prophets, with all their errors and superstitions, rendered an inestimable ser- vice to mankind by their proclamation of the truth that conduct is the supremely important thing and that the Power not ourselves, — what they called the Eternal God, — is on the side of righteousness. This doctrine was worthy to be called a revelation, if any utterances of the human mind may receive that name ; and the Bible is the best of all books because, more than all other books, it directs men's attention to that which is at least three-fourths of human life, and more MISCONCEPTIONS. 49 to be regarded by far than culture, or art, or any other human interest. After we have removed from the ancient book all that is erroneous or worthless, — miraculous narratives, fairy tales of a future golden age, incredible dogmas, — there remains a large mass of inestimably precious material devoted to the praise of righteousness and the inculcation of pure moral- ity, with an enthusiasm which raises ethics to the dignity of religion. I have no desire to undervalue the service rendered by Mr. Arnold to the Bible by the view of it which he has presented in so attractive a garb. Still less do I desire to undervalue the Bible viewed simply as a book, such as he makes it — a book which is pervaded by a noble passion for righteousness and by an in- tense belief in the reality of a moral order of the world. Whatever more may be said of the Bible, it is certainly true that it possesses these characteristics in a degree altogether unique. The Bible stands alone among books for the emphatic and persistent way in which it exalts morality, righteousness, to the sov- ereign place among human interests, and for the glowing eloquence with which in all its parts it de- clares the truth that verily there is a reward for the righteous, and a God that judgeth upon the earth; and on this account it must ever continue to com- mand the reverent respect of all morally earnest men, whatever their theological position. But the question stands over, whether Mr. Arnold, in directing atten- tion to these characteristics, has given a full account of the Bible, or has even pointed out its chief peculi- arity. In connection with that, another question has to be asked, viz., whether miracles can, as Mr. Arnold 5o MISCONCEP TIONS. alleges, be removed from the Bible without material injury to its utility, or without affecting our concep- tion of its chief end. "There is nothing," says this author, " one would more desire for a person or doc- ument one greatly values, than to make them inde- pendent of miracles. And with regard to the Old Testament we have done this, for we have shown that the essential matter in the Old Testament is the reve- lation to Israel of the immeasurable grandeur, the eternal necessity, the priceless blessing of that with which not less than three-fourths of human life is in- deed concerned, righteousness. And it makes no difference to the preciousness of this revelation whether we believe that the Red Sea miraculously opened a passage to the Israelites, and the walls of Jericho miraculously fell down at the blast of Joshua's trumpet, or that these stories arose in the same way as other stories of the kind."* I am not careful to dispute this statement. But suppose the Bible as it stands contains another idea even more characteristic than the one Mr. Arnold signalizes, an idea to which miracle, — not, of course, this or that miracle, but a miraculous element, — is essential. In that case, to omit miracles, will simply signify changing the very fact-basis, on which our theory of revelation rests. The Bible may still contain much edifying matter, but it will be an entirely different book. It will con- vey different ideas from the actual Bible concerning God, man, and the world and their relations ; that is to say, it will teach by implication a different theory of the universe. The mutilated Bible will suggest a * "Literature and Dogma," pp. 123, 124. MISCONCEP TIONS. 5 ! different view of the raison d'etre of its own exist- ence, so different that it will be as it were the play of Hamlet without the part of Hamlet. That there is such an idea in the Bible I believe, and in the next chapter I will endeavour to explain what it is. THE CHIEF DESIGN OF REVELATION. CHAPTER II. THE CHIEF DESIGN OF REVELATION. In proceeding now to explain my view as to the chief design of revelation, it may be well to preface the discussion with a few remarks on the sense to be attached to the term Revelation. In last chapter I hinted parenthetically that Revelation and the Bible are not to be identified, as if the two terms were in all respects synonymous, and I may now briefly state the grounds of that opinion. There are then certain advantages to be gained from keeping in view the distinction between Revelation and Scripture, while, of course, ever recognising their intimate relations to each other. In the first place, the formal and de- liberate recognition of the distinction may help us to wean ourselves from the one-sided doctrinaire con- ception of revelation which has so extensively pre- vailed in past times. Then, further, if once we get it into our mind, that Revelation is one thing, Scripture another, though closely related, thing, being in truth its record, interpretation, and reflection, it will help to make us independent of questions concerning the dates of books. When the various parts of the Bible were written, is an obscure and difficult ques- 56 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. tion on which much learned debate has taken place, and is still going on ; and we must be content to let the debate run its course, for it will not be stopped either by our wishes or by ecclesiastical authority. And one thing which will help us to be patient, is a clear perception that the order in which revelation was given is to be distinguished from the order in which the books which contain the record thereof were written. It is conceivable that revelations might be given in the inverse order to that in which they were recorded. Thus, e.g., a certain school of critics tells us that the more important prophetic writings are of earlier date than the legal portions of the Pentateuch ; that in fact, so far as the literary record of revelation goes, the Prophets were before the Law, not after it, as the familiar phrase, " the Law and the Prophets," implies. But the law may have preceded prophecy in revelation though not in writing; in which case not only will the phrase " Law and Prophets " still have its truth, but, what is of much more importance, the natural order of sequence will be observed in the Bible history of the course of rev- elation. But a still more important advantage than either of the foregoing is to be reaped from keeping in view the distinction in question. It is this, that the dis- tinction makes room for the idea that possibly the revelation which God has made to men consisted, not in words exclusively, or even chiefly, but in deeds as well, yea in deeds above all, forming, when connected together, a very remarkable history. What if the most appropriate formula for the act of revelation were, not, " Thus saith the Lord," but " Thus did the THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA T/OJV. 57 Lord " ? In that case we could imagine a very im- portant revelation taking place, and entering as a divine element into human history, without such a book as the Bible coming into existence at all. A book is not necessary to the being of a revelation. It may be necessary to its well-being, that it is, to insure that the revelation shall accomplish the ends for which it was given ; though here we do well to bear in mind the caution of Bishop Butler, that we are no judges whether a revelation not committed to writing would or would not have answered its purpose. As an antidote to the tendency of believing minds to pronounce dogmatically on such questions, he re- marks very pertinently: " I ask, What purpose? It would not have answered all the purposes which it has now answered, and in the same degree ; but it would have answered others, or the same in different degrees. And which of these were the purposes of God, and best fell in with His general government, we could not at all have determined beforehand."* But without pressing such considerations, it may be admitted that a record of revelation of some sort, oral or written, was indispensable ; though there is truth in the remark of Rothe, that " Divine revelation works on incessantly as co-efficient in all human knowledge, independently of its being known and re- cognised as revelation. "f It may further be admit- ted that an oral record, by means of one generation showing God's works to another, is so liable to cor- ruption, that a written record may be pronounced, in the language of the Westminster Confession, " most * "Analogy," Part II., chap. iii. f" Zur.Dogmatik," p. 78, 58 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. necessary" ; * that is to say, of such a high degree of utility as amounts to a practical necessity. My present object is not, of course, to disparage the value of Holy Scripture, but to assert the possibility of a revelation without a Bible, and that in the interest of a conception of revelation to which the Bible itself does ample justice, and which alone enables us to do full justice to the Bible. Put the book foremost in your idea of revelation, and you almost inevitably think of revelation as consisting in words, doctrines. Put it in the background for a moment, forget at this stage that there is a book, and you make room in your mind for the idea that revelation may proceed by acts as well as words, even more characteristically than by words. It is very necessary that we should have this idea in our minds in advancing to the con- sideration of the question, What is the chief end of revelation ? for it will appear that that end was such as to demand Divine self-manifestation by action, not to the exclusion of words, but by action very specially — by acts of the miraculous order largely, such as those which Mr. Arnold thinks he can eliminate from the Bible without detriment to its practical value. Revelation, then, does not mean causing a sacred book to be written for the religious instruction of mankind. What then does it mean? It signifies God manifesting Himself in the history of the world in a supernatural manner and for a special purpose. Manifesting Himself ; for the proper subject of reve- lation is God. The Revealer is also the Revealed. This is recognised in the words of the Westminster Confession : " It pleased the Lord to reveal Himself, Chapter i. i. THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. 59 and to declare that His will unto His church."* Mani- festing Himself in history, I add, to distinguish the revelation now under discussion from that which God has made of Himself in Nature. The words, " in a supernatural manner and for a special purpose," are included in the definition to distinguish the subject under consideration from that revelation of God as a moral Governor which is discernible in the ordinary course of Providence. I believe that we have the record of such a special revelation in the Bible, and the question I have undertaken to discuss is, What is its nature and design ? In other words : If revelation in general signify Divine self-manifestation, under what aspect did God manifest Himself in that revelation whereof we have a record in the Holy Scriptures ? To that question my reply is : The revelation recorded in the Scriptures is before all things a self- manifestation of God, as the God of grace. In that revelation God appears as one who cherishes a gracious purpose towards the human race. The rev- elation consists, not in the mere intimation of the purpose, but more especially in the slow but steadfast execution of it by a connected series of transactions which all point in one direction, and at length reach their goal in the realization of the end contemplated from the first. As has been well said : " If we have any revelation from God at all, we have it at the heart of a great historical development; and if we are to find the evidence of it anywhere, we must seek for it as the cause and vital force of historical movements and events which otherwise would never have arisen, or, at least, would not have assumed their special * Chapter i. 1. 60 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF REVEIA TION. shape and significance."* The animating soul of this historical movement was a purpose of grace, in which, as eventually became apparent, all mankind was con- cerned, though the fact was hid during the ages of preparation. But as the word "grace" is in certain departments of theology associated with very mys- terious ideas, I must be careful to clear it as much as possible of associations fitted to create a prejudice at this stage. It is used here in a very simple, intel- ligible sense, which can be easily defined by a form of expression antithetical to that employed by Mr. Arnold to define his idea of God. Mr. Arnold de- scribes God as " a Power not ourselves, making for righteousness." When we speak of God as the God of grace, we mean to represent Him as a Power not ourselves, making for mercy ; a Power that dealeth not with men after their sins, but overcometh evil with good ; a Power acting as a redeeming, healing influence on the moral and spiritual disease of the world. This is assuredly a God-worthy representa- tion. Grace, so defined, is indeed the highest cate- gory under which we can think of God. It rises as much above righteousness as righteousness rises above the category under which natural religion con- ceives God, that, viz., of Might directed by intelligence. A God of righteousness is certainly a great advance on a God of mere power ; yet it is only a step upwards towards a higher idea of God, in which the Divine * Smyth, "Old Faith in New Lights," p. 37. This is an admi- rable, and on the whole very successful attempt to adjust the apolo- getic argument to the modern idea of Evolution, as applied in science and in criticism. (Scribner & Co., New York). THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. 6 1 Being becomes Self-communicating Redeeming Love.* God cannot be said to have been fully revealed till He has been revealed in this aspect. And as God has mani- fested Himself in nature as Power controlled by in- telligence, and in the moral order of the world as a Righteous Ruler, so we should expect to find Him revealing Himself as a loving Father or gracious Redeemer. It cannot be denied that such a revela- tion is very much needed. The moral condition of the human race makes it very desirable. I speak of that condition simply as it reveals itself to observa- tion, without assuming that we know anything of its cause. The doctrine of a Fall may or may not be true ; at present, I do not care or need to know. However sin came into the world, the fact is, it is here, bringing manifold misery in its train. And on any theory as to the origin of sin, it is very desirable that it should, if possible, be cast out, and the mani- fold evils it has caused be cured. It were eminently worthy of God to undertake the task ; and that He should undertake it is not only conceivable, but probable. What more worthy of God, and therefore what more likely, than that He, looking down on a race enveloped in moral darkness and corruption, should be moved with compassion, and resolve to do all that is possible to dispel the darkness by communi- cating the knowledge of Himself, and to remove the corruption by measures fitted to elevate and purify ? And if man's state creates a need for a revelation of grace, it cannot be said that Nature or ordinary Providence supplies all the revelation that is required. * Vid. Schweitzer, " Glaubenslehre," vol. i., p. 311. 4 62 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. It is true, indeed, as Bishop Butler has pointed out, — for few things have escaped him,— that there is a kind of rudimentary Gospel even in nature, hints that the God who made the world is one in whom a com- passionate spirit dwells, and dim foreshadowings of a higher kingdom in which grace exercises free sway.* Health injured by folly can, within certain limits, be recovered ; diseases have their remedies, some known, more perhaps as yet unknown ; broken bones knit again. Many such things there are to remind us that the constitution of nature is on the side of mercy, and that when men talk of the inexorable way in which natural law works on, inflicting penalties for transgression irrespective of all changes of mind on the part of the transgressor, they are only looking at one side of a matter which has two sides. In like manner it may be said of the moral order of the world, that it is not merely a Power making for righteous- ness and against unrighteousness, — that is to say, playing the part of a retributive justice, — but more- over, a Power that dealeth not with men after their sins, but is merciful and gracious, and slow to anger, and repenteth of the evil threatened. Some of the Scripture declarations to this effect concerning God, are simply readings off from the phenomena presented by ordinary Providence. Still, while all this is to be thankfully acknowledged, it remains true that the Gospel in Nature and in ordinary Providence is very dim and rudimentary. It is but the starlight of Divine Love, and casts only a faint ray of hope on the moral destiny of man. The revelation of grace in * "Analogy," Part II. chap. v. THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. 63 these lower spheres comes far short of gracious possi- bilities. We can conceive manifestations of grace far in excess of those vouchsafed in the order of nature or in the history of nations. These lower manifesta- tions, far from contenting us, only make us long for something more unmistakable in intention and more effective in influence, and inspire in our souls the hope that, the dim starlight of grace having been given, the sunlight will not be withheld. To no one who accepts the theistic view of the universe ought the fulfilment of this hope to seem in- credible. We know, of course, that such an expecta- tion must appear a dream to the thorough-going ad- vocates of philosophic naturalism. Such a Divine self-manifestation as is the object of the hope, is im- possible except on a conception of God which natural- ism disallows. Moreover, the end for which the manifestation takes place, — the redemption of man, the cure of moral evil, — appears from the same view- point unattainable. It was one of the chief objec- tions of Celsus to the Incarnation, that it had in view an unattainable purpose. Moral evil, he said, springs from a necessity of nature, having its origin in matter, and its amount is constant and invariable. Even if temporary amelioration were practicable, it is hardly worth the trouble, for all things are subject to the law of periodicity. That which has been shall be. The present state of things will reproduce itself in some future aeon — any present state of things you choose to think of. As Origen remarked, this doc- trine, if true, is manifestly subversive of Christianity, for it is idle to speak of a redemptive economy acting on free agents by moral influences, where a reign of 64 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. necessity obtains ; and if all things must eventually return to the state they were once in, then man's un- redeemed state must have its turn, and Christ shall have died in vain. Modern naturalistic philosophy, whether pessimistic or optimistic in tendency, equally excludes the idea of redemption in any real sense of the word. The pessimist denies, not only that the world can be made better by any outside influence, but even that it has any inherent tendency to grow better. Things in general, and men in particular, are going on from bad to worse ; and the only deliver- ance possible from the moral and physical evil so widely prevalent, is that the universe should cease to exist. Optimistic naturalism takes a more cheerful view of the situation. There is a steady progress on- wards in the universe of being, both in the physical and in the moral sphere. The world, says Strauss, is not planned by a highest reason, but it has the high- est reason for its goal. In like manner it may be, and by Strauss and others is, admitted that the tendency in the moral sphere is towards an ever increasing re- alization of the ideal moral order. But this hope for the future, as cherished by atheistic evolutionists, is not based on any belief in a Divine influence, or even in the free exercise of his moral faculties by man. To such thinkers, man is not a free being ; and his moral improvement, if it deserves the name, is the result of the upward tendency of all surrounding cosmic influ- ences. No one who believes that there is a God, and that man is a moral personality, will rest satisfied with this theory of redemption by a purely physical evolution. However naturalistic in tendency, however much in- THE CHIEF DESIGN OF REVELATION. 65 fluenced by the sceptical spirit of the age, he will strive to hold fast, though it were in the baldest form, the idea of a redemption — a moral amelioration, springing out of influences that can be traced up to God as their source, and that act on man's reason and will and bet- ter inclinations. Repudiating all belief in supernatu- ral grace, in the sense of the creeds, as a source of moral regeneration, and in an objective Atonement, he will yet base his hope for the transformation of human character, not only on the elements of good to be found even in the most depraved, and on the beneficent constitution of the universe acting on these from without, and provoking them into conflict with the evil within, and otherwise influencing men for good even when they are unconscious of it, but on " the action of the Divine idea, as the Gospel presents it, upon the reason of man — the idea given in that revelation of the Divine good-will, or paternal relation towards us, by which Christ has reinforced our better nature, enabling us to be intelligent fellow-workers with God in our conflict with evil, and giving a higher aim to our life."* From the orthodox point of view this is certainly a very unsatisfactory account of the renovating power of Christianity ; indeed, a more meagre and colourless theory of Redemption it is hardly possible to conceive. It contains, however, one thing in advance of optimistic evolutionism, viz., the recognition of the inspiring influence of the Chris- tian idea of God, as a God of love, or, in relation to sin, a God of grace. This idea the advocates of the theory call a revelation, in the sense that Christ, by * Vide " Scotch Sermons." Sermon X., on The Renovating Power of Christianity. By the Rev. William Mackintosh, D.D. 66 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. His superior insight, for the first time discovered the import of the fact that the tendency of the influences by which we are surrounded in this world is on the whole in favour of good, rather than of evil. This tendency they regard as a feature impressed by God on the creation, and as an evidence of His design to secure the triumph of what is good, and to deliver men from the power of evil. And it is regarded as Christ's great merit, to have proclaimed to the world the sig- nificance of this divinely originated beneficent consti- tution of things. " After being hidden from human vision for long ages, or only partially surmised by other teachers, this design was at length brought fully to light, and presented to our faith by the Founder of Christianity."* The merit of this theory, in the eyes of modern culture, will be, that it reduces the fact-basis of its doctrine of redemption to something which can be acknowledged by men of all creeds, the- istic or atheistic, provided they are not pessimists. What it builds on that fact-basis is the inspiring eleva- ting power that lies in conceiving of the Author of the beneficent constitution of the universe as a Father. And without doubt there is much in a name; yet it is questionable whether it be worth while formulating a distinctive doctrine of renovation, when it differs in nothing but a name from the creed of Agnosticism. Strauss believed in the beneficent tendencies of the Universum. What great difference does it make whether I call the stream of tendency Universum or Father? The one name is warmer than the other, that is all. Every one whose mind is not completely * " Scotch Sermons." Sermon X. THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. &j dominated by the naturalistic spirit of the age, will turn from so bald a doctrine in quest of a theory that shall fill the word grace with more meaning, and bring to bear on man a more powerful force tending towards the improvement of his moral condition. We rise at least one degree in our idea of a revela- tion of grace, when we see in Christ, not merely one who read off accurately the beneficent tendency of the universe, for the enlightenment of mankind, but one who in His own person presented to view at once the ideal of humanity perfectly realised, and the ful- ness of Divine grace. If Christ be the sinless man, and if, — in His wondrous sympathy with the sinful, which made Him love them in spite of their moral loathesomeness, and hope for their repentance when others despaired, — He be the revealer, or exegete of the very inmost Spirit of God, then He is in a most real sense a supernatural self-manifestation of God as the God of grace. A sinless man is a moral miracle ; and the gift of him to the world is an act of creative power in which grace is revealed, because the aim of the gift is to show to men their own ideal, that by it, hovering above them in peerless excellence, they may be drawn upwards to the heights of virtue. A man full of love to the sinful, though personally sinless, is still more emphatically a revelation of grace, because in him God makes known to men for their comfort the depths of pity for the guilty hidden in the Divine bosom. Such a man, sinless yet sympathetic, awakens in me many emotions fitted to act as motives to vir- tue. As an ideal, he excites admiration and aspira- tion, and likewise shame, sorrow, humiliation, in view of my moral shortcoming, revealed to my view in 68 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. darkest colours by the contrast between his character and my own. As a sympathetic friend and brother, he quickens in the breast of a penitent hope, at the moment when he is prone to give way to despair. What more likely than that such a man should be sent into the world in the course of the ages, to be at once the crown of the first creation, and the starting point of a new career of infinite hope for mankind, the head of a new humanity? And what more wor- thy of God than to undertake in good time the work of preparing the world for the advent of such a divine- ly endowed Man, so that he might come when and where the human race was in the fittest condition to receive and retain his beneficent influence ; determin- ing, e.g., the people out of which he should spring, and so guiding their history that he should receive from them the maximum of endowment capable of being transmitted by the law of heredity, and should find in them the best possible leverage for acting on the world ? Would not such an historical preparation for the advent of the Divine Man be a veritable revela- tion of grace, natural in its gradual progress, yet su- pernatural in its immanent aim ? And would not the Man, when he came, be a fitting consummation to such a divinely guided process? In these sentences I have sketched a theory of a su- pernatural revelation of grace, based on such a concep- tion of the person of Christ as that contained in the Christology of Schleiermacher. It is a theory which reduces the amount of the miraculous element in reve- lation to a minimum, for it regards Christ only as a sinless Man in whom the Spirit of God dwelt in the fullest possible measure. It is also a theory which THE CHIEF DESIGN OF REVELATION. 69 introduces the least possible amount of mystery into the nature of the influence exercised by Christ as Re- deemer. He works on the world as a redeeming pow- er by example and by sympathy, by ethical as distinct from what Schleiermacher characterized as magical influence. But in proportion as this theory gains in rationality, so to speak, it loses in motive power. For by its conception of Christ as the Ideal Man, it ex- cludes from the number of redeeming influences the power of God in self-sacrifice, which can enter only with faith in the Incarnation. When Christ is re- garded as a Divine Being entering into humanity with a redeeming purpose in His heart, we then see in God a Being subjected to sorrow by human sins, and com- pelled by the instincts and yearnings of His love to become a burden-bearer to His own creatures. And through such a view of God alone do we begin to comprehend what a revelation of grace means. For now we see grace revealing itself, not merely by word, through a doctrine concerning God taught by a proph- et, or by Christ, to the effect that He is a Father, and that the essence of His being is love — not by word alone, but by act. And that is germane to the nature of grace. It is of the nature of true love to reveal it- self by deeds as well as words. It is only feigned love that speaks kind words without corresponding actions. Grace revealed in doctrine is of value only as the promise of a higher revelation, in which all gra- cious possibilities shall be realised ; and only in God subjecting Himself to sacrifice are these possibilities realised. Till I see that spectacle, I can always im- agine something higher; but when I see it, I perceive that the limit of gracious possibility is touched. In 4* yo THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. the Cross the revelation of grace reaches its culmina- tion. And just because it does so, I feel that the In- carnation which makes this result possible is credible, notwithstanding the mystery and the miracle involved in the event. It is inconsistent for any one who be- lieves grace or love to be a real attribute of God, to stumble at the supernatural in revelation ; for the ex- clusion simply makes it impossible for the Divine Being to manifest Himself as the God of grace to the full extent of what is involved in the idea of grace. Yet with such inconsistency many in our day are chargeable who are emphatic in their proclamation of the Fatherhood of God, yet accept the philosophic doctrine of Divine immanence which makes God a prisoner in nature, unable in any case or for any rea- son to break through the chain of natural causality. Thus Mr. Rathbone Greg, listening to the voice of his heart or his moral consciousness, — the sole source of revelation to the school he belongs to, that of modern speculative Theism, — feels constrained to think of God as a Personal Fatherly Being. " Strauss's Universum," he tells us, " Comte's Humanity, even Mr. Arnold's stream of tendency that makes for righteousness, excite in me no worship. I cannot pray to the ' Immensities ' and the ' Eternities ' of Carlyle. They proffer me no help, they vouchsafe no sympathy, they suggest no comfort. It may be that such a personal God is a mere anthropomorphic crea- tion. But at least in resting in it, I rest in something I almost seem to realize ; at least I share the view which Jesus indisputably held of the Father whom He obeyed, communed with and worshipped."* The Creed of Christendom." Introduction, p. xc., 3rd ed. THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. j i words are full of interest, both for the pathetic indi- cation which they give of the craving of the human heart for a living God with whom it can have real communion, even when the intellect is clouded with doubt, and also for the incidental evidence they afford of the unreliableness of the moral consciousness as a source of revelation concerning Divine things. But at least, if the moral consciousness is to be the source of revelation, let it be used consistently. If at the bidding of the heart I am to believe in a God who is a Person, why not at its bidding also believe in a God who is not imprisoned in the world, but can hear prayer, exercise a Providence over all, do miracles, become man, demonstrate His grace by entering into the measures of humanity and passing through a cur- riculum of temptation and suffering? If God is to be personal, free, good, let Him be it out and out. I desire a God at liberty to do heroic things, to humble Himself. Miss Cobbe, another representative of the same school, — on the authority of the same oracle, the moral consciousness, — declares that God is good, and good in our sense of the word. Very well ; I accept the dictum cordially, and I point in proof of its truth to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who, being rich, for our sakes became poor. Modern Theism, with its doctrine of immanence, can point to nothing like that in proof that God is love in the human sense of the word. A God imprisoned in the world has no career for self-sacrifice, that is, He cannot be love as we un- derstand love ; for love among men shows itself most reliably and conspicuously by self-sacrifice for the good of others. j 2 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. If the Incarnation of God for the purpose of acting as a redemptive power in the moral world be, as we have just seen, intrinsically probable on the principles of Theism, there is little room for doubt as to the fit- ness of Divine self-sacrifice to be a mighty force mak- ing for the regeneration of mankind. Therein indeed lies a very power of God unto salvation in all who believe. This may be confidently affirmed, quite irrespective of all questions as to rival theories of atonement. The truth of the statement rests on no special theory as to the theological significance of Christ's death, but simply on the fact that the passion of the Saviour was the passion of Deity. Admit that fact, and put on it any theological construction you please, — find in it an objective atonement for sin, or only a magnificent demonstration of self-sacrificing love intended to act on the minds of men as an ethi- cal influence ; in either case it cannot but prove a truly Divine power making for redemption. The history of the Christian Church supplies sufficient evidence on that score, in the form of multitudes in every age turned from sin to righteousness, turned, not by particular theories of atonement, but by the great broad fact that the Son of God suffered on the cross for man's sin. The question as to the right theoretical construction to be put on that fact be- longs to Biblical theology, and is simply a question of interpretation. The apologist has no vital interest in the decision. The chief consideration biassing him in favour of the theological doctrine of an object- ive Atonement, is that, whereas, on the ethical, influ- ence theory, Christ's power to act on the world as Redeemer is limited to those who become acquainted THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. 73 with His history, on this view Christ's atoning death becomes valid for all time as a sacrifice offered by the Eternal Spirit of holy love, and may exercise an im- portant influence on the destinies of the generations which lived before His advent, as well as on those which came after, and of those who have never heard His name, as well as on those to whom the Gospel has been preached. Those who deny an objective Atonement, simply cancel the Godward aspect of/ Christ's self-sacrifice ; the human aspect of unspeak- able sympathy and love, taking on itself the burden of the world's sin and misery, remains, with alb the ethical power to change the current of the moral affections and to inspire enthusiastic devotion to the Divine kingdom. But the question still remains, whether the Script- ures, which purport to be the records of revelation, bear out the view I have given as to the chief end for which a revelation was vouchsafed. Does the litera- ture of the Bible, on thoughtful perusal, convey the impression that its contents chiefly relate to a purpose of grace, and that its great watchword is redemption ? Now there can be no hesitation as to the answer to be given to this question, so far as the New Testa- ment is concerned. Christianity, the New Testament being witness, is emphatically and before all things the religion of redemption. Mr. Arnold sums up Christ's teaching in two sentences : " Seek thy hap- piness from within, not from without"; and, " that thou mayest be happy, thou must deny thyself." Christ did say these things; but He had a great deal more to say than they amount to. There are other sayings even more characteristic of His doctrine, and 74 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. more instructive as to the nature of His mission ; two in particular. These are : " The Son of Man is come to save that which was lost," and " The Kingdom of heaven is at hand." The former saying, often uttered by Jesus, implies that His mission had special refer- ence to the sinful ; and in accordance with this we find from the Gospel records that He spent much of His time among people belonging to the degraded classes of Jewish society. This part of His conduct, as all know, was much misunderstood, and gave fre- quent occasion for faultfinding, whereby He was put on His defence. The defences He offered were very striking, very beautiful, and very instructive as to the nature of the religion which He came to inaugurate. He said at one time, " They that be whole need not a Physician, but they that are sick," to signify that Christianity is a religion of redemption, and there- fore busies itself fitly with those who most urgently need remedy. At another time He said in effect, "To whom much is forgiven the same loveth much," to teach that Christianity not only occupies itself with the sinful, but has an interest in taking pains to make converts from among the greatest offenders, because among these it finds the greatest capacity of devotion. On a third occasion He said, " There is joy in heaven over one sinner repenting, more than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance," to inti- mate that in the view of Christianity the meanest of mankind was worth saving ; the repentance of even a poor publican (for such a case was in Christ's view when He spake the saying quoted) an event of solemn interest, and a most fitting occasion of gladness. From these golden words it is evident that Christ's THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. 75 mission, in His own view, was, before all, that of a spiritual Healer. And without going into details, for which there is no space, I may remark, that from all our Lord's recorded utterances, it appears that the Kingdom He proclaimed was a Kingdom of grace, open to all on condition of faith and repentance — a Kingdom whose advent was good news, and which was itself the summum bonum, because therein God in His Paternal Benignity admitted men freely for- given to unrestricted fellowship with Himself, and so united them in fraternal bonds to each other as members of a holy commonwealth. Christ's teach- ing on both heads, the nature of His own mission and the nature of the Kingdom, was thus full of grace, as He Hi|nself was full of grace, as the Friend of sinners and Redeemer of men. In the Pauline conception of Christianity it is not less conspicuously the religion of redemption. Paul indeed seems constantly to be occupied with the idea of righteousness ; but righteousness in his pages is really a synonym for grace. The righteousness of the Pauline epistles is usually, though not invariably, an objective righteousness, not in us, but hovering over us, a gift of Divine grace, the righteousness of God given to faith. This may seem a very artificial idea of righteousness, but that is a question of words ; the thing which Paul is ever thinking of is the grace of God that bringeth salvation. The Master and the Apostle in their respective types of doctrine coincide in the main. They certainly contemplate the same thing, the summum bonum, from different points of view ; but it is the same thing both have in their eye ; and even the respective view-points, as we shall y6 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. see hereafter, are more closely related than they seem.* As Paul read the Old Testament, it also had to do above all things with redemption or the purpose of grace. The chief thing he found there, the kernel or hidden treasure of the Hebrew Scriptures, was the revelation of the Promise. To the ordinary Jew the Law appeared the principal matter, the promise re- tiring into the background, recognised doubtless as the end to be reached by the keeping of the law as the means, but completely overshadowed by the im- portance attached to the means. But Paul inverted the order of importance, and vindicated for the prom- ise the place of supremacy. Before the law in time, it was therefore also entitled to come after it, super- seding it when it had served its temporary purpose, which was simply to prepare the race of Abraham and the world generally, in its minority, for the enjoyment of the promise when the heir entered on his majority, and became at length a genuine Son of God. Was Paul's reading of the Old Testament correct, or did he read into it a system of ideas not really there, revealed to his mind, not by legitimate exegesis, but by a peculiar religious experience ? Prima facie the latter may appear to be the true state of the case, Pfleiderer accordingly affirms that the Apostle's view of the relation between the law and the promise " was quite remote from the historical intention of the law- giving, and wholly without ground in the letter of the law." " It is," he says, " for the consciousness which * Some further observations on Christ's doctrine and Paul's con- cerning the gift of grace, as compared with each other, will be found in chapter vi. of this work. THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. jj takes its stand on the historical soil of the Old Testa- ment, simply a matter of course, that the law would not be given in order to increase sin through its non- fulfilment, but in order to be fulfilled, and so to lead to righteousness. Nor could it appear to such a con- sciousness that this aim of the law stood in any op- position to the promise to Abraham ; on the contrary, it would appear to him a matter of course that God gave to Abraham the blessing on the understanding that the seed of Abraham was to render obedience to the Divine will, in other words to the law afterwards to be given."* Now probably such were the thoughts of men at the beginning; but this does not settle the question of the Divine intention in the lawgiving. We must distinguish between the Divine end of the law, and the end which was present to the minds of the instruments of revelation, e.g. Moses. From the point of view of Divine teleology the Apostle's doctrine of the law is unassailable. The ultimate result reveals the initial Divine intention, so that we may say that what God had in view from the first was the promise, and that the law entered to prepare men for the re- ception of the promised blessing by a varied discipline, to be a pedagogue, a gaoler, a tutor, and a rough hus- band, to make Christ and the era of grace, liberty, and love welcome. The law was a lower stage in the de- velopment of humanity, preparing for a higher, in presence of which it loses its rights, though the good that was in it is taken up into the higher, and united to the initial stage of the promise to which it stood in opposition. But as for the thoughts of the Jewish * " Paulinismus," p. 87. 78 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. legislator and his contemporaries and successors be- longing to the early generations of Israel's history, they may have been considerably different from those of Paul, who contemplated the matter in view of the result. They looked with hope on an institution which was destined to end in failure and despair. The commandment which Paul found to be unto death, they regarded as ordained unto life. They did not see to the end of that which was to be abolished; there was a veil upon their faces in reference to the purpose of the law. It was only as time went on that the veil began to be taken away by sorrowful experi- ences, and spirit-taught souls began to see that the commandment was ordained, not so much for life and blessedness, as for the knowledge of sin and misery ; and that if any good was to come to Israel, it must be by the supersession of the Sinaitic covenant through a new covenant of grace, under which the law should be written, not on tables of stone, but on the heart, and all iniquity should be freely forgiven. Keeping in view the slow and gradual manner in which even inspired men attained to a comprehension of the Divine purpose in the lawgiving, we should not be surprised were there found not a little in the Old Testament to bear out the impression that right- eousness in a legal sense is its burthen. We should not even be surprised to find not a few traces of the influence of a legal spirit in the literature of the Old Covenant ; for what would these prove but this, that the child's thoughts during the period of tutors and governors were tinged by the discipline under which he lived ? That such traces are to be found we shall see hereafter. But when due allowance has been THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. 79 made for these, it still remains true that the keynote of the Old Testament is grace, and that the deepest current of thought runs in the direction of a religion of Trust in God as the Redeemer. If one wanted a single text which should most faithfully indicate the general drift of the Hebrew Scriptures, he might not inaptly find it in the beautiful words of the later Isaiah : " Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not : Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name." So far is legal right- eousness from being the deepest thought of the Old Testament writers, that the word righteousness itself is often used by them, as by Paul, as a synonym for grace, or for God's faithfulness in keeping His prom- ise ; as in the words of the hundred and third Psalm : " The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to ever- lasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteous- ness unto children's children." Nor is this a solitary text; similar utterances abound in the sacred books, insomuch that some go the length of affirming that the word righteousness is scarcely ever used in the sense of retributive justice, but almost always is prac- tically synonymous with grace. The idea of grace is very conspicuous in the pro- phetic literature. The God of the great prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the author of the later portions of the book of Isaiah's prophecies, as also very specially of Hosea, is characteristically a God who assumes a gracious attitude towards His people, as the forgiver of Israel's iniquities, the healer of her spiritual dis- eases, the founder of a new covenant which shall be free from the faults adhering to the old one. And 80 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. along with this evangelic idea of God goes a certain universalism, a recognition of the truth that Israel has not a monopoly of God's grace, that its benefits are open to all. The God who is the Redeemer of Israel, addresses the whole world in these terms: " Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else." Israel is regarded as elected to be a missionary people to spread the knowledge of the true God among the nations, and so to make her God the ground of her claim to the gratitude and respect of mankind.' This is only what we should expect ; for a religion of grace recognizes no claim in any man or people to Divine favour as matter of right, and therefore con- sistently puts all men and nations on the same level. Such a religion may not deny absolutely the preroga- tives of a particular people like Israel as an elect race ; but it will make these prerogatives consist in being the vehicle through which God conveys His grace to all others, and so regard election as merely a method by which God uses the few to bless the many. ' These remarks remind us that in the Scripture ac- count of Abraham's history God is represented as ad- dressing to the Patriarch a call in which the prophetic conception of God and of Israel's destiny is already anticipated. That call contained the promise : " I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." The words throughout are full of grace. God's attitude is that of one who sovereignly and freely blesses ; whether the blessing be temporal or spiritual does not matter, the spirit is the same in THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. 8 1 either case. They are also pervaded by the spirit of universalism. The God who is to bless Abraham and his descendants means also to bless all nations ; means to bless them by blessing Abraham and his offspring. This holds true whether we retain the version of the last clause of the above text, given in the English Bible, or accept that proposed by critics : " In thee shall all families of the earth bless themselves." The nations could bless themselves in Israel only because they knew and appreciated her state ; and those who could do this would be themselves partakers of the blessing. If such a promise was really made to Abraham, if he left his native abode with such a hope in his breast, then it may be truly said that the revelation recorded in the Bible from its very commencement was a revelation of grace. In a sense it may be said that the Bible begins with the call of Abraham, all that goes before, the first eleven chapters of Genesis, being a preface intended to convey a general idea of the state of the world when the progenitor of Israel came upon the scene. Yet here, at the very starting point of the history in the long course of which the gracious purpose of the self-revealing God was to be slowly evolved, we find the nature of the purpose made known with a degree of clearness approaching that with which it shines in the pages of the prophets. But naturalistic critics tell us that there is a very sim- ple explanation of this. The prophetic ideas of God and of Israel's destiny are in the history of Abraham, because the prophets put them there." "From the hands of prophetic revisers," says Pfleiderer, " flow those traits in the history of the origins of Israel which 82 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. throw back into the earliest foretime the Messianic hopes and the thought of a universal purpose of grace, which were both in reality mental achievements of the later centuries. We include under these particularly the treatment of the patriarchal age, and above all the life of Abraham. On this territory of dawning fore- history the prophetic narrator has operated with great freedom."* The assumption underlying this sceptical criticism is, that the rudimentary initial stage in a process of religious development cannot possibly an- ticipate the features of a more advanced stage, but must necessarily present the religious element in hu- man nature under the rudest form. A comparatively pure monotheistic idea of God is wholly foreign to this early stage. The development which ends in ethical monotheism must start from fetish worship. In like manner the idea of a universal religion cannot possibly appear in the initial period. Universalism can come only after particularism, the worship of tri- bal or national gods, has had its day. Now these po- sitions, so confidently laid down by naturalism, are by no means so axiomatic as writers like Kuenen imagine. On grounds of observation, e.g., and in the interests of a purely scientific study of religion, it has been questioned whether fetishism be not rather a degener- ate form of an antecedent purer religion than the primitive form of religion from which all religious de- velopment starts.f The truth seems to be, that the early form of all historical religions is not fetish wor- ship, but a comparatively pure, though unstable, mo- * " Die Religion," vol. ii., pp. 337, 338. f This is the view advocated by Max Miiller in his Hibbert Lect- ures, "On the Origin and Development of Religion." THE CHIEF DESIGN OF REV EL A TION. 83 notheism. The first thoughts of men' on religion are better than their second, and their last and best thoughts are in a sense a return to their first. In ac- cordance with this view, the initial stage of a religion may, without postulating any supernatural revelation, contain in it in germinal form all that is to come out of it. This law of development was exemplified in the case of Christ, by the admission of even rational- istic critics like Dr. Baur. Why not also in the case of Abraham, if he was the starting point of the de- velopment which culminated in the ethical monothe- ism and universalism of Hebrew prophecy ? Why should there not appear in him the blossom of which the prophetic ideal is the ripe fruit ? Is it thought that he came at too early a period in the world's his- tory for this to be possible ? But is it not the fact, demonstrated by comparative philology, that at a still earlier period the primitive Aryans worshipped the. one God under the name of Dyauspitar — Heaven- Father. Why then should it seem impossible for Abraham to have a comparatively pure idea of God ? Or is it the universalism of the Abrahamic creed that seems too advanced for the time ? It is a well-known fact that a universal religion appeared in India some six centuries before the Christian era; why should not the dream at least of such religion appear still earlier in Chaldea ? The idea of all nations being bound together and blessed by one religious faith, ad- vanced and modern as it seems, is after all a simple thought which might readily occur to devout minds even in the grey dawn or childhood of the world's his- tory. Wherever God is conceived of as one, there mankind also may be conceived of as one. The 84 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. ancient Aryans who looked up to heaven and said " Father," must have looked on all men as brethren. The instincts of human nature, even in savages, are able to make the synthesis between one God and one humanity. Hence Paul, in his address on Mar's hill to Athenian polytheists, connects together the two ideas of one God, maker of heaven and earth, and one humanity made of one blood, evidently assuming that the acceptance of the one idea would carry along with it the acceptance of the other. These ideas, therefore, cannot reasonably be regarded as too advanced for Abraham, even regarding him as an ordinary man ; and if we regard him as an exceptionally great man, one of the world's epoch-making men, — and such ap- pear in all ages, — his capacity to entertain such thoughts becomes still more credible. Students of history recognise in Zoroaster a probable contempo- rary of Abraham, and regard him as one who played among his people, the Persian Aryans, the important role of a religious reformer, teaching them to believe in one God ethically conceived as the patron of right- eousness, and maker of all good things in the world.* If this view be well founded, then Zoroaster was one of the world's great characters appearing in the morn- ing of human history. If the Bible picture of Abra- ham, — in which he is represented as the introducer of a new pure religion, as a man who by faith lived in the future and cherished the aspiration to be a bene- factor to the human race, — be even approximately correct, then the Hebrew Patriarch is simply another to be added to the select band of world-historical ini- tiators. * Vide Bunsen, "God in History," vol. i., p. 276. THE CHIEF DESIGN OF REVELATION. 85 But it is not necessary to ascribe so much origi- nality to Abraham in order to vindicate for the self- manifestation of God in history, even at his early epoch, the character of a revelation of a purpose of grace. At no stage in the history of revelation is it necessary to assume a full understanding or consci- ousness, on the part of the instruments of revelation, of the purposes for which God was using them ; and least of all is this probable in the initial stage. It is distinctly indicated in the New Testament that the prophets did not fully understand the meaning of their own prophecies; and we may well believe that Abraham did not possess perfect insight into the sig- nificance of the impulses that were at work in his soul. For the purposes of our argument we can afford to admit that the prophets, or whoever wrote the patriarchal history, give in their narrative the Divine significance of the events in Abraham's life, as it lay revealed to their view by the course of Israel's history, rather than the meaning which these bore to Abra- ham's own mind. It is enough for our purpose if the main outlines of the story be historically correct : that Abraham left his native land in search of another place of abode, that the migration proceeded in part at least from religious motives, and that the wanderer, sojourning in the strange land, had a deep-seated presentiment and hope that from him should spring a people destined to play a remarkable part in the history of the world. Of the import of these events in his life, and of the feelings connected with them, Abraham himself might have a very dim and inade- quate idea. His departure from his native country might be the result of an irresistible impulse, rather 5 S6 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. than of a deliberate purpose ; the religious motive might take the form, not of an altered view of God distinctly formulated by deliberate reflection, but rather of an undefinable dissatisfaction with prevalent religious beliefs and practices ; the hope of founding a nation peculiar in character and vocation, might be nothing more in consciousness than a persistent pre- sentiment of which no account could be given, a sort of fixed idea, for the cherishing of which a man might be reckoned a madman or a sage, according as the event fell out. If this were ascertained to be Abraham's actual state of mind, then it might have to be admitted that his life, as narrated in Genesis, has undergone considerable colouring in the hands of the historian. Still the residuum of fact would form a sufficient basis for the revelation of a Divine inten- tion. In those facts one might see revealed a purpose of God to separate this man from his own people and to make him the progenitor of a new race which should permanently occupy the land wherein he found rest after his wanderings, and which should be there an elect people, worshippers of the true God, and destined eventually to become missionaries of the true religion to the whole earth. It was just such a Divine intention the author of the Book of Genesis, call him a prophet if you will, saw in the facts. From the point of view of such a Divine intention he wrote the history, striking the keynote in the very first sentence, which represents Jehovah as saying to Abraham : " Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee : and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. 87 thy name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing : and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee : and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." This was what God said to Abra- ham, if not in so many words audible to the ear, then by the impulses which He awakened in the patriarch's heart. This was what the history of Abraham said to the prophet's own spirit. It was his way of read, ing the story, the construction which his prophetic insight taught him to put on the facts. And the event showed that the construction was right. If God be in history at all, the prophetic hypothesis is verified. The Power who is at work in the world did mean in the events of Abraham's life just what the prophetic narrator says He meant. In that life God revealed Himself as One having in view, as His end in guiding the course of history, the religious well- being of mankind, and adopting for that purpose the method of election. The revelation lies in the events themselves; the purpose served by the Bible narra- tive, beyond the mere recording of the facts, is to en- able us to see clearly the Divine intention, to see it more clearly than we should have done, had we had nothing more than a bald statement of the facts, more clearly than the hero of the story himself saw it. In the foregoing observations I have admitted that the prophetic narrative of Abraham's life puts more meaning into that life than it had or could have to Abraham. It is important to point out, however, that the amount of light thrown on the Divine inten- tions is not greatly if at all in excess of what we might expect in the initial stage of revelation. The narra- tive does not imply that Abraham possessed a per- 88 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. fectly adequate or pure idea of God, or a full knowl- edge as to the extent or manner of the blessing to be conferred on him and his descendants, and through them on the world. As respects the former, the name for God in the patriarchal period, while expressive of truth so far as it goes, comes far short of the concep- tion of God suggested by the crowning stage of reve- lation. It is El-shaddai, God Almighty.* It conveys the idea that God is the Maker of the world, and at the same time above the world, not to be confounded with nature as in the Pagan religions, which practically are but different forms of nature-worship. The name thus expresses a most important truth ; no one can realise how important till he has studied the religions of the world, and observed how completely God and nature are identified, to the utter exclusion of all right ideas of the relations of God and the world as Creator and creature, Maker and made. In connection with these studies we learn to appreciate at its due value the revelation of God contained in the very first chap- ter of the Book of Genesis, which sets forth God as the Creator of heaven and earth, independent of the world, existing before it, bringing it into being by the word of His power, and making man in His own im- age. Still this first revelation, important as it is, is rudimentary in comparison with that made in after ages when the purpose of grace was more unfolded. It amounts to little more than a publication of the truths of natural religion, a republication, we may call it, if we conceive of. man as having received a primitive revelation of the simple elements of religion, * Gen. xvii. i ; Exod. vi. 3. THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. 89 the light of which he afterwards lost. It tells us only at most that God is One, that He is above the world, that He made the world by His power, and that He is a Being who, in His moral nature, in some respects resembles man. Truths, these, not to be despised; nay, truths which serve for a foundation to those which more especially form the revelation of grace. Still they are nothing more than foundation ; they but conduct us to the threshold of revelation proper. The raison d'etre of revelation is not to teach us these truths. If the Book which contains the record of rev- elation gives to these truths a place in its pages, it is because they are presuppositions which we must bring with us to the study of the higher revelation. If the place assigned to such truths appear larger than seems due to subordinate matters, it is because men have been slow to learn even the lower truths concerning God, not to speak of the higher. That God is the Creator, and that He is a moral Governor, the sacred book asserts and reasserts, because even these truths are extensively ignored, and because till these are laid to heart it is hopeless to seek to gain recognition for the highest idea of God as a Redeemer. The inculca- tion of the lower truths is a means to an ulterior end ; they are not taught for their own sake. Returning from this digression, I remark that the patriarchal name for God shows that the patriarchs in their theology were still little in advance of the standing point of a purified natural religion. And when we look with a thoughtful eye into Abraham's history we find evidence that he still needed to be raised above the influence of some of the superstitions prevalent among the peoples who had not retained 9 o THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. the true God in their knowledge. I refer specially here to what may legitimately be inferred from the narrative relating to the sacrifice of Isaac. There can be little doubt that that remarkable passage in the patriarch's history stands in some relation to the custom of human sacrifice, which was one of the most characteristic features of pagan Semitic worship, and, in the opinion of some writers, found its way into Canaan from Babylon. We may assume that Abra- ham was familiar with the horrid practice ; and it is every way likely that the knowledge he possessed sup- plied the needful fulcrum for the " temptation " to which he was subjected. The fact that the votaries of Baal or Moloch, the Divine Lord and King, were ready to make their own children pass through the fire in his honour, made it possible for Abraham to entertain as a Divine suggestion or command the thought of offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice in proof of his devotion. Was it not due to his God that he should show that he loved Him more than the dear- est object of affection, even though it should be an only son through whom alone he could attain to the fulfilment of his hope for the future ? If he was not willing to make such a sacrifice, did he not come be- hind the idolaters from whom he had separated him- self, in the sincerity and intensity of his religious zeal ? One could imagine such questions suggesting them- selves to the mind of a devout man placed in Abra- ham's circumstances, without any Divine communi- cation. Supernatural interposition was needed, not so much to put the thought into Abraham's mind, as to conduct him safely through the temptation which it brought to him, and to lift him permanently above THE CHIEF DESIGN OF REVELATION. gi the crude ideas of God which made such a temptation possible. It is probably in this direction we should look for a solution of the difficulties connected with the moral aspects of the episode, which have so much exercised the wits of apologists. In his able work, " Ruling Ideas in Early Ages," the late Dr. Mozley endeavours to vindicate the morality of the command given to Abraham to sacrifice his son, by insisting that it must be looked at in connection with the ideas prevailing in that age respecting the absolute right of fathers to dispose of the lives of their children. The defence involves the admission that these ideas were crude, and the morality associated with them very im- perfect ; and the plea is, that God, in making a reve- lation, was obliged to take men up at the point where He found them, and so gradually lead them on to higher things. The aim of the author in the whole argument is, to show that God could do, or command to be done, or approve when done, in one age what neither ought to be done in a later, more advanced time, when men's moral ideas had undergone a change for the better, nor could even so much as be believed on any evidence to be the objects of Divine approba- tion or the subjects of Divine commands. The line of thought is valuable and fruitful, and might be ap- plied to other subjects, and to the same subjects in other ways, besides those to which prominence is giv- en in the work referred to. What Dr. Mozley empha- sizes in the case of Abraham's offering of Isaac, is the right of a parent, according to the ideas of the time, to sacrifice the life of his son. It was then thought that a man might dispose of a son as if he were a thing, not a person ; therefore it was possible for Abra- 9 2 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. ham to believe on proper evidence that God required this of him ; therefore also God might in fact require it for a worthy end. But there is more than the right to be thought of; there is the sense of obligation, the idea in Abraham's mind that he ought to slay his son as an act of religious homage, an idea present to his thoughts antecedent to any Divine command, and forming the natural basis for the whole experience to be passed through. If we assume this idea to have been in Abraham's mind, then we cannot only under- stand the possibility of the temptation, but can see that a very definite special purpose was served beyond the general one of trying his faith — that, viz., of de- livering the patriarch finally and completely from the fascinating influence of surrounding superstitions, by showing him that his God was one who desired indeed to be loved supremely, with single-hearted devotion, but who delighted not in sacrifices of blood. This 'use of the experience was perfectly compatible with the trial of faith which the narrative represents as its chief purpose. That trial arose out of a conflict be- tween two duties — the duty, on the one hand, of of- fering up Isaac in sacrifice in obedience to a Divine command, and the duty, on the other, of continuing to believe firmly in the Divine promise. The trial re- mains the same, on any theory as to the way in which Abraham came to be convinced that the former of the two duties was incumbent on him. Dr. Mozley's theory is, that conviction was produced by a direct Divine command, recognisable as such by miraculous accompaniments. The alternative theory is, that the state of Abraham's mind in reference to religion was such that conviction might come to him through the THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. 93 ordinary action of his conscience. In either case it might be said with truth that God spoke to him. It is only a question as to the mode of speaking ; as in reference to the design of the communication, it is a question whether God meant to teach one lesson only or two — a general one, His unconditional power to fulfil His promise, and a special one, the difference between the true God and Baal in ethical character. The latter was a lesson which it was worthy of the God of revelation to teach, it was indeed a most im- portant contribution to the self-manifestation of God as the God of grace. And it is not derogatory to the character of Abraham to suppose that he needed the lesson. To imagine him susceptible to the fascina- tions of Moloch worship, is not to make him " a fol- lower and disciple of the Canaanite's."* It must be borne in mind, that the very sincerity of the sojourn- er in the land of Canaan, as a servant of God, would tend in some ways to lay him open to the sinister in- fluence of surrounding superstitions. The practice of human sacrifice was an expression in a perverted form of the great truth that the Divine interest must take precedence of every human interest. While re- garding with horror the manner in which effect was given to the principle, the devout Hebrew could not but feel respect for the earnestness which shrunk not from the supreme test of subjection to its behests. But if such was his feeling, we can easily see the need of some special discipline to enable him to separate the spirit of devotion from the offensive form in which * Dr. Mozley adduces it as an argument against the view given above, that it does so degrade Abraham. 94 THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. it clothed itself in prevalent religious custom ; and no better can be imagined than that described in the record of his life.* The foregoing observations go to show that Abra- ham's idea of God stood in need of purification and development. I now remark, that if his conception of the Divine character was imperfect, his knowledge of the Divine purpose, as judged by the record, was by no means complete. He had a presentiment that God was to bless his descendants, and through them the world ; but he had but dim rudimentary ideas of the nature of the blessing to be conferred. Material things occupied a large place in his thoughts. He left his native abode in quest of a land that God was to show him ; and that his seed should inherit this land was the great object of his hope. That a re- ligious element also entered into his conception of the blessing, may be inferred from the fact that religion was one of the springs out of which the migration flowed. But we are not required by anything in the narrative to suppose that Abraham's ideas of the spiritual side of the promise were in advance of what is to be looked for at the initial stage of revelation. It was the patriarch's hope, doubtless, that his chil- dren would be sincere worshippers of the true God, the Almighty Maker of heaven and earth, and the righteous Judge of the sons of men ; and he might also hope that through the people that should spring from his loins other nations would be brought to the knowledge of the same God, and thus be led to * For some excellent remarks in the line of those offered in the text, see Smyth's " Old Faiths in New Light," pp. 99-104. THE CHIEF DESIGN OF RE VELA TION. 95 abandon their idols. Beyond this, however, his view did not greatly extend. The higher truths of revela- tion had not yet risen above the horizon. Yet let us not imagine on this account that revela- tion had not yet begun to show itself in its distinctive proper character as a revelation of grace. The flower, though not the fruitage of grace appeared in the patriarchal revelation. And as the flower is a prophecy of the fruit, it may be said that in the flower Abraham saw unconsciously the fruit, Christ's day, and rejoiced in it. There was grace in all God's dealings with Abraham. It was an act of grace to show him the falsity of the prevailing religion, and to reveal to him the pure truth of natural religion, the worship of God the Creator and Moral Governor. It was a further act of grace to separate him from his people, that he might forget old .customs and, as a stranger in a strange land, worship the true God. There was grace also in the promise of a seed, and of a land in which they should dwell as in a peculiar sense a people of God. The covenant by which God appropriated Abraham's seed as His people, and gave Himself to them to be specially their God, was a covenant of grace. The lesson on sacrifice was also a remarkable manifestation- of grace, for while it ne- gatively revealed the humanity of the Divine charac- ter, it positively revealed God's delight in self-sacri- fice, and thus brought to light possibilities of sacrifice for God Himself, which one could hardly dare to re- gard even as possibilities until they had actually been realised. The Divine oath uttered on the occasion, as a passionate expression of the admiration awaken- ed by the sublime spectacle presented by the patri- 96 the chief design of re vela tion. arch offering up his son, is specially significant as affording a glimpse into the inmost spirit of God. Looking down on the sacrifice, God exclaims: " As I live, this is a great heroic deed ; it shall not go unre- warded. Out of the son whom this man is willing to part with shall spring a seed multitudinous as the stars or the sand." He could swear by no greater, therefore He sware by Himself; so, as the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews finely points out, making Himself a Mediator, or middle party between God and Abraham. God swearing made Himself in con- descension inferior to God sworn by. That is, God, in taking an oath, did a thing analogous to God be- coming man. The acts were kindred, being both acts of condescension and love. In these two acts, as in covenant-making, God stoops down from His majesty to the weakness and want and low estate of man. In covenant-making God made Himself a debtor to His creatures, and gave them a right to claim what is in reality a matter of favor. In taking an oath, God submitted to indignity imposed by man's distrust, and, instead of standing on His truth, put Himself under oath, that there might be an end of doubt or gainsaying. In becoming man, God condescended to man's sin, and submitted to be as a Sinner that sin- ners might be delivered from moral evil. Grace ap- pears in all these acts in an ever ascending degree. THE METHOD OF REVELATION. CHAPTER III. THE METHOD OF REVELATION. The chief end of revelation being to make known a purpose of grace in which all mankind were inter- ested, it might have been expected a priori, that the revelation would be made at once, per saltum, and by miracle to all concerned. Such a purpose, one would say, can brook no delay, but must be in haste to bless its objects ; can be guilty of no partiality, but must treat all with like favour ; and must reach its full ac- complishment, not by a slow progress from lower to higher degrees of blessing, but at a bound. The method actually pursued was as unlike this imaginary one as possible, and more in accordance with the analogy of nature and ordinary Providence. Revela- tion took the form of an historical movement, subject to the ordinary laws of historic development, and ex- hibiting the usual characteristics of movements sub- ject to these laws. The redemptive purpose of God was not ushered into the world a full-grown fact ; it evolved itself by a regular process of growth, and the process was marked by three salient features : slow movement, partial action, and advance to the perfect from the more or less imperfect, not only in know- ledge, but also in morality. All these features may be and have been made the occasion of objection to IOO THE METHOD OF REVELATION. the reality of a Divine revelation ; and it may be worth while to consider how far they are compatible with the idea of a revelation in general, and more especially with the idea of a revelation of God as the God of Grace. The present chapter shall be devoted to the examination of this problem. I begin the discussion with the general remark, that it ought to raise no prejudice against the divinity of an alleged revelation, that it assumes the form of an historical movement. It is worthy of God to pro- ceed in this way. " It became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,'' in making a special revelation, to act in accordance with the laws which He observes in making a general revelation of Himself as the Creator and Governor through nature and ordinary Providence. Adherence to this method, even in a supernatural revelation, ensures that this higher self-manifestation shall bear a stamp of na- turalness, as opposed to the magical character that must attach to all Divine action which stands in no relation to the course of nature. A redemptive process from which the element of time was elim- inated, would have been a thaumaturgical per- formance so utterly unlike the world we live in, where all things are subject to the law of growth, that it would have been hard for us, living in such a world, to believe that it could be the work of the same God who made and governs the universe. It would have been a phenomenon of the same kind as had been the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt by lifting her up and carrying her through the air to the promised land as an eagle carries her young till they have learned to fly. It so happens, indeed, that in the THE METHOD OF REVELATION. \q\ song of Moses, that great historical achievement is actually represented under this very figure: " As an eagle stirreth up her nest," wrote the sacred poet, " flut- tereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings : so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him ! "* And in a high ideal sense the represen- tation is true. Yet it is only an ideal ; it is poetry, in which all secondary ordinary causes are lost sight of, and the Divine agency alone is recognised. Never- theless such second causes were not in reality ex- cluded. God led His people from Egypt to Palestine like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron ; and the process was of much longer duration than the poetic figure implies. Nor did the work of deliver- ing Israel lose any of its divineness by being carried on slowly and by human instrumentality. On the contrary, it thereby only came to have a history full of moral interest, and throwing much light on the character of God. Had Israel been delivered in a purely magical way, lifted up out of the land of bond- age and set down a few hours after in the land of promise, it would certainly have been a stupendous miracle ; yet it would have been a poor display of the Divine character compared with that furnished by the actual method. In the imaginary case we should have seen only the Divine omnipotence manifested for a moment ; in the actual case we behold a mani- festation of all the Divine attributes, power, wisdom, patience, faithfulness, unwearied loving care — not a momentary manifestation only, but one extending 1 02 THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. over a lengthened series of years, supplying material for a history rich in pathetic stirring incident which endures for aye, an imperishable monument to the praise of Israel's God. The naturalness of the way in which God redeemed Israel, it thus appears, was far from being a fault. In like manner the same characteristic is no fault in the method pursued in the higher work of redemption, whereof that of Israel in Egypt was in some respects a type. The naturalness of that method is rather a point in its favour, to be emphasized by the apologist as far as the facts will allow. And we might go great lengths in such an argument without exceeding the limits of truth. The whole process of revelation was so natural that it might easily seem on first view to be nothing more. That it was something more, that there was a supernatural element within the natural, we shall see hereafter ; meantime the thing to be noted is, how natural, how much like an ordi- nary historical movement, was the course of events through which God revealed and brought to its con- summation His purpose of grace towards mankind. In the first place, the drama of revelation begins at the beginning, and, though it concerns the whole human race, has to do at the starting with a single individual. Such a commencement shows at once how thoroughly historical the process is going to be, for it is characteristic of great historical movements, to begin with individuals and to expand gradually from them as centres, or to grow up from them as seeds, till they become at length world-wide pheno- mena. A revelation which begins with the call of Abraham is evidently going to take the form of an THE METHOD OF REVELATION. 103 organic evolution, passing by a slow secular process through successive stages till it reach its final phase ; from an individual man to a family, from a family to a nation, from a nation to a representative Man in whom a new beginning is made, and the universal element for the first time clearly appears, and from the representative Man to all the nations of the earth. Surely a magnificent world-historical movement, ex- tending through the ages, worthy of the first cause and last end of all, approving itself by its very leisureliness to be the work of Him whose mode of action is slow but sure, never hasting, yet never for- getting His purpose ! Yes, it may be objected, very sublime and very God-like and God-worthy in some respects ; but is the delay involved in this method compatible with the idea of Grace? Doubtless it is God's way, as the Governor of the world, to work after the fashion de- scribed. The moral order of the world, as even pagan sages discerned, moves towards its end slowly if surely. One day is with the Lord, as a Power making for righteousness, as a thousand years, in respect of the leisureliness of His action ; and a thou- sand years as one day, in respect of mindfulness of His purpose. But ought not God, as a Gracious Power to act in a different manner? Does not so slow a movement as that which characterizes the moral order of the world, exclude grace altogether? Can we who believe in grace avail ourselves of this feature of Divine action ; have we not adopted an idea of God which is inconsistent with the fact-basis ? On a superficial view, this objection may appear plausible ; but on reflection it is seen to be ground- 1 04 THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. less. It does seem as if the slow process of nature or ordinary Providence were too cold-blooded, so to speak, for the warm temperament of Grace; as if a Divine Love sufficiently intense to put itself to the trouble of interposing in human affairs for the accom- plishment of a beneficent design, would be unable to restrain itself from hastening on with accelerated pace towards fulfilment. On the hypothesis that God had a gracious thought in His heart towards the human race, as He is reported to have declared when He summoned Abraham to leave his native land, how, we are prone to ask, can we imagine him going about the execution of his plan for the good of humanity with such wearisome deliberation ? Is- the slowness of the evolution not proof that the alleged purpose is not a reality? But the sufficient answer to such ques- tions is, that Grace, however willing to move quickly, must take its rate of progress from the nature of the work it has on hand. To speak more definitely, it must take the recipients of benefit along with it, and move at a pace with which they can keep up. God does not manifest Himself in grace merely in order to make a display, but that those to whom He mani- fests Himself may get the good intended for them. Now, it is very possible for love, by too great eager- ness to show itself in action, to defeat its own design to bless its objects. A father, e.g., in his inordinate affection for his child, may give him all good things at once, unable to delay till the child have reached the years of discretion, and so in effect curse instead of blessing his offspring. How often does it happen in this way that children get too much of a parent's blessing ! Children, to be truly blessed, must be ed- THE METHOD OF REVELATION. 105 ucated for receiving, appreciating, and rightly using the gifts of parental love ; and for this end, lapse of time, patience, waiting, is indispensable. In like man- ner, Divine Love, however ardent, must be content to move slowly, because men need to be trained by faith and patience and moral discipline for the in- heritance of the promise. This is a familiar truth with reference to the sanctification of the individual, but it is equally true in reference to the redemption of the race ; nay, is much more so, for the moral training of a race is a greatly more complicated affair than that of an individual. It takes twenty years for a child to arrive at manhood, and we ought not to wonder if it take twenty centuries for the human race to arrive at its majority, and to be prepared by the discipline to which it has been subjected all that time for appreciating the great characteristic privilege of the Christian era, that of standing in a relation of sonship to God. Nor does the long delay, though it last for millenniums, make grace cease to be grace, though it may tend to make its gracious character less obvious. Grace submitting to delay is only love consenting to be guided by wisdom. Only on the assumption that this slow method of procedure left in an unsaved state all who lived in the epoch of preparation, could its gracious character be seriously questioned. We shall see further on that such an assumption is groundless. As little would the gracious character of the whole process of revelation be compromised, if it should appear that at certain stages in its course the actual Divine manifestations wore an aspect almost of an- tagonism to grace, as for example in the lawgiving. 1 06 THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. Paul has made this thought a commonplace by his comparison of the law to the tutors and governors under which a child is placed till he arrive at his ma- jority. The truth of the statement becomes, if possi- ble, still clearer when we regard it in the light of our Lord's parable concerning the law of growth in the kingdom of God, as analogous to that of grain, pro- ducing first the blade, then the ear, then the full ripe corn. In the kingdom of nature growth not only in- volves delay which exercises the patience of the hus- bandman, but it proceeds by well-marked stages, all of which must be passed through ere it reach its con- summation in a crop of ripe grain. And one of these stages, that of the green ear, is very unlike that of maturity. We see this more clearly in the case of fruit than in the case of grain. How unpalatable is green fruit, with its sour juices setting the teeth on edge ! Yet it is a stage on the way to the mellow fruit of late autumn, whose sweet taste delights the eater. The acidity is opposed to the sweetness, yet it is a phase in the natural process of growth which has sweetness for its goal and final cause. In like manner Law may be opposed to Gospel, and yet be a phase in a revelation which has grace for its guiding idea and terminus. The law comes because it is good in its season, good for the destined recipients of bless- ing. For grace must accommodate itself to the needs of its object, and deal with him as he requires to be dealt with at any given time. Accommodation is an essential principle in the method of a revelation of grace. The gracious revealer, while ever keeping in view his ultimate design, must connect the particular recipient with that design in a way suited to his whole THE METHOD OF REVELATION. I07 position. In accordance with this rule, after the promise came the law. There was first the beautiful blossom of the promise in the patriarchal time, then the green fruit under the law, then the ripe fruit ap- peared with the advent of Christ full of grace and truth. By the nature of the case the ripe fruit tarried long; for the legal discipline which was designed to prepare men for enjoying it demanded a lengthened period within which to work out its. effect. During the lapse of that intermediate stage it might well seem as if God had forgotten to be gracious. But in truth He was only taking pains to insure that the ripe fruit, when it came, should have a maximum of sweetness to the human palate. The whole process from beginning to end was long, very long ; but it issued in something well worth waiting for, which could not have been so good had it come much soon- er, especially had it come without the intervention of the legal green ear. It was well that the blade of the promise came first, for men must know what they have to wait for, at least dimly; and in representing it as coming when it did, the Scriptures give a thoroughly credible account, for when should the blade appear if not at the beginning? Surely not when the green ear is well advanced, as those in effect say who make the promise to Abraham a mere invention of the prophets. But the promise having once keen given, it was well also that men had to bear acted discipline of law, that they might dy weary of rules, and thoroughly drilled .erase of their moral senses, and on both ac- glad to welcome the day-dawn of the Gospel era bringing redemption and liberty. 108 THE METHOD OF REVELATION. The foregoing train of thought may suffice to re- move objections to the method of revelation based on the long delay which it involved before the end aimed at was reached. We may now, therefore, pro- ceed to notice the objections which maybe suggested by the second feature incident to that method speci- fied at the commencement, viz., the partiality of Di- vine action in the earlier stages of revelation. The self-revealing God proceeded by the way of election, and had dealings first only with one individual, and thereafter only with one nation. How strange this exclusiveness, this seeming indifference to all the rest of the world, on the hypothesis that the purpose of grace really concerned all mankind ! Now, there is certainly here a superficial antinomy requiring resolu- tion, and the resolution is to be found in a correct conception of the idea of election and of what it in- volves. Election, then, does not signify a limitation of Divine sympathy to all intents and purposes to the elect, or a monopoly of Divine favour enjoyed by the latter. The election of Abraham and of Israel did not imply that all the rest of mankind were left without the pale of God's gracious purpose, and could share in none of its benefits, temporal or eternal. Some members of the elect race might think it did ; all of them would be tempted so to think, for God's purpose that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs was hid from them, hid in God, as the Apostle Paul says,* and they might readily mistake a relative, temporary, and economical preference for an absolute, eternal, -and intrinsic one. But the mystery, * Eph. iii. 9. THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. i 09 though hid in God, was not hid from Him, nor did it remain at any time wholly dormant or inoperative in the Divine mind. The election was simply a method of procedure adopted by God in His wisdom, by which He designed to fit the few for blessing the many, one for blessing all. That being so, the apolo- gist's task, in addressing himself to the study of the religious history of mankind, would be to inquire what a gracious purpose, having in view the whole world, but proceeding by the method of election, would lead us to expect regarding the outside nations and their religious condition, and then to consider how far the facts correspond to theoretical expecta- tions, and how far therefore the hypothesis of a reve- lation of grace so conducted is historically verified. This is the attitude which it becomes the apologist, believing in such a revelation, to take up in studying the phenomena of ethnic religion. To one occupy- ing this attitude, that study will prove a much more genial and hopeful one than it can possibly be to those who imagine that the principle of election ne- cessarily implies, with reference to the Gentiles, abso- lute ignorance of God and utter exclusion from all the benefits of salvation. It is impossible here to launch out upon such an extensive inquiry as I have just sketched ; but I may offer a few cursory remarks on the question, what the idea of revelation advocated in this volume would lead us to expect as to the religious condition of the peoples outside the pale of the chosen race. In the first place, then, from the universality of the Divine purpose, it might be confidently inferred that the heathen nations were all along the object of God's 6 1 1 o THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. benignant compassionate regard. The " mystery hid in God " must have guided the whole course of Divine Providence as the Ruler of the nations ; the purpose of grace, universal in its scope, must all through the ages have influenced the Divine dealings with the children of men. It would not therefore surprise us if, in prosecuting our studies in ethnic religion, we found reason to think that God, while revealing Him- self specially and systematically to the people of the election, did not altogether hide Himself from other peoples, but gave them as much light as might suffice to make the darkness of their night tolerable till the dawn should arrive ; raising up now and then, here and there, men of comparatively pure, vigorous, moral sentiments, and clear religious intuitions, whose wise thoughts and worthy life should be as starlight amid the gloom of night. Nor should we think it necessary in the interests of revealed religion to dis- parage these prophets of paganism. On the contrary, we should gladly hail the lights of pagan religions, both because of the guidance which they gave to the peoples sitting in darkness, and likewise because of the help which they yield to ourselves, as an aid to faith in revelation. For such an aid they do really supply. To be convinced of this, we have but to ask ourselves what inference might naturally be drawn were the night of paganism absolutely unrelieved by the presence of spiritual light. Would there not then be room for doubt whether God had a purpose of grace towards the nations? How reconcile the existence of such a purpose with the total neglect of its objects, the utter abandonment of them to dark- ness and misery? That a beneficent being should THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. 1 1 1 cherish a gracious purpose, and for a time not execute it fully, is conceivable ; but one would certainly ex- pect to find the objects of the purpose treated all along in a manner that was congruous to the purpose, and conveyed hints at least of the ultimate fulfilment. But on the other hand, the method of election having been adopted for realizing the universal design of Divine grace, we should be prepared to find traces of marked inferiority in the pagan religions as com- pared with the religion of the elect people. The method implies that the elect people must be sub- jected to a special discipline in an isolated state, in order to become eventually a source of blessing to the world ; and that again implies that the people who do not get the benefit of that discipline will thereby be put at a great disadvantage, and be, in comparison to the privileged race, as a street Arab to a carefully trained boy. We should expect to find on the side of Israel, as compared with the rest of the world, traces of the advantages resulting from a carefully conducted moral and religious education. If such traces were not forthcoming, we might very legitimately doubt either the reality of the election or its utility and necessity. And it is not difficult to conjecture of what nature the traces must be. If the election was real and requisite, then it will ap- pear on inquiry that it is very difficult for men left to their own resources to find out God, still more diffi- cult to retain Him in their knowledge, and to live up to their knowledge, and to make steady advances in Divine knowledge. Evidences will be forthcoming that the tendency of ethnic religion is not upwards, but downwards ; not to steady progress, but to de- 1 1 2 THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. generacy. On the other hand, a reverse tendency- ought to be observable in the religion of the elect people. The path of revelation within the favoured circle ought to be as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. If the facts should turn out to be in accordance with these anti- cipations, and students of comparative religion affirm that they are, then the hypothesis of an election will be verified. But, once more, while the fact of the election leads us to expect traces of the evil resulting from want of special religious training in the history of ethnic relig- ion, the purpose of the election would lead us to infer that the heathen nations would not be altogether without the benefit of a Divine education. The election was meant to prepare Israel for giving to the nations the benefit of the true religion. But that preparation would be to a certain extent fruitless, un- less the nations on their side were prepared for receiv- ing the benefit. Therefore, just because there was an election, we may infer that there must have been a providential guidance of the world's history in all departments of human affairs, in religion, philosophy, science, art, war, commerce, meant to prepare the world for receiving and making the most of the bene- fit when the elect people was ready to give it. In other words, the Pauline idea of a " fulness of the time " must have its truth, not merely in reference to the Jewish people, but in reference to the world at large. As is well known, various attempts have been made in recent years to give to this magnificent apologetic idea of the Apostle a catholic scope, and to use his words as a compendious formula for the THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. \ \ 3 whole religious history of mankind ; the attraction of the phrase to philosophic minds lying in this, that it enables them to recognise the relative truth and worth of all the great religions of the world, while regarding Christianity as the absolute religion, the consummation of the great process of man's religious development. Hegel, e.g., represents all the princi- pal forms of religion as determined by the Idea of religion, as forms which could not but appear, as ap- pearing in no casual order, and as together constitut- ing a process which in the time fixed by the Everlast- ing Reason and Wisdom of God, culminated in the Christian religion ; that is to say, the religion in which God is perfectly manifested as Spirit, therefore the absolute, final, perennial religion. It is a fascinating conception of the world's religious history, and it is not surprising that the great philosopher concludes the introductory sketch of his " Religions-philoso- phie " by the remark : " This course of religion is the true theodicy; it shows all products of the spirit, every form of its self-knowledge, as necessary, be- cause the spirit is living, active, and has the impulse to pass through the whole series of its appearances to the consciousness of itself."* A similar conception of the world's religious history pervades the work of Bunsen, " God in History," and the essay of Bishop Temple on the education of the world, in " Essays and Reviews." Bunsen regards the consciousness which man has of God, — in one word, religion, — as the constant motive force in the history of nations ; and, believing as he does in a steady onward progress Religions-philosophie," vol. i., p. 44. ii4 THE METHOD OF REVELATION. in that history, he believes also in a progress in men's religious ideas from lower to higher forms, until they reach in Christianity their fulfilment. Temple con- ceives of the human race as " a colossal man, whose life reaches from the creation to the day of judg- ment," " passing through stages answering to those of any ordinary man, — childhood, youth, manhood, — and undergoing a training adapted in its course to those successive stages — in his childhood, subject to a discipline of positive rules ; in his youth, delivered to the influence of models ; and in full age, left to his own discretion." First come rules, then examples, then principles. First comes the law, then the Son of Man, then the gift of the Spirit. This view is a commonplace so far as it applies to the Hebrew race ; the peculiarity of the essay is the application of the theory to the Gentile races. " The natural religions, — shadows projected by the spiritual light within, — were all in reality systems of law given also by God, though not given by revelation, but by the working of nature, and consequently so distorted and adulterated that in lapse of time the divine element in them had almost perished. The poeti- cal gods of Greece, the legendary gods of Rome, the animal worship of Egypt, the sun worship of the East, all accompanied by systems of law and civil government springing from the same sources as them- selves, namely, the character and temper of the sev- eral nations, were the means of educating these peo- ples to similar purposes in the economy of Providence to that for which the Hebrews were destined." I am not aware that any objection on the score of principle can be taken to these fine schemes. So long as the THE ME TROD OF RE VELA TION. \ \ 5 supremacy of Christianity as the great goal to which the history of the world was tending is recognised, and all the other religions of the world are embraced under the category of preparation, the believer in rev- elation may rest content. He may even receive pos- itive gratification from speculations which tend to confirm the true conception of revelation, as the evo- lution of a purpose of grace in which all mankind had an interest. At the same time, it is well not to allow our minds to be too much dazzled by such magnificent generalizations, and for this purpose to remember that they are open to a twofold criticism. In the first place, such grand schemes look very well on pa- per, but it may fairly be questioned whether they can be worked out, without extensive manipulation of historical facts. Then, secondly, the notion of prep- aration does not necessarily imply steady progress on- wards from one degree of religious development to another, all the stages being good in their own meas- ure, time, and place, till the last and highest degree is reached. We might conceive of the ethnic religions as being a preparation for Christianity in this sense, that they were an exhaustive list of experiments on man's part to find out God, which were appointed to be made that men might be thereby made ready to welcome the light from above, through the conscious- ness of the fruitft^lness of their own search. Paul re- gards the law given to Israel as a vain experiment that had to be made, that the Jewish people might gladly receive Christ when He came full of grace and truth. Might not all the religions of the world be more or less experiments of that kind ? It would not follow that there was no Providence presiding over 1 1 6 THE METHOD OF RE VELA TION. the world's religious history. It would only follow that God had been for a season suffering all nations to walk in their own ways, while not leaving Himself without witness, but doing them good, giving them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, the things they mainly sought after, filling their hearts with food and gladness. At the same time the apologist has no in- terest in dogmatically asserting that the preparation of the Gentiles for Christianity must be of this purely negative sort. It might, we should almost expect that it would, consist, not in mere fruitless experi- ments ending in despair, and in longings like those of Plato for light from above, but also in anticipations of truth, in ideas spiritually of kin to those of Hebrew psalmists and prophets and sages, scattered rays of light emanating from Him who is the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.* If the facts of the world's religious history at all correspond to these a priori inferences from the idea of revelation, it is evident that we have no reason to take a despairing view of the spiritual state of the pagan nations on account of their comparative igno- rance of the true God, and of His gracious will toward men. If so, then a fortiori we need have no anxiety as to the salvability of those belonging to the chosen race who lived at the early stage of revelation, because of a similar though not so dense ignorance. That the knowledge possessed by such in the primitive ages was very scanty, and the light very dim, we must ad- mit ; to assert the contrary, is simply to deny the his- * A view closely allied to this is worked out in a most interesting manner by Dr. Matheson, in his Baird Lectures on "The Natural Elements of Revealed Theology." THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. 1 1 j torical character of revelation. The knowledge of God and of His will possessed by Abraham, for ex- ample, was to that of men living in the Christian era but as the germ to the full-grown organism, or as the acorn to the oak. He knew God as a gracious God, but He did not know what God in His grace was go- ing to do. Nor was such knowledge needful. It is the knowledge of God's spirit, not the knowledge of all that is in God's mind, that is saving. The older dogmatists were of a different opinion, and strove to make out for the earlier recipients of revelation a knowledge of God's plans and purposes little less com- plete than that possessed by those who live in the era of grace. This view is not only wide of the truth as a matter of fact, but opposed to the apologetic inter- est of the faith, as rendering it easy for unbelievers to raise formidable objections. Assuming that explicit acquaintance with the scheme of salvation is necessary to salvation, it virtually asserts that all the heathen are lost, and that members of the elect race were saved only by having vouchsafed to them a knowledge de- nied to all the rest of the world. The one assertion lays the position of believers open to such assaults as that of Rousseau, when he asked if it were credible that God would confine communications necessary to salvation to so few, and if a God who commences by choosing one people and proscribing the rest of the human race can be the common Father of men* The other assertion is open to the obvious objection that it does not seem in accordance with the facts as re- corded in Scripture. For, as Reimarus pointed out, * Vide " The Confession of the Savoyard Vicar," in Emile. 6* 1 1 8 THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. the Divine communications to Abraham did not refer to such vital matters as the Atonement and the life to come, but to much more worldly matters, such as the birth of children and the possession of a particular country. The actual history of Abraham is indeed very hard to understand on any doctrinaire theory of revelation, whether it be the old orthodox one, or such a view as that of Mr. Arnold, which makes the didactic significance of the Bible consist in the reitera- ted proclamation of the immense importance of right- eousness. If belief in doctrines be so essential to sal- vation, it is hard to see why herds and flocks, sons and lands are so much more prominent than doctrines in Abraham's life. In like manner, it is hard to ex- plain the prominence of these secularities on the as- sumption made by Mr. Arnold, that " Probably the life of Abraham, the friend of God, however imper- fectly the Bible traditions by themselves convey it to us, was a decisive step forwards in the development of these ideas of righteousness."* The author of " Literature and Dogma" obviously feels that from his point of view the life of Abraham has been very unskilfully written. No wonder, for surely a writer sharing Mr. Arnold's views would have given much more prominence to Abraham's lessons in righteous- ness, and less to those material matters that occupy the foreground of the picture. No theory fits in to the facts as they are recorded, except that which makes revelation consist in the historical evolution of a gracious purpose, and which makes salvation depend, not on understanding what is to be the issue and out- * " Literature and Dogma," p. 31. THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. 1 1 g come of the evolutionary process, but on the fact of the gracious purpose being in God's mind. Then we can understand the prominence given to such an ap- parent triviality as the birth of an heir, for that is a necessary first step in the process of development. Then also we can understand the scanty amount of doctrinal instruction communicated to Abraham, such not being indispensable to salvation. Then, once more, we know what to say to Rousseau when he com- plains of the proscription of the whole human race, Israel excepted. There was no proscription in the case ; election does not mean proscription, but is a method by which one is used to bless the many. And God does not need to wait till the method has been fully developed before He can do good to the many. If His grace can reach the members of the chosen race, though their knowledge of His purposes be small, it can also reach those without, though their know- ledge be still less. It may indeed be objected, that on this genial and hopeful view of the compatibility of salvation with much ignorance, knowledge seems wholly unnecessary, and the revelation of the mystery of grace altogether superfluous. But the objection is easily met. In the first place, no one can rationally pretend that the influence of God's gracious thoughts unknown can by any possibility be equal to the in- fluence of these thoughts known. But more especial- ly it is to be borne in mind that gracious thoughts never revealed are not gracious thoughts at all. It is essential to the being of grace or love that it manifest itself. Love unrevealed is love unreal. The time and the manner of revelation are matters of secondary importance, affairs of method to be determined by 1 20 THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. love taking counsel with wisdom ; but revelation on some method there must be, if there be indeed a gra- cious purpose hid in God's bosom. Defective knowledge of God's gracious intentions in the early period of revelation thus appears to be by no means an insuperable objection to the method adopted in making the revelation. The difficulties, however, arising out of the moral defectiveness characteristic of the same period, may appear more serious. These difficulties present themselves to our view more or less throughout the whole Old Testa- ment epoch, the age of preparation, and may be divided into four classes. There are those connected with the defective morality of the agents or recipients of revelation ; those arising out of actions represented as being sanctioned and commanded by God ; those connected with rudimentary legislation ; and finally, those presented in the traces of a legal spirit in the Old Testament literature, strongly contrasting with the evangelic spirit characteristic of the New Testa- ment. To attempt a discussion of all the topics coming under these several heads, would carry us far beyond our limits. I must therefore confine myself to a few selected points which may suffice to illus- trate the bearings of the question. Two general remarks may be premised, bearing on the whole subject. The first is, that it should not surprise us if, in the course of a Divine revelation, the morally perfect should be preceded by the morally imperfect. It is enough if the perfect do at length come, and if throughout there be a per- ceptible progress towards the perfect as the goal. If it should be found that such is the character of THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. j 2 1 the alleged revelation recorded in the Scriptures, — a steady progress towards an ethical ideal eventually realised, — we should then have no hesitation on the score of defect in the early stages in recognising such a reputed revelation as indeed divine. Revelation in that case, on its ethical side, as a moral education of the human race, would be in analogy with the sanctification of the individual, which is not a mo- mentary magical act, but a gradual work which advances slowly from stage to stage till the ripe fruit of Christian maturity at length appear. The fact to be accentuated in connection with such a revelation is, not the defect of preparatory stages, but the upward progressive tendency of the movement. The marks of its divineness are the ideal reached at the end, and the constant advance towards the ideal. Neither of these belongs to the order of nature. Not the ideal ; for all admit that the character of Christ and the ethical standard set up in His teaching and example reach a preternatural pitch of perfection. Not the steady progress towards the ideal ; for such an advance is nowhere else exemplified, and least of all among the Semitic races to which the people of revelation belonged. The tendency of man, as revealed in the history of nations, has ever been towards moral degeneracy, both in theory and in conduct ; and this tendency, as is well known to students, was to an exceptional extent exemplified in the religious history of the pagan Semites. The facts in evideo£e can be gathered from the pages of the Hebrew Scriptures, as can also the proofs of an ever-increasing purity in the moral ideas within the pale of the chosen people ; and when the two 1 2 2 THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. classes of facts are placed side by side one cannot help asking the question, Whence this striking differ- ence ? The answer of faith is, that the difference is due, not to the natural genius of the Hebrew race, but to the supernatural action of God. Does it not seem a rational answer ? But can we introduce God as an agent in the moral education of Israel without compromising His perfection by making Him responsible for, or at least bringing Him into dishonouring contact with, the crude moralities of the earlier stages of the pedagogic process? The answer we give to this question will depend on the idea we form of Divine perfection ; and the second observation I wish to make is, that we ought not to regard God's per- fection from the Pharisaic view-point of mere ma- jesty or negative holiness, but from the Christian view-point of gracious condescension and love. This is a reflection much needing to be laid to heart, not only by unbelievers, but also by believers in revela- tion. For it is the fact that the idea of God en- tertained by many believers is largely tinged with Pharisaism. The Divine perfection, what is God- worthy, is judged of by reference, not to the idea of grace, but rather to that of exaltedness above the world. The habit of so judging reveals itself variously; by a priori inferences as to the literary characteristics of the Bible, viewed as a book pro- duced by Divine authorship, not less than by the manner in which the contents of the sacred volume are interpreted. God's book must be free from everything that would be regarded as a defect in a book of merely human authorship ; and if in any THE METHOD OF REVELATION. 123 part of the book a sentiment appears which seems incompatible with God's holiness, it must be carefully explained away. Such zealous guardianship of God's literary and moral reputation is on a par with that exercised by Job's friends over God's character as the moral Governor, or by the censors of Jesus over His dignity when they blamed Him for associating with publicans and sinners. It is a service for which God does not thank them, because it is in His sight no service at all, but only a folly based on ignorance of His character and betraying His cause into the hands of its enemies. To all such self-elected guardians of His holiness and majesty God says : " Suffer Me to condescend to man's need. I am not the Being ye take Me for. My first concern is, not to uphold My dignity, but to communicate the bless- ings of My grace ; and for this purpose I am willing to stoop to whatever is necessary to bring Myself into living connection with those whom I would bless, so that they may indeed receive the benefit." Only a God of whose inmost heart such words were a true reflection would make a revelation of Himself to man; only when we so conceive of God can we understand, appreciate, and be benefited by the revelation which He has actually made. Passing now to speak of the different classes of moral difficulties, it: is easy to see the bearings of the preceding observations concerning the Divine per- fection on the supposed injury done thereto by con- tact with the moral crudity of the early recipients of revelation. The objections of Reimarus on this score were adverted to in the first Chapter ; and that such objections are not yet out of date appears from the 124 THE METHOD OF REVELATION. style in which the same topic is treated in such a work as " The Bible for Young People." It is an offence to the authors of this book, that the wealth obtained by Jacob through cheating is called a bless- ing of God, and still more that the birthright is sup- posed to be conferred upon him by the Divine will, though it was obtained at first by a disgraceful ad- vantage taken of a thoughtless brother, and secured afterwards by a still more disgraceful fraud practised on an aged father. The occurrence of such gross representations in the story of the patriarch's life is accounted for somewhat as scholars are wont to account for the immoralities in Greek mythology, viz., by seeing in them traces of an early nature wor- ship. "A natoire god is not a morally good being. And so it was possible for a man to attribute base actions to his god and yet be religious; to be zealous for his honour, and ready to sacrifice himself to him if need were, and yet at the same time to be of a very low moral type."* The character of Jacob, as depicted in the narrative, is certainly bad enough, and it is not our part to extenuate its baseness. In one respect, indeed, our interest as apologists rather lies in the opposite direction, of making the patriarch's faults appear as glaring as possible. For the more glaring, the more like the ancient period they belong to, the less likely they are to be the mere invention of a prophetic narrator, living in an age when higher ideas of morality prevailed. The crude morality befits and bespeaks an early time, when the process of revela- tion was as yet only commencing. But the question Vol. i., p. 247. THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. j 2 5 is, Could God have close relations with such a morally defective person as Jacob, such a relation as is im- plied in his being the elected heir of the blessing? Now, in justification of an affirmative answer to this question, we might insist on the fact that such men as Jacob, in spite of their defective character, are often the objects of Providential preference, succeed- ing in life when men of Esau-like spirit, generous, impulsive, thoughtless, fail. And we might further maintain that such preference was in accordance with the dictates of moral reason, inasmuch as Jacob, with all his grave faults, stood higher in the scale of being than Esau, tested by the principle that every man who exercises reflection and forethought, and regulates his life by an aim worthy of a human being, is superior to one who is the creature of im- pulse and appetite. Judged by this standard, it might be truly alleged that Jacob, though far less amiable, was more moral than Esau. We might say that, granting him to be a very mean man, still he was a man, while his brother was only a generous and likable animal. Then we might see in the election of Jacob, in preference to Esau, to the inheritance of blessing, simply the Divine endorsement of this com- parative estimate. And if we did adopt this view, we should not be guilty of nature worship ; that is to say, of believing in a god who is indifferent to moral distinctions ; for the view in question does not im- ply either Divine approbation of Jacob's faults or indifference to them, but simply a preference of him, as on the whole, all things considered, the better man — better absolutely, and better for the purpose of the election which was to separate a people from 1 26 THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. the rest of the world unto a high vocation. This purpose could best be served by those who were capable of appreciating the calling of God and the destiny of Israel, and it might safely be affirmed that a man like Jacob, however far below Abraham he might fall in respect to such capacity, was certainly much superior to a man of the Esau type. There is some force, I think, in the foregoing line of thought ; and yet I am not disposed to lay chief stress on it, but prefer rather to fall back on the cate- gory of grace, as that best fitted to help us through the difficulties of the patriarchal history. What we observe in the story of a Jacob, as in the case of any other morally defective Old Testament character, is just what we see in the Gospel records of Christ's ministry — the holy One in gracious love becoming the Friend of the sinful. In neither case was there indifference to moral evil, though in both such has been imputed by men of Pharisaic spirit. There was simply fearless contact with the morally culpable on the part of a gracious Being who had a higher end in view than merely to preserve His own holiness intact, even to make the sinful partaker of His holi- ness. That God had this end in view in His dealings with Jacob we ought not to doubt, any more than we doubt the motive of Jesus in going to be guest with men that were sinners. God meant to make Jacob better than He found him, and took him in hand to subject him to a moral discipline that should event- uate in a nature purified and ennobled. And the history seems to supply us with evidence that the disciplinary process reached its consummation, in that suggestive incident of the Patriarch wrestling THE METHOD OF REVELATION. 127 with the angel, resulting in the change of his name from Jacob to Israel. A supplanter transformed into a Prince or Soldier of God, is a result worth taking pains for. Well might the God of grace have to do with one chargeable with grave vices of nature and faults in conduct, if the issue of His dealings was to be such a spiritual change! With such a possibility in view, we may even imagine the Divine Being selecting as the subject of His gracious influence one distinguished among his fellows, not for virtue, but for evil proclivities and habits. So Christ sought out the chief of sinners, hoping to find in them the most devoted disciples, basing His calculations on the principle : To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much. Of all the cases belonging to the second class of difficulties, that, viz., of questionable actions sanc- tioned or commanded by God, none is more perplex- ing on the score of justice than the wholesale de- struction of the Canaanitish tribes. This instance of rude morality has, moreover, a further claim to our special attention on the ground of its peculiarly close connection with the question as to the chief end of revelation and the means adopted for its attainment. For it appears, on first view, as if in this case the end was sacrificed to the means, and the catholic purpose of grace compromised by the method of election. God, ex hypothesis has it in view to bless all the nations of the earth, and He chooses a particular people to be trained for being the vehicle of blessing; and here we see Him proposing to destroy a whole group of nations to make room for the chosen race. Could the God of grace give any countenance to so 1 2 8 THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. ruthless a. proceeding? Could a god who was capa- ble of such flagrant partiality cherish so humane and benevolent intentions as we have ascribed to the God of revelation? Is there not here some justifica- tion for the Gnostic doctrine, that the God of the Old Testament and the God proclaimed by Jesus Christ are entirely different beings, possessing moral attributes utterly incompatible ? That the people of Israel did wage a war of extermination against the Canaanites, one can easily believe, for it was the fash- ion of the time to conduct war in such a barbarous manner. That they found it possible to persuade themselves that God desired them to wage such a war, is also easy to understand; for, as Dr. Mozley has pointed out, the ruling ideas in those ancient ages concerning justice were such that men could regard as a divinely appointed duty what we now could not believe to be our duty, though miracles were wrought to persuade us it was. The sense of justice was then a blind passion, which made no distinction between the guilty and the innocent who were in any way connected with them ; therefore it would hardly require miracles to persuade the invaders of Pales- tine that, if the inhabitants of the land were de- serving of punishment for prevailing iniquity, they might be devoted to indiscriminate destruction. But the question is, How could the God of absolute justice, and still more the God of grace, be in any way a party to such a butchery ? The question is one to which it is not easy to return an answer com- pletely satisfactory; but before adverse judgment is pronounced, it is necessary to bear in mind all that Scripture says on the subject. The Scripture repre- THE METHOD OF REVELATION. 129 sentation is to the effect that while God had destined the descendants of Abraham to inherit the land of Canaan, yet He delayed the fulfilment of the promise for this reason, among others, that the old inhabitants might not be dispossessed or destroyed before their wickedness had reached such a pitch that their de- struction would be felt to be a just doom. According to the narrative in Genesis, intimation of this policy was made to Abraham himself, the Lord informing the Patriarch that his descendants should not gain possession of Canaan till four hundred years had elapsed, because the iniquity of the Amorite was not yet full. This intimation revealed the same solici- tude to appear the righteous Ruler which afterwards manifested itself in connection with the destruction of Sodom. The Lord said, " Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous ; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me ; and if not, I will know " ; and He was willing to spare Sodom if so much as ten good men were found in it. And the treatment of the two messengers in Sodom on the eve of the overthow, which was such that it were a shame even to speak of it, is carefully recorded, as if for the express purpose of preparing all readers for sympathizing with the deed of vengeance. And that story in the 19th chapter of Genesis explains what is meant by the iniquity of the Amorite. When the whole people of Canaan had become as Sodom in her fulness of bread, pride, and abundance of idleness, given up to infamous and unmentionable licentious- ness, at the period of the overthrow, then her iniquity 130 THE METHOD OF RE VELA TION. would be full, and then it might well appear an act of charity to humanity at large to spue her out of the land, and to give the country to a people that would make a better use of it. Such is the account given of the Divine procedure in the Book of Leviticus : " Defile not yourselves in any of these things (un- natural vices previously mentioned), for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you : and the land is defiled : therefore I do visit the in- iquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." Here is no partiality of a merely national God befriending His worshippers at the expense of others, without regard to justice ; here, rather, is a Power making for righteousness and against iniquity ; yea, a Power acting with a benefi- cent regard to the good of humanity, burying a putrefying carcase out of sight lest it should taint the air. Here is the Proprietor of the whole earth taking a particular section of it out of the hands of cumberers of the ground and giving it to those who will occupy it to the general advantage ; yet acting patiently, giving to the perverse space for repentance, as if loath to come to extremities. Such is the God shown to view in this stern chapter in Israel's history; and it is the same picture in deed as that exhibited in words in the familiar text : " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abun- dant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands (of generations), forgiving iniquity, trans- gression, and sin, and that will by no means clear ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation." It is the same God who at along THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. 131 subsequent time shrunk from destroying Nineveh, because in it were six score thousand persons that could not discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle, while knowing full well that when Nineveh's hour of doom came, young and old, man and beast would be involved in indis- criminate destruction ; and, just because He knew this, shrinking long from the dread work of venge- ance, dallying and procrastinating, and letting things go fearful lengths before coming to extremities. Such is the God of the Hebrew Scriptures throughout ; slow to wrath, yet ultimately punishing wickedness inexorably, visiting the iniquities which have been accumulating for generations on the head of that generation in which sin reaches its climax; taking far more pleasure in blessing than in cursing, visiting the goodness of fathers upon children even to the thousandth generation, while visiting the sin of fathers upon children only to the fourth ; so far from being chargeable with too great proneness or haste to punish evil-doers, that He rather often provokes in the good (as in the case of Jonah) wonder and dis- appointment by not calling them to account more promptly ; yet in the end executing judgment with terrible swiftness on those who have abused His goodness. Such is the God even of the New Testa- ment, Christ and the apostles being witnesses ; a God most kind and good, yet capable of awful wrath at last. Such a God Jehovah proved Himself to be to Israel herself, not less than to Sodom and the Canaanites. Such a God, once more, is the Power, not ourselves, revealed in the course of all human history. That Power puts out of the way with little 1 32 THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. compunction degenerate and effete nations, to make room for fresh vigorous races with stuff in them sup- plying material for an energetic fruitful development, executing its notice to quit in a very rough manner. This fact might seem to offer a sufficient apology for the Divine action in connection with the uprooting of the Canaanites. But Strauss insists on making a distinction between the ordinary course of history and God's supernatural action. The moral order of the world has its own peculiar characteristics, and what we have to do is not to criticise these, but to accept them as hard facts and adapt ourselves to them. " But when God interposes supernaturally, as all methods of working are equally accessible to Him, He must act in the way that is morally least objec- tionable ; therefore in the present case, having it in view to settle the Israelites in Canaan, rather than*set on foot a war of extermination, fitted to de-humanize the chosen people and to shock mankind, He ought rather to have put into the mind of the original inhabitants the impulse to emigrate to some unin- habited part of the world, even if it were necessary to create such an impulse."* That is to say, God ought to have revealed to the Canaanites the existence, say, of America, and put it into their hearts to set sail en masse for its shores. The scheme is very humane, and it might, if carried out, have had an important influence on the destinies of the new world; but it is liable to two considerable objections. The mode of action would have been violently, magically, miracu- lous, unnatural as well as supernatural. Then, while * "Hermann Samuel Reimarus," p. 116. THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. 1 3 3 gratifying humane feeling, it would have involved a total oversight of the interests of holiness, which, even for the ultimate happiness of the world, were the supreme interests in the case. For nothing was better fitted to qualify Israel for being the vehicle of moral blessing to mankind than some terrible proofs at the beginning of her history of the Divine abhor- rence of human depravity. And this remark reminds me of another consideration having an important bearing on the present topic. It is, that according to the Biblical representation the people of Israel were under the discipline of law at the time they gained possession of the promised land. This fact exercised a controlling influence on the manner of the acquisition, requiring it to be such as would serve the end of the lawgiving, the development of the sense of sin, and especially of a deep abhorrence of the two chief sins of the Canaanites, idolatry and sensuality. The same fact also involved a certain obscuration of the manifested character of God, obliging Him, as it were, to descend from the eleva- tion of a gracious Benefactor to the lower platform of a moral Governor, dealing with Israel and sur- rounding peoples in accordance with the rough prin- ciples of justice revealed in the moral order of the world, which is just in tendency, and on the great scale, but to appearance unjust and indiscriminate in detail and in manifold individual instances. It thus appears that the law, even in its ethical kernel, the Decalogue, involved for God, as the King of Israel, a certain eclipsing of His gracious charac- ter. Still more was this the case with those parts of the Mosaic law which were in themselves rude and 7 1 34 THE ME THOD OE RE VELA TION. defective, such as the laws relative to marriage, divorce, retaliation, etc., and also those regulating religious ritual. I have already, in an earlier part of this chapter, indicated certain lines of thought fitted to show that the entrance of a legal phase into the, process of revelation was necessary, and that the ap- pearance of such a phase does not disannul the gra- cious character of revelation as a whole. What I wish now to point out is, that the rudimentary legis- lation, which was our third source of difficulty, while certainly concealing, did also after a fashion reveal Divine grace. In giving such laws, God was graciously accommodating Himself to the capacities of the people whose moral education He had taken in hand. The very rudeness of the legislation was a proof of Divine condescension. This important truth cannot be better put than it is in the Scriptures, especially by the prophet Hosea, by our Lord, and by the apostle Paul. The prophet, in God's name, says : " When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms."* This is an oracle worthy of the prophet of Divine love, and sets God's action towards Israel in the early period of her history in a most gracious light. In the events con- nected with the Exodus, God as it were adopted an enslaved race as His son. This son it became neces- sary to train so that he should be worthy of his Father ; and as the child was found in a very rude condition, the training could not be other than very elementary. God had to teach Israel to walk in the osea xi. i, 3. THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. \ 3 5 paths of righteousness like a nurse taking a child by the arms, and had to exercise a nurse-like condescen- sion and patience in connection with the self-imposed task of Israel's moral education, and to become as a child Himself, speaking in broken language and giv- ing laws of a very rude and primitive character adapted to the condition of the pupil. Paul conveys much the same idea when he describes the legal ordi- nances, with special reference to the Levitical ritual, as weak and poverty-stricken rudiments.* The word aroix^ia signifies literally the letters of the alphabet arranged in a row ; and the idea suggested is, that the Jewish religion was fit only for the childhood of hu- manity, when men were, as it were, learning their letters. The figure happily conveys the truth that the rudimentary legislation and ritual of the old economy were in their time and place necessary and useful, and yet were destined to be outgrown and superseded. If, as some think, the apostle meant the figure to apply likewise to the religions of the Gen- tiles, then it conveys a similar truth with regard to them also. In any case the words present a very genial view of the Divine character as the moral and religious Educator of men. God appears condescend- ing to begin at the beginning, and graciously stoop- ing to teach the merest alphabet of morals and religion, in the hope of leading His pupils on gradu- ally to higher things. In both the foregoing representations the need for rudimentary training is shown, without imputing any blame to the subject of discipline. The pupil is * Gal. iv. 9. 1 36 THE ME THOD OF RE VELA TION. simply a child, and therefore must have such instruc- tion as a child can receive. In the teaching of our Lord, on the other hand, the rationale of the moral defectiveness of the Mosaic legislation is found in the morally rude condition of the subject, which He described by the expressive phrase hardness of heart {