FIRST PRINCIPLES:
OR, THE
ELEMENTS OF THE  GOSPEL,
ANALYZED AND DISCUSSED
IN
LETTERS TO AN INQUIRER.
BY ISAAC EIRETT.
CINCINNATI:
H. S. BOSWOBRTH.
1868.
___



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FIRST PRINCIPLES:
OR,
THE ELEMENTS OF THE GOSPEL,
ANALYZED AND DISCUSSED
IN
LETTERS TO AN INQUIRER.
BY ISAAC ERRETT.
CINCINNATI:
II. S. B OS WO  R T.
1868.








INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
THE Letters composing this little volume, originally appeared in the editorial
columns of the CHRISTIAN STANDARD   a
weekly paper, devoted to the advocacy
of Primitive Christianity, published in
Cleveland, Ohio. At the urgent request
of many of the readers of that paper,
they are now published in a more permanent form, with the hope that they may
redeem many honest inquirers from confusion and doubt, and lead them into'a
clearer understanding and better appreciation of the scope of the Bible, and
of the plan of salvation.
The Letters have undergone a very
slight revision-it being thought best to
retain the easy and simple epistolary




iy       INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
style in which they were originally written.
Already we have received many encouraging assurances of the good accomplished by these Letters.  Were it
not that we are thus authorized to hope
that they may do still larger good in this
permanent form, we could not consent
to their reappearance. They are affectionately urged on the attention of all
anxious inquirers after truth.
ISAAC ERRETT.
CLEVELAND, 0., Dec. 17, 1867.




FIRST PRINCIPLES,
OR THE ELEMENTS OF THE GOSPEL.
LETTER FROM AN INQUIRER,-I.
To t7e Editor of the Christian Standard:
DEAR SIR:-I was glad to learn, from a recent number'of your paper; that you propose soon to give your
readers a course of essays on what your people call
"First Principles." Permit me to express the hope that
you will begin soon, and that you will not forget your
promise to make them  plain and easy to be understood; for I assure you there is great need of plain and
simple instruction on these important subjects. I have,
perhaps, no right to obtrude on you my own spiritual
troubles and perplexities, but it may be a help to many
others, troubled in the same way, if I tell you some of
my difficulties and thereby direct your pen to their removal.
I am not a professor of religion, not because I am not
religiously inclined, but because I cannot see how to get
my feet on the rock. I was raised religiously, in the
orthodox faith, in one of the straitest of Calvanistic
Churches. I was trained to study and revere the Bible,
and was made familiar with its contents-especially the
Old Testament. The venerable preacher to whom I
looked in my boyhood with reverence and awe, as an
ambassador of God, preached mostly from the Old Testament, and kept us most of the time at the base of Sinai, affirming that the law is our schoolmaster to bring
us to Christ. Now, I confess to you that religion seemed
to me a very awful thing, and very mysterious, too; for
I never could learn definitely how to become a Christian.
I heard much good preaching, but it failed to tell me how
(5)




6          S~FIRST PRINCIPLES.
to get to Christ; and the whole book has seemed to me
to be a strange jumble of mysterious things, without
beginning, middle, or end. Then, too, I was taught that
regeneration was a miraculous work, which God alone
could perfom; and as it has never pleased him to perform
this work of grace in me, I am sometimes led to fear
that I never can be saved. I therefore try, for my own
peace of mind, to banish the subject from my thoughts,
but I cannot. It is too great a subject to be easily dismissed. I do not know much of your belief, though I
have heard many strange things about it. But a few
numbers of the STANDARD, handed me by a friend, have
interested me, and I come now to ask for information.
If you please, I will, from time to time, state my difficulties, both about the Bible and about your people, as
they have been represented to me, and ask for knowledge
such as I can rely on.
Please tell me, then: Is it true that the Disciples deny
the Old Testament? 2. If'so, on what grounds? 3. If
not, how can you make anything clear and consistent out
of the heterogeneous assemblage of books called the
Bible? Is the Gospel in Genesis, and Judges, and Ezekiel, and Romans, and Revelations?  How are the mysteries of this strange book to be unlocked?
AN INQUIRER.




LETTERS.                7
LETTER I.
Former testament abrogated.-The last will and testament supersedes all others.
TOAN INQUIRER.
MY DEAR SIR:-I am obliged to you for your
frank statement and inquiries. It will give
me pleasure to assist you, if possible, to' a
better comprehension of the plan of salvation, as developed in the Bible. I shall not,
perhaps, enter upon the solution of your difficulties with as much appearance of system
as you expect to find; but, with an eye to
the difficulties of others, as well as those
which you mention, I shall hope, in a plain
and easy method, to render help to honest
and anxious inquirers. You have the fullest
liberty to state frankly your objections, with
a promise of kind and considerate treatment.
May I ask you, first of all, to read the
New Testament more carefully? The very
fact of a new testament, will, or covenant,
should-arrest your attention. If a new will
or covenant is now in force, and the old one
has passed away, as Paul affirms (Heb. viii.
13), it will be at once apparent to you that
your fate is not immediately involved in the
contents of former wills or covenants; and
that, however interesting or valuable the
study of former testaments may be, an understanding of them is not vital to your interests. Not Genesis, nor Judges, nor Ezekiel, can make known to you the will of God




8            FIRST PRINCIPLES.
toward you, if there is a new testament. In
saying this, we do not deny the inspiration
of the Old Testament Scriptures, but affirm
it; for we cannot with propriety talk of a
new testament as divine, without implying
that the old testament, which it supersedes,
was from the same source. If a man makes
two wills, the fact that only the latter is now
authoritative does not certainly imply that
the former was not from  the same hand.
Paul says: "We know that what the law
saith, it saith to them that are under the
law."  Rom. iii. 19. But to Christians he
says: "Ye are not under the law, but under
grace."  Rom. vi. 15.
Moreover, if there is a new testament, and,
as Paul says, a testament is only of force
after the testator's death (Heb. ix. 16, 17),
it is evident that you must not only come
away from the Old Testament, but from the
four gospels likewise, before you can learn
what there is for you in this will. It was
not of force until after Jesus died, and rose
again; and it passed into the hands of his
executors, the twelve apostles, and was by
them  opened and announced after it had
been sealed with his blood, and after the
Holy Spirit came down from heaven, to guide
them into all truth in announcing and interpreting it.  You must learn the will,
therefore, either from what the Lord told
them he had put in it (Matt. xxviii, 18-20),
or from the will itself, as unfolded and an



LETTERS.                 9
nounced by these executors, after they received the Spirit (Acts ii).
That the Old Testament is not absolutely
necessary to acquaint you with the way of
salvation, may be learned from the fact that
these apostles went into Gentile lands with
the new testament or covenant, and made
Christians of thousands who knew nothing
about the former testament. Read the book
of Acts entire. This was not because the
Old Testament was not from God-for when
they preached to Jews, who had the Old
Testament, they took their Scriptures and
preached Jesus to them. But the fact that
Gentiles were made Christians by the Gospel, without leading them through the Old
Testament, proves that the way of salvation
can be learned from the Gospel without the
Law.
Yet we recognize the inspiration of the
Jewish Scriptures, and in our next will endeavor to show you that while they are not
authoritative with us, they form an essential
part of the development of the plan of human redemption.
LETTER II.
Impossibility of revealing, at once, the plan of salvation.-Progressive development necessary.-Introductory Dispensations;
their philosophy and design.
In our first letter we called your attention
to certain considerations to convince you
that the Old Testament was no longer in




10         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
force; that the will of God for you and for
me, and for all now living, is to be sought
in the New Testament-in that testament
which was not of force until Jesus died and
rose again, but which, ever since the executors or " ministers of the New Testament "
opened it on the day of Pentecost succeeding the resurrection of Jesus (Acts ii), has
been to all nations the will of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. At the same time we
sought to show that while the facts prove
that the authority of the Old Testament has
ceased, they prove the inspiration of the Old
Testament writings. We need enter into no
labored argument to prove this. Assuming
the divine mission of Jesus, his teachings
settle the question. He affirmed that "all
things must be fulfilled which are written in
the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and
in the psalms concerning me." Luke xxiv.
44. He thus recognizes the three general
divisions under which the Jews comprehended all their Scriptures. The law contained the five books of Moses. The prophets
embraced the writings of the former prophets,
as they were termed, the books of Joshua,
Judges, Samuel, and Kings; and the latter
prophets, or those which are generally called
now the prophetical books, with the exception of Daniel. The hagiographa, or holy
writings, comprehended Psalms, Proverbs,
Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and




LETTERS.               1 
the two books of Chronicles. *We say that
our Lord in acknowledging these as the
Scriptures, out of which his own divine mission was to be proved, asserts their inspiration.
We are aware that your mind is confused
at this point; and you are not alone. You
will ask, If inspired, why not of authority?
They are of authority as witnesses of the
Christ; but not of authority as a law to us.
" Is God, then, capricious-making one set
of Scriptures, and then setting them asidemaking one testament, and then, like a man
who changes his mind, destroying that will,
and making a new  one that pleases him
better?"
Not at all. To rid your mind of confusion,
you must learn one important truth-that
the development of the plan of human redemption was gradual-progressive. The law
of progressive development seems to pervade the
universe. Science reveals it in the physical
universe in the structure of worlds. We
need not be surprised, therefore, to find it in
the moral universe, in the government of
rational natures. We may readily conceive
the idea of worlds of matter rising into instant perfection, by omnipotent energy; but
we cannot understand how mere omnipotence can control mind into instant submission. Rational beings must be plied with
motive-they must be brought themselves to
choose the right. This is not accomplished




12          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
by physical force. It must come by conviction, persuasion, conversion. But to take a
race which, in the perverted exercise of its
freedom, is drifting away from God, into atheism and utter lawlessness, and prepare them
to be saved-to come under the control of
such a Lord and Savior as Jesus is, was not
the work of a day, or a year, or a century.
We are sometimes asked: "Why did not
Jesus come as soon as man sinned?  Why
delay for four thousand years? Why set up
institutions and laws that must in the end be
abrogated? Why cumber the plan of salvation with a testament that has to be taken
away as imperfect?" And this we take to be
your difficulty. We reply: The fact that God
did not instantly reveal a complete plan of
salvation, but took four thousand years to
develop it, proves that there were difficulties
in the way which required a gradual unfolding of his purposes. We may not be able
fully to enter into the reasons for this. But
there are some reasons for it which we may
at least partially understand.
1. Men must learn the odiousness and
curse of sin, and the ruin which it inevitably works, before they are even willing to
be saved from it. This can only be learned
by experience-our own experience, or that
of others. Time had to be given, therefore,
for the accumulation of sinful experiences.
2. Men had to learn that they could not
save themselves from sin. This is a hard




LETTERS.               13
lesson. The pride of the human heart does
not easily give away. When the prodigal
had wasted his substance in riotous living,
his pride would not let him return until he
had made the most desperate efforts to retrieve his fortunes. Not until he reached
the point of utter despair of his own efforts,
through a succession of most humiliating
failures, was he willing to arise and go to his
father. This is but a picture of human nature-of the race. It required time, therefore, for a succession of human experiments
in government and religion.
3. A sinful condition of the human soul
does not allow of immediate intercourse with
God.  Sin erects fearful barriers between
man and God. God can only reveal himself
at a distance. It required a patient succession
of revelations, therefore, to overcome the
ignorance of God into which sin plunged
the race, and prepare mankind for a full
revelation of the divine nature and character.
These are some of the reasons why the
salvation of God was not immediately revealed in its fullness.
Let us seek an illustration. A father has
seven sons.  They grow  rebellious on his
hands. He could force them  into instant
subjection, but that would not suit his purpose.  He recognizes the rational nature
they possess, and knows that they cannot
attain the true dignity of their being, so as




14           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
to possess a worthy manhood, unless they
are persuaded to be good. He will not then
employ force, except as corrective, until all
other means have failed, and they become
hopelessly incorrigible.  Then he may be
compelled to cast them off entirely. Meanwhile he seeks to govern them firmly, but
kindly; bearing with their perverseness, rewarding them for obedience, and punishing
them with more or less severity, as he finds
necessary for his authority and their good.
Still his kindness is spurned, and his authority contemned. His boys, as they grow up,
become more restive under authority, and
more stubbornly bent on pursuing their own
ways. There is one expedient left: set them
adrift; throw them on their own resources. They
will learn, perhaps, in the school of experience, lessons dearly bought, but which they
will learn in no other way. Nothing but experience, it is evident, will take the conceit
out of them. So he lets them go every one
his own way. But as he has ulterior purposes of grace in letting them  go-as he
means to hold himself in readiness to receive
them when they shall desire to return-he
does not entirely abandon them even now.
He retains one at home and makes him the
depository of his counsels, and the recipient
of peculiar favors, that through him he may
still be able to operate indirectly on the absent prodigals, and hold them by the invisi.
ble chain of his providence until the "full



LETTERS.               15
ness of time" for their penitential restoration. They are all equally guilty, and his
election of any one over the rest to fill this
place in his own house is purely a matter of
grace. He chooses the one who will best suit
his purpose, appoints him his patrimony, and
establishes with him paternal relations of
peculiar tenderness, while the rest are away
on their wild career of experiment. But he
elects him not for his own sake merely, but
for the sake of the lost sons, that they through
him may yet be brought back. Thus in all
their wanderings they are still watched, and
often influenced unknown to themselves.
Even the son who stays at home is borne
with in many wrongs, for the sake of his influence over them. And when the time comes
that they are weary of their vain experiments, and begin to think of returning to
their father's house, he is ready through this
son to communicate his willingness to receive them, and reinstate them in his fayor.
Let the first part of this illustration answer for God's dealings with our race during
the first two thousand years, during what is
called the patriarchal age. Then, when the
nations " did not like to retain God in their
knowledge, he gave them up to a reprobate
mind," and abandoned them  to their own
devices. But he chose Abraham  and the
nation springing from him through Isaac
and Jacob, to stay at home, and be to him a
peculiar people above all people on the face




16          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
of the earth. He made a testament or covenant for them, but not for their own sakes: it
was for the sake of the prodigal children
who had gone from home, that through this
nation he might keep watch and ward over
them for their final reconciliation. These
nations experimented in government, philosophy, and religion for two thousand years,
and failure was heaped on failure until footsore in their wanderings, and heart-sick in
their failures-all their substance wasted in
riotous living-they began to think of their
Father's house, and were ready to listen to
overtures.  Then, "in the fullness of time,"
Jesus came, and the Gospel was published
to the nations.
That the Jewish nation served this purpose, and that they were elected to their
position with a view to accomplish such a
purpose, is evident from numerous Scriptures. Their location in a geographical
center, whence light could successfully radiate-their slavery in Egypt, the center
of learning and of idolatry-their connection with Tyre and Sidon, and other great
sources of commercial influence-their captivity in Babylon, and  their dispersion
among the nations, are among the prominent facts that indicate the ulterior purposes
of Jehovah in making them his own people,
and giving them his law and counsel. Sec
Ex. ix, 16, and xv, 13-17; xxxii, 11-13; Josh.
ii, 9-11, and the books of Ezra, Nehemiah,




LETTERS.                 t1
and Di:auie:l. All the nations formed a school,
rebellious though they were; and the Jews
were the black-board on which God wrote
his. lessons and wrought out his problems.
Hence, in this progressive developmnent.
we. have three successive dispensations:
1. Patriarchlal, I. The Family; 1. Domestic,  1. Theophany,
2. Jewish,    2. The State,  2. National,  2. Laws.
3. Christian.  3. Thl Church. 3. Ecumenical. 3. Gospel.
The first period was marked by a vindicacation of ihe Being and Providence of God, in
opposition to the Atheism  into which the
posterity of Cain were drifting.  He that
comes to God must believe that. He is, and
that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him.  Its revelations were in personal
manifestations of Deity and in special rewards and punishments.
The second was marked'by a vindication
of the unity of God, in opposition to the idolatries into which  the nations were wandering.  Its' revelations unfolded the truth,
justice, and holiness of the one living and
true God.
The third was marked by the incarnaton —
the vindication of Jesus as the Son of God,
in opposition to all human schemes of salvation and all human lordship over the soul
of man.  Its revelations- unfold the condescension, mercy, and love of God in-  hrist.
Thus we have God revealed,
1. In special appear-  1. lProvidence.  l. Gd in thersmily.
ancesT-Theophan.
2. In Words.      2. Law.       2. God in the Nation.
3. In Flesh-Imman- 3. Grace.   3. God in HiImanity
uol-God with us.               -for the race.
2




18           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
"The law (the type) came- by Moses, the
grace and the truth (reality) came by Jesus
Christ." Jno. i, 17. We reach the summit
of these purposes when we hear Jiesus announcing-" All authority is given unto me
in heaven and inearth.  Go, therefore, disciple the nations, baptizing them  into the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit."
LETTER  III.
Meaning of the Old Testament only fully learned from the Christian stand-point. —Philosophy of Types. -Uses of the Old Testament to the Christian.
Did you ever-visit a printing office?  If
so, you have been impressed with the fact
that the "art preservative of all arts" has,
to theuninitiated, many mysteries.  As you
looked on the types scattered with, rapid
hand, here and there, in various boxes, apparently without regard to order-then "set
up" in: the composing stick-transferred to
galleys-" made up" in the "form"-and
"locked up" in the "chase," ready for the
pressman-you could scarcely catch a gleam
of intelligence as to the mode by which
thought is made visible on paper. Perhaps,
looking over the form when made up, you
might gather from  the cuts and the headings and the catch-lines some faint outline
of the leading thoughts meant to be conveyed.  But if you undertook to read the
intelligence through the_ types, you would




LETTERS.               19
find it a very difficult task. But when the
types make their impression on paper, and
you' see the antitypes on the printed sheet,
you read without difficulty. You learn that
in all the apparent confusion and mystery
of type-setting, intelligent mind has been
marshaling the types into order, according
to " copy," so that the printed sheet exhibits
the very thoughts and words contained in
the copy that lay before: the printer on his
case. No blind chance could have brought
the types together thus into an orderly arrangement, so as to make words, sentences,
paragraphs, and complete essays. Their intelligent utterances prove that they were
arranged by design-by intelligence working
according to pattern or ",copy" placed in
the compositor's hands,
Equally confused and mysterious to you
is the Old Testament. Moses was, so to
speak, a printer. God:furnished him a fount
of type, and gave him " copy."''See that
thou make all things according to the pattern shown to thee in the mount." Ex.
xxxv, 40. Moses set up the tabernacle and
the Jewish worship according to copy. But
you cannot read it, except in dim outinehere and there a heading or a picture furnishing an obscure idea of what is intended.
But in the New Testament —the Gospel —- the
impression is worked off, as the printers say;
and you have the antitype, which, like. the
printed sheet, is plain reading. You must




20           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
view the Old Testament, tlerefore, from the
Christian stand-point, and all is clear.  The
Old Testament is a system of types, figures,
symbols. It is pictorial religion,, adapted to
the childhood of the race. It presented to
the eye, in symbol, the outlines of the great
truths of redemption, and in its typical worship familiarized the minds of men with t.he
id;eas of sin, of sacrifice, of pardon, of righteausness and sanctification, of rewards and
punishments; but in such an imperfect way
as to leave the constant impression of incompleteness, accompanied, with the promise- of
better things to come. Thus, as Paul says,
(Gal. iii,,24,) "The law was (not is) our
schoolmaster (paidagogos) to bring us unto
Christ."  The pedagogue was the c/ldd-tender,
to whom children were committed to be led
to exercise, to be conducted to and from
school, to be superintended, and sometimes
to betaught some of their first lessons. Such
offices did; the law perform dealing with men.
in a state of tutelage; but,, addss Paul, "now
that faith has come, we are no longer under a
pedagogue."  The law  was introduced for
certain purposes, "until the promised: seed
(the Messiah) should come.".
From  all that has been said in this and
the former communications, we gather up
the main designs of the former dispensations,
and learn the uses of the Old Testament
Scriptures.
1.. They contain a historic development




LETTERS.               21
of the purpose of God to redeem a sinful
race. Here we learn the kingdom  of God
to be, according to the Savior's teaching,
of gradual development. "First the blade,
then the ear, after that the full corn in:the
ear." Mark iv. 28.
2. They present a record of the moral government of the world-showing how the events
of time were;strung on a single thread that
stretched along the ages: that thread was
the purpose of God to prepare the race for
the coming of the Redeemer. The rise and
fall of kingdoms and empires, as well as the
election and reprobation of individ-uals; and
the captivities of the. tribes of Israel and
Judah, as well as their establishment in the
land of Judea, were all arranged and overruled for this one purpost.
3. Thley reveal the will of God, as ad.
dressed to patriarchs and Jews-not his will
in reference to us.
4. They contain the types and prophecies
of the coming salvation; and are, therefore,
a great store-house of evidence for the divinity of the New Testament, for they hold,
locked up in permanent forms, the types of
Gospel truth and Gospel blessings.  "Christ
is the end of the law to the believer."  "The
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
5. As moral principles are immutable and
eternal, it follows that many most valuable
and precious lessons of truth, righteousness,
and piety stand on the pages of the Old




22           FIRST  PRINCIPLES.
Testamefit, which are of equal application
to persons under all dispensatiohs.: Hence,
"the things that were Written  aforetime
we're Written for our learning, that we,
throtugh patibene and codmfort of the Scriptures. might have hope." iom. xv. 4.
6.'Its developments of huinai   nature and
chairacter are of priceless value.  The severe
aind terrible truthfulness with which the
Holy Spirit recolrds the lives of men and
women -tlhe virtues of the bad and thie vices
ofthe good being alike daguerreotyped in the
light of truth, without apology, defense, explan'atibon, encomnium, or even exclamationrender it the oily genuine gallery of portraits of human chairacter. NPo uninspired
biographies or autobiogr'aphies ban stand in
comparison.  The aWful, but divine, impartiality of perfect:truth, render thie Old Testament, merely as a record of hiuimian nature,
entirely unique and invaluable.
But a book of authority, to teach us what
to do, it is not.  The Gospel is not found in
it, except in type'and promise-lprecisely
the forms in which it cannot have authority.
The spirit, genius, laws, ordinances, promises, and threatenings of the Gospel are not
found on its pages, except as an adumbrative
and preparatoiy system contains in it the
germs of all that is afterward to burst into
full life.  The pedagogue performed his full
office-not in tea6ciing the world salvation
-but- in leading:tle Wo-rld: to:Christ for sal



LETTERS.               23
vation.  The very last injunction in the Old
Testament is: "Remember ye the law of
Moses, my servant, which I commanded him
in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and
judgments." Mal. iv. 4. It was the law of
Moses-not of CHRIST; for all Israel-not for
all nations.
In closing this number I must anticipate
an objection which will probably rise in
your mind. If GGod is perfect, and all his
works are perfect, how could he be the author of an imperfect system? Does it not
derogate from the hhonor and perfection of
Deity to speak of:a  ystem of his own devising as "iinferior," "'imperfect," "shadowy,"
etc.?  Every thing that God creates is perfect for its own ends. The night is as perfect
as the day, for its own uses; but we do not
dishonor God by calling the one darkness
and the other light. The moon is as perfect
as the sun; but it is po dishonor to God to
say that the sai  is brighter'than the moon.
The child is as perfect, it may be, as the
man; but it is perfect as a child. It is no
dishonor to the child to say that the man is
larger, stronger, wiser. So was the law perfect as a pedagogue, as a moon, as a type. For
its own use it was perfect. But its object
was not to teach the way of salvation, nor to
give life. And we do the law no dishonor
when we say-that the Gospel is a better revelation,-that the "new testament" has a




24       FIRST -PRINCIPLES.
" bfetter:mediator,' contains " better promises," and is indeed a "better covenant."
ILETTER IV.
Classification of the books of the N'ew Testament.
Hiaviig glanced at the Old Testament
writin.gs, and hastily traced the progressive
deivelopmnent of the divine purpose,in the
redemption.of our race, we have learned
enough to establish us in the conviction that
those writings do not contain a law for usthattheir authority has passed away. The
same God who at sundry times and in divers
maanners spoke to the fathers by the prophets,
has, in these last days, spoken to us by His
Son.:We comie then, to what is called the
NJew Testament. And you ask, if this is,
from first tolast, g book of authority; and
if we may find everywhere in its pages a
knowledge of salvation and of' duty? We
are compelled to answer, No. What is called
the -New Testament, is made up, as you are
aware, of a number of documents, written at
different times, by different persons, with
-different objects in view. There is no difficuLty in reaching this conclusion. A careful
reading of the documents will enable any
one ofordinary intelligence to classify them
in such.a way as,to give a proper order of
successio  to the different wriitings, and a
character of completeness to the whole.




LETTERS.                25
1. He-w ill find four biographies, written
by different authors, and to-different classes'of persons, butt -all having the same definite
object in view —to exhibit -the incarnation,
life, character, and mission of the Son of
God, the -Savior of men.  They embrace
what is necessary to be known of Jesus,
fiom his birth to his resurrection and asceension. They are,written with the avowed
object of firnishing the materials of a life-giving
faith in the Son of God.'" These -are written
that you might believe that Jesus is the:Christ, the Son of God, and that, believing,
you might have life through his' name."
John xx. 51. These records wind'up with a
revelation of the grand purpose of the mission of Jesus, to furnish salvation.for the race;
and an announcement of a coming Spirit of
Truth, under whose guidance chosen men
should bear-the offer of this salvation to all
the world.
2. He will find a succeeding book of history called Acts of the Apostles, taking up
the narrative of events where the first four
books left it, and proceeding to give a history of the preaching of the Gospel and its
results:.a narrative of this salvation offered
and accepted-showing how  sinners were
converted into Christians, being saved from
their sins and brought into the Church of
Christ.  This is to yo,:let me say, in your
present condition, the most important book
in -the Bible.  It shows.the.os.pel; as




26           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
preached to Jews, Samaritans, Gentiles; to
kings, princes, nobles, philosophers, religionists, infidels, slaves, and barbarians; to
good and bad, rich and poor, learned and
ignorant. It may surprise you to find that
the original, inspired preachers of the Gospel, did not keep their hearers at the base of
Sinai, where you have been for a life-time
deafened by the thunders of the law; and
that they never said one word about regeneration being a miracle; in fact that there
is not one sermon, in all that are reported,
about regeneration! But you will find here
precisely how the Gospel was preached, and
how the guilty were led to the fountain of
mercy for salvation.
3. He will find a cluster of.epistles, addressed to saved persons —to Christians, to give
them  a knowledge of the duties, dangers,
trials, and hopes, of Christian life: epistles
which correct the errors, and reveal the
perils, of the Christians; give the instruction, and unfold the motives, necessary to
furnish him to all good works.
4. He will find a book of peculiar and imposing symbols, largely concealing and partially revealing the fortunes of the Church
through  successive  ages- symbols meant
alike to conceal and to reveal-a kind of
dark lantern to be carried by the Christian
pilgrim, throwing ncolight out to the world,
but to be used as occasion serves, by the
believer, to throw light ahead on his path



LETTERS.                      27
way, and  cheer him   with the  coiftng  triumph and glory.
So, then, we have this classification of the
New Testament writings:
1. Biographical. 2. Historical. 3. Epistolary. 4. Prophetical.
1. Christ in per- 2. Christ in the 3. Christ in his 4. Christ  in
son.           Gospel.        people.      Providence.
1. Christ as the 2. Christ   as 3. Christ   as 4. Christ   as
Apostle of the Lord and Sa-  Head of the Sovereign
Father, work- vior tendering   Church reig-  over   all
ing  out  a a perfect sal-  ning in and  things, conscheme of sal- vation to the   overhis peo-  trolling  the
vation.       sinful.         pie.         events of the
ages for the
final triumph
of his truth.
So that we go-to the four Gospels to learn
of the Savior; to the Acts, to  learn  how  to
be saved; to the Epistles, to  learn  how  the
saved ought to live; and to the Apocalypse,
to learn the fortunes of the Church and the
destiny of its faithful members.
In  our next communication  we wish  to
speak  more  particularly  of the  first four
books of the New  Testament.
LETTER V.
Design of the Biographical books-Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John.
In  the last letter we gave a classification
of the writings of the New Testament, the
object of which was to show that the documents contained in that volume were not
all written for the same purpose. This is of
more importance than, at first sight, it may




28           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
seem to be. It was only the other day we
read an editorial in one of our exchanges
designed to prove that baptism  is not for
the rernssion of sins. The editor quoted,
with a triumphant air, the following Scripture: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness." 1 John i. 9.
We remember having read the same answer
to the inquiry of an anxious sinner on a
placard issued by the Young Men's Christian
Association of Detroit, and posted up at the
entrance of their rooms. Now when you
reflect that John's first epistle was not addressed to the unconverted, but to Christians,
and that he is stating to Christians how they
may obtain forgiveness, you will at once see
the deception practiced in such an application of this Scripture. With equal propriety
might we apply to Christians the language
of Peter to a throng of rebel suppliants for
mercy: "Repent and be baptized, every one
of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins." But the editor aforesaid,
not.content with one misapplication, sought
to fortify his false position by another Scripture. " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that
God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."- Rom. x. 9,
10. NQW this language, althoughoccurring




LETTERS.               2:9
in an epistle addressed to Christians, is evidently meant to express the ondition of salvation offered to a sinful world. This the
context clearly shows. But the perversion
here consists in making the penitent sinner's
confession of the Lord Jesus equivalent to the
penitent Christi;an's confession of his sins. So
you see how important it is to note to whom
the Scriptures are addressed, and for what
purpose any passage that may be uinder consideration, was written.
We have already shown that the Old Testamenr/t does not contain an authoritative
announcement of the Gospel. We now call
your attention to the fact that the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
were not written as an authoritative announcement of the terms of salvation. They
reveal the Savior rather than the salvation
-what He did to bring salvation to us,
rather than what we are to do to make the
salvation ours.  True, before these records
close,, the terms of salvation are announced
-but it is not the design —the main scopeof the writings to treat of these.  They furnish, as before stated, the material of a lifegiving faith. They make known to us the
Savior. They reveal his character and his
work. They make us familiar alike with his
teachings and example, and give us a broad
and firm basis for faith, hope, and love, in a
knowledge of his humin sympathy and his
divine power, his labors of love, his sacrifice




30.          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
fbr sin, his resurrection from the dead, and
ascension to glory. Hence Luke sets forth
his; design in writing to be, "that thou
mightest know the certainty of those things
wherein thou hast been instructed," concerning Jesus Christ.
But all this while, the law of Moses remains
in force. Let us call your attention to a few
significant facts, which it is important to keep
in mind, in the study of these four books.
-. Jesus was a Jew, "born under the law,"
and subject to the law. He did not allow
his own work to do dishonor, in any way, to
the living authority of the law of Moses. He
came not to destroy the law and the prophets,
but to fulfill. Matt. v. 17, 18.
2. He taught his disciples toobserve the
law, and receive the instructions of its authorized expounders. " The Scribes and the
Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All, therefore,
whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do." Matt. xxiii. 2, 3.
3. His own personal mission was to the
Jews only. Matt. xv. 24.
4. The twelve and the seventy whom he
sent out, were limited to the Jews in their
mission. Matt. x. 5. Luke x. 1.
5. When Moses and Elijah~-the great lawgiver and law-restorer-laid down their honors at his feet, and the voice of the Father
announced the transfer of authority to Jesus,
saying: " TlThis is nfybeloved Son, hear ye
Him "-those who were cognizant of the fact




LETTERS.               31
were forbidden to make it known until after
theresurrection of Jesus from the dead. See
Matt. xvii. 1-9. It is most evident, therefore, that the; authority of Moses was not to
cease, and the authority of the Messiah was
not to be proclaimed, until after his. resurrection.
6. He taught hisd disciples that he must go
away to receive his kingdom. Luke xix. 12.
7. His church was not yet established.
Matt. xvi. 18.
8. It was after his resurrection that he
claimed "all authority in heaven and earth."
Matt. xxviii. 18. But he forbade the assertion or annunciation of that authority until
he should ascend to heaven and send down
the Holy Spirit to guide his apostles into all
truth. Luke xxiv. 49. John xvi. 13.
We cannot avoid the conclusion, therefore,
that the terms of salvation through Jesus
Christ, have yet to be announced with authority.  The succeeding book of Acts will
inform us of: this announcement.
It remains, to be said, that these four Gospels are of the most vital importance to us.
They reveal the Savior himself, and present
to us the divine foundation of faith and hope.
Here is "God manifest in the flesh;" no
longer hidden in a pavilion of darkness,
with a benighted world groping vainly after
him; nor proclaiming his presence.in earthquake and tempest, and thunder and lightning, as at Sinai —" the great and the dread



32          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
ful God;" but dwelling among us in the
tabernacle of our own humanity —  n us and
of us; looking out upon us. with human eyes,
ministering to us with a human hand, weeping human tears in sorrow and sympathy
over our woes,, binding up our wounds, healing our diseases, with human lips speaking
counsels of heavenly wisdom and grace, and
bearing our nature in his arms of divinity
through all its conflicts, sorrows, and tribulations, nay, even through the helplessness of
death,, to final triumph and immortal bliss I
Here are the demonstrations of God's power
and willingness to save. We need no longer
doubt either his love or his ability-we need
no: longer remain ignorant of his gracious
design in behalf of our guilty and dying
race. Here is the great Sacrifice-the Lamb
of God bearing away the sins of the world.
Here are the culminations. alike. of love and
of justice, in the voluntary death, for our
sins, of the Sinless One, "that whosoever
believeth in him might not perish, but have
everlasting life."  Here is, also, the destruction of death's awful dominion, and the upspringing of life from the grave. Life and
immortality are brought clearly to light.
Ah! my dear sir; you may have doubts
about human theories of regeneration, and
be confused by the contradictory teachings
of sects in theology;, but can you not understand Jesus Christ? Rather, can you, with
an honest heart, fail to understand him?




LETTERS.              33
Do you doubt that he is the Son of Godthat he has life in himself-that he gave his
life for you-that he is stronger than death
— that he lives in heaven a Prince and a
Savior, to grant repentance and remission
of sins? Do you not love him? Has your
heart never been touched by his gentle words
of pity and mercy? Has he sorrowed, and
toiled, and wept, and died, in vain? Do not
his tears and blood plead mightily with you?
Have not his searching words of counsel and
reproof convicted you of sin, made you
ashamed of your transgressions? And when
he has shown you a father, with open arms,
running to embrace with love the returning
prodigal, have you not felt that you, too,
could say, " I will arise and go to my Father?"
And yet you have been waiting for a miracle
to regenerate you! Rest assured, that if you
believe in the Son of God, and for his sake
can turn away from sin and rebellion, and
make it your pleasure to do his will, you may
be at once admitted to the full joys of his
salvation. We are to receive Jesus, believe
in Jesus, love Jesus, serve Jesus-not a theoretical, philosophical, or theological Jesus,
but the living, personal, loving, holy Jesus,
of the New Testament; and all the regeneration the heart can know is in being led to
receive his teachings, trust his sacrifice, accept his authority, and enjoy the purifying
and ennobling influences of his love. "I
am come a light into the world, that whoso3




34           FIRST PRINOIPLES.
ever believeth in me might not abide in
darkness, but have the light of life."   If a
man love me he will keep my words; and my
Father will love him; and we will come to
him, and make our abode with him."  Thus
all the treasures of saving grace and redeeming love come to us through faith and obedience. We have settled the greatest question
of life when we have decided that Jesus is
able to save and worthy to rule us. It but
remains tolearn what He would have us do,
and heartily accept and obey it. The four
Gospels settle the first point. The Acts of
the Apostles will guide us to the second.Before we leave the testimonies of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John-for testimonies they
are, to be believed, not laws to be obeyed; facts
and principles to enlighten us concerning the
coming kingdom, and not statutes and ordinances to regulate Christian life-we must
invite you to consider the different missions
which these books unfold.
1. The mission of John the Baptist. 2.
The mission of Jesus. 3, The mission of the
Twelve. 4. The mission of the Seventy. 5.
The mission of the Holy Spirit. 6. The mission of the Apostles. These six missions are
all unfolded to view in these four books. A
proper comprehension of them will do much
to, prepare us to understand the gospel of
salvation.
There are three questions concerning all
these. missionaries (for a missionary is one




LETTERS.               35
sent upon a mission) which it is necessary
to ask:
I. By whom sent?
II. To whom sent?
III. For what purpose sent?
Let us briefly consider these questions in
reference to these different missions.
I.-JOHN THE BAPTIST.
1. By whom was he sent?  Ans. "There
was a man sent from God, whose name was
John."  John i. 6.
2. To whom was he sent? Ans. "Behold
I send you (Jews) Elijah the prophet." Mal.
iv. 5. See also Matt. xvii. 12, 13.
3. For what purpose sent? Ans. To prepare the way of the Lord, by turning the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and
the hearts of the children to the fathers; to
proclaim the coming kingdom, and to introduce the king. See Mal. iv. 6. Matt. iii. 1-3.
John i. 29-34; and iii. 25-33.
Not here, then, do we find a mission,
world-embracing, in which our salvation is
apprehensible. The mission of Jesus is a
preparatory work.
II. JESuS OF NAZARETH.
1. By whom  sent? Ans. The "Father
hath sent me." John v. 36.
2. To whom sent?  Ans. "I am not sent
but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel."  Matt. xv. 24.
3. For what purpose sent? Ans. "I am
come a light into the world, that he that




36          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
believeth in me may not abide in darkness."
John xii. 46. " The Son of man is come to
seek and to save the lost."  Luke xix. 10.
" To this end was I born, and for this purpose came 1 into the world, that I might
bear witness unto the truth." John xviii.
37. "He shall save his people from their
sins."  Matt. i. 21.
As we are not Jews, this personal mission
of Jesus was not to us. It is still a preparatory work.
II. THE TWELVE IN THEIR FIRST MISSION,
AND THE SEVENTY.
1. By whom sent?  Ans. "Behold Isend
you," said Jesus. Matt. x. 16. Luke x. 3.
2. To whom sent? Ans. "Go not into the
way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the
Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matt.
x. 5, 6. Luke x. 1.
3. For what purpose sent?  Ans. "As you
go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven
is at hand."  Matt. x. 7. Luke x. 9.
Evidently this, too, is a preparatory work.
IV. THE HOLY SPIRIT.
1. By whom was this Divine Missionary
sent?  Ans. "But the Advocate, which is
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in my name."  John xiv. 26; xvi. 7.
2. To whom sent?  Ans.  To the Apostles.
"Whom the world cannot receive."  John
xiv. 17. "I will send him unto you." [Apostles.] John xvi. 7.




LETTERS.               37
3. For what purpose sent? Ans. "When he
is come [to you my apostles] he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness and
of judgment." John xvi. 8. " He will guide
you [apostles] into all truth," verse 8. " He
shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine,
and shall show it unto you," verse 9.
Now as the "world cannot receive" this
Spirit, and as the promise is to send the
Spirit to the Apostles, and not to the world,
that the world, through the apostles) might be
convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment, it is evident that sinners are not immediately interested in this mission. It, too,
is preparatory. We come then, lastly, to
V. TIIE SECOND MISSION OF THE TWELVE.
1. By whom sent?  Jesus says, "All authority in heaven and earth is given to me.
Go ye, therefore."  Mlatt. xxviii. 18, 19.
2. To whom  sent? Ans. "All nations."
Matt. xxviii. 19.  "All the world-every
creature."  Mark xvi. 15.
3. For what purpose sent?  Ans. "Preach
the gospel to every creature."  Mark xvi.
15. "Disciple all nations, baptizing them
into the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world."  Matt.
xxviii. 18-20. "Repentance and remission
of sins shall be preached in my name, among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And




38           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
ye are witnesses of these things.  But tarry
ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endowed with power from  on high."  Luke
xxiv. 47, 48.  "Receive ye the Holy Spirit.
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye
retain, they are retained." John xx. 22, 23.
"I give unto you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall
be loosed in heaven." Matt. xvi. 19.
Here, then, is a mission which does immediately concern us; for it embraces "all the
world "-" every creature,"  down  to  the
" end of the world." It is a mission which
has salvation in it-the remission of sins;
and "all things" which saved people are to
be taught to do. It has the HOLY SPIRIT in
it-for the Spirit is promised to the apostles
to guide their preaching and teaching.  It
has CHRIST in it;-for the gospel of Christ is
put in their keeping, and the Spirit is promised to take the things of Christ and show
unto them. It has all of the Old Testament
in it that concerns our salvation; for the
Lord "opened their understandings, that
they might understand the [Jewish] scriptures, to prepare them to preach the Gospel."
Luke xxiv. 45-48. So that all of the Old
Testament and of Christ, and of the Holy
Spirit, needful for our coiiversion and salvation, is comprehended in this mission of the




LETTERS.              39
apostles. It wants but the coming of the
Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth,and then we shall have found our point of
rest; we can sit at their feet and learn the
way of salvation.
LETTER  VI.
Acts of Apostles-Day of Pentecost.
We have traced the progressive developments of the purposes of God through the
Patriarchal and Jewish dispensations. We
have watched the finger-boards along the
way, all pointing forward to something better yet to be revealed. We have sought an
answer to the question, "Wherefore, then,
serveth the law?" and have, we trust, at least
to some extent, recovered your mind from
confusion as to the design and purpose of
the Old Testament. We have also become
acquainted with the object of the four narratives of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
and have seen John the Baptist, Jesus, the
Twelve, aid the Seventy, all pointing forward to a coming kingdom, not far in the
future, whose treasures of salvation should be
unlocked to a perishing world as soon as Jesus should receive his authority, and the Holy
Spirit should descend from heaven to endow
the chosen ambassadors for their glorious
mission. The last charge of the Lord to his
apostles was, " Tarry ye in Jerusalem until




40          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
ye be endued with power from  on high."
Acts i. 1-5.
This brings us to the day of Pentecost and
its most significant developments, as narrated in the second chapter of the Acts of
the Apostles. Here we reach our point of
rest. Here is the grand culmination of the
scheme of salvation. Here is the setting up
of the kingdom. Here is seen "the little
stone cut out of the mountain without
hands," which Nebuchadnezzar saw, and
which is yet to become a great mountain
and fill the whole earth. Here is the " fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ."
We may well afford to linger here a little
while, and survey the sacred ground, and
endeavor to take in the greatness and grandeur of the events which here transpired on
that memorable day of Pentecost.
You are, perhaps, aware, that the Jewish
feast of Pentecost, observed fifty days from
the Passover-feast (Lev. xxiii. 15, 16), was
the feast of harvest (Ex. xxiii. 16), when the
first fruits of the wheat harvest were waved
before the Lord (Lev. xxiii. 17), the earnest
of the harvest soon to be gathered in. In
later times, it was also observed, though, so
far as we know, without divine authority, in
commemoration of the giving of the law.
This special day of Pentecost which we are
now contemplating is possessed of peculiar
significance, in view of these facts; for now
the "first fruits" from  humanity's white




LETTERS.              41
fields are to be offered to God, and the converts of this day are to be but the earnest
of the mighty ingathering.  Now, also, the
new law is to be promulgated from Mt. Zion,
and the " word of the Lord" is to "go forth
from Jerusalem."
Let us, in this letter, mention some of the
reasons why this Pentecostal occasion has
special significance.
1. This is the first time that Jesus is heard rom,
after his ascension. Condemned on earth by
the highest ecclesiastical and civil tribunals
known in the land, as worthy of death, he
appealed his case to the Supreme Court, and
carried up his cause "to Him who judgeth
righteously" —to Him who is higher than
the highest, before whose dread bar Caiaphas
and Pontius Pilate must appear to be judged,
and from whose decisions there is no appeal.
On this day we receive tidings, by the
divine Spirit-messenger, of the result of the
final trial. The unrighteous decisions of the
lower courts have been reversed. He Who
was condemned for blasphemy, because he
said, I am the Son of God, is owned in heaven
as the Son of God, and all the angels are
commanded to worship him. He who was
condemned for treason because he said hewas a King, is exalted in heaven to the
throne of the universe, to reign until all his
enemies are subdued. As the authority of
Jesus could not be proclaimed until the
scandal ofthese legal decisions was removed,




42           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
this day furnishes the first opportunity for
the inauguration of his reign; for this day
he is "justified by the Spirit," and the glorious tidings are announced that " God hath
made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ."
2. This is the day the Holy Spirit begins his
rnission for the conversion of the world. All
through the four Gospels we are reminded
of the superior interest attaching to the
coming dispensation of the Spirit. John
pointed the people away from his baptism to
a coming baptism in the Holy Spirit of far
greater import. Jesus said to the people,
" If any man thirst let him come to me and
drink. He that believeth on me, from his
inner self shall flow rivers of living water.
But this he spoke of the Spirit, which those
who believed in him were about to receive.;
for the Holy Spirit had not yet been given,
because Jesus had not yet been glorified."  John
vii. 37-39. The time has now come, then,
when, in the fullest sense of an earthly salvation, the thirsty may come and drink; for
Jesus has been glorified, and the Holy Spirit
has been given. Please read John, chapters
xiv., xv., xvi. You will there learn the importance of the mission of the Spirit, and
how impossible it was that the apostles could
proceed to open the will of the Lord Jesus,
or accomplish any of their ambassadorial
functions until the Spirit came to "guide
them into all truth."




LETTERS.                43
3. This day we reach the fulfillment of most
important prophecies concerning the dispensation
of grace. Please read carefully Isa. ii. 1-5.
Micah iv. 1-3.  Psalm ex. All these point
forward to the "last days" of the Jewish
economy, when a law should go. forth from
Zion and a word of. the Lord from Jerusalem, so powerful, revolutionizing, and regulative as entirely to transform human society.  The time and the place of beginning are
both distinctly marked, and are realized on
this day of Pentecost.
4. This day furnishes the first announcement
of a complete Gospel of salvation. All hitherto
had been blt the promise of a salvation yet to
be revealed.  "The Gospel" is declared by
Paul to be, in its essential facts, the death of
Christ for our sins, his burial, and resurrection from the dead, for our justification.  1
Cor. xv. 1-4. You will see at a glance that
this Gospel," by which we are saved," as Paul
affirms, could not be preached as a perfected
Gospel until after the resurrection of Jesus.
Here, then, we have the firs complete Gospel
sermon ever preached in the ears of man. Now,
for the first time can it be said, " all things
are ready, come to the wedding."
5,. This day is promulgated the first law ever
issued in the name of Jesus Christ.  This may
startle you. But it is true.  The first law
ever issued in the name, or by the authority
of Jesus Christ, was published on this day,
in these words; "Repent and be baptized,




44          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
every one of you, IN THE NAME OF JESUS
CHRIST, for the remission of sins, and you
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Repentance had been commanded before,
but not by the authority of Jesus Christ;
baptism had been enjoined before, but not
in this name; remission of sins had been
preached before, but not by this authority.
It is a new law of pardon from a new authority.
6. This day Peter, for the first time, uses the
"keys of the kingdom of heaven," (Matt. xvi.
19), and binds and loosens according to the
will of Christ.
Here, therefore, we may learn the terms
of entrance' into the kingdom, of heaven.
Why will men puzzle themselves over the
enigmatical language of John iii. 1-5, and
perpetually appeal, for authority, to a private conversation with  Nicodemus, at a
time when, for many reasons, Jesus vailed
his instructions in parables, when we have
here the terms of entrance into the kingdom
announced by authority, in unfigurative terms,
in the literal and positive language of law?
7. The law of pardon announced this day was to
be the law of pardon for all nations and all time.
"Thus it is written and thus it behooved
Christ to suffer, and to rise from  the dead
the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name,
AMONG ALL NATIONS beginning at Jerusalem."
Luke xxiv. 46, 47. Repent and be baptized,
every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ,




LETTERS.               45
for the remission of sins."  Acts ii. 48. Thus
they began at Jerusalem to preach, and thus
they were to preach to all nations, not only
for that age, but for all ages; for the promise
to them, in fulfilling this commission, is,
" Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the
end of the world."
Having learned the significance and value
of the events of this day of Pentecost, whose
history is given to us in the second chapter
of Acts, we will, in our next Letter, attempt
an analysis of the chapter.
LETTER VII.
Descent of the Holy Spirit-the Audience-the Preacher-the
Sermon-its Effects.
We promised to give in this Letter, an
analysis of the history of the setting up
of the kingdom of Christ, as furnished in the
second chapter of Acts. We proceed at once
to the task.
I. THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
The significance of this fact we have already adverted to. John xiii., xiv. and xv.,
and John vii. 38, 39, as well as the language
of John the Baptist (Matt. iii. 11), point
forward to this event as marking an era of
superior spiritual blessings. Not that the
Holy Spirit had never been given before.
But the previous impartations of the Spirit
had been limited. This was to be so rich
and full and complete a communication of




46          FIRST. PRINCIPLES.
spiritual light and life, that it is called, to
denote its abundance, an "immersion in the
Holy Spirit."  And they whose spirits were
immersed in these heavenly inspirations,
were to be enabled to communicate tidings
of salvation and spiritual blessedness such
as "eye had not seen, ear had not heard,
neither had it entered into the heart of
man."  1 Cor. ii. 7-13. Nay, although the
Spirit was given  "without measure" to
Jesus, yet he said concerning the coming
ministration of the Spirit:  He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do
also; and greater works than these shall he
do, because I go to my Father." John xiv.
12. We have certainly reached the culmination of the progressive revelations of the
divine purposes, when all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge, of grace an.d mercy,
are to be opened. The testator has diedthe appointed covenant sacrifice has been
offered, and the red seal of the blood of the
Lamb of God has been affixed to the will.
The executors are assembled, waiting the
promised signal of entrance on their duties:
"Tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued
with power from  on high."  This power
from on high now visits them; their lips are
unsealed; their hearts are bathed in the
effulgence of heavenly wisdom: they are
"filled with the Spirit;" and the tongues of
fire that rest on their heads fitly symbolize
the searching, burning, purifying energy




LETTERS.              47
of the message they are to deliver. The authority of Moses has passed away; the vail
of the temple has been rent in twain; and
the testimony of the dying Jesus, "It is finished," has closed up the testimony of the
law and the prophets, and the authority of
them  that sat in Moses' seat. The risen
Savior has ascended on high, and in the
presence of the worshiping angels has been
raised to the throne and crowned "Lord of
all." The descending Spirit, heralded by a
eighty wind, summons those by whom Jesus was condemned, to hear the tidings of
the decision of the Supreme Court in the
case appealed from them to heaven; and in
the very city where Jesus was condemned,
and at the next annual festival, when representatives from all parts of the world were
there, the load of reproach is to be lifted
from his name, that he may be proclaimed
as worthy to reign.
II. THE PERSONS ON WHOM THE SPIRIT DESCENDED.
We call your attention to the fact that the
Spirit was not poured out on sinners, but on
the disciples. The apostles were especially
enjoined to tarry in Jerusalem  until they
should be endued with power from on high.
To them accordingly the Spirit came. Jesus
said "the world cannot receive " the Spirit.
Accordingly, the world does not receive it.
You, my dear sir, have been waiting these
many years for this Spirit to be poured out




48          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
on you, for your regeneration. Will it not
help you out of your difficulty to learn
that the Spirit was not promised to sinnerstlhat their regeneration was effected by the
Spirit mediately, and not by an immediate
communication? This Spirit was given to
the apostles, that through their words the power
symbolized by tongues of fire might reach
the hearts of the rebellious. In the largest
possible scope of the facts, the Spirit may
be said to have been given to the one hundred and twenty disciples who were with thb
apostles. What then? Why, the Spirit descends on the Church-not on the world; but
reaches the world through the Church. It
is easy to be deceived by analogical reasoning. Yet the apostle Paul resorts toit when
he says that "no man knoweth the things
of a man save the spirit of a man which is
in him; even so the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God." 1 Cor. ii.
11. Without venturing on forbidden ground,
we may be allowed to say that this authorized analogy between the spirit of man and
the Spirit of God helps us to understand
something of the methods through which
the Spirit's converting power is put forth.
My spirit asserts its power over others
through speech, communicating my thoughts,
reasonings, emotions. -So the Spirit of God
asserts his convincing and converting power
through words, addressed by inspired apostles
to a sinful world, embodying the thoughts




LETTERS.              49
and designs of God in behalf of man, and his
reasonings and entreaties wits man. But
again: my spirit puts forth its power and reveals its life through my body, in my acts,
so that my whole life and character but reveal the attributes of my spirit. So the
Spirit of Christ puts forth life and power
through the Church-the body of Christ; the
Church's love, and  purity  and  philanthropy being but a revelation of the life and
power of the indwelling Spirit. So that if
we contemplate the Spirit as given to the
apostles, it is that through the words they
speak, the Spirit's power may be communicated to the world; and if we regard the
Spirit as given to all the disciples, it is
that the mission of the Spirit to convince
the world may be accomplished through the
Church.
We do not pause to speak particularly of
the miraculous manifestations of the Spirit on
this day of Pentecost, farther than to say
that what is called the baptism in the Spirit,
in the only two instances of it on record, is
marked by miraculous power; and that
therefore this baptism is not to be looked for
now. It seems to have been meant more
especially to seal Jews and Gentiles with the
same Spirit of promise, that they might, by
divine certificate, be entitled to equal membership and equal privileges in the kingdom
of heaven. See Acts x. 44-47, and xi. 1-18.
Thus says Paul,  in one Spirit are we all
4




50          FIRST: PRINCIPLES.
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews
or Gentiles,yhether we bebond or free, and
have all been made to drink into one Spirit."
1 Cor. xii. 13.
But the most significant fact in these miraculous manifestations is the gift of tonguesa clear indication that by means of language
the converting power of the Holy Spirit was
to be put forth. The immediate influence of
the Spirit was not to convert, but to furnish
the recipients with the means of converting
others; the mediate influence of the Spirit
asserted through the gift of tongues, was
designed, through the ear, to reach the heart
and conscience, that men might "see with
their eyes, hear with their ears, understand
with their heart, and turn, that their sins
might be forgiven them."
II.-ITHE AUDIENCE.
These were "Jews, devout men, out of
every nation under heaven," who were sojourning at Jerusalem  during the annual
festivals; as well as many residents of Jerusalem, who had been concerned in the trial
and condemnation of Jesus, and who were
collected at this time by the rumors of the
wonderful phenomena attending the baptism in the Spirit. So far as Christ and his
mission were concerned, they were unbelievers; and many of them had been directly or
indirectly engaged in procuring his condemnation, or had exulted in his death on the
cross.  Many thousands were assembled,




LETTERS.               51
looking on the tongues of flame, listening to
the Gallilean fisherman speaking in various
languages which they had never learned,
and speculating on the causes of this strange
and startling exhibition. Perhaps a more
unpromising audience of mockers, bigots,
and hard-hearted persecutors never assembled. They were devout, but their very devotion was used to sanctify stubborn unbelief and cruel injustice. They had on their
souls the fearful guilt of crucifying the Son
of God. Surely if we can see how sinners,
such as these, were reconciled to God, we
may learn how all others may find-mercy.
IV. THE SERMON.
We come now to consider the Sermon of
Peter, on the day of Pentecost, and the effects which the Holy Spirit, through the sermon, produced. Please read Acts ii. 14-47.
The discourse opens skillfully. The exordium is an attempt to remove prejudice fiom
the hearers. Many preachers, alas! create
more prejudice in the rash affirmations of
their exordiums, than they are able to dissipate in an hour's subsequent effort. Peter,
knowing he must gain their ears if he would
win their souls, carefully removes out of the
way the false judgment under which they
are laboring. They said" these men are full
of new wine."  The inspired utterances of
the" wonderful works of God," sounded to
their prejudiced ears as incoherent babblings. Thus does prejudice or passion per



52           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
vert the truth of God! It is not enough
that we have eyes and ears; we must have
a "sound" or "single" eye (Matt. vi. 22),
and "circumcised" ears. A superstitious
eye transformed the loving Savior into a
frightful specter (Matt.xiv. 26); the approving voice of the Father was, to unbelieving
ears, but thunder (John xii. 29); while to
the honest, cultivated ear of Mary, the voice
of the Master was the end of darkness-the
gay dawn of immortal blessedness.  (John
xx. 16.) These are facts of grave import.
Well did Jesus say, " Take heed how ye
hear." Peter, therefore, proceeds first to
dispossess his hearers of prejudice, by unfolding the phenomena on which they gazed as
the fulfillment of one of the grand predictions of their own Scriptures: a fulfillment
which would usher in the period they were
all so anxiously looking for, as "the last
days" —the days of the Messiah. "This is
that which was spoken of by the prophet
Joel: It shall come to pass in the last days,
saith God, that I will pour out of my Spirit
on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; and your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream  dreams. And also on my servants
and on my handmaids I will pour out my
Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. And I.will show wonders in heaven
above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood
and fire and columns of smoke. The sun




LETTERS.               53
shall be turned into darkness and the moon
into blood before that great and terrible day
of the Lord comes. And it shall come to
pass that whoever shall call on the name of
the Lord shall be saved."
This introduction must not be passed over
carelessly. If the occasion possesses the significance we have given to it, this opening
sermon of the kingdom  is pregnant- with
meaning. We have only space to hint at
some of its suggestive utterances; and, in the
light of our preceding discussions, we have
hopes that hints will now suffice.
1. The phrase "last days," marks the culminating point in the history of redemption.
Up to this time, the word of God had authorised men to look forward to better things to
come. The "last days" had not yet been
reached. But now we enter on the period of
" the last days."  This is the first of the " last
days."  We suppose the phrase rightfully
includes the whole period of Messiah's reign.
There are no other-days to follow-no future
changes to be anticipated in the unfoldings
of the plan of redemption. The " fullness of
time " has been reached; and a perfect, permanent, unchangeable covenant and priesthood are now established; and a "kingdom
that cannot be moved " is received. Here is
"Inquirer's " resting-place.
2. This outpouring of the Spirit marks an
era of philanthropy such.as had never been
witnessed or dreamed of. In a representa



54           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
tive sense it is the baptism of humanity in the
Spirit of God; for all classes, ranks, ages,
and nationalities are embraced in it. JewGentile, "all flesh;" old —young; menwomen; masters-slaves; thus marking all
ranks, conditions, and races, as equally entitled to share in the blessings of the kingdom
of heaven. All are made to drink into one
Spirit. Evidently we have passed away from
the religion of the Family, which marked
the patriarchal age; and the religion of the
Nation, which marked the Mosaical dispensation, into the fullest development of the
"unsearchable riches of Christ,"-the riches
of wisdom, mercy and life for man as manfor " all the world." If, any where, you are
to find the mercy of God intended for you, it
will certainly be found here.
3. The language, in its bold symbols,
marks revolution a.s a necessary result of proclaiming the kingdom of God. It is foreign
to our purpose to search for the precise
meaning and application of the language of
verses 19, 20. Suffice it to say that it clearly
indicates the overthrow of political or ecclesiastical establishments, or both; as Paul
says (Heb. xii. 29), "the removing of the
things that are shaken, as of things that are
made, that the things that cannot be shaken
may remain.  Wherefore, as we receive a
kingdom  which cannot be shaken, let us
have grace, wh'ereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear; for




LETTERS.               55
our God is a consuming fire." All that was
preparatory, adumbrative, and ancillary, as
well as all that was antagonistical, must now
give way to the kingdom of heaven, which
was promised to " break in pieces and consume" all other kingdoms.
The theme of this sermon is JESUS. It is
not a sermon on the law, on regeneration,
election, effectual calling, freedom  of the
will, or any of the thousand and one topics
of theological warfare, the discussion of
which has so bewildered your mind. Jesus
promised the apostles, that when the Spirit
of truth came, "he shall take of mine and
shall show it unto you;" "he shall testify
concerning me."  John xv. 26, and xvi. 14.
Accordingly the Spirit's testimony, as delivered by Peter, is all concerning Jesus. "I
determined not to know any thing among
you, but Jesus Christ and him  crucified,"
said Paul. A return to the integrity of the
primitive Gospel would, my dear sir, be an
end to all your troubles. Instead of troubling yourself with psychological phenomena
to ascertain whether you are regenerated, or
with knotty theologies to ascertain whether
you are numbered with the elect, or with the
legalisms of an economy that has passed
away, you should first settle the question,
Whether this Jesus whom  the apostles
preached, is the promised Christ? and then,
secondly, inquire, Do I so trust in and love
Him  as to be willing to renounce all- other




56           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
sovereignties and obey only Him?  The
point reached of intelligent trust in Him as
the Son of God, and entire submission to
Him of heart and life, as the rightful Lord
and Savior, all important questions touching our salvation are settled-for the promises are made to such as believe and obey.
Accordingly, Jesus, in  his wonderful
works, Jesus in his death on the cross, Jesus
in his resurrection from the dead, Jesus in
his exaltation and glorification, Jesus in his
kingly power and authority, is the theme of
this discourse. The strength of the discourse
is expended on his resurrection and exaltation, because the facts previously stated were
indisputable, and because the Christhood of
Jesus depended on his resurrection. If he
had not been raised from the dead, then his
cause had failed of divine vindication, and
they who had condemned him were justified.
But if he had been raised from  the dead,
God had vindicated his cause, and his enemies were loaded with fearful guilt in condemning and crucifying their own Messiah.
This grand fact is proved, therefore, 1. By
their own  Scriptures, by passages which
they admitted to refer to the promised Messiah. 2. By the testimony of eye-witnesses:
"whereof we all are witnesses."  3. By the
supernatural manifestations of that occasion.
" Wherefore being by the right hand of God
exalted, and having received the promise of
the Holy Spirit, he has shed forth this which




LETTERS.              57
you see and hear."  Thus, step bystep, he
approaches an irresistible conclusion-a conclusion armed with unspeakable terrors to
his guilty auditors: " Let all the house of Israel
know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ."
The narrative states that "when they
heard this, they were pierced to the heart,
and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, what shall we do?"  The language indicates the most pungent conviction and
harrowing distress of mind. Here, then,
was something that reached stubborn and
rebellious hearts, and broke them to pieces as
the hammer breaks the rock. What was it?
Not the outpouring of the Spirit, for we have
seen that the Spirit was not poured out on
the ungodly. What then? " When they heard
this, they were pierced to the heart." It was
the truth that Peter proclaimed, and the evidences which Peter arrayed, establishing
conviction in their hearts of the Christhood
and Lordship of the risen Jesus. The Spirit's converting power was put forth then,
through Peter's sermon, and this converting
power went in through their ears into the understanding, and by this route reached the
conscience and the heart. Did it ever strike
you, Mr. Inquirer, while you were waiting
for regenerating power to visit your heart,
that the power of God comes in through the
ears? and that the truth which the Spirit
has set forth for your salvation is waiting an




58          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
entrance through this ordained channel into
your soul?  "Incline your ear and come unto
me; hear, and your soul shall live." " Say not
in thy heart, who shall ascend into heaven;
that is to bring down Christ from above; or,
who shall descend into the abyss; that is to
bring Christ again from the dead. But what
saith it? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth
and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith
which we preach: that if thou wilt confess with
the mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy
heart that God has raised.him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved." Rom. x. 6-9.
The powerful convictions produced by this
discourse, brought on a crisis in the day's
affairs. Thousands of anguished sinners confess their guilt, and throw themselves at the
feet of the King's ambassadors, and sue for
mercy. The first acts of a monarch's reign
are taken as indicative of the character and
spirit of his government. The beginning of
the legal dispensation was marked by the
execution of about three thousand offenders.
(Ex. xxxii. 25-28.) Thus did the stern spirit
of Law frown darkly on the guilty, and foreshadow " the ministration of death, written
and engraven in stones."  Here are about
an equal number of offenders to be disposed
of, at the beginning of the reign of Jesus.
What will he do with them?  They are his
own murderers, stained with the guilt of a
crime that has no adequate name —which,
for the want of a better term, we call deicide.




LETTERS.              59
What will he do with these men that spit on
him, and cried, "not this man, but Barabbas," and gave him up to Roman hands to
be scourged, and mocked, and crucified?
The disposition made of this case will indicate the character of the newly exalted King,
and the genius and spirit of his reign. And
what a blessed revelation it proves to be!
The law commenced with three thousand
slain under the law's eondemniation; the Gospel commences with three thousand made
alive, pardoned and justified by the grace of
God! Listen, ye guilty and perishing! The
man with the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven
on his shoulder, is about to open the gates
of salvation; the executors are about to open
the will of the Lord Jesus; the ambassadors
are in a moment to proclaim the authority
of the new King in Zion. The fate of thousands present and millions absent, hangs on
his words. Will they be words of mercy and
peace, or of wrath and vengeance? Our
hopes for time and eternity are resting on
the clemency and mercy of the King. Listen! "Repent and be baptized, every one
of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the
remission of sins, and you shall receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit."
Glory to God! The reign of heaven is a
reign of mercy! Jerusalem sinners are saved I
The first act of the King is to pardon his
suppliant enemies-his murderers!  The
first names written on the rolls of the ran



60         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
somed, since his assumption of royalty, are
taken from among those who rejected him
and mocked his dying pangs! Then there
is mercy for all the broken-hearted and despairing of earth's guilty children.
It will require another Letter to complete
our examination of this narrative. We are
proceeding leisurely, because a proper understanding of this chapter is an end to
doubt and confusion on the subject of your
inquiries.
LETTER VIII.
What must we do to be Saved?-A new Institution.
We propose, in this Letter, to complete our
examination of the second chapter of Acts.
The question propounded by the convicted
hearers was, What shall we do? A singular
question in the light of modern theology!
That on which the greatest stress is now
laid, is the doctrine of utter passivity in regeneration. Man is utterly helpless, can do
nothing, ought to do nothing,-never can
be saved until he consents to do nothing I
One of the most popular of modern revival
hymns, has lines something like these:
"Doing is a deadly thingCast down all your doing."
The creed in which you have been educated asserts that man is "wholly passive "




LETTERS.                 61
in  regeneration.   In  Fisher's Catechism,
faith is represented to be " a work that requires almighty power, even the same power
that was wrought in Christ, when he was
raised from the dead.  Eph. i. 19, 20." Page
140, part I.
"Ques. 43. Why cannot man co-operate with God
in this work (regeneration)?"
"Ans. Because there can be no acting without a
principle of action. Regeneration being the infusing
of spiritual life into the soul, it is impossible the creature can co-operate or concur with God in it, any more
than Lazarus in the grave could concur in his own resourrection, till the powerful voice of Christ infused life
and strength into him." P. 144, part II.
This is, indeed, to be "wholly passive."
And you have doubtless long since reflected
that if this is a fair representation of your
spiritual condition, you are no more to be
blamed for your failure to be a Christian,
than a dead man can be blamed for not rising from the dead! Regeneration is a question of naked omnipotence. In that case,
surely, there is nothing to " do." But these
sinners asked, in their anguish, "What shall
we do?"  And the answer did not relieve
them from the conviction that something
must be done. Now,if, when it is said, "doing is a deadly thing," it means trusting to
what we do as a meritorious cause of salvation, we can cordially approve it; but when
this doctrine of utter passivity is broached,
we not only demur, but we denounce it as




62          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
one of the most deadly errors to which the
soul of man can be enslaved. For it robs
man of the privilege and duty of saving
himself, according to Peter's exhortation"' Save yourselves from this untoward generation;" and relieves him of all responsibility for his rejection of the Gospel-at the
same time consigning him to eternal condemnation for failing to do that which, in
his utter deadness, he could not possibly do.
It is absurd as well. Why dehort a dead
man against doing?  How absurd to attempt
to thunder into the ears of those who are
locked in the sleep of the grave,
"Doing is a deadly thing 1"
The apostle not only did not teach these
sinners that there was nothing to be done,
but he did teach them that they must do certain things, if they would be saved. "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in
the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of
sins," etc.
It will not meet this difficulty to say that
these sinners were regenerated by a miracle
before they cried out, " What shall we do?"
For, (1.) The theology with which we are
dealing, teaches that there is no difference
in point of time between faith and repentance; and on that principle, as repentance
was enjoined on those sinners as a duty not
yet accomplished, it is clear that faith had




LETTERS.               63
not yet been wrought in their hearts; and,
(2.) As we cannot conceive of a regenerated
person still unpardoned and unblessed with
the Holy Spirit, these persons were evidently
unregenerated, since they had not yet received the remission of sins nor the gift of
the Holy Spirit.  Rely on it, therefore,
something must be done, on your part, before
you are saved. God has done much to save
us-without which we could do nothing.
But now that God has completed his part in
the work of redemption, it remains that we
do, on our part, what is necessary to make
his salvation ours. And what must the sinner do?
One thing these sinners had already done:
they had accepted Peter's preaching as true-they
had believed his testimony concerning the
Christ. They had now laid on them two additional commundments. 1. Repent. 2. Be
baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ. We
shall not pause to consider the meaning of
these precepts. That will occupy future letters. We will only refer to it so far as to. say
that in that which they had done, and that
which theywere farther-told to do, there is involved a threefold change-a change which
embraces in it all that we call regeneration
and conversion. It stands thus:
1. FAITH-resulting in a change of heart, or
a purification of affections.
2. REPENTANCE-or a change of conduct-a
"turning from sin to Christ, with a sincere




64          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
purpose and endeavor to walk with him in
all the ways of his commandments."
3. BAPTISM-or a change of state; a translation out of the world into the kingdom of
God's beloved Son; out of a state of condemnation into a state of justification.
This threefold change brings us into the
full blessings of citizenship in the kingdom
of heaven; so that, to all the subjects of it,
the language of the apostle may be rightfully applied:' "So then you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens
with the saints, and of' the household of
God." Eph. ii. 19. And to all who thus enter the kingdom, its threefold treasures of
grace rightfully  belong; "righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." Rom.
xvi. 17. Pardon, adoption, and heirship are
theirs, by covenant promise and seal, according to the will and testament of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
In the light of these facts we reach several
conclusions which we will now state.
1. The Jewish and Christian institutions are
not the same. All these converts to Christ
were Jews-lawful members of that institution. But this did not entitle them to membership in the Christian institution. They
were "added to the church" of Christ by
virtue of a new birth-a regeneration by
water and Spirit; or, in plain terms, by their
faith in Christ, their repentance toward God,
and their baptism in the name of the Lord




LETTERS.               65
Jesus. The term  Church, used Acts ii. 47
(ekkleesia), is an assembly called out, summoned forth, separated, insulated for a special purpose. These converts were called out
and separated fromn the Jewish institution, for
purposes which that institution could not
accomplish. The "church" is a new affair,
very different from the nation. It has a new
king, a new lawgiver, a new covenant, new
conditions of membership, new  laws and
ordinances, new aims and a new spirit: "old
things are passed away, behold all things
are become new."  The new wine is put into
new bottles. The institutions have a point
of connection, because one was a type of the
other, one prepared the way for the otherbut in that sense only.
2. Baptism did not come in the room of circumcision. These converts were all in " the covenant of circumcision," yet they were all
baptized. How absurd, then, to say that
one came in room of the other!
3. Infant membership is not recognized in this
kingdonm. " They that gladly received the
word were baptized." Verse 41. They can
be members only by voluntary acceptance of its
teirms. True, it says " the promise is to you,
and to your children, and to all that are afar
off, even as many as the Lord, our God, shall
call."  But, i. Baptism is not a promise, but a
conmmandmenet. 2. Children being mentioned,
does not prove that they are members of the
church any more than " all that are afar off"
5




66i         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
proves that they were members. They could
all be such by obeying the call: " even as
many as the Lord our God shall call."
4. The facts of this chapter furnish the safest
interpretation of John iii. 5. The birth of
water and Spirit was entrance into the kingdom of God. Now here about three thousand enter the kingdom. The man with the
keys of "the kingdom  of heaven" is here,
and opens the gate of salvation. What do
we find?  1. The Spirit, by means of the
preaching of the apostles, bringing sinners
to believe and repent;-convicting them of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. 2.
Those who are thus brought to repentance
are baptized and added to the church. Thus
they were " born of water and of the Spirit.'
Why be perplexed with the language of a
passage almost enigmatical, when these plain
facts unfold, in perfect simplicity, the mode
of entrance into the kingdom? The Spirit
is here; the water is here; and here are the
sinners who, by means of these agencies, are
made new creatures in Christ Jesus. The
truth is translated out of the realm of parable into the realm of fact, and, in the translation, loses all mysteriousness.
It would be interesting to note the results
of the conversion of these thousands, as detailed in the latter part of the chapter; but
that would take us beyond the " first prillciples" to which these letters are confined.
We will only note that they " continued




LETTERS.               67
steadfastly in the apostles' teaching "-not
in the law of Moses; a fact clearly indicative of a new order of things.
5. Finally, we observe that the kingdom
which you see in this chapter as a "little
stone" cut out "without hands," and propelled by divine power, is to " become a great
mountain and fill the whole earth." The
"repentance and remission of sins" here
preached, are to be preached to " all nations."
The will here opened is the last will and testament. The sun has risen. The stars cease to
shine. The light of no brighter sun will be
kindled. The salvation of God in its fullness
is revealed.  "It is finished."  The feast is
spread. The oxen and fatlings are killed,
and "all things are ready."  "The Spirit and
the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth it say, Come. Let him who is athirst,
come. And whosoever will, let him drink
of the water freely."




68             FIRST PBRINCIPLES.
LETTER FROM AN INQUTRER.-II.
To the Editor of the Christian Standard:
I have refrained from expressing my thanks for your
very courteous treatment of my former letter, because I
did not desire to interrupt your connected reasonings.
I have followed you with lively interest through your
series of letters, and cannot longer refrain from telling
you how greatly I am indebted to you for your clear,
and to me very novel, style of disposing of my perplexities. I have been much surprised at some of your
avowals. I had been led to believe that you were advocating a new-fangled religion; and, to be candid with
you, I half wished it would prove so-so weary was I of
attempting to make sense out of the theology in which
I had been educated, that I had at least half a desire to
be persuaded into Broad Church Liberalism; and wrote
to you in hope that you would lead me out in that direction. But I am disappointed. While you are, indeed, liberal, in casting off the bondage of human authority; and while I cheerfilly acknowledge much relief in the view you present of the Old Testament and
its authority, I cannot but regard you as among the most
rigid advocates of the authority of the New Testament.
Will you allow me to say that I fear your rigid adherence
to the letter of the New Testament will not suit these
times? I almost think that the mere forms of religion,
such as baptism, and verbal prayer, and Sabbath observances; and such doctrines as the divinity of Christ, and
the atonement, belong to the dead past; and that in this
stage of the world's progress we may be allowed to cast
off the swaddling-bands of infancy, and attain to a freer
development of soul.  You ask me if I do not love
Jesus? I answer, yes; I love his character. 1 greatly
admire and love his goodness, and purity, and benevolence; and if I follow him in these, why should I be burdened with doctrines, and forms, and the conventional
restraints of church associations? Now, please do not
condemn me as an infidel.  I am not. These are
thoughts-dreams-that sometimes take possession of




LETTERS.                   69
me, imbibed, perhaps, from my more recent readings.
And when I shake these off, I find myself gliding back
into my early convictions. And so, while at one time,
you seem to be not half liberal enough, at another you
appear to have gone too far; and I fear that, in denying
the authority of Moses, you have broken the tables of
the law over again, and left us without an inspired code
of morals. Now, can you bear with me in these strange
contradictions? Do you know any way to help me out
of these jungles? I have, since writing to you, heard
some of your preachers; but I cannot say that they did
me much good. They seem to me to be enslaved to the
mere letter of Scripture, without regard to its spirit, and
the most of their preaching is to establish an intellectual
faith, and to persuade people to " make confession" and
-be immersed. I am glad to learn, incidentally from your
letters, that baptism is not regarded by you as a panacea
for all spiritual ailments-a plaster to cover all the
wounds of sin; and that faith is something more than a
mere assent to the truth. Yet I have listened to your
preachers, when no one could be blamed for receiving
these impressions; yet, perhaps, it was my own unhappy
mind, rather than any fault of theirs, that gave such a
tinge to the preaching.
I am anxious to hear you still farther. I do not present objections in a formal way, but prefer to state in a
general way my state of mind, and leave you to dispose
of it as you go along, without interfering with the plan
of your letters. I wish your readers to believe me when
I say that I would not be guilty of the egotism of thrusting.myself and my spiritual troubles upon the public, did
I not know that I am unfortunately a representative of
a large class, especially of the young men of this time.
They cannot wed their souls to the doctrines of a past
age. Yet they want to be religious. They are rapidly
drifting into Broad Church views and sympathies. It
will be a blessing to many if you can lead them out of
their bewilderments.
AN INQUmRER.




70          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
LETTER IX.
Extremes of Roman Catholicism and Rationalism-Unbelief the
root of both, as well as of Sectarianism-The Godship of
Jesus-Folly of the pretense of believing in Him while rejecting his authority.
You are beginning to discern our true position.  It is true that, on one hand, we renounce and oppose all human authority in
religion-not only as claimed and urged by
the Roman  Catholic advocates of church
authority, but as it is embodied in the creed
authority, systems of divinity, and manordained rites of the Protestant Evangelicals.  The present controversy on Ritualism
is only beginning to unmask the "commandments and traditions of men," which
Protestants have foisted into their theology
and their worship. Before it is over, even
the anti-ritualists will have found that they,
too, have some of "the accursed thing" hidden in their tents; and many a Babylonish
garment, and wedge of gold, and shekel of
silver, will have to be given to destruction
in the valley of Achor ere the hosts of Israel
can march on to certain victory.  Josh. vii.
It is equally true, on the other hand, that
we are as sternly opposed to the human au-.thority which the false Liberalism of this
time asserts. This is, in fact, but a new
shoot from the same root. Unbelief is the
root of all these mischiefs, whether in the
form of absolute submission to human au



LETTERS.              71
thority, as in the Roman Catholic Church;
or in adulteration of divine teaching with
creed authority, as among Protestants; or
in the rejection of Scripture authority and
the deification of Reason, as among the Liberalists and Rationalists. Against them all
we lift up the standard of the LORDSHIP OF
JESUs, and insist on absolute submission to
a Divine Savior, and to him alone. In this
you understand us correctly.
It is not surprising that, in seeking to
escape from the embarrassments and confusions of your early religious convictions, you
should be exposed to the dangers of another
and more perilous extreme. This is the
operation of a law of mind as certain and
inevitable in its workings as any law in the
universe of mind. It is subject, however, to
modifications bythe presence and power of
other equally potent laws; and our hope, in
your case, is that, before you sweep too far
past the center, in your escape from the
bondage of a speculative theology, you
will be arrested by the simplicity and consistency of New Testament teachings, and
that your soul will be fastened by the sweet
and pure attractions of that Son of Mary and
Son of God, whose human excellence you so
readily admit — whose divine attractions
and claims you will find it difficult to deny,
withoutviolently wrenching judgment, faith,
and conscience, all. If you have been confused and oppressed by the unreasonable and




T2          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
contradictory teachings of the old Calvinistic
theology, do not think you will find rest by
escaping into the endless labyrinths of modern Rationalism. There is no rock in that
region of quicksands, on which your weary
soul can rest. It is a region of mists and
fogs, of desert and mirage and phantasm.
No unlettered boor ever followed a jackwith-the-lantern through deeper mire, with
more eager credulity, to a more hopeless
terminus, than do these enlightened rationalists, in their earnest pursuit of scientific
religion. One thing is certain: since Jesus
of Nazareth, no other has arisen who can
dispute with him the palm. Eighteen hundred years of experiment and progress have
not improved on his character and teachings.
No other Christ has arisen who could challenge the love and adoration of the human
heart: no Sufferer, no Toiler, no Teacher,
no Philanthropist, no Leader and Sovereign
like Him. He is " the lone miracle of History," even to the infidel world. We gain
nothing, but lose everything, in losing Him.
If He is true, we gain all by clinging to him;
if He is false, we still gain nothing by forsaking Him. There is left to us no Guide,
no Savior. We are thrown back on ourselves —the very self we sought to bedelivered from-to walk in the light of our own
reason, conscience, intuitions; and then,
every man's conscience, reason, intuitions,
are just wJsat 1e want tm toe  be: intrest, pas



LETTERS.               73
sion, associations, or former habitudes, subjecting them to impressment, and compelling them to give forth oracles to suit the
ruling passion of the hour. Is there "rest
for the weary" in that direction? Pause, and
consider well, I pray you, ere you turn your
back on the Sun of Righteousness, to be led
-not even by a fixed star in the heavens,
but by an ignisfatuus springing from the decompositions of the morasses and graveyards of the dead Past.
You think us rigid in insisting on absolute
submission to Jesus the Christ.  That, no
doubt, is the very battle-ground where, if
you ever surrender to Christ, your last battle
will be fought. You think we are enslaved to
the letter of the New Testament. Perhaps,
in some cases, this may be true, without a
consciousness of it on our part. We do not
know how to reach the spirit of any Scripture except through the letter; but we care
not for the mere letter except as helping us
to the meaning of the speaker or writer. We
do not desire to be content with the hull and
fail to reach the kernel. We care not to get
words, and fail to obtain the meaning. But
you shall judge whether it is letter, or spirit,
or both, when we tell you that no confession
of faith, no totality of immersion, weigh so
much as a feather with us unaccompanied with
the absolute surrender of life and destiny —judgment, conscience, heart, and character, to the control and disposal of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is




74          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
not that spiritual and evangelical enough for
you, even in your most orthodox moods?
Nothing else will satisfy the demands of the
letter and spirit of the New Testament.
You say you " admire and love the character of Jesus," etc. Did you reflect, in saying this, that unless he is really divine, and
did really die for our sins, and rise for our
justification, he has no character that an
honest heart can respect?  He claimed to
be the Son of God —to have life in himselfto be the only way to truth and life-to die
for the sins of the world-to rise from the
grave to Lordship and Christhood, to be the
Savior and the king of men. Based on these
claims of divinity and authority, -he sent
forth his apostles, commanding them to disciple the nations, baptizing them into the
name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit. Now, was he deceived in
himself, in making these claims, thds evincing himself to be an amiable enthusiast
merely? or did he deceive others-thus proving himself to be guilty of falsehood and
fraud to serve his own ambitions? In either
case how can you admire his character, and
desire to imitate that as the sum of all religion? No, sir: if Jesus has a character
worthy of your admiration, it is because he
was what he professed to be. And in that case,
you must accept his divinity, his atonement,
and his ordinances too.
We have not room to notice at present all




LETTERS.               75
the points in your letter. They will not be
forgotten. Neither must you forget that
we are writing for thousands beside yourself; and that, while these letters are addressed to you, they must necessarily embrace the wants and the difficulties of many
who are not in your position. We hope to
meet a variety of wants before we close.
Meanwhile we shall be pleased to receive
your suggestions, and not less pleased because they express frank dissent from our
own convictions. "Prove all things; hold
fast that which is good."
LETTER X.
The sinner required to save himself.
Having led you through the Old Testament, and the four Gospels, to the culminating point in the history of redemption; and
having learned the authority under which
we are placed-even that of the Lord Jesus;
and the ambassadors who are authorized to
speak in his name-even the twelve apostles; we feel, just at this point, like preaching you a little sermon from a text to be
found in this second chapter of Acts, verse
fortieth:
" Save yourselves from this untoward generation."
You see that, after all, men are required
to save themselves.  It is simply impossible




76           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
that man can be entirely passive in coming
into possession of this salvation. It is a salvation from sin. Can man be saved from sin
without renouncing it?  Can he renounce it,
until he ceases to love it? Can he cease to
love it, until he-takes into his understanding
the stern and terrible truths which exhibit
its odiousness and deformity? Moreover, to
be saved by the Lord Jesus he must trust
him  and love him. Can he trust and love
without an exercise of his thoughts and affections?  Still farther: the enjoyment of this
salvation is suspended on obedience. The
sinner is required to "repent and be baptized."   Now, this obedience necessitates
the activity alike of the intellectual, moral,
and physical powers, in thinking, purposing, and acting.  There can be nothing
worthy the name of salvation to an intelligent nature, which does not involve an active participation in the process on the part
of the nature that is saved. Insensate matter maybe entirely passive in undergoing
change; but a thinking, willing, responsible
spirit, never. However absolute, therefore,
some passages may seem to represent the
work of God in saving men to be, it must be
always understood, whether expressed or
not, that its success is contingent on the acquiescence of the rational nature which is
addressed.
Let us furnish an illustration of this point:
In Acts xxvii., we have an account of a




LETTERS.              77
fearful peril on shipboard-a peril so great
that passengers and crew were abandoned
to utter despair. Paul assured them all,
however, on the ground of a special revelation from an angel of God, that there should
be no loss of any man's life among them.
The revelation was: "Lo, God hath given
thee all them that sail with thee." Verse 24.
This seems as absolute and unconditional as
language can make it. It looks as if they
had simply to be saved.  Yet (verse 31),
when the sailors were about to abandon the
vessel, Paul said to the centurion, "Except
these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved."
And when, finally, the ship was guided to a
suitable place and run aground, and the
hinder part of the vessel was broken in
pieces-they were not lifted on angels'
wings to the shore, but-such as could swim,
swat to land; "and the rest, some on boards,
and some on broken pieces of the ship. And
so it came to pass that they escaped all safe
to land." Verses 43, 44. Now, was this a
divine salvation?  Certainly. The unseen
hand of God-the power that rides on the
whirlwind and directs the storm-guided
this frail vessel through the perils of the
deep to a suitable retreat; and had it not
been for this divine guidance they must have
perished. But, as soon as their salvation
was made attainable —as soon as it was
brought within reach of their own powers,
they were required to save themselves; in




78          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
other words, they were called on to appropriate the deliverance which God had opened,
each to himself, by the exercise of his own
powers. Had they not done so, they would
not have been saved.
So, in the salvation of the soul from sin,
God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We could not by searching find out
God. God reveals himself in Jesus Christ
that we may know him. We cannot create
the truths or the inspirations by which the
soul isto be lifted out of the mire of ignorance and pollution. God has, by his Spirit,
brought these to us.  We cannot ransom
our souls from guilt, or atone for the sins
we have committed. God has given his own
Son to be a Ransom for us, and to become
righteousness to the believer. We cannot
discover a pathway to heaven, or uncover
the awful mysteries of eternity. God has,
by the resurrection of Jesus, scattered the
darkness of death, and brought life to light.
We cannot believe, or repent, or turn to
good, except as our thoughts and affections
are receptive of divine influences. God pours
these divine influences upon us through the
Gospel revelations. So evident is it that
salvation is of the Lord, and that, if saved
at all, we are saved by the grace of God.
Yet the text says, "Save yourselves."  Yes:
because, notwithstanding all that has been
done to save us, we are still unsaved until
we accept and appropriate the salvation of




LETTERS.               79
God, by complying with the conditions of
the Gospel. The sun shines in vain, unless
we open our eyes to behold it, that we may
walk in its light; so truth is revealed in
vain, and Jesus lives and loves and dies and
rises in vain, unless we look and believe.
Bread for the starving is furnished in vain,
unless they take and eat it; so the Gospel
feast is spread in vain, unless we " come to
the wedding," and eat of the bread of life,
and drink of the waters of salvation.
But you ask, is not man contemplated in
the Gospel as helpless-dead? Yes. But
not in the absolute sense that is often attached to the words. There are different
degrees of helplessness. A dead body floating on a stream, or lying in the bed of a
river, is entirely passive; and if brought out
at all, must be brought out by main force.
But a man may be likely to drown, in the
river, who is not so utterly helpless. Left
to himself he will perish; but if a hand is
stretched forth to save him, he can grasp it,
and thus both save himself and be saved.
Sinners left to themselves will perish. But
they have eyes, ears, minds, hearts; and can
see, hear, reason, feel, and act, when the salvation of God is brought within their reach.
The sinner is, indeed, said to be dead-dead
in sins; that is, his sins have separated him
from the friendship and fellowship of God.
But a man can be dead in one sense and
alive in another. He may be spiritually




80           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
dead, yet intellectually as well as physically
alive. He has mind, heart, and conscience,
to which God can appeal, and through which
le may be reachedwith truth and love for
his salvation.  Hence this exhortation" Save yourselves "-does not come until all
the divine potencies for our salvation have
first been brought to bear.
We have, then, in this sermon of Peter on
the day of Pentecost,
I. FACTs-revealing what God has done
for our salvation. These facts embrace the
incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of
the Son of God.
II. COMMANDMENTS-revealing what we
must do to be saved. These are,
1. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Repent.
3. Be baptized, in the name of Jesus
Christ.
III. PROMISES-revealing what God will do
for those who obey the Gospel. These are,
1. Remission of sins.
2. The gift of the Holy Spirit.
3. Citizenship in the kingdom-heirship
in the family of God.
Thus, facts to be believed, commandments
to be obeyed, and promises to be enjoyed, make
up this Gospel, and embrace both the divine
and human sides of this scheme of salvation.
We are now prepared to speak more definitely of the things that we must do to be




LETTERS.               81
saved. On this we will enter in our next
number.
Meanwhile, let us ask you to reflect on
another distinction which, sooner or later,
you will need to be made acquainted with.
While we have insisted on the importance
of man's consenting to save himself by closing in with the overtures of mercy, it is evident that all he is asked to do is to accept
the salvation. Faith, repentance, and baptism are but graciously or'dained means of
appropriating the grace of God; so that it is,
after all, a salvation " not of works," but of
grace. There is another salvation, however,
with which active obedience is more emphatically linked-so much so that we are
enjoined to "work out our salvation."  The
first salvation tendered in the Gospel is salvation from the guilt and dominion of sin,
and is enjoyed on our simple submission to
Christ, before we begin active work in his
service. But there is a coming salvation
from death-an entrance into life eternal,
which is made to rest-not on faith merely,
but-on character.  "Be thou faithful unto
death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
"Blessed are they that do his commandmnents, that they may have right to the tree
of life, and enter in through the gates into
the city." This salvation lies rather out of
the range of our present inquiries; so we
merely note it here for the sake of avoiding
confusion of mind.
6




82            FIRST PRINCIPLES.
LETTER XI.
Faith-Its Meaning-Not the product of Almightiness-Not
mere assent to Truth-Has a moral element in its Scriptural
meaning-Reliance on a thing or person as true and worthyIts sources, value, and adaptedness to our nature.
We come now to consider the terms of salvation, or, what we must do to make this
salvation ours.  We have already seen that
there are three conditions-Faith, Repentance, and Baptism.  We devote this letter
to a consideration of FAITH. This is the
first in order, as we learn from the answer
given to an inquirer who had as yet taken
no step. toward Christ-whose question was
extorted by the alarm  of an earthquake, and.not by  any knowledge of this salvation.
Acts xvi. 30, 31.  "Sirs, what must I do to
be saved?" was the anxious inquiry.  The
answer was: "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ,. and thou shalt be saved, and thy
house."
We have already hinted that these conditions are not arbitrary-that they are wisely
and graciously adapted to the capacities and
wants of our nature.  It is essential to a
proper appreciation of the Gospel that this
be understood, for we are persuaded that the
repulsiveness of these conditions to many
minds grows out of the legalistic and ritualistic aspects in which they are taught to
view  them.  When they come to see that
these terms are not mere arbitrary forms,




LETTERS.               83
nor assertions of dogmatic authority, but
wise and merciful adaptations to the capacities and predicaments of our nature, these
conditions of salvation will become as attractive to them as they were before repulsive.
But before we can learn the adaptations
of Faith to our nature and circumstances,
we must understand what Faith is. It is
unquestionably true, as Pollock says, that
"Faith was bewildered much by men who
meant to make it clear." This grows largely
out of the efforts at logical consistency in the
construction of theological systems. Men
form theories of the divine nature and of
human nature, and then torture every item
of Scripture teaching that seems to bear
against them, into submission. When the
doctrine of total depravity is once accepted,
regeneration must needs be a miracle, and
faith the immediate product of almightiness.
No one thing has done more to make the
Gospel unlovely to men, than, first, to make
the terms of salvation binding on the sinner; and, secondly, teach the impossibility
of his performing them.
We remember to have heard: a clergyman
(he is yet living) acknowledge thtat he had
for many years taught that faith was a spiritual substance which. dropped fromr the hand
of God into the sinner's heart. His proof
text was Heb. xi, 1. " Now faith is: the sub
stance of things hoped for."  Here, he triumphantly affirmed, it; is declared to be a




84          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
substance-a substance to be "hoped for"
until the sinner gets it! He did not know
that the. Latin substantia was from  suibstans,
pres. part. of substare, to stand under; nor
that the Greek hupostasis,in its original meaning, is that whereon anything else stands, or is
supported; that faith is, therefore, that which
stands under the things hoped for-the foundation, indeed, of Christian life, hope, consolation, and victory.
Your old theological standards, my dear
sir, are not at all more sensible in their
teachings concerning faith.
"Ques. 11. Why can no less a worker than the Spirit
of God work this faith?
Ans. Because it is a work that requires almighty
power, even the same power which was wrought in Jesus
when he was raised from the dead. Eph. i. 19, 20."
Fisher's Catechism, p. 139.
There is as much good sense in asserting
that the power which propels a railroad
train is the very same power that demonstrates mathematical problems, as in this
affirmation that the omnipotence which
raised Jesus from the dead is the power that
produces faith.  It is an absurdity  into
which good men could never have been led,
had they not first been possessed of the conviction of the utter depravity of human
nature,-so  that, there being no  starting
place within a mass of utter corruption, regeneration must needs begin in miracle. As
well talk of digging into a man's soul with




LETTERS.               85
a spade, to prepare it, by physical culture,
to become the garden of the Lord. Mind
must be reached in harmony with the laws of
mind.
Is it any wonder that men object to being
condemned for unbelief, when there is no
escape from it except by miracle?
"Faith is the belief of testimony," says
another, "and no man is, therefore, responsible for his belief. If the testimony is sufficient, he is compelled to believe, whether he
wants to or not. If the testimony is insufficient, he cannot believe, no matter how
much he desires to do so. Faith is involuntary.'It is, therefore, arbitrary and unjust,
to suspend salvation on that over which we
have no control."
These are but a few of the various crudities concerning faith with which the religious world abounds. They will serve to
teach us the importance of clear, definite,
and Scriptural ideas, unencumbered with
the endless confusions of philosophers and
theologians.
We ask, then, what is the meaning of the
word faith?
1. The classical sense of pistis is, trust in
others, especially faith or belief in a higher
power; persuasion of a thing, confidence,
assurance.  Subjectively, it means, good
faith, faithfulness, honesty.
2. The current use of the word does not
differ materially from this. Its usual mean



86           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
ing is, confiding in a thing or person as true
and worthy. Hence we say of men, "I have
faith in that general;" or, "I have no faith
in that physician;" or, "I wish I had more
faith in Mr.  -  as an honest man."  So of
statements, doctrines, systems, we speak of
believing in them, or not believing in them;
of fall faith in them, or partial faith, or weak
faith; and no one misunderstands us.
3. The essential meaning in the Scriptures
is the same. There is a difference, however,
growing out of the objects on which faith is
exercised in the Scriptures, which -needs to
be noticed. The objects of faith, in the Bible,
are moral or spiritual.  Faith in its teachings
involves moral consequences. A statement of
facts, in history, in political science, or in
physical science, may rest for acceptance
simply on the strength of the testimony;
and as we have no prepossessions for or
against the evidence, or any special interests depending on our acceptance or rejection of the evidence, we yield our minds in
a kind of passivity to receive the impressions of said evidence. Here, faith may be
said with some propriety to be involuntary,
But when that which is offered for our faith
involves  in  its acceptance  consequences
which may be welcome or unwelcome to us
-when it is to result in revolutionizing our
principles, our fortune, our life, our destiny,
it is evident that other forces, besides the
mere testimony, come into play; forces




LETTERS.               87
which dispose us, on the one hand, to receive
the testimony eagerly, or on the other, to
put it away from us. Here we begin to assert control over our faith, by examining or
refusing to examine the evidence; by receiving it in its honest import, or by perverting
it from its true meaning. Now the faith of
the Gospel does involve tremendous consequences to the sinner. Evil passions, therefore, may step in to pervert the evidence or
to prevent its being heard at all. He who
believes has exercised his will in hushing
adverse pleadings of passion and interest;
has asserted his moral powers in determining on an honest attention to the claims of
the Gospel. There is, therefore, a moral as
well as an intellectual aspect of faith. Intellectually viewed, it is the belief of testimony; morally viewed, it is such a belief of
testimony as allows it all its legitimate results over conscience, heart, and life. Hence
the Scriptures speak with peculiar emphasis
of believing with the heart, because a reliance
on the truth concerning Jesus calls for the
consent and co-operation of the moral nature. Hence, too, in the Gospel, faith is
joined with some practical test which compels it out of the limits of mere intellections
into the shape and power of a thorough conviction, before it will be accepted. It is
joined with repentance, with confession,
with baptism, with calling on the name of
the Lord-so that it must have its seat in




88           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
the moral as well as in the intellectual nature before it is recognized as acceptable
faith. This does not alter the meaning of
the word at all; but it gives it a special hue,
derived from  the moral objects on which
faith is exercised, and the moral results
which faith is to produce, which we felt it
important to note, lest any of our readers
should receive the impression that we are
contending for a cold intellectual assent to
truth as filling the measure of Scriptural
faith. Yet we say that faith means, in the
Scriptures, essentially, what it means in its
conventional use, whether in the ancient
Greek classics or in modern English classics;
namely, persuasion, trust, confidence, firm,
and earnest belief; the difference in religious
faith being found in the nature of the objects
on which it rests.
Let us see, now, what the Scriptures
affirm.
" Now faith is confidence with respect to
things hoped for, persuasion with respect to
things not seen." —  eb. xi. 1, Anderson's
Trans.
Abraham's faith'is thus described: " Being  fully persuaded that what God had
promised he was able also to perform."Rom. iv. 21.
The faith of the Centurion (Matt. viii.
5-10), of-which Jesus said, "I have not
found so great faith, no, not in Israel," was
simply such an unlimited trust in the Sa



LETTERS.              89
vior's power to heal, that speaking the word
at a distance, would be as immediately effective as his personal presence.
The faith of the diseased woman (Matt.
ix. 20-22), and of the Syro-Phenician woman (Matt. xv. 28), and the examples of
approved faith furnished in Heb. xi., all
lead to the same conclusion: that faith is
persuasion of or reliance on a thing as true;
and that faith in Christ is a persuasion that
what he promises, he is able to perform.
As we rise above the animal nature, with
its instincts and appetites, to a higher plane
of being, faith is the basis of all excellence.
In the earliest dawn of intellectual existence, what inspires and rules the child?
Faith. It trusts before it reasons. And it
would trust evermore, were it not cruelly
assailed by falsehood and deceit, shattering
its beautiful and simple faith, and compelling doubt and distrust at every step. So
far is it from being true that faith is an arbitrary thing. When God asks men to believe, therefore, he is simply seeking to
restore them to the primitive integrity of
their nature. Faith is the substance-the
foundation-of the dignity of individual life,
of the order and security of the social structure, and of civil government. What would
man be, were his power to believe annihilated? Without a brute's infallible instincts,
with senses much feebler and less acute than
belong to inferior animals, shut up within




90          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
the narrow  domain of sensation, and reasoning only upon his sensations, he must
necessarily degenerate into the lowest barbarism. His power to rise depends on his
power to believe. Faith unlocks to him the
experience of the past, the stores of human
knowledge and wisdom, the treasures of
matter and of mind, puts him into fellowship
with the invisible and the real, and pours
into his soul the inspirations of history, philosophy, poetry and religion. What is the
bond of the family? Faith. Destroy the
faith of husband and wife, parent and child,
in each other-and does it need fire and
orimstone to constitute a hell? What holds
society together? The faith of manin man.
Read Macaulay's description of the state of
society in England about the time of the
abdication of James II., when men's faith in
government and in each other was almost
annihilated, and say what human society
would be, destitute of faith? In a despotism, faith in the ruler alone can make such
a government tolerable; in a popular government like ours, the faith of man in his
fellow-man, and in the government which
embodies the popular will, is all that binds
the nation in permanent peace and prosperity. And in the business of every day lifewhat impels the ceaseless activities of commerce, but the faith of man in man? And in
the patient toils of the husbandmen-they
who are really the substratum of all a na



LETTERS.               91
tion's prosperity and power-what gives
him courage to plow and sow? His faith in
God, and in the established order of things.
Now, is it strange or arbitrary, that God
should address this faculty of our nature, so
wide in the scope of its exercise, so essential
to the dignity of the individual character
and the peace and order of society, that
which is and must ever be the substancethe foundation of peace, good government,
intellectual growth, and moral greatness;
is it strange, we ask, that-God should make
his appeal to this particular capacity, and
constitute this the substance of religious
life also? It is not only not strange, but we
had almost written that our Creator was
shut up in a necessity so to deal with a nature which possesses no other principle so
universal in scope, so powerful in acting, so,
easy of exercise, as the faith-principle.
Faith deals more readily with the concrete than with the abstract. Doctrines and
principles are not so appreciable by it until
they are embodied in a person. The heroworship of the world, so all-conquering in
its enthusiasms, shows how faith rests on
a person, and seeks through a person its
mightiest inspirations. How adapted to our
wants, therefore, the religion which offers
as the basis of all our faith, hope, and love,
a person-in whom are all the treasures of
wisdom, knowledge, power, holiness, goodness, mercy and compassion-all the full



92          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
ness of the Godhead, and all the wants, woes,
and experiences of our manhood! To be a
Christian is not to reason on the problems of
foreknowledge, fate, necessity, trinity in
unity, or human depravity; but to believe on
the Son of God. Satan, for aught we know,
may be infallibly correct in his knowledge
and philosophy of the foregoing and kindred subjects-but that does not save him.
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved."
If Jesus of Nazareth is what he professed
to be, it needs no labored argument to prove'
that the highest honor and happiness of man
depend on accepting Him in His mission of
mercy, and submitting with implicit trust to
His guidance. In these matters we must
walk by faith, or wander in darkness. We
see not God; we know not his intentions
toward us; we see not heaven; we know not
the connection, if any, between this life and
the next. Reason has tried in vain for six
thousand years to penetrate the mystery.
Jesus comes, not to reason, but to testify; to
speak what he knows, and testify what he
has seen. He sustains his message of supernatural wisdom and knowledge by deeds of
supernatural power, and a character of supernatural excellence. He is just what he
ought to be, his mission being true. His
proofs are just the proofs we would demand
of any one who would put us beyond doubt.
His teachings are just what our inmost




LETTERS.              93
hearts and consciences tell us must have come
from God. If I can trust my life to a physician on any human evidences of skill, and
believe him so implicitly as to go according
to his directions, believing where I do not
comprehend; if I can trust my earthly destiny, in faith, to the navigator, with only a
plank between me and destruction, on the
evidence of his ability to guide me safely
over the treacherous deep; then may I, for
better reasons and on better evidence, resign
my entire being to the control and guidance
of the Lord Jesus, as being able to save unto
the uttermost all who come to God by him.
We have in these remarks anticipated
what we desired to say as to the sources of
faith. It will be at once apparent that faith
in Jesus can only flow from a knowledge of
his character, his teaching, and his works.
It must come, therefore, through the Bible
which contains the record of these. See
John xx. 31; Acts xvii. 12; Rom. x. 17.
We are sometimes asked if the evidences
of the truth concerning Jesus are as full and
indisputable as they can be? We answer,
no. We can easily conceive how the evidence could be made more abundant and
demonstrative than it is. We can see how
it might be made so completely a matter of
demonstration that it could not be resisted
-so as to leave no election to us whether to
believe or not. But the moment that was
done all the moral element of faith would be




94          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
eliminated. It would no longer be our actthe choice of our hearts; and it could, of
course, serve none of the moral purposes in
regeneration which it is now designed to
serve. As it is, the evidence is sufficient to
lead the honest heart, that seeks for truth
as for silver, to find it; and yet it is not so
overwhelming, nor so free from objection,
that a dishonest or unwilling heart may not
evade its claims and continue in unbelief.
He, therefore, who rejects the evidences on
which this religion now rests might be silenced, but would not be converted, by any
additional evidence. Hence, said Jesus, " If
they believe not Moses and the prophets,
neither would they believe though one rose
from the dead."
Have a care, my dear sir, that you come
not under the condemnation of unbelief.
LETTER  XII.
Repentance defined and illustrated.
Intimately and inseparably associated
with Faith as a condition of salvation, is the
command to repent. "God commandeth all
men everywhere to repent." Acts xvii. 30.
"Repentance and remission of sins shall be
preached in his name, among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem." Luke xxiv. 47.
As the special work of the Harbinger, in
preparing a people for the Lord, was to call




LETTERS.               95
the Jews to repentance, we may well understand that none can be made ready for the
reign of the Lord Messiah except as they
repent. Let us, then, inquire what is meant
by repentance?
Metanoeo, translated repent, means to come
to a conviction afterward; hence to change one's
mind or piurpose. In Scripture usage, it signifies sometimes to undergo a change in
fiame of mind and feeling, and sometimes,
a change of principle and practice. Indeed,
this latter, though not always expressed, is
generally implied. Perhaps no better definition can be given than is furnished in the
Standards of the Church in which you were
educated.. "True repentance includes a
turning from sin unto God, with a sincere
purpose and endeavor to walk with him in
all the ways of his commandments." It is
not mere sorrow for sin, for we read of
"sorrowing unto  repentance."  And  we
are taught that "godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation." 2 Cor. vii. 10.
Neither is it actual reformation, as we generally understand that term, only in its initiative stage; for Paul assures us that he
taught both Jews and Greeks that they
should "repent and turn to God, and do
works meet for repentance." Acts xxvi. 20.
Repentance, then, is that which succeeds
godly sorrow  and precedes the external
fruits of reformation. This can be nothing
but the change of will or purpose-the renun



96            FIRST PRINCIPLES.
ciation of sin and the acceptance, in hea'rt
and intention, of the law of God as the rule
of life. This explains the use of the term
Acts ii. 38.  They were commanded to repent, after they were "cut to the heart,"
proving that even the most poignant sorrow
did not of itself constitute repentance. And
they were accepted as penitents before they
began a new  life, any farther than  their
baptism  indicated the entrance on a new
lifb. Their repentance was the renunciation of sin and the acceptance of Christ as
their Lord and Savior in the purpose of their
hearts; and their baptism was the expression
of this renunciation, and the beginning of
this new life of obedience to Christ. As the
process stands revealed to us, thus far, it is,
1. Faith. 2. Godly sorrow. 3. Repentance
or the internal submission to Christ.  4.
Turning to God, or Baptism-the external
turning to God. 5. Works meet for repentance.
We may be allowed to quote yet farther
from your former standards in regard to the
place which repentance occupies in the order of the Gospel.
"With regard to the order of faith and repentance, it
may be remarked that we can form no conception of a
moment of time when the one exists in the soul separate
froin the other. In point of time, then, faith and repentance necessarily accompany each other; but in the
order of nature, faith must precede repentance. Evangelical repentance is a turning from sin to God; but there
can be no turning to God, except through Christ; and




LETTERS.                   97
no coming to Christ, but by believing in him. John xiv.
6: vi. 35.
Besides, evangelical repentance flows from love to
God; but the exercise of unfeigned love to him proceeds
from the exercise of true faith. 1 Tim. i. 5. Add to
this, it is only by looking on him whom we have pierced,
that we can mourn after a godly sort, according to that
remarkable promise. "They shall look on me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him."
Zech. xii. 10. There is indeed a conviction of the person's guilt and misery, accompanied with a kind of sorrow for sin, and resolutions to forsake it, because it exposes him to everlasting punishment, which in the nature
of things must precede the exercise of faith in Christ;
but this is very different from evangelical repentance."
-Exp. of Conf., p. 181.
You cannot but see that this condition of
salvation  is not arbitrarily  imposed.   In
the very nature of things, repentance must
take place before Gospel blessings can be
enjoyed. As well expect a man to see the
sun with his face buried in the sand, or to
taste an orange by touching it with the tips
of his fingers; as well expect an untamed
Indian to be at home in a circle of highly
refined literati, or a drunkard  reeking with
the fumes of the bar-room to be supremely
happy in a prayer-meeting, as to expect an
impenitent man to enjoy the blessings of
the salvation  of God.  For what does the
Gospel propose?  To bring us to purity, to
righteousness, and  to  love-and  in  and
through these to fellowship with God.  Unquestionably, then, if the heart is sold to
sin, and all the powers of the moral nature
are under the control of selfishness, there
7




98          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
can be no access to the blessings of salvation, except by such a repentance as shall
revolutionize the desires, intents, and purposes of the heart. Only the pure can have
fellowship with the pure-the best of all
reasons why the impenitent cannot receive
the Holy Spirit.
This repentance is something that we must
accomplish. In its very essence, it is the assertion of self-sovereignty, the exercise of
will in a new direction. Hence we are commanded to repent. The obligation lies on us
to repent. True, God is spoken of as granting repentance: but he grants repentance by
granting the means of repentance, and by
granting us assurance of acceptance when
we do repent. The motives to repentance
are, (1) the goodness of God; (Rom. ii. 4);
and (2) the coming righteous judgment.
(Acts xvii. 31). The soul stands between
the divine charms of the one and the divine
terrors of the other, to be at once moved
and urged-charmed and warned into a new
life, in view of the tremendous issues of an
impenitent course of conduct. These m(otives God reveals and urges; but the choicethe decision-is our own.
Many are distressed for want of evidence
of a change of heart. It would help thenm
much to drop that phraseology and the ideat
it has carried, and ask instead for the evidence of faith and repentance. When ourL
affections and desires are purified from sain




LETTERS.              99
and our principles and purposes are changed
so as to renounce that which is sinful, and
choose that which is good, there can be
no reasonable question that the heart is
changed. Faith and repentance accomplish
this revolution.
Let us add, in conclusion, that the necessity for repentance being laid in the eternal
law of God-in the nature of things —there
can be no compromise in regard to it. The
sinner must repent or perish. At whatever
cost, the right eye that offends must be
plucked out, the right hand or foot that
offends must be cut off, and we must go
maimed into life, or, failing in this sacrifice,
must be cast into hell-fire. This more than
any intellectual embarrassment, is the offense of the Gospel; yet to every heart capable of appreciating the good and the true,
this will be one of its most satisfactory recommendations.




100             FIRST PRINCIPLES.
LETTER FROM AN INQUIRER.-III.
Mr Editor:-I am willing to admit that your late numbers on Faith and Repentance have done much to remove doubt, by showing that they are not arbitrary conditions, imposed by mere authority; and are ordained
because in the nature of things they are essential to the
reception and enjoyment'of salvation. Can you prove
the same of Baptism? This, in your arrangement, will
come next in order. How can you make a mere rite
anything else than arbitrary? And why should we have
all this controversy over a mere form, as if it could be
of any value, or as if it could possibly affect a man's
salvation whether he is sprinkled, poured or immersed?
Pardon me if I seem uncivil in saying that this looks to
me very much like straining at a gnat. Better attend
to the "weightier matters of the law" of which you
speak so forcibly in an editorial of the 27th.
AN INQUIRER.




LETTERS.              101
LETTER XIII.
Baptism not a mere arbitrary appointment-Reason for such
an Ordinance-Its importance.
I am convinced that too much has been
yielded in admitting that baptism has no
fitness-no foundation in the nature of
things; that it is a purely arbitrary appointment. The distinction which theological writers make between the Positive-Mloral, and Moral-Positive, may be convenient
for some purposes, and may, from a partic-:llar angle of vision, express a true difference.
But it is not a Scriptural distinction, and I
am quite sure that too much has been made
of it. Baptism is not an arbitrary appointment. It is made to rest on authority more
than the other conditions mentioned, because it is in its design, an acknowledgement and recognition of authority; and for
this purpose it has fitness, for the very reason that it is destitute of the moral qualities
which belong to the previously named conditions, and brings us more directly face to
face with the sovereign authority of the
Lord Jesus. But it is false to say that it
lacks adaptedness to its purpose, or that a
necessity for it is not found in the nature of
things. Let us see.
1. The design of the Founder of Christianity was to establish a society; not merely
to convert individuals from sin and wrong,




102        FIRST PRINCIPLES.
and to plant the seeds of a new life in individual hearts-but to unite the converts in
an association for mutual help, and as an instrumentality for the conversion of others.
Thus there are public and social as well as
personal and private ends to be served by
becoming a Christian. This society is called
the Church. It is an organized body. It
must have conditions of membership, and a
form of initiation. As it is a visible society,
made up of men and women in the body,
and having only public objects to accomplish, the mode of initiation must be visible,
tangible, and public, so that the church and
the world may know the line of separation,
and who stands on this side and who on
that.  That there should be, therefore, a
visible form of initiation into the Church, is
a necessity. This is not arbitrary.
2. Moreover, such a rite being necessary
to subserve the ends of this society called
the Church, it is fitting that the rite of initiation be expressive of the life to which it
leads, and of the faith and purposes of those
who submit to it. Every society, therefore,
seeks in its modes of initiation that which
will express in symbol, its principles and
aims, or that which will impress on the subject just ideas of the obligations which he
assumes. For this reason one form is not
equal to another.  Mere authority cannot
make one form as good as another. The fitness of things requires that that form shall be




LETTERS.              103
chosen-that symbol adopted-which will
Inost clearly embody and express the reigning ideas and characteristics of the life to
which it leads. Hence a baptism in blood,
or in pitch, or in oil, could not serve the
purpose of initiation into the Christian life
as baptism in water does. Because it is an
entrance on a life of purity-a renunciation
of a life of sin; and the cleansing elementof water alone can give this adequate expression.  The separation from  the world
which this ordinance expresses, could in no
other form be so well expressed, as in the
burial of the subject as being already dead
to sin-cut off from all sympathy with and
participation in it. The new life to which
he gives himself finds its best expression in
resurrection from the symbolical grave. And
the entireness of the consecration of his whole
nature to a new service has no such fitting
symbol as the total immersion of the whole
man in pure water, and his emersion from
that element as one who has been washed
and cleansed, and has arisen from his old
defilements to a life of holiness.  This is not
arbitrary.
3. Religion is not a mere intellection, nor
a mere sentiment, but a life. Its object is
to teach us how to live. Hence its promises
of salvation are not made to us until our
convictions and desires come out into life.
In fact, faith is not stamped as faith, repentance is not accepted as repentance until it




104         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
lives and moves in definite obedience to the
will of God. Hence an external act is associated with the internal conviction, in the
Gospel conditions. " He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved."  "Repent and be
baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins."  "Repent and turn, that
your sins may be blotted out." Baptism is,
therefore, but faith and repentance, brought
out of doors-translated into the language
of life. If this were appreciated it would
prevent a great deal of harping on a class
of texts where faith is spoken of without
adjuncts, or in opposition to justification by
law. It is, in all these cases, contemplated,
not merely as an internal conviction, but as
a living principle —faith translated into obedience. There is certainly a fitness in meeting with pardon, at the threshold of life,
when in the very fact of emerging into a
life of obedience, the sinner whom  God
would forgive in order that he may live a
life of faithfulness. The truth i1 that we
never know ourselves, whether we are really
wedded to a cause until we comimit ourselves to it in definite act, which caniot be
honorably recalled. We may stand on -the
brink of the Rubicon, and believe, and resolve, and wish, and promise, and yet never
enter. It is the crossing of the Rubicon that
settles the question. Would the American
Revolution ever have been proceeded with
through all it8.disagter.s and despairs, had




LETTERS.              105
not the Declaration of Independence been
signed, and its signers thus openly pledged
to all its consequences? Is there no meaning in a soldier's act of enlistment? none in
the ordinance of marriage? none in the act
of naturalization?  In all these we recognize the principle which we have mentioned-the necessity of associating external
consecration, with internal conviction, in
cases where a new life is the end that is
sought. THIS is not arbitrary.
4. We have a material organism. The soul
is reached through the avenues of sense.
The soul also puts forth its power through
the physical organization. It needs, therefore, in harmony with this organization,
sensible tests-tangible evidences —and, in
a great crisis of life, such as conversion, definite external acts of consecration, which
will not only satisfy a present want, but enable Memory, by the power of association, to
erect a landmark in the wilderness of life.
Call this weakness if you will. We doubt
not that ordinances, as enjoined on us, are a
merciful condescension to our weakness.
Pure spirits may not need ordinances; but
men in the flesh do need them. Even Abraham, with the promise of Jehovah sounding
in his ears that the land of Canaan should
be his, had to ask, in the weakness of his
nature, "Whereby shall I know that I shall
inherit it?"  Not until the altar was built,
the sacrifices divided in twain, and the




106         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
Shekinah had met him between the divided
parts, in solemn ratification of the covenant,
did he know that he should inherit the land.
God does not need ordinances-but man
needs them.  Many are startled that in this
nineteenth century, we should witness a
backward march into the ritualism  of the
dark ages. But it at least shows that there
is something in human nature that seeks the
aid of sensuous media of communication
with the spiritual. All the boasted light of
Rationalism  cannot prevent it. And in the
end we shall witness the spectacle of men
who have forsworn all forms and rites plunging into all the blind excesses of Ritualism,
to escape from the dreary and unbearable
isolation into which the formless and godless
theories of Rationalism had led them.
That this tendency of our nature can be
and has been terribly perverted, is beyond
question. But not in the New Testament.
The Gospel has few forms, few and simple
ordinances. It is pre-eminently a spiritual
religion; yet one of the proofs of its divine
origin is, that while seeking the highest
spiritual ends, it does not ignore, but regulates, the craving of our nature for the external aid of ordinances.
There is, therefore, nothing superstitious,
nothing irrational, in Scriptural baptism.
It is adapted to the wants of our being, and
to the needs of the Church and of the world.
Its just significance may, in the light of




LETTERS.               107
what has been said, be learned from a few
considerations.
1. It is initiatory. It is, therefore, one of
those germinal acts which has in it all of the
life that is to be: an act whose meaning is
never exhausted while life lasts. It is impossible to express in words the solemnity
and sublimity of an act which gives away
a life and a destiny so that it can never, in
honor, be recalled.
2. It is, there/ore, to be performed but once.
An act that is to be performed but once in
a lifetime has, for that very reason, peculiar
significance and interest. It ought, of all
acts, to be the most deliberate, and accurate
in form as well as in spirit; and should be
performed in such intelligence, sincerity,
and devotion, as may make it to us, living
and  dying, a bright, and  fragrant, and
blessed memory.
3. Its office is to change our spiritual relationships. The use of the preposition eis in connection with it is quite significant. This
preposition is indicative of motion toward,
to, on, or into. And when we read, " Baptizing them into the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;" "baptized into Christ;" "baptized into his death;"
it is the clearest expression of its intention
to bring the subject into new relations to the
Godhead, and to identify him with Christ
and his death, as a personal participant in
the blessings of the great salvation.




108         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
4. It is the only act with which are associated the names of Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. The glory and the benedictions of
the Godhead rest on this ordinance as on no
other-for in the peculiar place it occupies,
it brings us face to face with Deity, in the
threefold manifestations of Father, Son, and
Spirit, and establishes new and permanent
relations with the Father as our Father, with
the Son as our Brother and Redeemer, with
the Holy Spirit as our Comforter, the earnest
of our inheritance.
While, then, there is no reason in the Scriptures for our enslavement to burdensome
forms, there is abundant reason for cheerful
submission to an ordinance which meets us
in the great crisis of life with the most beautiful adaption to our circumstances and our
wants.
LETTER XIV.
A change of state.
Having vindicated the ordinance of baptism from the complaint that it is a mere
arbitrary rite, and shown the necessity of
such a rite to associate the external with the
internal, and to be to ourselves as well as to
others an evidence of our actual entrance on
a new life; we propose to speak more fully,
in this number, of its office in effecting a
change of state or relationship.
Your attention has been called to the force




LETTERS.              109
of the Greek preposition eis, as indicating
motion out of one place or state into another.
Our preposition into is, when it is used in
this sense, its fair equivalent. We constantly
use it to denote the transition from one state
to another: "Sworn into office;" "Mustered
into service;" " Married into the family," etc.
We understand by this that the appointed
oath, marriage ceremony, or whatever else
is spoken of in such phraseology, effected a
transition of the parties out of one state into
another. Before the oath was taken, the
person did not occupy the office, immediately
on taking it he did occupy it. Before the
process of enlistment was gone through with,
the man was not a soldier in the service of
the State-could not perform the duties nor
claim the rights of a soldier; immediately
on its completion all a soldier's duties, obligations, rights, and privileges were his. Before the marriage ceremony is performed,
the man is not a husband-the woman is not
a wife; her name, her fortune, her right to
dispose of herself, are still her own; but the
moment the ordinance of marriage is obeyed,
the relations of the parties are changed; lifelong obligations rest on them which, a moment before, were not yet assumed, and
consequences involving name, fortune, home,
and all that makes up earthly life and destiny, result from submission to that one ordinance. There are no degrees in stdte. A person is either married or unmarried; a citizen




110         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
or an alien; in office or out of office. The
preparation for this new state may be gradual, but the change of state is instantaneous.
And thus so far as state is concerned, a man
is a Christian or not a Christian; a citizen
of the kingdom or an alien; a member of
God's family or a stranger, justified or condemned; reconciled or unreconciled; sanctified or unsanctified; saved or lost. The
preparation for citizenship, for justification,
for adoption, may be gradual. Faith and
repentance involve this preparation. But
the actual entrance on the new state is the
work of a moment.
Let us call your attention, just here, to
a very significant passage of Scripture.
"Wherefore remember * * * that at that
time ye were without Christ, being aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from  the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world. But now,
in Christ Jesus, ye who were formsrly far off
are made nigh by the blood of Christ. * * *
Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the
saints, and of the household of God." Eph.
ii. 11-22. Here, most evidently there is described a change of state; not merely a change
of disposition and character, but a change
of relationship. They had been aliens-they
were nowcitizens; they had been strangersthey were now members of the household;
they had been out of Christ-they were now




LETTERS.              111
in Christ Jesus.  There was a moment and an
act in which that change had been effected.
Take another text.  " Wherefore, my
brethren, ye also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ, that ye should be
married to another, even to him who is raised
fiom the dead, that we should bring forth
fruit unto God. For when we were in the
flesh [under the law] the motions of sins,
which were by the law, did work in our
members to bring forth fruit unto death.
But now we are delivered from the law, that
being dead wherein we were held, that we
should serve in newness of the spirit and
not in the oldness of the letter." Rom. vii.
4-6. Here again is described a change of
state-a marriage to Christ of these believers.
There was a time, then, when they were unmarried-an act by which they were married-and a moment in which that act took
them out of their uncovenanted state and
brought them into the marriage covenant.
Again: "Salute Andronicus and Junia,
my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who
are of note among the apostles; who also
were in Christ before me." Rom. xvi. 7.
Yet again: " Who hath delivered us from
the power of darkness, and hath translated us
into the kingdom of his dear Son."  Col. i. 13.
Now under whatever imagery we regard
this new state to which the Gospel invites
us-as a kingdom, a family, a church, a
body or a covenant, we are introduced into




112         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
it by that initiatory act called baptism. Is
ita kingdom? We "enter into the kingdom " by being born of water and of the Spirit.
John iii. 5. Is it a church? "Then they
that gladly received the word were baptized,
and the same day were added to them about
three thousand souls." Acts ii. 41. Is it a
body? "In one Spirit are we all baptized
into one body." 1 Cor. xii. 13. Is it a covenant?  Those who were "strangers from
the covenants of promise" are made children of the covenant "in Christ," by being
"baptized into Christ."  Is it a family?
" Ye are all the children of God by faith in
Christ Jesus, for as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Gal.
iii. 26, 27.
Hence whatever blessings are in the covenant-in citizenship-in adoption-in marriage to Christ-to all these blessings baptism brings us, since baptism is the consummation of the process of conversion, and the
solemn act which brings us into covenant
relationship to God. There is no need for
so much verbal criticism  on the passages
which declare baptism to be "for the remission of sins."  It does not rest on the precise rendering of a preposition in two or
three texts. For when it is established that
baptism  is initiatory-that it changes our
state-it is settled beyond reach of cavil
that it conducts us to the remission of sins
and to all other covenant mercics. Is re



LETTERS.             113
mission of sins a covenant blessing?  Most
certainly. See Heb. viii. 13. Then, if baptism brings us into covenant, baptism is certainly for remission of sins. If reconciliation, justification, adoption, sanctification,
describe, in different phases, the Gospel state,
then all the blessings described in these various terms come to us through baptism as
the ordinance which brings us into this
state.
But let it not be forgotten, in all this, that
baptism has no significance except as an act
of faith-as an act of self-consecration.  It
has no meaning otherwise. But more of
this when we come to speak of the subjects
of this ordinance.
Let us ask you, my dear sir, to dismiss
the rationalistic cant about slavish forms,
and ask yourself whether you are in Christ
or out of Christ-a stranger or a child of
God-an alien or a citizen of the kingdom?
On the one side all is bankruptcy and ruinon the other are "righteousness, peace, and
joy in the Holy Spirit."
Permit us to say, in concluding this paper,
that there is no such difference of sentiment
over the design of baptism as many think.
The great majority of the Christian world,
of all ages, give it the full significance with
which this essay clothes it. The difference
is, that through the prevalence of infant
membership, the ordinance  has come to
have, in itself, the meaning which the Scrip8




114          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
tures only assign it as an act of faith. While
it has been degraded into a mere ceremony,
there is still claimed for it all the virtue
and efficacy of an act of self-consecration to
God.
LETTER XV.
What is Baptism?-Sophistry covered up by the phrase "modes
of baptism "-the Literal, Metaphorical, and Symbolical uses
of the word.
In treating of what is generally termed
the " mode of baptism," we are well aware
that to persons of rationalistic tendencies it
seems a very trifling discussion-a dispute
over a mere form.  It certainly is a cause
of regret that there should be so protracted
a controversy over such a  question; but
since the necessity is on us of vindicating
the integrity of a divine ordinance, we desire to say, in answer to your objections,
1. That in view of what we have already
developed of the design of baptism, it is an
ordinance in which we publicly acknowledge the supreme authority of the Lord
Jesus, and disown all other spiritual lordships.  The language of the candidate for
baptism is, "I renounce all self-will and all
other wills, and desire only to know and do
the will of the Lord Jesus."  Evidently,
therefore, the only inquiry here is, "Lord,
what wilt thou have me to do?" The very
object of baptism is defeated if the will of




LETTERS.              115
the candidate or the will of a religious sect
is substituted for the will of our only Lord
and Savior.  If men wish to be baptized
" in the name "-by the authority-of a human leader or of a sect, let the will of that
leader or sect be consulted as to the mode
of initiation;'but as long as we desire to be
baptized "in the name of Jesus Christ," His
will must settle the question.
2. The ordinances of the Gospel are few.
It is worth while to keep them as they were
given. If there were no direct authority involved in settling the question, there would
still be a propriety in observing them as
they were delivered.  "Now I praise you,
brethren, that ye remember me in all things,
and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to
you." 1 Cor. xi. 2. And if this is a just occasion of praise, it is a just occasion of censure when the ordinances are not kept as
they were delivered. Hence, when, in the
same chapter, the apostle points out their
perversion of the Lord's Supper, he says,
"'I praise you  not."  Moreover, if it is
important that all the ordinances be kept
"as they were delivered," there is a special
reason for accuracy in the case of baptism,
since it can rightfully be observed but once;
and if worth attending to at all, it is worth
attending to with the utmost precision, so
that one need never afterward be distressed
with doubts or burdened with regrets.
We gsk, then, What is baptism?  What is




116         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
that act which we thus designate?  We are
told that sprinkling, pouring, and immersion
are "modes of baptism."  If this be so, we
ask, What is that thing of which these are modes?
Let baptism itself be defined. We are not
now speaking of' Christian baptism -but
baptism back of all modes and all special
appropriations. We press this question in
vain on the advocates of sprinkling and
pouring. The sophistry of their arguments
about the "modes" appears the moment you
press them for a definition of the word itself. Surely, if there are modes of baptism,
the baptism itself is one thing, and the
modes another. And certainly the act called
baptism can be defined. It cannot be that
our Lord has chosen as descriptive of the
initiating act in his religion, a word which
is incapable of definition. It is not to be
easily believed that he would choose a word
whose meaning was not definite and unmistakable. We have no difficulty in defining
the term. We say that it means immersion.
We are willing to test this definition in all
the uses of the word, classical and Scriptural-literal, metaphorical, poetical, or symbolical. And when it is denied that this is
a correct definition, we demand that those
who find fault with it shall furnish a better.
We press on them the question-not what
are the modes of baptism, but-What is baptism?  Tell us the meaning of the word.
Every attempt to meet this demand will re



LETTERS.             117
veal the weakness and sophistry of the advocates of rantism.
Sometimes we are told that baptism  is
"the application of water in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."  But this
will not do, for water has no necessary association with baptism. It has a necessary
association with Christian baptism. But we
are seeking a definition of the word, without
adjuncts. The word was in. use before the
Christian ordinance was established. What
did it mean?  That it did not mean "the
application.of water," is evident fiom the
fact that it is used when water has no association with it; as, for instance, the baptism
in the Holy Spirit-in fire-in sufferings.
There may be a baptism in blood-in oilin wine-in any liquid.
Again, we are told, it means to wash-to
purify. Now, metonymically, in its Christian
application, it may mean to wash; but this
does not define the term: for it would not
do to say that a person was washed in fire,
or washed in a mire!
It is argued, we are aware, that the New
Testament sense of the word is different
ifrom  its classical sense. This is possible.
But it must have had a classical meaning at
the time it was appropriated to a special use
in the New Testament. And when that
meaning is found, there will be discovered,
in that meaning, some reasonable ground
for the sense in which it was appropriated




118          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
in the Gospel. So again we press the demand-define the word. If sprinkling is a
mode of baptism, then sprinkling does not
define the action. So of pouring. So of immersion. Let the action itself be defined.
We are anxious to see the anti-immersionists
undertake it.
We have said that baptism means immersion. We propose, in this letter, to test this
definition. We must necessarily condense
our statements of fact, which cover too
much ground to be given in detail. And as
we write for popular use, we cannot enter
largely into learned criticisms. We must
give results, rather than the processes by
which they have been reached. Yet if, in
attempting this necessary condensation, we
furnish statements and conclusions that do
not seem to our readers to be supported by
sufficient testimony, we have only to say
that we are responsible for the statements
we make, and will be forthcoming with
proofs'whenever these statements are challenged.
I. As we are treating of a Greek word, it is
proper first to inquire into its classical use.
That the Greek lexicons generally give to
dip, plunge, immerse, as its literal and primary
signification, is a fact beyond question. We
could fill columns with testimonies to this
point. But at present we refer to the standard Greek-English lexicon of the present
time-Liddell & Scott's. We subjoin a state



LETTERS.                  119
ment of the plan on which this lexicon was
constructed:
"Our plan has been that marked out and begun by
Passow, viz: to make each Article a History of the usage
of the word referred to. That is, we have always sought
to give the earliest authority for its use first. Then, if
no change was introduced by later writers, we have left
it with that early authority alone-adding, however,
whether it continued in general use or no, and taking
care to specify whether it was common to Prose and
Poetry, or confined to one only. In most cases the word
will tell its own story; the passages quoted will themselves say whether it continued in use, and whether it
was used or no both in Poetry and Prose; for there are
few words that do not change their signification more or
less in the downward course of Time, and few, therefore,
that do not need many references.-Preface, p. xx.
It is very instructive to trace, in a lexicon
on this plan, the changes in the meaning of
words, often  very  numerous  and  subtle.
But it is remarkable that in the case of baptizo, there is no such history of change. It
is given,'1. To dip repeatedly; of ships, to
sink them.  Pass.  To bathe; soaked in wine;
over head and ears in debt; a boy drowned with
questions.  2. To draw water.  3. To baptize.
N. T. Hence,. Baptisis, a dipping, bathing,
drawing  water, baptism.   Baptisma, that
which is dipped."
I-n the first edition of this lexicon, we believe that wash, pour, and sprinkle, were incinded among the meanings of this word; but
in'subsequent editions they were dropped
as;unworthy to stand the test of classical
usage.




120            FIRST PRINCIPLES.
From  Dr. Conant's treatise'on baptizeinz
we give the summing up, after a full examination  of all the lexical and grammatical
uses of it:
1. From the preceding examples it appears that the
ground-idea expressed by this word is, to put into or
under water (or other penetrable substances), so as entirely to immerse or submerge; that this act is always
expressed in the literal application of the word, and is
the basis of the metaphorical uses. This ground idea
is expressed in English, in the various connections where
the word occurs, by the terms (synonymous in this
ground-element) to 7nimerse, immerge, submerge, to dip,
to plunge, to imbathe, to whelm.
" 2. T.hese examples are drawn from writers in almost
every department of literature and science; from poets,
rhetoricians, philosophers, critics, historians, geographers; from  writers on husbandry, on medicine, on
natural history, on grammer, on theology; from almost
every form and; style of composition, romances, epistles,
orations, fables, odes, epigrams, sermons, narratives;
from writers of various nations and religions, Pagan,
Jew and Christian, belonging to many different countries,
and through a long succession of ages.
" 3. In all, the word has retained its ground-meaning,
without change. From the earliest age of Greek literature down to its close (a period of about two thousand
years), not an example has been found in which the word
has any other meaning. There is no instance in which it
signifies to make a partial application of water by affusion
or sprinkling, or to cleanse, to purify, apart from  the
literal act of immersion as the means of cleansing or
purifying."-~Meaning and Use of Baptizein, p. 58.
Let us see, then, whether this ground-idea
is retained in New Testament usage. We
will look -at some examples of the various
uses of the word, literal, metaphorical, symbolical.




LETTERS.              121
II.-In law, in giving commands, or asserting authority, we look for words to be
used in their literal sense, unless it involves
an absurdity; or there is something in the
context to require another meaning to be
assigned to them. Hence, when we read,
" Go teach all nations, baptizing them," etc.;
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved;" "Repent and be baptized, every one
of you;" "Arise, and be baptized, and wash
away thy sins," etc.; we naturally seek the
literal meaning of the word, and read, " Go,
teach all nations, immersing them."  "He
that believeth  and is immersed shall be
saved." "Repent and be immersed every one
of you."  "Arise and be immersed."  This
certainly involves no absurdity.  Nor is
there anything in the context requiring a
departure from the literal meaning of the
word. True, we are told that three thousand
could not be immersed in one day; and that
there was not water in Jerusalem  to immerse them in. But this is mere caviling.
For, 1. Enough baptizers could be delegated
by the apostles from the one hundred and
twenty disciples to immerse three thousand
leisurely and becomingly in a very few
hours; and, 2. Wherever people can live,
water can be had for such purpose —certainly in a city with immense pools such as
Jerusalem had, and with a temple service
that required large supplies of water. The
literal meaning of the word makes good




122         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
sense, in its preceptive form, for persons can
be immersed; while the command to sprinkle, or to pour, must relate to the water, and
not to the person. You sprinkle water, pour
water, but immerse the person; and as the
person and not the water, is to be baptized,
there is an entire fitness in the literal meaning of the word-while sprinkle or pour requires a usage of the term which, to say the
least, is very doubtful.
When we come to the narrative of the
obedience rendered to this commandment,
every thing favors the literal meaning of
the word. Candidates were baptized "in
water."  Matt. iii. 11. We know that the
common version  says "with water;" but
there is no good reason for this rendering
of the preposition en, especially in view of
the fact that in the 6th verse the same preposition is rendered in: "and were baptized
of him in Jordan." It would hardly do to
say that they were sprinkled or poured with
the river Jordan! The most eminent pedobaptist critics yield this point. They were
baptized, then, in the river. John baptized
in Enon, "because there was much water
there." John iii. 23. Philip and the eunuch "went down both into the water," and
"came up out of the water." Acts viii. 38,
39. All this is easy, natural, and perfectly
intelligible, in view of immersion; it is language which has to be tortured to compel it
into consistency with sprinkling or pouring.




LETTERS.              123
There is indeed a use of the term in Mark
vii. 1, 2, 3, and Luke xi. 37, 38, which is
supposed to involve the idea of immersion
in difficulty. They speak of the baptism of
cups, pots, brazen vessels and couches, and
of the baptism -of persons after returning
from  market, and before meals. We can
not go into a full examination of the texts
here. Suffice it to say that neither impossibility nor absurdity is involved in the literal application of the term in these instances. The immersion of cups, pots, and
brazen vessels certainly is not absurd; the
immersion of couches on which they had reclined, to cleanse them  from  legal defilement, is in harmony with Jewish teachings,
both in the law and in the traditions. Regarding things unclean, the law said: "Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall
make it go through the fire, and it shall be
clean; nevertheless, it shall be purified with
the water of separation: and all that abideth
not the fire, ye shall make go through the
water."  Numb. xxxi. 23. "A bed that is
wholly defiled," says Maimonides, "if he
dips it part by part, it is pure. If he dips
the bed in the pool, although the feet are
plunged in the deep clay, at the bottom of
the pool, it is clean. What shall he do with
a pillow or bolster of skin? He must dip
them and lift them up by the fiinges." Respecting the baptism  of persons coming
home from market, Dr. Carson has well said,




124         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
" Ifan Egyptian, on touching a swine, would
run to the river and plunge in with his
clothes, is it strange that superstitious Pharisees should immerse themselves after the
pollution of the market?"
No reason, then, appears for departing
from the literal meaning of the word in its
preceptive and narrative uses, in the New
Testament. Scarcely less convincing than
classic and scriptural usage and lexical definition, as to the literal meaning of baptizo,
is the metaphorical use of the word in the
New Testament. You know with what frequency and force the word immerse is employed metaphorically, to denote the overwhelming abundance of an influence or power; as, immersed in pleasure, immersed in
sorrow, immersed in debt, etc. The force
of the term when thus employed, is derived
fiom its literal meaning. It carries a meaning which does not and cannot belong to
sprinkle or pour, in such a connection.
Who would think to express an overwhelming sorrow, by the phrase "sprinkled with
sorrow," or even by the phrase, "poured
with sorrow?"  The incongruity is at once
apparent.  But you can fully express an
overwhelming sorrow by the phrase "immersed in sorrow," because the idea of overwhelming is at once suggested by the word
immerse.
1. Now we have just such a metaphorical
use of the word baptize, in the New Testa



LETTERS.                 125
ment.  The overwhelming sorrow  and anguish  of the Savior's last sufferings  are
called a baptism.' Are you able to drink
of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  Matt. xx. 22.  " But I have a
baptism  to be baptized with, and how am  I
straitened till it be accomplished?"  Luke
xii. 50.  That the sorrows of the  Sufferer
were not light, as sprinkling or pouring
would suggest, but deep and overpowering
we surely do not need to prove.  Yet this
word baptism  is chosen to express forcibly
their  overwhelming  power  and  fullness.
Why?. No other reason can be given than
that the  word  literally  means  immersion.
This at once suggests itself to every reader,
and is uniformly admitted even by the stoutest advocates of sprinkling.  We subjoin
two or three pedobaptist commentaries on
this text..BENGEL says: " Baptism, among the Jews, was a thing
to be shuddered at, inasmuch as the whole body was
dipped into a stream, however cold. Accordingly by
both words the passion of Christ is denoted: by the cup,
his inward passion; the cup is therefore placed first; by
the baptism, chiefly his external passion. He was distended inwardly with his passion (referring to the cup;
he was filled with the cup of anguish); he was covered
over (as a person baptized is with water) with his passion."- Gnomnon, Mark x. 38.
ADAM CLARKE, on Matt. xx. 22, says: " Baptism among
the Jews, as it was performed in the coldest weather,
and the persons were kept under water for some time,
was used not only to express death, but the most cruel
kind of death."




126           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
"I have indeed a most dreadful baptism to be baptized with, and know that I shall shortly be bathed, as it
were, in blood, and plunged in the most overwhelming
distress."-Doddridge, on Luke xii. 50.
DR. VAN OOSTERZEE, in Lange's Commentary, Luke
xii. 50, says: " Over against the heavenly fire which he
sends, stands the earthly water of the suffering which
previously to that must roll entirely over him. To be
baptized,-An image of the depth and intensity of this
suffering, like a baptism performed by immersion."
These are only specimens of the general
style of comment on these texts. It is not
for us to say how these men could reconcile
these views with their practice of sprinkling
for baptism.  It is very clear that if the
word figuratively means such an utter overwhelming, it can literally mean nothing less
than immersion.
2. A second instance of the metaphorical
use of the term is found in Matt. iii. 11, and
kindred passages. That there was no literal baptism of these persons in the Holy
Spirit or in fire, we presume no one will ask
us to prove. That the baptism in the Holy
Spirit denoted the abundant and overwhelming influence of the Spirit, which Christ was
to impart, is generally admitted; and that
this was suggested by the literal immersion
in water, we have no doubt. The baptism
in fire appears to describe, like the baptism
of sufferings, a coming calamity, perfectly
overwhelming.  The chaff was to be burned
up in fire; the tares were to be cast into a
furnace of fire;-all bold images to denote




LETTERS.               127
the deep and terrible calamities that, like a
flood, would sweep over the ungodly. Great
stress is laid by affusionists on the fact that
the Spirit was to be "poured out," and strong
efforts are made to press this phrase into the
service, as if it was used on purpose to denote the mode of baptism.  This, however,
is unworthy of serious consideration. The
pouring and the immersion are alike figurative when applied to the mission  of the
Spirit.  Pouring out, we presume, is employed to denote that the Spirit was to descend from heaven; and immersion to denote
the abundance of the gift bestowed. In all
this there is fitness and beauty, and nothing
but a blind, partisan spirit would ever seek
to disturb or mar it.  Listen to Dr. Lechler,
the translator and commentator of Acts, in
Lange's splendid series:
"Baptized with the Holy Ghost.-The gift of the Spirit
is here termed a Baptism, and is thus characterized as
one of the most abundantj ullness, and as a submersion in
a purifying and life-giving element. The term and the
image are both derived from the water-baptism of
John."
This, too, is furnished merely as a specimen of the comment of men of candor and
learning, and who are happily far removed
from the belittling and perverting influences
that surround, as with an atmosphere, the
denominational pettifogger.  We could fill
much space with equally candid testimonies,




128           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
but deem  it unnecessary.  We pass on to
consider
The symbolical use of the word. That it
should have a symbolical sense, we would
at once suppose, on learning that it belongs
to an initiatory rite.  It is customary to
give a symbolical significance to rites of initiation. Let us read, then, Rom. vi. 3, 4.
"Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized
into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that
like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life.
"Buried with him in baptism, wherein also we are
raised with him, through faith in the power of God that
raised him from the dead."-Col. ii. 12.
There is no need of mistake here. "Buried
with him  in immersion, wherein you also
are raised with him," is good sense. But
" buried with him in sprinkling," or " buried
with him in pouring," is nonsense. It is not
at all surprising that Luther, Calvin, Wesley, and a host of pedobaptist critics and
commentators, should at once recognize the
allusion  to immersion  in  these  passages.
The only wonder is that any one should be
so blinded by prejudice or so corrupted by
party zeal, as to be unable to see it.
We will only add to these facts and reasonings, a brief historical statement.  For
all the facts stated below there is ample testimony; indeed, the candid and intelligent




LETTERS.              129
of whatever party, will rarely be found to
dispute any of them.
1. The practice of the primitive church
was immersion.
2. The practice in the time of the apostolic
Fathers was immersion.
3. The practice of professed Christians
until the fourteenth century, was immersion, except in the baptism  of the sick.
With Roman Catholics the change rests, not
on scripture, but on church authority.
4. The practice of the Greek Church has
always been immersion.
5. The Reformers, from  Luther down,
while frankly admitting that baptism  was
immersion, and that such was the practice
of the primitive church, were led mainly by
the influence of Calvin and his associates to
substitute sprinkling for immersion, on the
ground that the church had the right to
change forms. It is the Roman Catholic
doctrine of Church authority.
6. The substitution of sprinkling for immersion by the English Presbyterians, when
the Directory for Worship was substituted
for the rubrick of the Church of England,
was accomnplished by the casting vote of the
Moderator of the Assembly-Dr. Lightfoot.
The English ritual required that the child
should be dipped in the font.  This the
Presbyterians cast aside, and declared that
"sprinkling was not onlylawful but sufficient,' by a vote of 25 to 24.
9




130        FIRST PRINCIPLES.
7. While there is conscientious opposition
to sprinkling and pouring, on the part of
immersionists, on the ground of an invasion
of divine authority by human commandments and traditions; and while there is
continual doubt and fear on the part of
thousands of pious persons about their
sprinkling; there is no doubt whatever in regard
to immersion. It is, without dispute, the only
end of controversy on this question-the
only baptism that all qan accept; and should
therefore be at once recognized by all who
profess to follow the Lord Jesus, as the " one
baptism " which meets all demands, ends all
controversies, unites all believers, and buries
the doubts of those to whom sprinkling and
pouring have been a source of doubt and
perplexity,
LETTER XVI.
The subject of Baptism..
Before we close our investigation of the
question:of Baptism, we must inquire as to
its proper subjects. A very few paragraphs
could have disposed of this whole question
of baptism-mode, subjects, and design-had
it not been for the protracted eontroversies.
of the past, and the confusion into which thO
minds of honest inquirers have been throwna..
This necessitates a careful examination of
the subject, in the light of the'New Testa



LETTERS.                  131
ment, as far removed as possible from the
disputations of modern times.  We say, in
the light of the NEW   TESTAMENT-because
baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, and not of the Old.  This truth kept
in mind, will rid the question of half its difficulties. It is well expressed in your old
Standards; as, for instance, in the Westminster Confession, chap. xxviii.
"Baptism  is a sacrament of the New Testament,
ordained by Jesus Christ, not only forothe solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church,
but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant
of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration,
of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God
through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life; which
sacrament is, by Christ's own appointment, to' be continued in his Church until the end of the world."
In the Exposition of the Confession, published by the
Presbyterian Board of Publication, we have the following comment on the section which we have:quoted:
"Baptism was not formerly appointed as a perpetual
ordinance in the New Testament Church until after the
resurrection of Christ."
We are, then, in all consistency, relieved
from  the necessity for seeking in the Old
Testament for authority for an ordinancewhether it regards action, subjects, or design-which was not instituted  until long
after the Old Testament canon was completed. We shall look in vain to Abraham
or Moses for a knowledge of that which was
not appointed "until after the resurrection
of Christ." This accords entirely with what
was written in our first letter touching the




132         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
New Testament superseding the Old, and of
its having no force until after the death of
the testator. It is in vain, then, the advocates of infant membership take us back to
the Jewish Church, and beyond that to the
time of Abraham. We are inquiring about
an ordinance of the New Testament. That
infant membership was: established in one
of the covenants made with Abraham (Gen.
xvii.), and that it was incorporated into the
law of Moses (John vii. 22, 23), is beyond
dispute. But does it belong to the "New
Testament Church" of which your Confession speaks?  That is the question. The
Kingdom of God, in its development, is compared'to the growth of grain —" first the
blade, then the ear, after that the full corn
in the ear." Under the Gospel dispensation
we look not for the straw, but for the' ripe
grain."' Mluch belonged to the preparatory
periods which perished when they expired.
The'old bottles" held the "old wine," but
Christ has taught us not to put the "new
wine" of the Gospel into the " old bottles" of
past dispensations. Matt.-ix. 16, 17. There
were "fleshly ordinances, imposed until the
time of reformation" (Heb. ix. 10), which
have lost all their sacredness.  We must
prove, then, that infant membership is found
in the new covenant, or allow it to pass away
with the effete ordinances of the Mosaic
economy. Let us read the New Covenant




LETTERS.                  133
and see if it warrants the idea of infant
membership among its provisions.
"But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry,
inasmuch as he is the mediator of a better covenant,
established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been
sought for a second. For, finding fault with them, he
saith, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with
the house of Judah; not according to the covenant which
I made with their fathers in the day when I took them
by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded
them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
saith the Lord:
"I will put my laws into their mind, and write them
in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they
shall be to me a people; and they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to
the greatest; for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more.
"In that he said, A new covenant, he hath made the
first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is
ready to vanish away."-Heb. viii. 6-13.
Now we think it cannot but strike the
reader with great force that the marked contrasts between the Old and New Testaments,
which is here sketched, involves the loss of
infant membership.
The law of the old covenant was not adapted to the understanding, nor written in
the hearts of its members. They came into
the covenant by a fleshly birth, and were
members of it before they had any under



134         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
standing or affections. They were governed
by external force, and they had an external
law, "written and engraven on stones," and
not in the heart. Its language was the language of stern authority, not addressed to
the heart: "thou shalt," or, "thou shalt
not"-enforced, not so much by gentle motives, enlisting the affections, as by the
majesty and power revealed in fire, and
darkness, and tempest, and earthquakes, and
thundering utterances which led those who
heard them to entreat that they might not
hear them any more. Even Moses said, "I
exceedingly fear and tremble." Heb. xii. 1821. All this belonged legitimately to that
stage in the development of the purposes of
God. There was a fitness in infant membership in a national, politico-ecclesiastical
dispensation; a fitness in circumcision-the
fleshly mark by which a fleshly membership
was attested; and a fitness in the stern authority of a law engraven in stones, to rule
a fleshly community. But the new covenant
is spiritual, not fleshly. Its blessings are
spiritual blessings- forgiveness, adoption,
and heirship of heavenly joys, not corn, and
wine, and oil in a fiuitful land. Hence its
members are spiritual members, who enter
it by a spiritual birth; and its laws are adapted to the understanding, and written
on the heart, because men are born again
through the quickening power of the truth
and love which they receive into the heart,




LETTERS.             135
and can only become members of the covenant as they.voluntarily and intelligently
accept its obligations and its blessings. Its
laws are not adapted to the understanding
of an infant, nor written in the heart of a
babe; therefore they do not and cannot
belong to this covenant as they did in the
former.
In the old covenant they did not know
the Lord when they became members of it.
They were born into it before they were
capable of knowing. Hence they had to
teach every man his neighbor and every
man his brother to know the Lord, as they
grew up to years of understanding.
But in the new covenant, they shall not
thus teach, "for all shall know me from the
least to the greatest."  Even the least in this
covenant, whatever may be his weakness or
ignorance in other matters, knows the Lord
in his own blessed experience, as a God of
mercy and love, because his sins are forgiven
and the spirit of adoption fills his new-born
soul with filial confidence and tone. He
comes into the covenant, because he has
learned of the mercy of God in Christ; and,
renouncing his sins, and putting his trust in
the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin
of the world, he is "baptized into Christ"is " born of water and of the Spirit " into the
new covenant, and seizes the blood-sealed
promise, "I will be merciful to your un



136           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
righteousness, and your sins and iniquities
I will remember no more."
Clearly, then, infant membership is not
only unrecognized in this covenant, but its
genius, spirit, and promises are such as to
exclude it entirely from the range of its provisions. Having learned the spiritual nature of the new covenant, and the inapplicability of its provisions to infants who have
neither understanding nor heart, we proceed
to inquire into the tenor of New Testament
teaching, to learn whether it is in harmony
with the genius and the requisitions of this
covenant.
I.-THE TEACHING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.
John was the harbinger of the Messiah.
He'prepared the way of the Lord."  In
announcing his coming reign, and " making
ready" a people for him, he necessarily foreshadowed the nature and character of the
approaching kingdom. He baptized. Whom
did he baptize? Those who came with the
plea, "We have Abraham  to our father?"
Such a plea would be valid f)r circumcision,
but it was not valid for baptism.
" Think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you that God is able
of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. And
now also the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every
tree, therefore, which bringeth not forth good fruit is
hewn down ani cast into the fire." —Matt. iii. 9-10.
Here is an entire repudiation of hereditary privileges-of the doctrine of fleshly




LETTERS.               137
descent as the basis of religious rights. But
this doctrine was the basis of infant membership and of covenant rights in the Jewish
church.  Infant membership and all covenant blessings growing out of fleshly descent, are, therefore, repudiated as not in
harmony with the spirit and the aim of the
coming kingdom  of heaven.  The axe, in
John's hands, is laid at the roots of this tree
of hereditary rights, and it is "cut down
and cast into the fire." The doctrine of personal responsibility is now asserted as necessary to an appreciation of the kingdom of
heaven. John will receive no one to baptism on the plea that he is a child of Abraham.  Every one must repent for himself,
and not claim the blessings of the kingdom
on the virtues of another.  His baptism was
the "baptism  of repentance for the remission of sins."  Publicans and harlots who
abandoned their sins, received this baptism;
Pharisees and Sadducees who put in the plea
that they were children of Abraham, were
rejected.  By this rule of personal repentance, infants were necessarily excluded.
II.-THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS.
1. His conversation  with  Nicodemus
(John iii.), touching the nature of his kingdom, and the conditions of entrance, ought
to settle this controversy forever.
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born again (from
above) he cannot see the kingdom of God.




138          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
" Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born
when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his
mother's womb, and be born?
" Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can
not enter into the kingdom of God. That which is
born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye
must be born again."-John iii. 3-7.
Here the leading thought is, that the
kingdom of God is spiritual, and can only be
entered by those who are spiritually prepared for it.  Nicodemus knew  only of a
fleshly birth. The law knew no other, as a
condition of entrance into the covenant.
But Jesus repudiates fleshly descent.  His subjects must be born from above-of the Spirit
as well as of water, or they cannot so much
as see this spiritual kingdom. Now whatever difficulties may cluster about this teaching in John iii., it has no difficulties so far
asour subject is concerned. No child has
a right to membership in this kingdom by
virtue of being born  of certain parents.
The ground must be taken of baptismal regenerationists-that the child in being baptized is really regenerated by the Spirit-or
it must be admitted that they are excluded
from the possibility of entrance into this
kingdom.  Baptism only admits those into
the kingdom  whom  the Spirit of God has
quickened  into  new  life, renewing  their
minds and hearts. But the Spirit does not
thus renew infants. They neither believe




LETTERS.              139
nor repent; they have neither love of God
nor hate of sin; they bring no thought, desire, or emotion toward spiritual life; it is
utter spiritual inanity. They cannot, therefore, see the kingdom of God. They have
been born of flesh, and are fleshly. But they
have not been born of the Spirit, and are not
spiritual. Baptism, therefore, cannot admit
them to the kingdom of God, for " except a
man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
2. His mission is thus described by John:
" He came unto his own, and his own received him
not; but as many as received him to them gave he power
to become sons of God-even to them that believe on
his.name."-John i. 11-12.
Now, these were all members of the old
covenant, and inherited all the blessings of
that covenant. Yet to them, when they believed, he gave power to become sons of God.
They were not children of God, therefore, by
virtue of their infant membership in that
old covenant.  They had to be regenerated.
They had to be born, "not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God." There is, therefore, a repudiation, by Christ, of all claims based on fleshly
descent and infant membership. Membership in his family depends on being "born
-of God."
3. The apostolic commission is the fountain of authority, so far as Christian baptism
is concerned. This reads:




140           FIRST PRINCIPLES.
" Go, teach all nations, baptizing them into the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;
teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have
commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world." —Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.
Or, as given by M/ark:
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to
every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned."Mark xvi. 15, 16.
Now, as the. duties of the commissioned
are limited by the language of their commission, so that they cannot rightfully go
beyond what is there defined to be their duties, it is evident that the apostles had no
authority to teach infant membership, or
practice infant baptism, unless that authority is here conferred on them. Is it, then,
found in this commission? They have here
authority,
a. To preach the Gospel.
b. To baptize believers.
c. To teach the baptized all the duties of
the Christian life.
But not one word about the baptism  of
infants.  Then  the apostles were without
authority to baptize any but believers. Unless it is found here, if it could be proved
that they baptized infants, it would simply
prove that they transcended their authority.
So forcibly is this felt, that pedobaptist commentators make a despairing effort to torture this commission into a meaming favor



LETTERS.               141
able to infant baptism.  Thus, when it is
said, " Go, teach all nations, baptizing them,"
matheetasate, here rendered teach, is rendered
disciple: " Go, disciple the nations baptizing
them:" that is, disciple them, by baptizing
them.  Or as Dr. Shaff argues, Disciple the
nations, having baptized them. He insists, with
Meyer and Alford, that the matheetfiein consists of two parts-the initiatory rite and
the subsequent teaching; and that the process of discipleship is from baptism to instruction- baptizontes and  didaskontes together
covering the ground marked out by the previous matheetusate. On this we remark:
1. This proves too much for them. For if
this be the meaning of the commission, then
the first duty of the apostles was to baptize
the people, whether infants or adults, and afterward to teach them. But this is more than
they are willing to admit. They must, then,
abandon this style of criticism.
2. The verb matheetio is found besides only
in the following instances in the New Testament. " Every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven." Matt. xxii. 15. " Who also
himself was Jesus' disciple." Matt. xxvii. 57.
"And had taught many."  Acts xvi. 21. Its
use in these passages gives no countenance
to such a construction.
3. Matheetusate and didaskontes, both rendered teach in the common version of Matt.
xxviii. 19, 20, are different terms.  Didasko
signifies to teach, to admonish, to direct; and




142            FIRST PRINCIPLES.
properly describes the didactical or preceptive instruction which is given in the school
of Christ.  While matheetio is evidently used
in the sense of making a disciple, or persuading him to enter the school of Christ.  This
is confirmed by the language of Mark, "Go
into all the world, and preach the Gospel to
every creature."   They were, then, 1. To
persuade men to become disciples by preaching the Gospel; 2. To baptize those whom
they thus persuaded; 3. To teach the baptized the duties of the Christian life.
There is, therefore, no authority in the
commission for baptizing infants, since the
only rendering which would support such
an idea would warrant and  command  the
baptism  of adults as well as infants, without
knowledge, faith, or repentance.
It may beinteresting, in closing the present Letter,:to quote a few pedobaptist admissions on this text.
Baxter, often prejudiced, but always candid, says:
"As for those that say they are discipled by baptizing,
and not before baptizing, they speak not the sense of the
text; not that which is true or rational-else why should
one be baptized more than another?  This is not like
some occasional historical mention of baptism; but it is
the very commission of Christ to his apostles for
preaching and baptizing; and purposely expresseth their
several works in their several places and order. Their
first task is, by teaching, to make disciples, which are
by Mark called believers. The second work is to baptize them, wheretois annexed the promise of their salvation.  The third work is, to teach them all other




LETTERS.                   143
things which are afterward to be learned in the school
of Christ.  To contemn this order is to renounce all rules
of order; for where can we expect to find it if not here?
I profess, my conscience is fully satisfied from this text,
that it is one kind of faith, even saving, that must go
before baptism; and the profession whereof the minister
must expect.-Disput. to Right of Sacr., p. 91, 149,
150.
Even  Calvin, in  his commentary on this
passage, is constrained to say: 
"Because Christ requires teaching before baptizing,
and will have believers only admitted to baptism, baptism does not seem  rightly administered unless faith
precede."
And the eminent RomanCatholic prelate,
Kenrick, holds this language:
"But then it may be asked, On what authority can
they be baptized?  If the commission do not regard
them, they are necessarily beyond its reach, and the
attempt to baptize is an unauthorized measure. I care
not to answer with some that the term rendered' teach'
may be understood of making disciples and initiating
into Christ. Neither shall I allege, as a matter of mere
inference, the divine command that each male infant,
on the eighth day after his birth, should be circumcised
and thus incorporated with the people of God: whence
it is said the Apostles must have understood that infants
should be admissible to the Christian rite which supersedes circumcision, especially inasmuch as the children
of proselytes are said to have been washed with water
when their parents were admitted to Jewish privileges.
I do not at all allow that the Apostleswere left to guess
their Master's will from any circumstance; but I maintain that they were instructed by Him in the sacred
functions intrusted to them, and were enlightened by
the Holy Spirit that they might not err. The divine
ordinance on this point, must be learned from  their
teaching and their acts, as recorded in Scripture; or, in




144          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
the want of decisive evidence of this sort, from the.
teaching and practice of the church which they founded."-Kenrick's Treatise on Baptism.
This lands us in the native region of infant baptism-Tradition. In that lumberhouse of ancient curiosities and monstrosities-that nest of all unclean and hateful
superstitions, this perversion of the truth
may be found in association with scores of
corrupt and corrupting innovations-the
offspring of the spirit of apostacy.
III. The Teaching and Practice of the Apostles.
1. We have already written so fully of
the significance of the events recorded in
Acts ii., when the will of our Lord and
Savior was opened and announced by the
executors-when the kingdom  was established, and its laws and ordinances for the
first time authoritatively announced, that
we will not need to repeat it here. Let us
see if, at this important epoch, when the
gates of the kingdom were unlocked by the
apostle Peter, infants entered in. We find,
on examination, that the order of the commission is scrupulously observed. a. They
preached the Gospel, that men might believe. b. They called on believers to repent
and be baptized. c. " Then they that gladly
received the word were baptized."  No infants
admitted here.  Will you say that, having
been circumcised, there was no need to practice a rite which came in tho room of cir



LETTERS.             145
cumcision? We answer, all the male adults
who were baptized had previously been circumcised; and if baptism came in the room
of circumcision, there was no need of any
of them being baptized!
2. The subsequent history of apostolic
labors is all in harmony with this. The
Samaritans, when they believed, "were baptized, both men and women." Acts viii. 12.
At the house of Cornelius, "the Holy Spirit
fell on all themn which heard the word."  They
spoke in various languages, and magnified
God. "Then. said Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized
who have received the Holy Spirit as well
as we?"  Acts x. 45-47. This is one of the
household baptisms! At Antioch "a great
number believed and turned to the Lord.
Acts xi. 21.  At Antioch in Pisidia, "as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed." Acts xiii. 48. At Iconium, "a great
multitude both of the Jews and also of the
Greeks, believed."  Acts xiv, 1. When Paul
and Barnabas returned from  an extensive
missionary tour, "they rehearsed all that
God had done with them, and how He had
opened the door of ftaith to the Gentiles."
Acts xiv. 27. The jailor believed in God,
with all his house, and believing, they were
baptized.  Acts xvi. 30-34.  At Corinth,
"Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue.
believed on the Lord with all his house; and
many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed,
10




146         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
and were baptized."  Acts xviii. 8. This is
the uniform  current of testimony through
the Acts of Apostles. Faith always preceded
baptism. Even in the cases of households,
it was households of believers.
3. In preaching and teaching, the apostles
speak of baptism always in such associations
and with such qualifications as to make
their language entirely inapplicable to infants.
In the commission it is associated with
faith; on the day of Pentecost, with repentance; in Samaria, it is nen and women that
are baptized after believing; those are bap.
tized who are "dead to sin," and who rise
to "newness of life;" Rom. vi. 2-4; if the
church is cleansed by the washing of water,
it is added, "through the word;" Eph. v. 26;
if we are saved by the washing of regeneration, it is immediately added, "and renewing of the Holy Spirit;" Titus iii. 5; if our
bodies are washed with pure water, in immediate connection with it, the heart is
sprinkled from an evil conscience; Heb. x.
22; and if baptism  is spoken of as saving
us, the salvation is defined to be "the answer of a good conscience toward God."
1 Pet. iii. 21. It is impossible to apply such
language as is always found associated with
baptism, to infants. It is ever an act of
faith.
It only remains that we notice some of
the more plausible arguments for infant




LETTERS.              147
membership. Not lhaving much space left,
we will pay attention to a few of the strongest; for if these are unsound, the feebler
ones are unworthy ofattention.
1. It is argued that infant membership is
older than the Jewish covenant, and did not
therefore perish with it.  It goes back to
Abraham's time (Gen. xvii.), and as the seal
of' spiritual blessings, is not interfered with
by the abrogation of the law of Moses.
To this we reply —
a. Although it began before the law, it
was established in anticipation of the law,
was incorporated with the law, and for 1,500
years rested on the authority of the law, and
of that only.  (See John vii. 22, 23.)  The
authority of patriarchal times gave way to
the authority of Moses; and when the authority of Moses, as lawgiver, ceased, circutcision necessarily ceased with it, unless
re-enacted by the new  Lawgiver, Christ
Jesus.
b. Circumcision did  not seal spiritual
blessings to the members of': that covenant.
To Abraham, individually, it was a seal of
the righteousness. of the faith which he had'
before he was circumcised  (Rom. iv. 11),
but it was this to none others, either adults
or infants, to whom  it was administered.
The covenant of circumcision secured the
land of Canaan, divine, protection in that
inheritance, and abundance of earthly good.
The spiritual blessings covenanted to Abra;



148         FIRST PRINCIPIES.
ham  were embraced in another covenant
(see Gen. xii.), which was confirmed, not by
circumcision, but by the oath of God. Compare Gen. xii. 1-3, and xxii. 15-18, with Gal.
iii. 8, 17, and Heb. vi. 13-18. The Gospel
engrosses the covenant of Gen. xii., and confers its blessings, through Christ, on the
children of faith, even as the law engrossed
the covenant of Gen. xvii., and conferred its
blessings on the children of the flesh.
2. Jesus said,'Suffer little children to
come to me, and forbid them  not, for of
such is the kingdom  of heaven."  Matt.
xix. 14.
Answer.-Such is a term  of comparison.
Of such is the kingdom, does not mean,.of
these is the kingdom, but of those who are
like these in certain particulars. Matt. xviii.
1-5 furnishes an illustration. A little child
was set in the midst of the disciples when
they were contending about who should be
greatest, and they were told, "Whosoever
shall humble himself as this little child, the
same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
But Christ's  "little  ones"  are  believers.
"Whoso shall offend one of these little ones
that believe in me," etc. Matt. xviii. 6.
Moreover, Christ did not baptize these
children, nor take them into church relations. He blessed them. Asneither baptism
nor church membership is in the premises,
neither of them can logically be in the conclusion.




LETTERS.              149
3. "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife
is sanctified by the husband; else were your
children unclean, but now are they holy."
1 Cor. vii. 14. It is argued that the child
of a believing parent is "holy" and therefore entitled to church membership.
Answer.-The unbelieving husband or wife
is-" holy," or "sanctified," in the same sense
and in the same way.  Hence if this proves
that the children have a right to church
membership on the faith of the parent, it
proves that the unbelieving husband or wife
has also a right to church membership, on
precisely the same ground! This proves
too much-therefore, nothing.
Paul argues with the members of the Corinthian Church who insisted that any of
their number who were married to heathen
partners should dissolve that relationship,
in this style: " The unbelieving husband or
wife sustains the same relation  to their
Christian partners that your children sustain to you. Your children are unbelievers,
and it is yet lawful for you to preserve your
relationship to them  unbroken.  Even so
may the believing wife preserve unbroken
her relationship to an unbelieving husband."
Observe, he says "your children," not "their
children;" thus proving that these children
of Christians sustained the same relation
to them that an unbelieving husband did
to a believing wife. Most evidently, then,




150         FIRST -PRINCIPLES.
these children were not in church relationship.
But we have furnished specimens enough
to show how weak and fallacious are these
objections.
It only remains to say that infant meimbership corrupts the purity of the church.
1. It loads unregenerate natures with the
responsibilities of religious life, without
their own consent.
2. It..breaks down, to the:extent of its
prevalence, the distinction  between  the
church and the world. If it were to prevail,
as it does in some instances, over a whole
nation, the distinction between the church
and the world is utterly lost,, and all the
crimes of the nation are.the crimes of the
church. HIt becomes an essential part ofthe
machinery for uniting Church and State,.and thus.aids in superinducing the mischiefs and outrages ever consequent on such
union.
It does not and cannot belong to that pure
spiritual institution which its F.ounder declared to be "not of this world."
As you hav.e revealed some rationalistic
sympathies, allow me to close;what I have
to say on the whole subject of baptism by.a
quotation from. Ecce Homo, whose.author,
whether a Rationalist or not, is evidently
viewing the mission of Jesus from the Rationalist's stand-point:




LETTERS.                 151
"When we consider the great contempt which Christ
constantly expressed for forms and ceremonies, and in
particular for those' washings' which were usual among
the Pharisees, we are prepared to find Him readily acceding to the request of Nicodemus, instead:of which he
shut the petitioner's mouth by an abrupt declaration
that there was no way into the Theocracy but through
baptism. The kingdom of God, he insisted, though it
had no locality, and no separation from the secular
states of mankind; though it had no law-courts, no lictors, and no fasces, was yet a true state.'Men were not
to make a light thing of entering it, to give their names
to the Founder at a secret interview, and immediately
return to their accustomed places of resort, and take
up the routine of secular life where it had been left.
Those who would enroll themselves among the citizens
of it, were to understand that they began their life anew,
as truly as if they had been born again. And lest the
Divine Society, in its contempt for material boundaries,
and for the distinctness which is given by unity of place,
should lose its distinctness altogether, and degenerate
into a theory, or a sentiment, or a devout imagination,
the initiatory rite of baptism, with its publicity and formality, was pronounced as indispensable to membership
as that:spiritual inspiration which is membership itself.
*   * *  The water in which they were bathed washed
away from them the whole unhallowed and unprofitable
past; they rose out of it new men into a new world, and
felt as though death were'behind:them, and they had
been born again into a higher state." 
This is not just the language in which we
would' choose to express our own convictions; but we give it to show  how, apart
from all partisan leanings, and even with a
daring purpose that respects no prejudices
of.the past, a candid mind is compelled to
recognize the significance and necessity of
this ordinance.




152          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
LETTER  XVII.
Privileges, Duties, Enjoyments, and Destiny of the Christian.
In concluding this series of Letters, it is
proper: to say something of the promises of
the Gospel-the relations into which it brings
us-and the obligations which we assume in
entering  into  these relations.  These we
must very briefly sketch, as the limits of our
concluding epistle compel brevity.
The order of the Gospel is-1. Faith.  2.
Obedience.  3. Enjoyment of Gospel blessings.  4. A Christian life.  5. A destiny of
immortality.  We have spoken of Faith and
Obedience.  It remains to speak of the enjoyments of the Christian, and the life he is
to live.
Concerning the promises, we notice,
1.-The forgiveness of sins.-In the fullest
sense, the baptized believer receives the forgiveness of all past sins; in a sense so ample
that it is called justification-that is, he is
accepted ii Christ, and through the atonement of the Lamb of God, as if he had never
sinned at all. His sins are " covered."  His
faith in the atoning sacrifice is counted to
him for righteousness. The covenant promise is sealed:to him: "I will be merciful to
your, unrighteousness, and your sins and
iniquities I, will remember no more."  In
the law there was a remembrance of sins
made every year. (Lev. xvi.)  In the Gospel




LETTERS.              153
it is an "everlasting  righteousness"-  a
"perfect redemption."
2.-Adoption.-The justified believer is
taken into the family of God-privilege is
given to him to become a child of God; the
highest rank to which a created being cai
be elevated. Divine- protection, guidance
and support are assured to him-not to save
him  from the sorrows and tribulations of
mortal life, but-to lead him safely through
all these to the attainment of everlasting
life. The special providence of God is not
for ease, wealth, or safety here, but that all
things may work together for the filTal good
the "endless life."
3.-The Holy Spirit.-Along with the remission of sins, the Gospel promises "the
gift of the Holy Spirit." Acts ii. 38. The
Spirit was to abide "for ever."  By the
spirit of adoption, sent forth into the hearts
of the children, they were to be enabled,
with filial reverence and trust, to look up to
heaven and cry, Abba, Father. Gal. iv. 6.
The love of God was to be shed abroad in
their hearts by the Holy Spirit given to
them.: Rom. v. 5. They were to be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner
man. Eph. iii. 16. Paul expressed confidence that his trials would contribute to his
salvation through the prayers of his brethren and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus
Christ. Phil. i. 19. Our Lord taught his disciples to pray for the Spirit. Luke xv. 13.




154          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
The Spirit.was the seal of the promises, the
earnest of the future inheritance (Eph. i.
13, 14), and the guest alike of the individual
believer and of the church of God. Rorn.
viii. 11; 1 Cor. vi. 19; Eph. ii. 22. So that
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" in the
forgiveness of sins, the "love of God" in
blessed Fatherhood, and "the communion
of the Holy Spirit" as the joint heritage of
all the children of God, are the perpetual
benediction on the household of faith. 2 Cor.
xiii. 14.
These are certainly "exceedingly great
and  precious promises, whereby we are
made partakers of the divine nature having
escaped from the corruption that is in the
world through lust."  2 Pet. i.4.
It will be seen at a glance that in order
to the fulfillment of these promises, the believer is brought into new relations. He is
baptized "into the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and-of the Holy Spirit."  Matt.
xxviii. 19. His baptism is in the name, or by
the authority of the Lord Jesus; but into
the name,ot' Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
for he is thus brought into new relations to
these. The Father is now his Father; the
Son is his kinsman Redeemer; the Holy
Spirit is his Sanctifier. As a result, his relations are changed to the whole universe.
Angels are his ministering servants; Christians are his brethren; bad men and demons
are his enemies. He is a member of the




LETTERS.              155
Church of God; a child in the divine family;
a fellow-citizen with the saints in the kingdom of God; an heir of the eternal inheritance. He has come to Mount Zion, and to
the city of the living God, the heavenly.Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company
of angels, to the general assembly  and
church of the first-born who are written in
heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to
the spirits of just men made perfect, and to
Jesus the mediator of the new  covenant,
and to the blood and sprinkling."  Heb. xii.
22-24.  In new  and blessed relationships
he stands affiliated with all that is pure and
bright and grand in the whole universeheir of all things-and possesses, in the
"righteousness, peace, and joy" of his newborn soul the "earnest of the inheritance."
Though he be "the least in the kingdom,"
he is "greater than John the Baptist "-for
the Messiah whom John only pointed out is
his brother, the Holy Spirit of which John.prophesied is his in possession, the kingdom
which John proclaimed as near, he possesses
in its trinity of blessings-" righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit," and.the official rank of John as the harbinger of
the Messiah, is far transcended by the personal rank of the lowliest Christian as a
child of God.
Out of these pure and exalted relationships spring certain obligations.'He owes
duties to God, to the church, and to the




156         FIRST PRINCIPLES.
world. As a child, he owes reverence, love
and obedience to his Father. As a redeemed
man, he owes all the powers of his ransomed
nature to Him  who has paid the ransom.
As a temple of the Holy Spirit, he owes to
this divine Guest a clean and loving heartan upright and holy life. As a brother, he
owes love and service to all the divine family.. As a man, he owes good will and philanthropy to all his kind. He is to live " soberly, righteously, and godly in the present
world:" soberly, in the control of his own
nature; righteously, in discharging all his
duties to his fellows; godly, in the cultivation of pious gratitude and reverence toward
God. In a word, he is to be a follower of
Christ.
To aid him in this great work of building
up a true character, he has,
1. The word of grace.
2. The throne of grace.
3. The Spirit of grace.
The word of grace instructs him: the
throne of grace supplies pardon when he is
sinful, shelter when he is in danger, and
strength when he is weary; the Spirit of
grace abides in him  as a "well of'water
springing up into everlasting life:"' a fountain of divine strength, comfort and peace.
We may add to all these the fellowship of
saints-the sympathy of kindred hearts, and
all the light and love ministered by the ordinances of the church of God. So that he




LETTERS.              157
is enriched with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly relationships through Christ Jesus,
and.is abundantly furnished unto all good
works.
There is everything pure anti nothing
carnal or sensual, in the blessings with
which he is enriched; every thing noble
and exalted, and nothing mean or unworthy
in the relationships into which he comes;
every thing just and good and nothing mean
or dishonorable in the life to which he is
called.
And the end of all this is —"eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord." His education in, the church militant fits him for a
kingly destiny in the church triumphant.
His spirit is to be perfectly purified, and his
body transcendently glorified; so that a
purified spirit in a glorified body, robed in
righteousness, crowned with fadeless glory,
filled with the treasures of immortal blessedness, and invested with high dominion,
will reign in fadeless grandeur, and rejoice
in deathless love.
But here we pause. We can command no
language to express, as we can summon no
powers adequate to conceive the immortal
honors, the peerless dignities, the ineffable
felicities, the unimaginable glories of a glorified man. "Exceedingly abundant beyond
all that we can ask or think" will be the
treasures of the grace of God to his redeemed
children. We can only rise on the stepping




158          FIRST PRINCIPLES.
stones of our Christian experience here in
life and in death; and as we slake our thirst
at the fountain of His mercy here, and share
the" peace that passeth all understanding,"
say in rapturous anticipation"If such the sweetness of the streams,
What must the fountain be,
Where saints and angels draw their bliss
Immediately from thee! "
We must close. Will you, my dear sir,
give to all these unfoldings of the plan of
salvation the attention which their importance demands?  This theme transcends
all others in real value. The best riches
and honors and pleasures of earth are but
baubles in comparison with these spiritual
and eternal treasures.  If you turn away
from  Christ, you turn from  the only Sun
of Righteousness to endless night. If you
follow  the  teachings of modern  Rationalism  they will lead you a sorry chase
through bog and mire, and land you in hopeless despondency.  Its daring speculations
attract more than they instruct, and shatter
faith- without strengthening reason.  They
may rob you 6f Christ, but they have none
other to supply his place for guidance here
or life hereafter; and while you may be for
a moment exultant as they exalt you toa
pinnacle of pride and self-sufficiency, it will
only be to fall from your position into dust
and ashes, and perish without hope. Your
old: theology cannot satisfy your cravings.




LETTERS.             159
It is too subtle, too dogmatic, and too inconsistent. You have no right to submit to the
dictation of a human creed which the world
and the church have outgrown. The word
of God alone is sure, and abideth forever.
Come to Jesus. Sit at His feet. Take His
yoke on you, and learn of Him, and you will
find rest to your soul. His yoke is easy.
His burden is light. He is the Way, the
Truth, the Life. Blessed are all they that
put their trust in Him.