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THE

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD,

SUBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED.

being

THE SECOND PAET OP THEOLOGY

CONSIDERED

AS A SCIENCE OF POSITIVE TRUTH,

BOTH INDUCTIVE AND DEDUCTIVE.

ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE, D.D., LL.D.,
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE SEMINARY AT DANTILLE, KENTUCKY.

NON SINE LUCE.

NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS.
LOUISTILLE: A. DAVIDSON.
1860.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

STEREOTYPED BY PRINTED BY
T. B. Smith & Son, E. O. Jenkins,
82 & 84 Boekman st. 28 Frankfort st.

TO
ALL WHO FERVENTLY DESIRE LIFE AFTER DEATH,
THIS TRIBUTE OP SYMPATHY AND LOVE
IS OFFERED
IN THE NAME OF THE SAVIOUR OF SINNERS,
WHO HAS ABOLISHED DEATH,
AND BROUGHT LIFE AND IMMORTALITY TO LIGHT THROUGH THAT GOSPEL,
WHICH IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION
TO EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH.

CONTENTS

PAOE
Preliminaby Statement  ix
BOOK I.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE.
Argument op the Ftbst Book  1
Chap. I. — The Condition of the Universe : as it lay under the sentence of God,
but with the promise of deliverance  ; . . 3
II. — The Covenant of Redemption: General Statement of its Great Princi
ples and Truths  27
III. — Relation of the Covenant of Redemption, to the inner life of Man,
and to his fundamental Religious Convictions  48
IV. — The Special Obligations laid on Man, as Special Conditions of the Cov
enant of Redemption  63
< V. — The (Economy of the Covenant of Redemption  78

BOOK II.
UNION AND COMMUNION WITH THE SON OF GOD.
Argument of the Second Book  103
Chap. VI. — The application of the Covenant of Redemption to individual Men :
Union and Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ  107
VII. — Effectual Calling : with the manner of its occurrence  122
VTII. — Regeneration : its nature, and the mode of its occurrence .... 139
IX. — Justification: with its nature, method, and effects  158
X. — Adoption: its grounds, nature, and fruits  178

VI CONTENTS. PAGE
Chap. XI.— Sanctification : relation to the Plan of Salvation: nature: means:
relation to the Godhead  203
XTI.— Communion with Christ in Grace complete : Communion with Christ 227
in Glory begun 
BOOK III.
THE OFFICES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Argument of the Third Book  24'
Chap. XIII. — Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ  253
XIV— Repentance toward God  2lJ2
XV. — The New Obedience  293
XVI.— Good "Works  301
XVII.— The Spiritual Warfare  326
XVIII.— The Infallible Rule of Faith and Duty  344
BOOK IV.
COMMUNION OF SAINTS,
Argument of the Fourth Book  369
Chap. XIX. — The Children of God united into a Visible Kingdom for Christ.
Fundamental idea and elemental principles of the Church of
God  37E
XX. — The Nature and End of the Kingdom of God : with the means of
estimating both  381
XXI. — Deduction and Exposition of the Kingdom of God, considered as
the Visible Church of Christ  405
XXII. — The Freedom of the Visible Church, considered in its independence
of the State, and its consecration to Christ  414
XXILT. — The Historical, Logical, and Supernatural Elements of the Question
of the Church: considered with reference to the Marks of the
True Church  426

CONTENTS. Vll
PAGE
Chap. XXIV.— Purity of Faith: the first Infallible Mark of the True Church . . 444
XXV. — The "Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth : the second Infallible
Mark of the True Church  458
XXVI.— Holy Living: The third Infallible Mark of the True Church . . 471

BOOK V.
GIFTS OF GOD TO HIS CHURCH.
Argument op the Fifth Book  485
Chap. XXVIL — Supreme Gifts of God to his Church: his Son: his Spirit: his
Word  491
XXVLU. — Divine Ordinances: the Sabbath — the Sacraments — Instituted
Worship — Discipline — Evangelization  517
XXTX". — The Sacrament of Baptism : its Nature and Design : Subjects of
it: Mode of Administration : Apostolic Practice  539
XXX. — The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper : considered in its Institu
tion, Nature, Use, and End  594
XXXI. — Office Bearers in the Gospel Church : and the Government in
their hands  616

GENERAL CONCLUSION.
Argument op the General Conclusion  >  655
Chap. XXXII. — General Conclusion: Progress and Consummation of God's Eter
nal Covenant  657

A FEW PRELIMINARY WORDS.

CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY; PROGRESS, TRUE CONCEPTION, SCIENTIFIC
STATEMENT.
During the first seven centuries of the Christian Church, the attention
of Theologians, so far as we can judge, seems to have been directed chiefly
to the establishment of the claims of Christianity as the true religion
of God, and to the establishment within the Church itself of the funda
mental truths of that religion. By the end of that period, and after in
numerable conflicts, the doctrine of the Church everywhere, seems to
have been fully settled and confirmed by the decisions of general coun
cils, concerning God and concerning Christ ; and in the West, at least,
settled also, very generally concerning man. But these — God, Man, and
the Godman, are the grand elements of the science of Theology ; and
when they were settled in the faith of the Church, that science ought
immediately to have risen, and, resting upon divine truth, to have passed
steadily and rapidly to its. perfect state. Instead of this, we have in the
Western Church a period of eight centuries during which scholasticism
in its rise and predominance is the most conspicuous manifestation of
thought, down to the outburst of the Reformation of the sixteenth cen
tury. The Schoolmen interpreting the religion of Jesus by the Philoso
phy of Aristotle, as their predecessors of the Alexandrian school had
interpreted it by the Philosophy of Plato ; added, it may be allowed, to
the stock of inquiry and speculation, much that deserved the consider
ation of posterity ; but they added almost nothing to Theology, consid
ered as the science of the knowledge of God unto salvation, whether as
to its conception, the method of its proper treatment, or its practical de
velopment. Considered from the point of view of Reformed Christianity,
scholasticism was a complete failure.
In this state of things that great awakening occurred, which we call
the Reformation ; which was connected with the past by so many streams,
which combined in one movement so many powerful influences, which
delivered to the future the seeds of so much that was glorious. It was
an awakening of the Church of God to the spirit of its primeval and only
true life ; and it manifested itself in the reception and love of divine truth,

X PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
and by consequence in true faith and true holiness. The scientific treat
ment of Divine truth, therefore, followed the movement of the Reforma
tion, more closely than it had followed the movement of the first plant
ing of Christianity. In the Latin Church, the spirit and the method
which had predominated during so many centuries of fatal error remained,
and still remain ; for to have shaken them off would have been to share
in the revolt which emancipated the Reformers, the dread of which gave
so strange an aspect to Ancient Theology, and exercised such fatal influ
ence upon the speculations of the Schoolmen. In the bosom of the Re
formation a division in the conception and treatment of Theology as a
science, manifested itself from the beginning and has continued. In Pro
testantism, these diverse conceptions have been called, accurately enough,
the one material, the other formal : the one grounding everything in a
particular aspect of Divine Truth — the doctrine of Justification by Faith,
for example ; the other grounding everything in the sum of the whole
truth revealed by God. The former conception, however true in particu
lar, is altogether too narrow, altogether incomplete, as the conception of
a science so vast. The latter conception — that of the Reformed strictly
so called — was just. From it, the Reformed Theology ought to have de
veloped itself, firmly and at once. The Church had not only recovered
the position she occupied at the end of the seventh century — but had
taken a great step in advance.
That the Reformed Theology did not adequately avail itself of its great
position, nothing can prove more clearly than that after three centuries,
the first attempt — that of Calvin — retains its supremacy. Augustine,
even with his strange conception of the Papal Church, finds no name to
match him — till Calvin. And Calvin's great work — which I had no small
share in restoring to general circulation — though it is arbitrary in its
method, and though abstract, practical, and controversial Theology, truth
objective, subjective, and relative, are mingled confusedly throughout it ; has
no rival amidst the hundreds which have followed it. I attribute this fail
ure of the Reformed Theology to develop itself completely as a perfect
science, to the imperfect conceptions which these very defects signalize.
It failed to conceive adequately what that science is, which is the sum of
all revealed truth. It failed necessarily after that failure, to conceive ad
equately the method responsive to the true conception of that grandest
of the sciences. It failed necessarily after these two failures, of adequate
breadth of spiritual insight into the divine proportion of that truth, which
was itself the very substance of the whole science of Theology. Who
ever is willing to survey with candour, the whole field of scientific The
ology, abstract, practical and controversial — Latin, Lutheran, and Re
formed — since the Reformation was firmly established and its first fruits
gathered ; will see small cause to be satisfied that the Critical, Speculative,

PRELIMINARY REMARKS. xi
or Philosophical methods of the ages which have succeeded that great
period, are to be preferred to the arbitrary and artificial method they
would supplant, or perhaps even to the best specimens of the scholastic
spirit which the Reformation overthrew.
Is there, then, no natural method, whereby Theology planting itself on
the grand foundation which the Reformers obtained three centuries ago,
may develop itself as a science of positive truth ? It may be true that
Theologians have always felt obliged to confess to themselves, that the
Knowledge of God attainable by man, was in some vague sense a true
science — nay, the highest of the sciences. Manifestly, they were obliged to
see that whatever Knowledge of God man does obtain, must be obtained
by some means or other which are answerable to the faculties of man ;
and all of these have designated the Word of God as one of these means —
while all the orthodox have held that Divine Word to be the chief means,
and all the Reformed have held it to be the only infallible means. But
all this militates nothing against what I assert, nor against the importance
of it. What I maintain is, that seeing the Knowledge of God is attain
able by lost men unto salvation, seeing that the sources of this knowledge
are few, precise and capable of exhaustive demonstration : it follows ab-
• solutely from these data, that the Knowledge of God unto salvation must
be in the strictest sense — a science. And then as soon as those few and
precise sources of knowledge are exhaustively demonstrated, it follows
absolutely that the kind of science proved, is one of positive truth, both
inductive and deductive.
It may also be conceded that all Theologians have been obliged to see,
that some method or other must always be resorted to, by every one who
will teach anything, or acquire anything, worthy to be called scientific
knowledge. But it is nevertheless true, that they have to a deplorable
extent, failed to observe that any particular method lay in the very nature
of this divine science itself; failed to observe that the Revelation of
divine truth, and the divine operation of truth in the human soul, fol
lowed any particular method; failed to observe that any particular
method of teaching men the Knowledge of God unto salvation had pre
eminent if not exclusive claims ; while it is undeniably certain that they
have generally and continually used methods in the treatment of Theol
ogy, which were arbitrary, capricious and inconsistent with each other.
On the other hand, what I maintain is, that a science being given, a
method responsive to the nature of that science, follows of necessity,;
that the science of the Knowledge of God unto salvation being a pure
science of absolute truth both inductive and deductive— and the sources
of it exhaustively demonstrated— an analogous method of developing and
teaching that science is inevitable : that till the acknowledgment and sue-

Xii PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
cessful application of that method, the science to which it appertains can
not possibly reach its complete development and statement ; and that even
after the perfection of the science, it could not be adequately taught
otherwise than by its own natural method. It seems to me that if all
this were propounded merely as a speculation, instead of being almost self-
evidently true as soon as it is clearly stated ; the history of the progress
of Theology through all ages, would beget the most violent presumption
that the speculation was true.
Truth is capable of being considered systematically and absolutely,
simply as truth reduced into a scientific form. Thus understood, but not
otherwise, any system of truth is afterwards capable of being considered
in all the possible effects and influences of that system of truth. Let it
be remembered that no number of isolated truths, which have no known
relations to each other, can ever be reduced into a scientific form, or ever
produce any effects, or have any consequences, considered as a system.
They cannot compose any system, nor be the subject of any knowledge
beyond the mere knowledge of them as intractible particulars. If this
be the character of Divine Revelation, it is idle to speak of systematic
knowledge of it — absurd to talk about the plan of salvation. If there is
any such thing as a system of divine truth capable of being known by
man, then that system is necessarily subject to the distinction stated above;
and considered in both the aspects stated, it is capable of being precisely
distinguished from all serious error. It is in these three aspects that the
Knowledge of God unto salvation must be considered, if it is to be com
pletely understood — must be stated if it is to attain a complete scientific
form. When so stated and so understood — allowance being made for
human weakness — every pure science is placed in the only position in
which its own perfect development is possible ; and every separate truth
which enters into that science, as it is demonstrated and located with pre
cision, instead of weakening, confirms the science and adds to its effi
cacy, whether considered in an abstract, a practical, or a relative point
of view. Every system of truth, and above all the system of divine truth,
must be capable of maintaining itself under the test of this threefold and
exhaustive aspect of all truth. In divine truth thus tested, even those
sublime mysteries which men are pleased to call the contradictions of the
Scriptures, disclose their real nature as great spiritual paradoxes inherent
in the nature of the subject, necessarily liable to a double solution by us,
and perceived to belong to a generalization higher than our faculties can
reach in their present state.
Thus there is the clearest possible distinction between the exact state
ment of truth, and a disputation in support of that truth ; a distinction,
I insist, which cannot be overlooked in the elemental statement of any

PRELIMINARY REMARKS. xill
science, without arresting its progress and weakening the impression of
truth ; and in the moral sciences above all, a distinction most needful
to be strictly observed. Thus too, after the truth has been completely
extricated, and clearly stated in its elemental forms, the further distinction
becomes perfectly obvious, namely, that between truth, and the effects of
truth ; and the neglect of it is as fatal as the neglect of the preceding-
distinction. It took seven centuries for Theologians to settle, in scientific
form, the great elements of their science — the doctrines of God — of the
Godman, and of man — though during all these seven centuries, not a
single child of God erred fatally touching either doctrine. It took the
Theologians eight centuries more to obtain the grand position of the Re
formers, namely, that the sum of the whole Knowledge of God attainable
by man, of which the sacred Scriptures are the only infallible rule and
guide, is that which is to be cast into a scientific form, as Christian The
ology. I have pointed out both the failure, and the causes of it, of the
scientific progress of the Reformed Theology beyond the position won for
it in the sixteenth century. Distinctions inseparable from the complete
conception of any system of truth whatever, cannot be overlooked with
impunity ; nor can the denial of the existence of such distinctions pro
duce any effect so immediate, as the exclusion of the supposed truths to
which those distinctions do not apply, from the pale of the sciences. In
Theology, to neglect the former distinction is to deprive divine truth, as
far as an evil method can, of whatever power it has by reason of its own
inherent force and glorious light; and to neglect the latter distinction is
to confound the efficacy, which the Holy Spirit gives to truth by his su
peradded work in man, with the truth itself after it has first had its self-
evidencing light obscured.
On the other hand the clear recognition of the distinctions I have
pointed out, unavoidably presents the Knowledge of God unto salvation,
under three distinct aspects : one of them objective — the mere truth ;
one of them subjective — the effects of truth in us, and on us; one of them
relative — truth and its effects confronted with untruth. Whether or not
the Knowledge of God is a science of positive truth, does not depend on
us, but on God. I maintain that it is, and that the just acquisition, state
ment, and teaching of it, require in us an adequate conception of it as
such. Whether or not being such a science, it must be treated by a
method responsive to its own nature, does not depend upon our caprice ;
but on the very nature of knowledge, and of our own mental and moral
constitution. I maintain that the slow, irregular, and imperfect progress
of scientific Theology in all ages, is to be attributed in a great degree,
to the inadequate conception of the science itself, and to the vicious
methods of treating it which necessarily resulted from that inadequate
conception; and I have suggested and used what I conceive to be a

XIV PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
method naturally responsive to an adequate conception of the science
itself; starting from the great elements settled in the seventh century,
and the great position reached in the sixteenth — since which period,
in my opinion, little true progress has been made in the systematic state
ment of divine truth considered as a great science. Whether or not a
particular attempt to vindicate this science in its adequate conception, and
by a true method responsive to its nature, restate it in its own simple,
coherent, and august power, is worthy of the consideration of the people
of God ; depends essentially on the ability, the insight, the attainments,
and the patient toil of him who makes the attempt. As to the value of
my own attempt, they to whom I have dedicated this and the preceding
Treatise, shall judge. If the penitent and believing followers of the Saviour
of sinners — if they who fervently desire life after death — find light and
consolation in what I have written — that which I have done will live.
Otherwise no oblivion can await my labours, more remorseless than that
which covers those of the bulk of my predecessors.
Concerning the present Treatise, I think I may say with confidence,
that no one who will patiently consider it can misunderstand the general
view it presents of the saving grace of God, or the general argument sus
tained throughout, concerning the whole method and effects of that Grace.
I accept the Scriptures as the Word of God ; I understand them to relate
to the salvation of fallen men, to disclose the precise nature of that salva
tion, the exact manner in which it is achieved in man, and the whole
effects and consequences, personal and general, present and eternal, which
are wrought out in us, through the truth contained in them, by the Holy
Ghost. What I attempt is to follow rigidly the course of the divine
thought, to illustrate faithfully the progress of the divine work, and to
demonstrate both throughout. Upon my conception of the subject, no
other course is possible : upon the method responsive to that conception,
this direct and concatenated treatment is unavoidable. It ought to follow,
according to the measure of grace given to me, that herein is a compact
and continuous exhibition of the life of God in the soul of man, respon
sive to the revealed way of life eternal ; everything hetoregeneous being
excluded, and everything admitted being a part of the uninterrupted de
monstration. Besides this complete personal exhibition of salvation, the
organization by God of his covenant people into a visible kingdom, gives
to salvation an organic and social aspect, precisely commensurate with
the relation of the Church of Christ to the work of divine grace in sal
vation. There ought, therefore, to be found herein, according as God has
enabled me, a precise and complete demonstration and exposition of the
Church of the living God, in its nature, and end — and very especially in
its Gospel state. The Christian and the Church of God ought to be de
monstrated on the divine word, in developing the Knowledge of God

PRELIMINARY REMARKS. XV
Subjectively considered. This illustrates what I mean by teaching The
ology, as distinguished from a compend of Theology. This is what my
conception and method exact. In so far as I may have done anything
approaching what I have just stated, it is through God's grace. My short
comings are, I think, justly to be attributed, not to my conception of the
subject, nor to my method of treating it, but to my personal incapacity
to work out so great a result, in a fitting manner.
The order of the general demonstration may be made intelligible, by
a brief statement. In the First Book, I attempt to trace and to prove
the manner in which the Knowledge of God unto salvation passes over
from being merely objective, and becomes subjective. In the Second
Book, I endeavour to disclose and to demonstrate the whole work of God
in man, unto his personal salvation. In the Third Book, the personal
effects and results of this divine subjective work, are sought to be expli
cated. This seems to me to exhaust the subject, in its subjective personal
aspect. But these individual Christians, by means of their union with
Christ, and their consequent communion with each other, are organized
by God into a visible Kingdom ; which has a direct and precise relation
to the subjective consideration of the Knowledge of God. From this
point, therefore, the social and organic aspect of the subject arises ; and
the Fourth Book is occupied with what is designed to be a demonstration
of the Church of the living God. But just as the work of grace in indi
vidual men, is necessarily followed by the Christian offices, arid so the sub
ject of the Third Book necessarily followed the subject of the Second : in
like manner, the consideration of the gifts of God to his Church, and of all
the effects of those gifts, follows the organization and progress of the visible
Church in a peculiar manner. And thus the subject of the Fourth Book
leads directly to the subject of the Fifth, in which the life, action and
organism of the Church are discussed, with reference to the special gifts
bestowed on it by God. And here the organic aspect of the Knowledge
of God unto salvation, subjectively considered, seems to terminate. What
remains is the General Conclusion of the whole subject, in a very brief
attempt to estimate the progress and result of these divine realities, and
to disclose the revealed consummation of God's Works of Creation, Prov
idence and Grace.
A true Christian Theology ought to be just in its scientific conception,
exact in its method of development, natural in the order of its topics,
clear in its continual expositions, adequate in its great generalizations,
carefully observant of the divine proportion of its parts, pervaded by the
unity which belongs to a high and continuous demonstration, and guided
by a spiritual insight and a sense of the presence of the living God in all
and through all. For, after all, it is the Knowledge of God unto salvation
which is the substance : Scientific Theology, at the best, is only the form

XVI PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
under which that divine substance is presented. Its glory and its tri
umph would be, to obtain, at length, that form which accords perfectly
with that heavenly substance. Whoever will attempt to exhibit in a
scientific manner, the chief parts of that Knowledge so far as he possesses
it ; will have occasion when his task is even worthily accomplished, to
bewail the poverty of the exhibition he has made, compared — I need not
say — with the grandeur of his theme, but even with his own conception
of it. In the Preliminary Words prefixed to the First Part of Theology, I
made certain statements and explanations upon such topics as seemed to
me to require it; some of which had more particular reference to that
Treatise, and others more particular reference to the whole work, of which
that was the first of three parts. Without repeating here any of those
statements, — I refer to them and adopt them all, as applicable with the
same emphasis, and in the same sense, to this Treatise as to that. They
were never capable of being misunderstood; unless, perhaps, to authorize
the supposition that my use of the labours of others, both in that Treatise
and in this, was far more extensive than in fact it was ; and that my con
tributions to the true progress of Christian Theology were less distinct,
than they might turn out to be. Claiming nothing, except a patient con
sideration by the people of God, of a sincere endeavour to restate with
perfect simplicity, and according to its own sublime nature, and in its own
glorious proportion, the Knowledge of God unto salvation ; I confidently
ask, who are they amongst the living, — how many are there amongst the
dead, — on whose behalf it can be truly asserted, that such a claim is un
just to them, or unbecoming in me?
The preceding volume was a complete Treatise ; the present volume
is also a complete Treatise : the two united contain all I propose to ad
vance on what is sometimes called Systematic Theology, sometimes Dog
matic Theology, sometimes merely Theology. The former volume con
tains the objective, the present one the subjective consideration of saving
truth : saving truth in itself — saving truth in its working. It will com
plete my original design, if the Lord spares me and enables me to compose
and publish one more volume, devoted to what is commonly called Po
lemic or controversial Theology, embracing Apologetics ; that is, to what
I contemplate as the Knowledge of God considered relatively to all un
truth incompatible with salvation.
Bredalbane, near Lexington, Ky., April, 1859.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD,
SUBJECTIVELY CONSIDEEED.

ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST BOOK.
I have attempted in a former Treatise, to demonstrate and to classify the whole
knowledge of God attainable by man unto salvation, considered as mere Know
ledge ; and thus to exhibit Theology in the purely objective — as in every other
aspect of it, as a science of Positive Truth, both inductive and deductive. This
volume, devoted to the thorough, treatment of the knowledge of God subject
ively considered in the actual salvation of fallen men, occupies this First Book
of it in pointing out the whole aspect and method, both universal and particu
lar, of the transition of that knowledge from the Objective into the Subjective.
It concerns itself in explicating the divine Plan, Economy, and Method, whereby,
what has been hitherto treated as mere knowledge, attainable by man, passes
over and becomes an infinite force upon man and in man ; and in demonstra
ting the certainty of salvation in this way, and its utter impossibility in any
other. The First Chapter, therefore, of this First Book, discusses the condition
in which the created universe was placed by the Sentence of God and his Pro
mise of a Saviour, upon the Pall of Man ; and, in particular, it attempts to settle
the actual condition of the human race as determined by the creation, the trial,
the fall, the sentence, and the promise ; and to solve all the great problems involved
in that attempt. The Second Chapter is devoted to a discussion of the Covenant
of Redemption, of whose existence the promise of the Seed of the woman, so
decisive upon the fate of the universe and especially of man, was the first inti
mation; wherein the nature and reahty of that Covenant, together with its
relation to the nature and grace of God, and to the Persons of the Godhead,
and to the salvation of man, are exhibited ; and the chief principles and truths
on which it rests, with the chief cavils against it, and the method and efficacy
of its operation, are considered. The Third Chapter discloses in a special man
ner the relation of this Eternal Covenant to the intimate nature, inner hfe, and
fundamental convictions of man ; the nature and rule of Duty,— the sovereignty
of God and the dependence of man, the relation of divine Grace to such con
ditions, and the efficacy of personal redemption — are discussed ; and the whole
question of personal salvation and the failure of it, is traced to its ultimate
ground, and the true nature of Bedeeming Love is exhibited in its method and
in its results. The Fourth Chapter is occupied with an exposition of the special
obligations laid on man, as the special conditions of his participation in the ben
efits of the Covenant of Bedemption ; wherein the ultimate truths concerning
human nature are examined, with reference to the divine means of human res
toration, and as the result it is shown that Bepentance towards God, and Faith
towards the Lord Jesus Christ, both of which are summarily explained, are the
unavoidable and the universal, as they are the revealed and effectual conditions

2 ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST BOOK.
of salvation for fallen men ; and the nature of the impotence produced by sin—
the universal need of divine aid by every created being— the glory of divine
Grace, and the certainty of perdition without it, are set forth. The Fifth
Chapter, which is also the last one of this First Book, is an attempt to disclose
the whole Economy of the Covenant of Bedemption, under all its administra
tions—with the special design of determining with precision our own actual po
sition with reference thereto ; wherein the Covenants of Works and Bedemption
are compared, and their agreement and difference pointed out; the successive
dispensations of the latter Covenant, from Adam to the consummation of all
things, are briefly exhibited — together with the condition of the kingdom of
God and the kingdoms of this world at each great epoch relatively to each
other; and the absolute unity of the essence of the Covenant of Bedemption
under all Dispensations is demonstrated — together with the nature and power
of the knowledge, and the certainty of the salvation, thus attainable. As the
result of this course of enquiry and demonstration, we are brought imme
diately to the direct application of divine knowledge, with divine power,
through divine Grace, to our own hearts as individual sinners ; which great
work is developed in the Second Book. In this Book — if a selection can be
made of a small number of fundamental truths covering in a general but deci
sive way, the immense field explored in it — the following statements may be
considered as condensing the whole, namely, — That as the result of the Fall of
Man, of the interlocutory Sentence then pronounced by God, and of the Pro
mise of a Saviour then made by Him, the human race hes in a condition of sin
and misery under the penalty of the broken Covenant of Works, and under the
curse of God's violated law, but with God's promise of deliverance through the
Saviour to all the followers of Christ, — and awaiting the final sentence of
eternal life or eternal death at the judgment of the great day : — That the sole
foundation of the sinner's hope hes in the sovereign Grace of God, of which
grace the Word of God is a divine Revelation, and the manner of which grace
in its fundamental statement is, the Covenant from Eternity between the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to save by the work of each with the concur
rence of all, the Elect of God whom the Son represented as their Federal head
in that Covenant, with each of whom it becomes a personal covenant of hfe on
his union with Christ, by the renewing of the Holy Ghost : — That the funda
mental principles and truths involved in the Covenant of Bedemption, have a
relevancy most intimate and most efficacious, to the spiritual nature, inner life,
and religious convictions of fallen men, they being and they alone being, that
Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation : — That Bepentance toward
God and Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, are the universal and unalterable
obligations and conditions of the Covenant of Redemption, — obligations bind
ing upon every sinner, — conditions irrespective of which none can be saved : —
That the Administration of the Covenant of Bedemption embraces all that
God has ever done or will do for men considered as sinners, — throughout every
Dispensation of which the same grace reigns, the same salvation is propounded,
the same Saviour is held forth, the same union with him through the renewing
of the Holy Ghost is exhibited, and the same eternal life is made the inherit
ance of God's Elect, through God's love.

CHAPTEE I.
THE CONDITION OP THE UNIVERSE: AS IT LAY UNDER THE SEN
TENCE OP GOD, BUT WITH THE PROMISE OP DELIYERANCE.
I. 1. The Law of Nature. — 2. Revealed Will of God anterior to the Covenant of
Works. — 3. The Covenant of Works : Penalty, General and Special. — 4. Perfect
Solution of the Origin, Career, Position, and Destiny of Man. — 5. Explication of
the Theoretical by the Actual II. 1. Moral Constitution of Man. — 2. It in
volves the Existence of an Infinite Ruler. — 3. The Nature of His boundless Do
minion. — 4. Its Infinite Certainty, Rectitude, and Completeness. — 5. The State
of the Fallen Universe under that Dominion, and Modification of that State by
the Covenant of Grace. III. 1. The Problems to be solved after the Fall, and
the Parties thereto — 2. Statement of the Case. — 3. God's Irreversible Sentence
on Satan : Its Nature and Effects. — 4. Sentence upon the Woman and the Man :
General Statement. — 5. Detailed Explanation of those Sentences, in their Nature
and Effects: Mixed Condition of Things. — 6. God's Sentence upon the Earth:
And the Earth's promised Deliverance. IY. 1 . The Posture of the Universe, as
explained with, and without, the Word of God. — 2. The Posture of the Universe,
as explained with, and without, the Idea of Divine Grace. — 3. What God actually
did after the Fall of Man : And the Effects thereof. — 4. Combined Result of the
Covenant of Works, and the Covenant of Grace, upon the Condition of Man- —
5. Difference between God's Conduct towards Satan and his Seed, and towards the
Followers of the promised Seed of the Woman. — 6. Every Thing depends on
the Grace of God, and the Willingness and Sufficiency of Jesus Christ.
I. — 1. If we reject the divine revelation which is recorded in
the Sacred Scriptures, we are left wholly without knowledge of
the primeval state of man ; and are unable to penetrate the final
destiny of our race, or any individual of it. That revelation
explains in the most precise manner, the original creation of man,
the position he occupied, at first, with respect to God and to the
universe, and the intimate nature of his own being, his endow
ments and his duty, his peril and his reward. Out of the state
of the case thus exhibited to us by God, there necessarily arose
obligations founded in the very truths, great as they were, upon
which the case proceeded ; principles inherent in the very nature
of the case ; necessities of every sort which must control man
kind, considered in their relations to each other, to the universe,

4 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
and to God ; laws in their very highest sense, and whether they
were uttered in words or not, which are the necessary middle
term between the idea of a creator and the idea of a creature.
Here is the Law of Nature. And whatever nature herself may
be, than which hardly anything is more difficult to conceive or
define precisely, that code to which we justly give her name and
which her Creator and ours stamped upon her in her first purity,
must not only abide while she endures, but has received the sub
lime confirmation of being fully recognized and largely restated
in the inspired Word of God.
2. In addition to this fundamental law of our very being, in
corporated by our Creator in our very nature, still dimly felt
notwithstanding our fall, and explicitly restated in the sacred
Scriptures ; God added other laws, having special relation to man,
which were clearly stated to him at his creation, and which were
recorded twenty-five centuries afterwards on the earliest pages of
the Scriptures. Thus God consecrated man whom he had created
in his own image, to his endless service and enjoyment ; thus
God consecrated the Sabbath day, the type and commemoration
of this ineffable repose when this work of creation was done ;
thus God gave to man an unlimited dominion over the earth and
over every creature inferior to himself, and bade him increase and
multiply, possess the earth, subdue it, and enjoy it. And these
laws of the primeval state of man, following immediately after
the Law of Nature, and preceding immediately the Covenant of
Works, however they, like all else, may have been defaced and im
paired by the Fall of Man, are indestructibly united with the
mortal existence of the human race, and enter decisively into the
eternal results of that existence.
3. Thus created by God, thus additionally bound to God, man
in his primeval estate became the object of a still further proof
of the care and love of his Creator. God made with him a Cove
nant of Life, upon the single condition of perfect obedience to a
single precept and a single prohibition. A Covenant, that is
whereby the probation incident to a perfect but fallible being,
was made precise, temporary, -and slight ; whereby the probation
of a whole race was concentrated on the probation of the natural
progenitor and federal head of that race ; whereby tha high es
tate already possessed might not only be delivered from all risk
and confirmed forever, but might be gloriously and eternally ad-

CHAP. I.J CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSE. 5
vanced ; whereby even if he fell, certain advantages would re
main to his race, beyond what were possible after a fall, in other
manner. This is the Covenant of Works. It found man in a
condition of great glory and blessedness, and it proposed to se
cure to his whole race forever, the possession and increase of both.
In this respect it failed. The same transgression which defeated
it as a Covenant of Life, and brought upon the sinner its just
penalty, was at the same time a violation of the fundamental
Law of Nature, and of the fundamental consecration of man to
the service and enjoyment of God superadded to the Law of Na
ture, and subjected him to the just penalty of both. What was
the penalty to the Covenant of Works, was stated in the Cove
nant itself. What was the penalty of the violation of the first
and highest Law of Nature, and what was that annexed to those
additions to it which preceded the Covenant, were not declared
beforehand : they remained to be disclosed by God, when and
how he pleased. All might be presumed to be concentrated in
the fearful penalty annexed to the Covenant ; the more readily,
as it was a Covenant, not of vengeance but of Life, and as its
penalty was the highest ever inflicted by Jehovah. At any rate,
the Covenant of Works, like both systems of Law which preceded
it, abode as an elemental and indestructible part of the spiritual
system of the universe to which man appertained ; and it, like
them, will endure, in its place and to its ends, until the final
catastrophe of nature, and man, and sin.
4. It is to the breach of the Covenant of Works — the Fall of
Man — that the word of God constantly attributes the present
condition of the human race, a condition which it everywhere
describes as one of sin and misery. Nor can it be denied that
in the facts stated in the Scriptures, concerning the creation,
original state, trial, and fall of man, a perfect explanation is fur
nished of the whole career and present condition of the human
race. Theoretically, at least, the grandest problems of humanity
are solved ; and it behooves the caviller to cast some doubt over
the facts themselves, or to accept the perfect solution they afford ;
and all the more urgently, since besides these facts asserted by
God and transmitted through all generations, the whole human
race has been unable to suggest even a conjecture, upon which
its own actual condition could be adequately explained. The
origiual perfection, and at the same time the fallibility of human

6 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
nature, are the fundamental data of the Covenant of Works ;
precisely as the pollution, and at the same time the susceptibility
of restoration, in fallen human nature, are the fundamental
data of the Covenant of Grace ; data infinitely remarkable and
fruitful, not one.of which any human intellect had ever of itself
perceived to be an element in the solution of the great problems
of humanity, at which .the human intellect has never ceased to
labor. No less remarkable — nor less fruitful — was that other
basis of the Covenant of Works, namely, that moral evil, and by
means of it physical evil also, might find entrance into a perfect
universe through the act of a perfect but fallible creature ; just
as it is a basis of the Covenant of Grace, that these evils can be
repaired through the incarnation of the Godhead in the very na
ture which fell, and in no other way ; sublime realities, before
which the mysteries of our condition vanish. No less remarkable
again — nor yet less fruitful — is that other basis of the Covenant
of Works, that while God deals with every human being indi
vidually and directly, yet besides this and beneath this, there is
a wider and deeper mode of God's dealing with the common
head and root of all — for the whole race ; both of which truths
apply with perfect force under the Covenant of Grace ; immeas
urable truths, in the absence of which our condition and God's
dealings with us are alike inexplicable, but in the combined light
of which both Covenants and the effects of both of them upon
us are perfectly comprehensible.
5. That perfect but fallible head and progenitor of our race
was tried — and fell. That possibility of the entrance of evil into
a perfect universe, actually occurred. That principle of cove
nanted dealing by God with man, through which life and immor
tality are now brought to light through Jesus Christ, when first
applied produced through Adam the ruin of our race. The fa
vour and the image of God are lost; the race is no longer perfect
but is fallen and depraved ; it lies under the curse of God's vio
lated law, the penalty of his broken covenant. And in this con
dition the personal dealings of God with each individual sinner
must necessarily have regard to all those transgressions, which
besides their original source in the primeval fallibility of man
have a new and more virulent source in the polluted nature in
herited since the fall. Nor are the results of these transactions
either doubtful, accidental, or capable of remedy by us. Man

CHAP I.J CONDITIONOFTHEUNIVERSE. 1
has broken covenant with God, and rendered himself alike un
worthy and incapable of life by means of that defaced covenant ;
and God has judicially annulled it as a covenant of life, has
passed an interlocutory sentence upon all who were implicated in
its breach or involved in iis penalty, has been executing that
sentence since the hour in which he uttered it, and only awaits the
judgment of the great day to make it final and complete. The
actual condition of the universe, and more especially that of
the human race, is exact and determinate — ascertained and de
clared by God himself — the inevitable result of what had gone
before. — -and wholly irremediable except through the sovereign
grace of God, and the incarnation and sacrifice of his only begot
ten Son. These sublime principles and truths find their expla
nation and defence throughout the sacred Scriptures ; the whole
providence of God affords a perpetual illustration of them ; and
every human heart, and every human life displays the constancy
and the power with which they separately or unitedly control the
condition and destiny of man.
II. — 1. It is impossible for us to separate the inward sense of
duty from the outward ideas of obligation and responsibility ;
or from the inward sense of blameworthiness if that sense of
duty is violated, and of satisfaction if it is obeyed. But this
sense of blameworthiness is no less than the testimony of nature
to our righteous liability to punishment for transgression ; and
this sense of inward satisfaction is no less than a corresponding
testimony of nature to the reality of virtue, which considered
merely of the soul may well be called the realization of the
health and beauty and good habit thereof. So that in the very
constitution of our nature as it now exists, there is the clearest
proof that there are such things as right and wrong — that the
difference between them is ineffaceable — that wrong doing is not
only the proper ground of punishment, but directly productive
of misery — and that right doing is not only the proper ground
of approbation, but directly productive of happiness.
2. The direct punishment of wrong doing is to be distinguished
from the incidental consequences of that wrong doing, in the way
of incurring or even of enduring the punishment. Those inci
dental consequences may be, even under a perfect administration,
a very sore aggravation of the punishment itself ; and in all im
perfect administrations may become more terrible than the proper

8 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
penalty of transgression. On the other hand, they may become
not only great alleviations of punishment, but the means of
great and lasting benefit to the transgressor. Wherefore to call
them punishment in the proper sense, would be to say that even
under a perfect administration the violation of duty stands an
equal chance of being advantageous ; and that under an imper
fect administration fitness to be punished is not a proper ground
upon which justice can proceed, either with safety or certainty :
results which subvert all moral distinctions. It will be observed
that the very terms I have used, and every idea they all suggest,
necessarily involve a lawgiver, a law, and a subject of it; — three
terms which absolutely stand or fall together. So that the exis
tence of an infinite Buler of the Universe, the approver of right
doing and the punisher of wrong doing^the administrator also
of the .boundless complexities incidental to both actions, is in
volved in the very nature of our own moral constitution.
3. What has been said in the preceding paragraph embraces
the whole distinction between punishment properly considered,
and whatever is merely incidental thereto — -whether these incidents
appertain to the actual infliction of the punishment, or whether
they appertain immediately to the trangression itself, or whether
they appertain to the method of dealing with the culprit between
the perpetration of the offence and the infliction of the penalty.
To suppose that all these incidents are merely proofs of an im
perfect administration, would not alter the case at all, or affect
the moral principles involved in it, even if the supposition were
true. To suppose, with regard to the infinite administration of
God, that all these incidents must have been foreseen by him,
and all been allowed for in giving us such a nature as he has,
and such a moral code to the universe as is answerable to that
nature — is but stating the condition under which the principles
themselves operate, under which the incidents themselves occur.
The infinite complications of the universe, and the infinite wis
dom, power, justice, and goodness of God in directing them all
by his adorable providence, are subjects of the most transcen
dent interest : but the very thing we need is the means of
piercing those endless complications which surround us on all
sides, the fundamental truths upon which that boundless and
irresistible providence may be at once understood and vindicated.
If we will deal justly with ourselves, as the beginning of that

CHAP. I. J CONDITIONOFTHEUNIVERSE. 9
perpetual right doing which God approves, and which diffuses
satisfaction through our own souls, we shall find that God has
laid in the very nature we possess those precise elements, and
has explicated throughout his most blessed word those great and
satisfying truths, whereby the conscience and reason he has given
us are competent to justify his ways, and to know, not only that
he is, but that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. 4. How God could permit transgression to go unpunished, is
wholly inconceivable. The highest manifestation which has ever
occurred of his infinite grace to sinners and his infinite compas
sion for the miserable — the cross, namely, on which his only be
gotten Son offered himself a sacrifice — is the very highest proof
of which we can conceive, that every transgression and disobe
dience must receive a just recompense of reward. And so the
Scriptures perpetually assert. That which our own hearts teach
us we deserve — punishment for transgression ; that which our
reason can discover no possibility of avoiding, when contemplated
merely on the human side of the case ; becomes an irresistible
necessity as soon as we allow ourselves to contemplate the divine
side of it. There is no more possibility that God should allow
sin to go unpunished, than that he should allow innocence to be
condemned. And in nothing is he more careful to inform us,
than that the apparent departures from these eternal necessities
which we observe in human affairs, are but temporary and anom
alous ; and that the stupendous departure from them in the
work of redemption through the divine Saviour of sinners, is the
very highest manifestation of the principles themselves, wrought
out through the infinite goodness of God, to the infinite glory of
God, and springing from a transcendent generalization of all the
perfections of God.
5. Satan, and man, and the brute creation, and the earth it
self — our universe ; all, lying under the curse of God, lie under
the force of all the truths I have stated, all the principles I have
distinguished. Every thing is polluted by sin ; every thing lies
under the penalty of transgression ; every thing has actually re
ceived sentence, and awaits a farther sentence at the great day ;
every thing must endure, in some form or other, its due recom
pense. Besides this, whatever things are incidental to transgres
sion, let them be what they may ; and whatever are incidental

10 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
to punishment ; and whatever are incidental to process in its
widest sense, if I may so speak ; all — all must be encountered.
And the infinite complications of the universe, and the infinite
dominion of God, are — as to the former but elements, and as to
the latter but the means, whereby, and wherein, infinite wisdom,
and justice, and grace continually expatiate in accomplishing the
eternal purpose of God's infinite will, to his own boundless glory.
The entrance of the Covenant of Grace modified everything. The
primeval promise of a Saviour, uttered by God as a part of the sen
tence he pronounced on Satan, changed the condition of the uni
verse. God revealed therein the principles on which he would act
towards a universe lying under his curse : on the one hand, inex
tinguishable wrath against Satan and his seed ; on the other hand
infinite grace towards fallen man ; gloriously developed through
out the word of God, and efficacious to eternity. But still the
curse remained, and the universe lay under it ; and it lies under
it still. A universe under God's curse — but with the promise of
an infinite deliverance, limited only in that Satan and his seed
have no part in it ; a universe before our eyes, after so many
weary ages, still struggling under that curse towards that deliv
erance ; groaning and travailing in pain under the bondage of
corruption, but still cherishing the hope in which it was subjected
of attaining to the glorious liberty of the children of God.
III. 1. Let us attempt to estimate in a more detailed manner
this mixed condition of the universe, as the elements thereof are
delivered to us in the account of them inspired by God himself.
Nothing more remarkable ever occurred on earth. It is God the
Creator and Ruler of the universe, Satan the head of the fallen
angels and the destroyer of the human race, and the first parents
of that race, who are the parties to transactions so wonderful.
And the questions adjudged are vast beyond the conception of
any but God himself; the fate of the universe he had created,
the destiny of the human race created in his own. image and now
fallen from it — the overthrow of his first covenant as a Covenant
of Life — the first discovery of his new and better covenant — the
question of his own eternal glory, of vengeance on the Devil and
his seed, of grace and salvation for his own elect ! How can the
grandeur of such topics, and the utter insufficiency of human
reason for their solution, be more clearly displayed, than by the
fact that their solution resulted, as I have before ventured to ex-

CHAP I.J CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSE. 11
press it, through a transcendent generalization of all the perfec
tions of God, and that the method of that salvation lay in the
incarnation and sacrifice of the Son of God !
2. The first three chapters of the Book of Genesis, with which
the inspired volume opens, contain a detailed though wonderfully
compact statement of the creation of the heavens and the earth
and all that in them is ; very especially of the creation and
original nature and primeval estate of man ; of the giving to
him by God of the Covenant of Works, his trial under it, his
breach of it, and the consequent fall of the sentence of God upon
all the parties implicated in this transaction, and upon the uni
verse which was involved with them ; and of the first intimation
by God, that the great deliverer should come, and that all things
should be restituted and recapitulated in him. It is the clo
sing portion of these transcendent acts, with which, at this mo
ment, we are specially concerned in the present attempt to
appreciate the condition in which the universe was left, when
they were all finished, and our first parents were driven from the
Garden of Eden ; the sentence of God, namely, and the promise
of the Seed of the woman, and the threat of the destruction of
Satan. The whole of these vast subjects have been carefully
analysed and expounded, as the sources of complete and universal
knowledge to us, touching the matters to which they relate — in
a former Treatise ; and having occasion now to examine a portion
of them for the special purpose immediately before us, I content
myself, as to what does not fall necessarily into the present use,
with this general reference to that Treatise.
3. The Scriptures abundantly testify that Satan, under the
form of the serpent, was the real tempter of our first parents.1
His sentence, therefore, has this twofold aspect of the bestial
and the diabolical nature of the agency which produced the fall
of man ; and as God has put these aspects together, we need
not be careful to separate them. The penalty denounced on him,
was for his agency in the fall of man. Whatever punishment
he may deserve, or receive for other sins, it is for his part in the
ruin of man that he is sentenced and punished, in connection
with the dispensation of God towards man. Because thou hast
done this, is the formula used by God ; the very same used in
sentencing Adam ; the fault first, and then the punishment. Not
1 Rev., xii. 9 ; xxii. 1-3.

12 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
only does the curse of God and all that is involved therein rest
on Satan, but it does so in a manner the highest and deepest
of all ; cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the
field ; of which a flagrant — as well as a symbolical exhibition
should be made to the universe, in the prostrate condition of the
serpent, and in the vileness of his common sustenance. But
the main part and proof of the penalty and curse on Satan, lies
in the enmity denounced by God between the Devil and his seed
on the one side, and the woman and her Seed on the other side.1
We have herein a very extraordinary intimation of the preter
natural generation of Christ, and of all that is involved therein ;
and the enmity between the seed of Satan and the Seed of the
woman is as clearly denounced as the enmity between Satan and
the woman. But beyond all doubt, Christ is that Seed of the
woman intended, and his people in him as their head.2 And
again, beyond all doubt, the obstinately impenitent are em
braced among the seed of Satan, and are expressly and repeat
edly called the children of the Devil, a generation of vipers and
the like.3 The obstinately and finally impenitent are, therefore,
no more embraced in any provision of the Covenant of Grace,
terminating in salvation, than the Devil himself is. This quench
less and eternal enmity of Satan and his seed to the woman and
her Seed, is a large part of their interlocutory sentence, and of so
much of the penalty of transgression as is executed upon them
before their final sentence and second death. Pitiless hate, and
malice, and every evil passion consuming them ; aggravated be
yond conception by the object of their enmity being worthy of
their boundless love, and beyond the reach of their inextinguish
able hate ; a state of case applying in its degree, to their enmity
towards every child of God. At the same time the enmity of
the Seed of the woman to Satan and his seed, begets in these
enemies of God, endless disquiet, dread, and terror, and ends in
their total overthrow, ruin, and perdition. Even their partial
success in bruising his heel, being utterly malicious and diabol
ical, can add nothing but misery and pollution to them, and
can effectually promote only their own punishment and woe. It
can never be more than a partial success, bruising the heel only •
1 Gen., iii. 14, 15.
3 Ps., cxxxii. 11 ; Isa., vii. 14 ; viii. 8 : Matt., i. 23-25 ; Luke, i. 31-35 ; GaL, iv. 4.
s Matt., iii. 1 ; xiii. 38 ; xxiii. 33 ; John, viii. 44 ; Acts, xiii. 10 ; 1 John, iii. 8.

CHAP I.J CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSE. 13
it can never fail to be in the end a source of rage and disappoint
ment — even in its progress attended with tormenting uncertainty,
disquietude, and alarm. Even when the crucifixion of the prom
ised Seed had been achieved, the effect was the overthrow of the
kingdom of darkness ; a result whose possibility Satan himself
seems to have had some fearful suspicion might be impending in
some way he did not comprehend ; as appears to be intimated in
that remarkable attempt of the wife of Pilate to arrest the exe
cution of Jesus.1 In all the Scriptures scarcely anything is more
distinctly set before us, than the great outline of the character
and career of Satan. His original state as a pure and exalted
spirit ; his revolt in heaven and his being cast into hell ; his ruin
of our first parents ; his hatred and malice against the Christ
of God and all his followers ; his ceaseless temptations, accusa
tions, and persecutions ; his boundless cruelties, his endless se
ductions, his shameless lies, even to the denial of his own exist
ence, his employment of civil butchers, his inciting religious
seducers, his uniting both in one in the long lines of Heathen,
and Papal, and Mohammedan oppressors of the children of God ;
a liar and a murderer from the beginning — a liar and murderer
to the end ! Blessed be God for the hope that we are approach
ing the period, when God's angel will lay hold on the Dragon,
that old serpent which is the Devil and Satan, and bind him for
a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut
him up, and set a seal upon him.2 Blessed be God for the assu
rance, made ours through the blood of Christ, that after those
thousand years are out, and after Satan shall have been loosed
out of his prison to deceive the nations ; our eyes shall at last
behold death and hell and Satan cast into the lake of torment,
even the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the
fallen prophet are, and where they shall be tormented day and
night for ever and ever.3 Analogous to the character, the career,
and the destiny of Satan, is that of those whom the Scriptures
in view of their original ruin through him, their bond service of
him through their mortal existence, and their final perdition with
him — call his seed. However fearful it may be to contemplate
any portion of the human race under an aspect so terrible, it is
impossible for us to escape the meaning of God in the sentence
we have been considering, or to avoid the confirmation thereof in
1 Matt., xxvii. 19. 2 Rev., xx. 1-3. a Rev., xx. 1-16.

14 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
every statement of the divine word relating to the finally impeni
tent, or to shun the overwhelming proof of the guilt, pollution,
misery, and ruin of the ungodly, which is the most conspicuous
part of the sum of all human knowledge concerning the human
race. Nay, the more we know of God and his word, of Satan, of
the human race and of ourselves, the more are we ready to mag
nify the riches of that divine Grace whereby sinners are saved,
and to confess that it is because they are unsearchable riches,
that any sinner at all is saved. It is in vain that we would shut
our eyes to the fact that it is not only a part of our vocation,
but a part of the very blessedness thereof, that we must suffer
with Christ.1 It is worse than in vain, it is an abnegation of the
very nature of redemption, and the very nature of the universe
in which redemption is manifested, to suppose that Christ Jesus,
contrary to his own express teachings, did not come into the
world to send a sword, but only peace on earth.2
4. Following the sentence of the serpent, the sentence of the
woman, and then the sentence of Adam is recorded by Moses.3
Eeferring to the former Treatise, in which the whole subject has
been carefully examiued, it belongs to the present necessity to
treat it only in a special aspect. It is to be carefully observed
that these sentences are pronounced by God after the sentence
upon Satan had been pronounced, and after the promise of the
Seed of the woman, which was a portion of that sentence. They
are, therefore, sentences of God upon the human race considered
really as fallen and guilty, but with the further and transcendent
facts, that God had already promulged his purpose to destroy
their destroyer, and to do this through their own nature mani
fested in the promised Seed of the woman ; and in these ele
ments combined lie the elements of the whole issues of human
existence, and of the complete explanation of them all. The
facts themselves, few as they are, and the order of their occur
rence, precise as it is, all divinely made known to us, and all en
tering fundamentally into every subsequent portion of the word
of God, are perfectly adequate to the explanation of every prob
lem in the destiny of our race, and among the rest that great
problem immediately before us, of a race lying under the sentence
of God, but with God's promise of deliverance through a Saviour.
For example, the fall preceded the promise of the Saviour • the
' Rom., viii. 17; Phil., i 29. * Matt., x. passim. = Gen., iii. 16-19.

CHAP I.J CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSE. 15
promise of the Saviour preceded the sentence of the woman
and of Adam ; how wonderfully distinct it is, therefore, that the
promised Seed of the woman had nothing to do with the Cove
nant of Works, either in its binding obligation, its breach, or
the pollution and sentence which followed ; and how clear is the
light thus thrown on the person and work of Messiah, and re
flected back upon the condition of man ! It is also to be care
fully observed, that these sentences of Eve and of Adam, and of
their race in them, so far from being final, are in a manner ob
viously limited and interlocutory, tending to and distinctly
awaiting the absolute sentence after we shall have returned to
the dust as we were. And so far are they from being complete,
in the immediate and full execution of the penalty of the Cove
nant of Works, that they do not even recite that penalty in its
fulness : and they say nothing of our enormous guiltiness as un
der the Law of Nature, the Moral Law, and the Law of those
primeval Institutes of God which lay between the creation and
the covenant ; of all which I have treated specially in another
place. As in the case of Satan, so in the case of these sentences
upon the woman and the man, they are specific sentences under
the Covenant of Works — omitting all allusion to other guilti
ness ; and these especial sentences tempered with the remark
able omission of any distinct curse upon the human race, while
that curse forms a most conspicuous part both of the sentence
of Satan, and of the sentence of the earth. They are sentences,
which on their very face show, that terrible as they were, they
were compatible with the promised deliverance, and that they
were pronounced against a race whose condition taken as a whole,
was one of trial under a new form, and not of final condemna
tion. A peculiar sense is therefore to be given to all our state
ments of the curse of God upon our race, and of a divine deliv
erance for the race — which though they be true as general
statements, are not true universally and strictly of all individuals.
It is strictly and universally true that every human being under
lies the penalty of every system of divine laws, for in one sense
or other we have all violated them all ; and it is strictly true
that every transgressor lies under the curse of every law he has
violated ; and it is strictly true that Jesus Christ our Lord is
able to save and is willing to save, and will save to the uttermost
all who come to God by him. But it is not true that God has

16 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I,
ever by a formal sentence promulged his curse against his re
deemed, who are the objects of that eternal love and that irre
versible decree, of which the Covenant of Grace is, in thought,
an outbirth. Nor is it true that God ever promulged a promise
of deliverance to our fallen race, which can be tortured into an
intimation that he would ever save from endless perdition, even
so much as one single obstinately impenitent and unbelieving
sinner. Under the sentence of God, and under the curse of
God's law, and under the promise of divine deliverance, we strug
gle together on this side of the Jordan of death ; on the other
side, it is all glory, or all perdition.
5. The mother of mankind incurred a double liability ; first —
as she was first in the temptation and a direct agent in Adam's
fall ; and secondly, as she was our common progenitrix, and in
him also as formed out of his rib, one of his race. She is,
therefore, first sentenced separately, and then is embraced with
us all in the sentence pronounced on Adam. Her separate sen
tence involved in a special manner all her sex, considered in the
particular relations occupied by her — every wife and every mother
in the race.1 As a wife — subjection ; as a mother, sorrow in con
ception, and sorrow in bringing forth children ; the fundamental
conception which under our estate of sin and misery answers to
mother is anguish, and to wife is servitude. It is the sentence
of God ; and while sin pollutes man, every wife and every mother
underlies it, as a perpetual proof of the overwhelming calamities
which the first wife and mother brought upon all her posterity ;
calamities which these most sacred relations may indeed assuage,
but may also fearfully aggravate. It is thus that every decisive
fact which the Scriptures connect with the Fall of Man lives and
has its import made manifest through all generations. The sen
tence of God upon Adam immediately followed the sentence upon
Eve ; it is, as I have largely explained in the former Treatise, a
sentence upon the race of which he was at once the natural progen
itor and the federal head — in one word the root. This sentence
contains two parts, of which the first relates to the mortal exist
ence of the race, and the second to the death which swallows it
up ; embracing under both, the moral aspects which are the
chief aspects of the whole case.2 A life of trouble, and a life
of toil, is the essence of the first part of this brief and awful
1 Gen., iii. 16. 2 Gen., hi 17-19.

CHAP. I. J CONDITIONOFTHEUNIVERSE. 17
sentence. Trouble of every sort and from every source ; toil,
ceaseless toil, the livelong day of the world's life. If our lives
were lives of innocence and virtue, if the sentence of God had
only touched our physical and mental condition, how terrible is
the catastrophe which has thus reduced us, the condition which
this sentence contemplates and in which we behold ourselves this
day, compared with our estate before the fall ! Being thus re
duced by transgression, and being therefore depraved, how great
is the goodness of God that both trouble and toil are means —
perhaps chief means of moral good to us ! For toil is the pa
rent of innumerable virtues, as well as of all true success, ad
vancement, usefulness, and greatness ; and trouble and sorrow are
common and chief occasions of the richest blessings of God, and
of the purest and highest manifestations of virtue. And thus
on both sides, in the whole progress of our existence, the mixed
condition of our present estate, is manifested to us ; our fall and
our sentence on one side — the divine promise and our hope of
deliverance on the other. But the second part of this sentence
is still more terrible : Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return.1 That temporal death was an express part of the penal
sanction of the Covenant of Works, that it is expressly de
nounced as such in God's sentence upon Adam, and that in this
way and in no other it found access to man and passed upon
all men ; cannot be denied without subverting every claim of
the Scriptures to be a divine revelation.2 It is a denial,
moreover, as absurd as it is impious ; for death as the result
of life, is one of those inscrutable phenomena, the denial of
which is impossible, the occurrence of which is shocking to hu
man reason, the infidel explanations of which are ridiculous, and
the divine solution of which is perfectly simple and complete. I
do not know that Christianity has any interest in the question,
nor that the Scriptures decisively settle it, how far the decay
and death of the inferior creatures, are to be considered as the
results of the fall of man. As none of those creatures are either
spiritual or immortal, it is certain they do not incur either spir
itual or eternal death, as the result of Adam's fall ; and there
fore escaping the two greater portions of the penalty, it seems
to me a very minute question, and unworthy of discussion here,
what may be the relations of dumb beasts to the third and low-
1 Gen., iii 19. 3 Rom., v. passim.
VOL. II. 2

18 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD. [BOOK I.
est portion of it. As to man, the Scriptures teach us plainly
not only that his mortal existence is forfeited by the fall, but
that the portion of it allowed to him, has been from time to time
greatly shortened and weakened, and thereby many other tem
poral evils of the fall aggravated upon the race. But even here
there is proof of the mixed condition we are contemplating. For
as the life of man is depraved, it is good that it should be short ;
as in that way it can the less establish on earth the means and
instruments of sin and misery. And besides, everything which
can keep us alive to the connection of sin with death, and to that
of virtue with life, is at once a testimony to our actual condition
and the manner in which we fell into it, and an incentive to shun
evil and to pursue good. It is, however, the body only of man
which is of the dust ; his living soul is of the breath of God.1
Separated at death, to be reunited in the resurrection, the body
returns to the dust as it was — the spirit to God who gave it.2
And then when the final judgment is passed upon the united
soul and body, the sentence will be, Come ye blessed, or Depart
ye cursed, as their works shall be, when the books are opened.3
Eternal death, therefore, was as directly involved in the penalty
of the Covenant of Works, as temporal death was ; and nothing
but the intervening promise of a Saviour, prevented it from being
the very form of the divine sentence. After that promise, its
indiscriminate pronunciation upon the whole race, was no longer
possible ; the final separation and sentence of the blessed and
cursed being laid over to the great day ; and the seed of Satan
and the redeemed of God being permitted, under this long re
spite of judgment and execution, to walk together through all
ages of trial with the curse and the promise perpetually mani
fested. Let us note, however, that it is only final sentence and
complete execution that is thus respited to either party, till the
day of judgment ; the penalty of the broken covenant, and the
promise of deliverance which latter has already been so gloriously
fulfilled, both abiding in their unalterable force ; and the final
issue of the mixed condition of things being as distinct to God
as it can be when it is reached. But there is still a third aspect
of this penalty of death annexed to the Covenant of Works
which is indeed the fundamental aspect, and which is made the
explicit ground of the sentence we are immediately considering,
1 Gen., ii. 7. ' Eccl., xii. 7. ' Matt., xxv. 31-4G.

CHAP I.] CONDI TION OF THE UNIVERSE. 19
as it will be also of the eternal sentence, according to the per
petual statements of the word of God. Because thou hast done
this, are the words with which God prefaced the sentence upon
the serpent ;' and in like manner he said to Adam, Because thou
hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the
tree of which I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not eat of it.2
The whole trial and sentence imply, are based upon, and con
clude to trangression. It is because there was sin, that there was
any punishment. Without it, there could be no condemnatory
sentence by God. But there could be no sin on the part of a
perfect but fallible being sentenced as Adam was, which did not
involve the violation of his own nature, and that of every rela
tion in which he stood to God. We may indeed cavil about the
terms in which we will express our idea of the spiritual condition
of Adam after this transgression ; those in which God has chosen
to express it, and which his people in all ages have adopted, are
that it was a condition of spiritual death, and' that the act
whereby it occurred, was the Fall of Man. It is this, the whole
of which I have carefully expounded in another place, out of
which both the temporal death and the eternal death of man
come. Here lies the chief part of that ruin, and the source of all
the rest— which nothing but the blood of the Son of God could
heal ; the fountain of all the sin which pollutes our race, and of
all the misery which makes its career so deplorable. The execu
tion of the sentence of God commenced from its very utterance ;
for we are told that God drove out the man from the Garden of
Eden, and placed cherubim and a flaming sword which turned
every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.3 No symbol of
the Scriptures is more remarkable than the cherubim ; and every
where they appear to be a token of the divine presence. With
out departing from the special object of our present enquiry, in
an attempt to expound that portion of the sacred record which
recounts the expulsion of man from Eden after his sentence ;
nothing can be more certain than that the Covenant of Works
had ceased to be a means of access to God, and that man by his
fall had ceased to be worthy to enjoy, or qualified to use those
mercies and blessings which had been unto him, in his estate of
innocence, both signs and seals of God's covenanted relations
with him. That way of the enjoyment of God's favour was open
1 Gen., iii 14. s Gen., iii. 17. ' Gen., iii. 22-24.

20 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
only for the innocent ; that method of approach to him was im
passible for the guilty. Surely no lesson was ever taught more
impressively — surely none can be more obvious to human reason —
than that upon the ground of our own righteousness we can have
no access to God, unless that righteousness be perfect ; and that as
fallen creatures our own righteousness neither is, nor can be, perfect.
6. Just as the promise of deliverance to man was uttered in the
divine sentence upon Satan ; so the curse promulged against the
earth, was a part of the sentence upon Adam ; cursed is the ground
for thy sake.1 Yet, so far as Adam was concerned, even here is
one of those perpetual mitigations which keep up the perpetual
remembrance of God's great promise, and of the change wrought
by it, in all things. For, though our bread must be eaten in
sorrow and toil, produced from ground accursed for our sake ;
yet the sweat of our face will, under God's promise, make our
bread sure, even out of cursed ground, till we ourselves return to
the ground out of which we were taken.2 Cursed is the serpent,
without mitigation or limitation ; and enmity, without limit and
without end is denounced between the serpent and the woman,
and between his seed and her Seed. Cursed also is the ground ;
but only for man's sake, who was of it ; and only so long as sin
ful man shall abide on it in his sinful condition, and it shall bring
forth, of itself, thorns and thistles as a memorial of our fall, and
shall bring forth, under our toil, bread for us to eat, as a memo
rial of God's great promise. This is no more its final, than it
was its first condition. For when the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them, God in a survey of their
generations, in the day that he made them all, saw every thing
that he had made, and behold it was very good.3 Its present
subjection is not a willing one — but is a sovereign act of God ;
nor is it without hope ; and while it lasts the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together ; even the children of
God who are the first fruits of the spirit, groaning while they
wait for the redemption of the body ; when the creature itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the
glorious liberty of the children of God, in earnest expectation of
which manifestation of the sons of God, the creature waiteth.4
Such is the account given by the Apostle Paul, of the present
condition and future deliverance of so much of the creation as
1 Gen., iii. 17. ' Gen., iii. 17-19. 3 Gen., i. 31 ; ii. 1-4. * Rom., viii. 19-23.

CHAP I.J CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSE. 21
was cursed for man's sake. Touching that glorious deliverance,
the Apostle John is still more explicit. When the time shall
fully come for the earth and the heaven to flee away from the
face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and who maketh all
things new ; then shall there be a new heaven and a new earth,
in the room of the first heaven and the first earth, which were
passed away, and for which no place shall be found.1 And the
New Jerusalem shall come down from God out of heaven, pre
pared as a bride adorned for her husband — and all the wicked
shall die the second death — and the Devil shall be cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet
are — and he that overcometh shall inherit all things — and they
which are written in the Lamb's book of life, shall dwell in the
city of God, whereof the Lamb himself is the light !2 It is of
no consequence here to enquire, what may be the exact nature,
or the whole extent of the things embraced in all these sublime
statements. It is impossible for them to mean less, than that
whatever is subjected to God's curse for man's sake, will receive
a glorious deliverance along with man. It is the same great
principle which applies to everything which is subjected in hope ;
the same mixed condition — actually before us — of good and evil,
to gain the knowledge of which Adam destroyed himself and his
race together ; the same misery under sin— even though it be
but imputed sin. The earnest expectation of the creature strug
gling under the burden of the curse and penalty ; the light of
God's faithful promise shining brighter and brighter, till the per
fect day come ; a universe polluted and under the sentence of
God, but with this immeasurable blessing, that it justly expects
eternal deliverance !
IV. — 1. Seen from the side of reason and nature only, the con
dition of the universe, which I have endeavored to sketch, pre
sents us with little else than appalling mysteries. But as soon
as the light of God's word unfolds everything with its marvellous
clearness, even reason and nature are left without any alternative
but to reject every testimony, human and divine, or to accept
Jesus as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. What
reason and nature left to themselves have to expound, is a uni
verse lying under God's curse, without any promise of deliver
ance. They cannot expound it ; and atheism or superstition is
1 Rev., xx. 11; xxi. 1. J Rev., xx. passim, ; xxi. passim.

22 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
their only refuge. The word of God introduces the new and de
cisive element, which solves these terrible enigmas ; the universe
is under the curse of God — but it has working in its frightful
abyss of sin and misery, the promise of deliverance through God
manifest in the flesh. This is the actual universe which Keve-
lation expounds at the bar of reason and nature, and demands
that they examine and believe. Salvation by Jesus Christ, is the
irresistible conclusion of the high argument.
2. If it had pleased God to leave our race forever under the
full force of the penalty annexed to the Covenant of Works,
there is no ground on which his conduct could be impeached,
without impeaching at the same time, all his preceding conduct
in relation to man ; because — omitting the idea of sovereign
grace — that would have been the unavoidable result, as far as we
can see, of all the dealings of God with man, whether in creation,
in providence, or in covenant. In like manner we should be
obliged also to impeach all the subsequent dealings of God with
man, even under the Covenant of Grace ; because whatever is
absolutely elemental in God's dealing with man in creation, in
the first acts of his providence, and in the Covenant of Works,
is assumed and avouched .by God in the very nature of the Cove
nant of Grace. If God had thus left man, there were various
ways in which the destiny of the human race might have been
wrought out, producing various results. God might have pro
ceeded at once to complete judgment and execution — have sent
Adam and Eve to perdition — and blotted out the creation which,
for man's sake, had fallen under the curse. Or he might have
left the terrible penalty to execute itself upon a sinning and
dying race, generation after generation, through an eternity of
universal pollution and unmitigated wo. Or he might have left
this terrific condition to manifest itself under the restraining and
directing power of his providence, forever. Or he might have
allowed that state of things, for a period limited in its duration ;
and might have done this, with or without his restraining and
directing providence. Or he might have limited or aggravated
without limit, the evils of this condition, by lengtheninc or
shortening the life on earth, either of all men, or of particular
individuals ; or by applying in innumerable forms, the resources
of his divine authority over his rebellious and depraved crea
tures, without implying in any case vengeance unworthy of God,

CHAP. I.] CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSE. 23
or indulgence undeserved by the creature. And these are but
rude suggestions, but obvious possibilities of a condition at once
fruitful and awful beyond our poor conceptions, which in the be
ginning of that estate of all created things now actually exist
ing, came before God to be solved according to the sum of all
his infinite perfections, in such a manner as would be most for
his own eternal glory.
3. What God actually did, what the effect of the course he
took was upon all things, and what as the result the actual po
sition of man and the universe is, it has been the object of this
chapter to exhibit in a general manner, according to the word of
God ; which blessed word has for its main object to explain, to
develop, and to enforce the counsel of God touching these im
mense realities, and as .the great result, the glory of God in the
salvation of fallen men. On the very ruin of the Covenant of
Works, the existence of a better, a more ancient, a more en
during, and in all respects a divine Covenant of Grace was dis
closed. A covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, by which provision had been made from eternity for the
very casualty upon which God was then administering ; and upon
every other casualty which could affect the stability of his unal
terable purpose to have a seed to serve him, or the glory of his
sovereign administration of all things according to the good
pleasure of his own will. When we contemplate the whole case
together, and estimate our actual condition as affected by both
covenants, and as explicated by the sentence of God already
pronounced, and the final sentence which he will pronounce at
the great day, and by his great promise before his first sentence,
and his perpetual fulfilment of it even to his final sentence ; it
is perfectly obvious that our condition as explained by God him
self, is one of actual sin and misery, threatening to end quickly
in eternal perdition — but with the glorious promise of a Saviour,
who has long ago come into the world, and through whom who
soever will come unto God by him, shall not perish, but shall
have everlasting life. This is the divine explanation of the whole
case. So much of it as relates personally to each one of us, we have
as ample means of determining whether it is true or false, as we
have of determining any thing whatever ; we may certainly know
whether or not we are sinners, whether or not we are miserable ;
we may certainly know whether or not we are pure, whether or

24 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
not we are blessed ; we may certainly know whether or not we
have any apprehension of being damned, any desire to be saved.
As to our whole race, nothing concerning it seems to be more
manifest, than that the exact condition which God describes, is
precisely that which it has always exhibited, that through which
it is now passing, and which, so far as we can comprehend,
nothing can alter, till Christ who is our life shall appear once
more — when all his followers shall appear with him — in glory,
and all his enemies shall be swept into endless ruin.
4. In so far as the creatures to be benefitted by the Covenant
of Grace, are in a different condition from what they were under
the Covenant of Works, the two covenants are necessarily differ
ent from each other. But a careful scrutiny of the intimate na
ture of both covenants, makes it obvious that the Covenant of
Works might well proceed from the divine mind, even under
the eternal purpose to execute the Covenant of Grace ; and
when the fall of man annulled the Covenant of Works as a
Covenant of Life, every fundamental and indestructible element
of it which tended in that direction, was gathered up and made
full account of in the Covenant of Grace. The penalty of the
Covenant of Works remains, indeed, in full force ; but the hu
man race received the promise of a Saviour even before their first
sentence under that covenant ; so that, in effect, they have never
been under the unmitigated fury of that penalty ; and never
will be until the final sentence of God. No one was ever saved
by that covenant, or ever will be ; anxious as the wicked, in their
folly, pretend to be to commend themselves to God by their pre
tended good works. On the other hand, we are apparently
taught, that no one ever perished eternally, or ever will, under
the naked penalty of that covenant, and simply because of original
sin ; for though it be real sin, and the source of all other sin in
us, it is also that form of sin in us which stood side by side with
the primeval promise — that sin of the world which the Lamb of
God so took away, that none will perish eternally merely for it.1
I do not think any are warranted in saying that infants are
damned ; that Satan will be permitted to exhibit in hell as a
monument of triumph over Jesus Christ, a single soul drao-o-ed
down to eternal despair, which was originally made in the image
of God, and which is free from actual transgressions of its
1 John, i. 29.

CHAP. I. J CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSE. 25
own. The divine remedy against such a catastrophe is com
plete. 5. The difference between the conduct of God towards Satan
and his seed, and that towards the followers of the promised Seed
of the woman, is infinitely great. It is not diffcult to see, why
the grace of an infinitely merciful God might be extended to
fallen man ; and why the full measure of his justice might burn
against Satan. Indeed it is hardly possible for us to comprehend
how Satan could have been left in the full possession of his ter
rible triumph over man, without its appearing, in some sort, to
involve a triumph over God himself, in the absolute defeat of
his purpose in the work of creation, and the frustration of his
design in entering into covenant with man. The question be
comes far more difficult, when it is so applied as to divide the
human race itself. There is no difficulty in seeing why men are
finally lost ; none in seeing why they are finally saved ; none in
solving all the intermediate questions — in each particular case of
a lost or saved soul. It is perfectly clear that without divine grace
none can be saved ; that through divine grace any — all, could be
saved. It is here that all God has said concerning the seed of
Satan on one side, and the followers of the promised Seed of the
woman on the other side — confronts us ; yea, so confronts us,
that to overlook it, or to explain it away, subverts every thing
which is clear in itself, or which makes the condition of the uni
verse, or that of the human race, clear to us. It is, if I may so
express it, that portion of the infinitely gracious dealings of God
with man, in which his infinite sovereignty makes itself particu
larly manifest ; and the whole difficulty lies in the fact, that God
really acts therein, and has plainly told us he would act, in a
manner different from that in which we would act, if we were
God. Be it so. He does that in all things. There is no alter
native but that we must confide in him, or that he must resign
the throne of his universe to us.
6. Every thing depends on divine grace, and turns upon the
willingness and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus. For sinners there
can be no hope except in grace — for sufferers none except iff
mercy — for the helpless, none except in him who is able to
save. It might be true, or it might not, that Jesus Christ, the
sinner's friend, is willing and is able to save us. But it is abso
lutely certain, so far as the reason of man can reach, and so far

26 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD. [BOOK I.
as the history of man has preserved any record of the past, that
no one else is, or ever was, either able or willing to do what
must be done, in order to save us. Nor is the certainty one whit
less, that God neither is, nor ever was, in the least degree in
clined to save us, or to allow us to be saved, in any other way, or
by any other being, even if both had been possible. How over
whelming, therefore, is the interest of our fallen race — not that
the Lord Jesus should be put to shame, and the blessed word
which reveals him be confuted — which seems to be the chief de
sire of all the enemies of God ; but that the reality, the effi
cacy, and the glory of this great salvation should be established
like the foundations of the everlasting mountains !

CHAPTER II.
THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION: GENERAL STATEMENT OP ITS
GREAT PRINCIPLES AND TRUTHS.
I. 1. The Disclosure of this Covenant : Precise Conception of it. — 2. Jesus Christ the
Mediator of this Covenant. — 3. The Covenant itself the Result of the Eternal
Purpose of God, and the Eternal Counsel of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. —
4. The Relevancy of Divine Grace to the Mode of the Divine Existence. — 5. Em
phatic, with Relation to the Covenant of Redemption. — 6. The Scriptural Doc
trines of the Trinity and of Salvation by Grace, stand or fall together. — II. 1.
The whole Subject one of pure Revelation — 2. The Revealed Mode of God's
Being, determines the Form of the Eternal Covenant. — 3. The Revealed Nature
of Salvation does the like. — 4. The Relation of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost, respectively, to Elect Sinners in the Eternal Covenant. — III. 1. Christ
the Covenanted Head of the Redeemed. — 2. Otherwise, Salvation is neither
promised, nor possible. — 3. Need of restoring a truer Method of Statement. —
4. Fatalism : Human Freedom : A free Gospel : Common Operations of the
Spirit. — 5. The Senses in which Believers are in Covenant with God : Participa
tion of the Universe in Covenanted Blessings. — 6. Recapitulation of the Primary
Conception of the Covenant, as between the Persons of the Godhead : and of
its Secondary Conception, as embracing all the Redeemed in Christ, their Head.
— 7. Practical Appreciation of both these Aspects, indispensable to Man.
I. — 1. It is not to the universe, situated as ours now is, that the
knowledge of a great deliverance is first disclosed by God ; but
the actual condition of the universe, as we behold it, is the re
sult of that disclosure made to a universe over which absolute
and universal ruin was impending, and in which that disclosure
has been perpetually confirmed and augmented throughout the
whole life of the human race. It was the infinite purpose of
divine mercy, thus disclosed in the very sentence of God, which
totally changed the condition of the created universe, as it lay
under the penalty of the covenant of works. And what we now
behold is the combined result of the fall of man, of the respite
until the great day, of the full infliction of the penalty annexed
to the covenant of works, of the actual sentence of God, of the
great promise of deliverance through the Seed of the woman, of
the complete development of that promise in the sacred Scrip-

28 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
tures, of the practical manifestation of Bedemption itself
through every dispensation hitherto exhibited, and of the
ceaseless conflict between sin and misery on the one side, and
grace and truth on the other. What we have to consider in the
survey of all these immense topics is the elemental nature of that
eternal purpose of God, and that whole working of God unto
the restitution of all things through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We express, in its widest sense, the idea in which the whole
survey results, by the phrase, The Covenant of Grace, because
divine grace is the very foundation and significance of the whole :
and also by the phrase, The Covenant of Redemption, because
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the vital point of the whole con
ception of grace unto salvation.
2. If the sacred Scriptures are either the Word of God, or are
intelligible to man, then is Jesus of Nazareth the Seed of the
woman ; the Seed promised to Abraham, the father of the
faithful ; the Messiah of the Old Testament ; the Christ of the
New Testament ; the Son of God ; and the Saviour of the
world.1 It is to the effect that Christ is the promised Seed that
the whole Scriptures conclude ; and nothing was ever more dis
tinctly asserted by Christ himself than that he is the Messiah.2
This is the mediator between God and men. Mediator of what,
and to what end ? Mediator to the end that God and men may
be reconciled ; to the end that man may be saved ; to the end
that God may be glorified in the eternal manifestation of his
sovereign grace by means of the everlasting blessedness of re
deemed sinners. Mediator of a scheme of eternal life proposed
to sinners ready to be sentenced to eternal death ; of a plan of
salvation for the guilty, and mercy for the suffering ; of redemp
tion for those lying under a fearful penalty, release for those ex
posed to a terrible -curse ; Mediator, in one word, of a covenant
of grace, which is also a covenant of redemption. It was to fit
him to be the Mediator of this covenant that he became Im-
manuel, that is, God-man, that he might mediate between God
and men. It was as Mediator of this covenant that he was in
finitely humiliated, even to the cross ; infinitely exalted, even to
the throne of the universe. And every office he executes
whether as the infallible Teacher of all truth, or whether as the
i Gen., iii. 15; xii 3, 7 ; xvi. 7; Job, vii. 14; Matt, i. 23-25; Luke, i. 31-35.
' GaL, iii. 16; iv. 4; John, i. 41; iv. 26; ix. 37.

CHAP. II. J THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 29
great High Priest who redeems men, or whether as the sole King
of saints, it is still as Mediator of the same eternal covenant.
And when he shall come the second time to consummate his in
finite work, he will come as the glorified Bedeemer, perfecting
and then delivering up to the Father the kingdom which this
same covenant had contemplated from eternity.
3. It would be wholly impossible to explain any part of the
mediatorial office, or character, or worth of Christ, and, there
fore, wholly impossible to explain fully any part of the actual
mode of salvation proposed in the Scriptures ; without being
led immediately to the divine nature, and the divine purpose,
and the result of both as exhibited in the conception and execu
tion of salvation by a Bedeemer ; which result is, the covenant
of redemption. This is inevitable in the nature of the case.
But besides this, which the whole Scriptures not only recognize,
but assert ; the Lord Jesus habitually and continually discloses
the intimate participation of the Father and the Holy Ghost in
all his work, in all that preceded it, and in all its results. In all
his teaching, nothing is more frequently reiterated than that in
all things he was executing the purpose of the Father : in all
his promises, nothing is more emphatic than that in all things
the Holy Ghost would consummate his work. So deeply is this
participation of all the persons of the Godhead imbedded in the
scriptural conception of the way of salvation, that there is a
most distinct passing over from one divine person to another, as
the sacred record advances in its sublime disclosures of salvation
itself. First, it is God simply considered ; then it is the Son, who
does all in the name of the Father ; then it is the Holy Ghost,
who does all in the name of the Son. Great, therefore, as is the
certainty that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and the Saviour
of the world ; the certainty is just as great that God the Father,
and God the Holy Ghost co-operate in all his glorious work ; and
that salvation is the result of the eternal purpose of God, and
of the concurrence of all the persons of the Godhead. This is
expressed by the phrase, The Covenant of Bedemption.
4. There can be no doubt that, if salvation is of divine grace,
it must be of him who is God, and can be of none else. What
ever is not God, is wholly impotent as a source of divine grace :
whatever is God, is divinely competent as a source of divine
grace. If there are three Gods, there must be three distinct

30 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I
sources ; if there be but one God, there can be but Qne source.
But if the mode in which the unity of the infinite essence of
the only and true God subsists and acts be a threefold person
ality, then each of these three persons must concur in every act
and purpose of this single and infinite essence, and, therefore,
must concur in every act and purpose of divine grace. And
whatever ineffable counsels, or mutual intuition, or inbeing, or
intercourse with and between the three persons of the one God
upon any subject whatever, or in relation to any purpose or act
whatever, can be supposed to be real or to be possible ; the very
same as a possibility and as a reality, lies at the foundation of
the divine purpose and concurrence in that divine grace which
saves sinners through a Bedeemer. But this, again, is the Cove
nant of redemption.
5. It is easy to understand that every divine purpose and con
currence must conform to the absolute nature of God, and must
be wrought out in a manner answerable to that nature. What
is thus true universally, must be true, in a most emphatic sense,
of that sublime purpose and concurrence of salvation by grace,
which the sacred Scriptures, through which alone we know any
thing about either grace or salvation, teach us is the highest
manifestation of the glory of God, and therefore the highest ex
hibition of his nature and his perfections. If it is true, there
fore, that God exists in an absolute unity of essence, but that
the mode of that unity is a threefold personality ; then it is in
fallibly certain, that if there are any sinners in the universe, and
God should save any of them, he will do it in a manner answer
able to such a nature. Now the Scriptures teach us that there
are sinners in the universe, that God does save some of them,
that he does this through a Covenant of Bedemption, based upon
that very mode of the divine existence, and that, in fine, such is
the exact mode in which God does exist ; all of which I have
proved at large in a former Treatise. This being true, upon the
only authority which is infallible upon the question under con
sideration Nothing is left but to admit the eternal purpose and
concurrence of the one living and true God, the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, to save lost sinners through divine grace —
which is the Covenant of Bedemption ; or else to reject the
saered Scriptures, in which alone is found either this great doc
trine of salvation, or this great doctrine of the divine existence.

CHAP. II.J THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 31
6. To that issue the earnest seeker after truth will always
come, first or last. And if he be an earnest seeker after truth,
that issue is soon settled. It is an issue I cannot follow here ;
its consideration belongs to another department of our great sub
ject. I may observe, however, that the mode of the divine exis
tence which must be true, if the plan of salvation taught in the
Scriptures is either divine or efficacious ; is a mode of that exis
tence which so far from being capable of taking its origin from
human conjecture, is really not capable of being taught or under
stood except in connection with the plan of salvation which is
responsive to it. It is not systematically revealed except in con
nection with that plan ; it is not a speculation of philosophy
capable of being thought out ; it is a sublime result set before
us in a lost soul saved — and educed by God himself, concerning
himself, teaching and saving side by side. Blot out all we know
about salvation, and then see what it is we know about the doc
trine of the Trinity, and the eternal counsel of God. Or blot
out the doctrine of the Trinity and of the Covenant of Bedemp
tion, and then see what it is we know about salvation for lost
sinners. It seems to me that such transcendent abstract truths,
and such overwhelming practical results, with the intense and
inseparable connection between them, make a system which tran
scends human imposture.
II. — 1. According to the Scriptures, salvation is by the grace
of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, by means of the work of
the Holy Ghost within us.1 If the Scriptures be rejected, then
there is no knowledge of the grace of God, nor any knowledge of
faith in Christ, nor any knowledge of any work of the Holy
Ghost, left upon earth. But in that case, we have also lost all
true conception both of what salvation is, and of what is the
exact nature of our own terrible condition ; and are left to the
fearful dominion of sin and death, under which the goadings of
our depraved conscience and reason, fleeing from despair, drive
us to atheism or to superstition — the only refuges for man with
out the Bible. We cannot repeat it to ourselves too often, that
sinners cannot be saved without a Saviour ; that man left to
himself cannot even conceive a way of saving himself which his
own reason will accept till, it is blinded by his consuming religious
wants ; that the whole subject of deliverance for sinners lies
1 Eph., ii. 4-10 ; John, i. 1-20 ; 1 Cor., i. 21-24.

32 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I,
merely in the bosom of God ; and that his divine revelation of the
manner of it, and the fact of it, is a revelation of that which lies
wholly out of the range of natural knowledge. We must accept
the manner of the divine deliverance, and the fact of it together ;
or we must reject them together. In one terrible sense they
may be both rejected ; and I have just pointed out the result
thereof. In a still higher sense, their rejection is no longer pos
sible. For these sublime ideas once revealed to man, cannot af
terwards perish. Their very existence among men is a decisive
proof of a divine revelation ; the clearness with which, notwith
standing their vastness and their remoteness from human think
ing, they still make their way into the human understanding, is
an equally decisive proof of their absolute truth ; and their
transforming power in the soul of man raises up through all
generations such living monuments of divine grace, that the fact
of the divine revelation, the truth of its heavenly matter, and
the efficacy of the great deliverance it makes known, become
just as palpable as that man is a sinner, or that he will perish
if left to himself.
2. The Scriptures being accepted as a revelation of the way
of life, and their divine statements as to the manner thereof
being accepted in their simple and full sense ; then grace, and
faith, and a spiritual life, become the grandest realities, carrying
us backward into eternity, inward to the depths of the human
soul, and forward to endless glory. God considered in his es
sence and totality, and each person of the Godhead, namely,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, sometimes either one,
sometimes either two, sometimes all three Persons ; these, in
endless repetition, become the themes of revelation touching the
deliverance promised to man, and touching the way thereof. The
poverty of all languages prevents the reproduction of the im
mense richness with which Jehovah has made himself known to
the earliest ages, by means of the numerous names by which he
revealed himself : that primeval form of permanent revelation
of which I have treated specially in another place. Never
theless, the sacred word is so replenished with the knowledge
of the living God, that the divine truth most deeply seated
therein, is that the God of Israel is one God. And yet the
very first recorded utterance of this glorious God concerning
man was, Let us make man in our image, after our like-

CHAP. II. J THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 33
ness ;' and he prefaced man's expulsion from the Garden of Eden
by the wonderful declaration, Behold the man is become as one
of us, to know good and evil.2 Before either of those state
ments, the Spirit of God brooded over the chaos at creation ; and
the omnific Word by whom all things were created, spoke before
all great creative acts.3 Now it is not in order to prove the
manner of the divine existence, nor the manner of the divine
manifestation founded on that manner of existence, both of
which I have treated at large elsewhere, that these great topics
are made fundamental here. But it is to point out in that man
ner of existence, and that manner of manifestation, both of
which are most conspicuous of all in the salvation of fallen sin
ners of the human race, and in the manner thereof ; the una
voidable needs be, either of a wholly independent action on the
part of God, and then of each Divine Person in the Godhead — or
else of that eternal counsel and concurrence in the whole God
head, of which the work of God, and of each Divine Person is
the result. By the former alternative, there must be four divine
wills, and therefore, four Gods, which, beyond all question, the
Scriptures do not teach. By the latter alternative, there can be
but one divine will of one living God, in whose undivided essence
three divine Persons subsist ; which unquestionably the Scrip
tures do teach. But from this there results inevitably, out of
the revealed manner of the divine existence, and the revealed
and actual manner of its manifestation in all things, and espe
cially in Redemption, that eternal Covenant between the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Ghost which is the outbirth of God's
eternal counsel, and whose outworkings are seen in the whole
Plan of Salvation.
3. There are, therefore, two perfectly distinct lines of enquiry,
by either, or by both of which, the reality and the nature of the
Covenant of Bedemption between the persons of the Godhead
in eternity, and from eternity, are capable of being made just
as certain as the reality and nature of salvation itself. One of
these is the testimony of the Scriptures themselves ; wherein
are innumerable statements revealing to man the counsel, will,
purpose, and Covenant of God concerning his salvation, and
concerning the whole reason, cause, design, ground, manner,
end, and object thereof. The other lies in the facts distinctly
1 Gen., i. 26. a Gen., iii. 22. s Gen., i. 1-26 ; John, i. 1-5.
VOL. II. 3

34 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD. [BOOK I.
held forth — the effects of that counsel and covenant distinctly
produced and recorded as such, and the consequences, results,
and products thereof reproduced upon the soul, and with the
intimate knowledge of man ; from which effects, to wit, from
the recorded acts of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ;
and from the results of those effects in us, for example, our re
generation, we are able to infer, and are obliged to infer, a cause
antecedent to those divine acts, to wit, the counsel of God, and
its product, the Covenant of Redemption. Both of these lines
of enquiry terminate in the same manner, and upon the same
conclusion, summarily exhibited in the following statements :
The sole foundation of the sinner's hope lies in the sovereign
grace of God : The word of God is a Revelation of that grace
and of the manner of it : The manner of it in its first and most
general form, is a covenant from eternity between the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, to save, by the work of each, with
the concurrence of all, every sinner of the human race, whom
God purposes to save.1 It is a covenant infinitely sure,2 ever
lasting," absolute/ and filled with all spiritual blessings to true
believers in Christ.6
4. In this Covenant of Redemption, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the covenanted head of all the elect of God. Whatever grace
they can receive in time, and whatever glory in eternity, both
are lodged in this eternal covenant, and settled on them by its
terms, only in him whose participation in it was the participa
tion of their head, their Lord, their Redeemer, their elder
brother ; in like manner as the participation of the Father in it,
was the participation of their God and Father ; and the parti
cipation of the Holy Ghost, was the participation of their New
Creator, Comforter, and Sanctifier.6 God so loved the world '
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish but have everlasting life.7. And it is this
amazing love which the Father has bestowed on us, and through
which God calls us his sons ; that is the remotest cause of our
receiving in this world, all the privileges of sons of God, and in
the life to come, the incomprehensible weight of glory which is
1 Ps. lxxxix. 3-28; Eph., i. 3, 4; 2 Tim., i. 9. » TSa., i7. 3.
9 Isa., lxi. 8. * Jer., xxxii. 38-40. 6 Eph., i. 5.
' Rom., viii. 28-39 ; xvi. 25, 26 ; Eph., Ipassim; iii. 9-12 ; 2 Tim., i. 7-10 ; Titus,
L 2 ; 1 Peter, L 20. ' John, iii. 16.

CHAP. II.] THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 35
involved in the fruition of the glorified Redeemer as he is, and
in our being like him.1 The sum of the record is, that God hath
given to us eternal life ; that this life eternal is in the Son of
God ; that whosoever hath the Son, hath life ; and that he that
hath not the Son of God hath not life.2 Such are the very words
of God. On the other hand, the participation of the Son in this
eternal covenant, and his concurrence alike in it, and in the coun
sel, the purpose, and the decree of God, and his whole work of
Redemption as the consequence thereof, and as the Mediator of
that covenant ; is the very burden of the sacred Scriptures.8
The grace which is held forth in this covenant is the grace of
God, in which, as in the covenant itself, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost alike participate. The infinite Beneficence
of God, which, as far as we can understand, or the Scriptures
instruct us, is that divine perfection from which springs all divine
grace to fallen sinners of mankind, is a perfection of the God
head in its essence, and, like all such perfections, it appertains
alike and equally to each Divine Person. The same thing is
true of the divine Wisdom and Power in their relation to this
divine covenant, and its execution. At the same time, the Per
sonality of the Godhead is no more to be excluded with reference
to that covenant, and its execution, than the Unity thereof is ;
nay, it is in these sublime manifestations of God that we are so
precisely taught that the mode of that Unity of essence is truly
expressed only by the subsistence of a threefold Personality
therein. Specifically, then, the office of the Father in relation to
this covenant, is the manifestation of that sovereign and eternal
purpose of God to have a seed to serve him, which was exhibited
concerning the whole race of man, by the Covenant of Works,
and all that preceded it ; which was exhibited, in another form,
in pronouncing sentence upon the breach of the Covenant of
Works, wherein the distinction in the race itself is first set forth
by God in connection with his promise of deliverance ; and which
was fully exhibited in the form of eternal, unchanging, and elec
ting love, and in that form lodged in the bosom of this covenant,
for the infinite glory of God and the endless blessedness of the
inheritors of eternal life under the covenant itself. When we
1 1 John, iii 1, 2. a 1 John, v. 11, 12.
' John, i. 1-14 ; Rom., v. passim ; Luke, i. 26-55 ; 1 Cor., xv. passim ; Gal, iv.
3-7 ; Phil., ii. 5-13.

36 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD. [BOOK I.
encountered the first manifestation of the eternal purpose of
God to deal with devils and men differently — and to deal with
the human race itself with reference to a final judgment in which
that race would be eternally separated into two parts, I called
attention distinctly to the overwhelming facts so deeply influen
tial upon the condition and destinies of the universe, and so fun
damental in the very structure of the Word of God. We en
counter once more a new proof, in a still more precise form, of
this eternal purpose of God. For my own part, I am not able
to understand the Scriptures otherwise ; nor am I able to under
stand upon what ground it is possible for us to assert that they
would be more rational, more credible, more honourable to God,
or more in accordance with all we know of him, of ourselves,
and of the universe, independently of what we learn from them,
if they had taught differently on these vast topics. Undoubt
edly there is an end of all salvation promised in the Scriptures,
uuless it is secured in the Covenant of Redemption. Undoubt
edly the eternal purpose of God, and the electing and unalter
able love of the Father, are as rational and as exalted motives and
grounds upon which sovereign grace could be alleged to distin
guish its objects in a race of sinners, as any others which the
poor cavils of men have suggested. So it is, that the Son does
engage to take flesh — become Immanuel, and so Mediator be
tween God and men, under this covenant, and in all his work of
humiliation and exaltation to bring in, and to work out, an ever
lasting righteousness ; not, assuredly, for the benefit of the seed
of Satan, the finally impenitent, the just objects of the aversion
of God and the Father ; but, assuredly, for the benefit of all
fallen sinners of the human race, whom God hath purposed to
save, and whom the Father had loved with that wondrous love
in Christ Jesus, from which neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able
to separate the objects of it.1 In the same manner the Holy
Ghost, the third Person of the adorable Trinity, participating
and concurring in all divine acts and counsels, has a special office
with reference to the Covenant of Redemption. He is the
Author of that New Creation of which Christ is the head and
of which every particular member is in covenant with God
1 Rom., viii. 33-39 ; GaL, iii. 16 ; Isa., lix. 21 ; Zech., vi. 13 ; Luke, xxii. 29.

CHAP. II.] THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 37
through Christ their covenant head. It is the divine Spirit who
enables them and inclines them, to believe to the saving of their
souls, and to repent of sin, and forsake it. Whatever concerns
the complete execution of this divine covenant, and the effica
cious application of it to the redeemed, appertains to the parti
cipation of the divine Spirit, in the covenant itself, and to his
divine office with reference thereto.1 Precisely as the office of
the Son herein has special relation to the office of the Father,
so the office of the Spirit has special relation to the office of the
Son. The objects of the Father's love are redeemed by the Son ;
and those redeemed by the Son are regenerated by the Spirit. I
have used the word special, because the Scriptures do not permit
us to do otherwise with reference to the whole concatenation of
this amazing exhibition of the nature, the counsel, and the grace
of God.2 And thus, according to the revelation which God has
given to man, salvation for sinners, so far from being that casual,
uncertain, or indeterminate thing, which men are so prone to
consider it ; is, in reality, the most wondrous manifestation of
God. Whatever effect may be produced upon the universe, or
upon devils or men, or upon particular portions of either indi
vidually considered, there, absolutely considered, is an exhibition
of the divine nature, the divine character, and the divine plans,
transcendently wonderful and efficacious— perfectly distinct after
God has revealed all unto us, yet utterly remote from any thing
which could ever have been suggested by the natural thinking of
the human soul. In its sum, it is the revelation of the eternal
Covenant of Grace for the Redemption of the elect of God,
through Jesus Christ, by the work of the Holy Ghost ; of the
whole of which natural thinking knows nothing, and to which
nature furnishes no clue. So far as nature is concerned, it is a
new, a distinct, and is indeed the very highest manifestation of
the glory of God.
III. — 1. I shall not repeat here the general discussion of the
doctrine of covenants, which has been very carefully drawn out
in treating of the covenant of works in the First Part of The
ology. It becomes us, however, to be fully aware of what the
Scriptures teach, and of the sense in which we understand their
teaching, concerning the reality and the effect of headship of
1 Ezek., xxxvi. 26, 27 ; John, vi. 37-44; Gal., v. 22, 23.
"John, xvi 7-16; 1 Tim., iii. 16; Rom., i. 4; John, xv. 26.

38 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
the Son over the elect of God, in the Covenant of Redemption.
The headship of Adam, both natural and federal, seems to me
to be taught with perfect clearness in the Scriptures : and,
moreover, if it were otherwise, the Scriptures would afford us no
solution of the actual condition of the human race, and, there
fore, no complete solution either of the way of salvation, or of
salvation itself. But the Scriptures, in innumerable places and
ways, illustrate our recovery by our fall ; and do not hesitate to
run parallels, for this purpose, between Adam and Christ by
name ; nay, they expressly call Christ the second Adam, in
their anxiety to make us comprehend how the first Adam, who
was a living soul, was a figure of the second Adam, who was a
quickening spirit and the Lord from heaven.1 The Son of God,
therefore, is as really the Head of the redeemed, both by cove
nant and by a supernatural regeneration ; as the first man
Adam was the head of the human race, both by covenant and
by natural generation. It is of no consequence now, and to this
proof, whether the human race, and the redeemed, be or be not,
absolutely and numerically co-incident. If they are, all are re
deemed ; if they are not — as we know they are not — the lost are
not redeemed. But if the redeemed are embraced in the cove
nant of redemption, in Christ their covenant and supernatural
Head, as the whole race was embraced in the Covenant of Works,
in Adam their covenanted and natural head : it is as wholly in
evitable that the redeemed must share the fate of their head,
as that the race must share the fate of their head. Such is the
overwhelming demonstration drawn out repeatedly by the Scrip
tures themselves ; confirmed by innumerable separate declara
tions scattered through the Word of God, and practically illus
trated throughout all generations, as the human race has ex
hibited its connection with Adam, and the redeemed of the
Lord taken out of the bosom of that race have exhibited their
connection with Christ.
2. It is no doubt very common to reject the teachings of the
Scriptures, or to obscure them, concerning the Covenant of
Works and the fall of man. It is also very common to reject
their teachings, or to obscure them, concerning the Covenant of
Grace and the recovery of man. We ought, however, to reflect
that our complete success in such undertakings could not miti-
1 1 Cor., xv. 45-50 ; Rom., v. passim.

CHAP. II. J THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 39
gate a single evil of the fall, and could destroy nothing but the
hope of the redeemed. Our very highest success terminates in
this, that having abolished the Covenant of Redemption, we are
left without Christ, and, therefore, without God, and without
hope in the world. For how are we to be made partakers of
Christ, except by means of his- redeeming us ? And how is he
to redeem us, except as Mediator between God and men ? And
how is he to mediate, when the very ground, authority, and
power to mediate, as well as the chief end and object of the me
diation itself, are abolished by nullifying the covenant of grace
and redemption ? Who has any right to talk about grace after
God is refused the right to stipulate concerning his own sover
eign grace, and finds his veracity assailed when he says he has
done so for his own glory ? Who has any right to make men
tion of redemption, after the Son of God is refused liberty to
covenant for his own brethren in his own shed blood, unless he
will treat all the seed of Satan precisely as he treats all the elect
of God ? If it is said, there are no elect of God ; that is merely
returning by a short way to the same subversion of the covenant,
and of grace and salvation with it, only it is less respectful to
God, who has said a thousand times there are elect of him : and
it is immediately fatal to man, since it is certain that if God
does not choose us, we shall never choose him.
3. There are questions which produce extreme embarrassment
to our limited faculties, connected with every possible view we
can take of the great problems of God and man. Many of
these are questions which serious minds cannot escape ; many
others are questions which candid minds cannot solve to their
own entire satisfaction, much less to that of others. There is no
need, however, to increase either the number or the difficulty of
such questions by our own undocile ignorance and obstinate self-
conceit. Concerning all such questions as rise high enough to
exhibit a double solution — one when viewed from the divine side
of them, and another when viewed from the human side of them
— I have expressed my sense of their nature, their effects, and
their proper treatment, at the close of the former Treatise.
Those which merely present difficulties in reaching any clear
solution, at all, are either such as in their nature are out of the
range of our intelligence, or such as being within that range are
not explicable in the present state of our knowledge. It is

40 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD. [BOOK I.
under this last description, perhaps, that we should class most of
those difficulties which we experience with regard to questions in
cidentally connected with the great topics discussed in this chap
ter. The whole subject, fundamental as it is, had passed away
from the preaching, from the religious literature, almost from
the dogmatic teaching of the first third of this century. No
wonder that there should arise difficulties in restoring it to its
fundamental position ; difficulties mainly produced by the errors
which had occupied the place of these immense truths. And
thus, whenever that state of case is present, such difficulties as
the following naturally enough arise : Is not this fatalism ? Is
there any room for human freedom here ? Any for a free Gos
pel ? Any for the common operations of the Spirit ? Let us
examine them.
4. If by fatalism we mean the uncontrollable dominion of an
infinite personal God over the created universe, and the absolute
dependence of man, both as a creature and a sinner upon God,
both as his Creator and Redeemer ; then we have given a very
absurd name to the system of the universe which actually ex
ists, and which is clearly exhibited in nature, in providence,
and in revelation. When we conceive of fate as subordinate to
God, what we mean by fate, if we mean any thing, is divine
providence : when we conceive of fate as superior to God him
self, if we mean any thing, it is that fate is God, and that God
is providence. The very idea of fate disappears from a spiritual
system administered by an infinite, personal, sovereign God ;
and although such a system might be conceived of as presented
under innumerable aspects, and as administered in innumerable
ways, the absolute dominion of God and the absolute depend
ence of the creature on God, are necessarily inherent in every
aspect and every way. Of all conceivable systems, the one I
have been attempting to develop most thoroughly excludes every
conception of fate. — As to our personal freedom, considered in
itself, there can be no question with man of the existence of
that of which each one is conscious, and without which we are
not able to conceive that virtue, morality, duty, reward or on
the other hand, vice, sin, punishment, which are the highest re
alities, could exist at all. But it is a freedom which must con
sist with all the past, all the actual, all the future of our bein°- :
which must exist and operate in such a way as accords with our

CHAP. II. J THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 41
entire dependence on God, and his infinite dominion over us.
Existing as fallen creatures, our moral freedom, as such, is re
cognized and respected in the whole manner of our restoration ;
or more truly speaking, our moral bondage is broken and we are
set free in Jesus Christ. To such as are not restored in Christ,
assuredly no violence is offered : and they have the same evi
dence of moral freedom in rejecting the Saviour, that they have
of the existence of moral freedom itself. It is remarkable that
only they who reject Christ exhibit a sensitiveness about en
croachments upon human freedom in divine grace, from which
the subjects' of that grace are wholly free. They ought to reflect
that the efficacy of salvation by grace within the human soul
depends on the power of God, and not on the freedom of the
depraved soul ; and that, in the nature of the case, it is obvious
that when the nature of man is changed, all that appertains to
that nature, whether intellect, conscience, will, or whatsoever,
incurs a corresponding change, each after its own kind. So that
the real difficulty is, not that our moral freedom is violated,
whichft never is ; but that God will not violate it so as to save
us against our will ; but leaves us in our boasted freedom, to
perish for our sins, or to save ourselves if we can. — Touching
the freedom of the Gospel offer, nothing can be more certain
than that salvation is to be freely, sincerely, urgently proclaimed
to the whole family of man ; proclaimed as infinitely worthy of
all acceptation, and as the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believes it. But, at the same time, it is perfectly cer
tain that innumerable multitudes have always despised and re
jected it ; that they do so still ; and that doing so, they perish.
Now in what manner can it affect all these questions, to ascer
tain and point out the grounds upon which men accept the
Gospel, and are saved ; or those upon which they reject it, and
are ruined ? Whether the explanation is true or false, is imma
terial to the other question. God reserves to himself the sover
eign power by which the Gospel is made efficacious : he also
reserves, till the opening of the Lamb's Book of Life, the pub
lication of the names of the redeemed. Through all time, they
who will perish and they who will be saved, pass together
through this state of trial : the Word of God, which is the in
fallible source of knowledge, and rule of faith and obedience to
all, is open to all ; and all the means of grace and salvation ad-

42 THE KNOWLEDGE OF SOD. [BOOK I.
ministered by men utterly ignorant of the sovereign purpose of
God touching individual persons, are exhibited before all, and are
accessible to all. It is unquestionably true that God knows
from eternity the exact result of each particular thing, and of all
things. But this is equally true of all possible systems ; so that
absolutely considered, none could effect anything but that which
God designed it should effect : and, therefore, in the sense of the
difficulty I am now considering, the real cavil is against God
himself, for offering salvation generally when he knew it would
be accepted only specially. But they who thus cavil ought to
reflect that, after all, the offer of salvation in its freest form is
always conditional, and the conditions always a part of the offer :
that if these simple and unalterable conditions are performed by
any, only because God inclines and enables them, that is one
more proof of the nature and reality of that covenant which I
have exhibited ; whereas, the inability or the refusal, no matter
which, of men to believe in Christ, and to forsake sin, as the
conditions of salvation, and their neglect or refusal, no matter
which, to ask Christ for that inclination and ability which he
has promised to give if they will ask him, clearly prove the utter
futility of all mere offers of salvation to lost men. In effect,
the real difficulty is the same as in the former questions ; the
right of God to treat devils and men differently ; the right of
God, having reserved his grace for fallen man, to make any dis
crimination between them ; the right, after being rejected by
all, to save any through sovereign grace. It is not to be con
cealed that, if this can be denied to God, the sacred Scriptures
can no longer be vindicated as a revelation of his will ; nor can
the salvation in which his people rejoice be considered more
than a vain and empty delusion. — The difficulty founded on
what are called the common operations of the divine Spirit 
those operations, whatever they may be, which come short of
perfecting in the human soul the work of salvation wrought out
by Christ ; arises from overlooking the intimate relation of the
work of the Spirit to the work of Christ, which I have before
pointed out. It is inconsistent with the nature of the Covenant
of Redemption, and with the office of each divine Person in it
and with innumerable statements of the sacred Scriptures to
rob the purpose, and counsel, and plan of God of its sovereign
unity. The Son does nothing as Mediator irrespective of the

CHAP. II. J THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 43
eternal love of the Father ; and the Spirit does nothing as the
author of the New Creation irrespective of the mediatorial
work of the Son. Out of Christ, there is no grace of God for
sinners, nor any work of the Spirit of God in sinners ; and sin
ners have no relation to the Covenant of Redemption irrespective
of Christ their covenant Head ; the gift of the only begotten
Son of God being the foundation of every other divine gift. All
those representations, therefore, which set forth the work of
Christ as indeterminate, and leave the grace of God to flow still
more indeterminately, and the work of the Spirit to proceed in
the same manner ; involve not only the subversion of the Cove
nant of Bedemption, and the substitution of a way of salvation
utterly repudiated by the Scriptures ; but they involve, logi
cally, the existence of three separate and independent divine
wills, and, therefore, three Gods : or else the subjection of the
separate will of the Son, and the separate will of the Spirit, to
the supreme will of the Father, and, therefore, the existence of
but one divine person, to wit, the Father. In effect, there are
common operations of the Spirit ; but they are not irrespective
of Christ : on the contrary, they are absolutely relevant to him.
Every mercy of God does not terminate in salvation ; every ben
efit conferred by Christ does not ensure salvation ; every work
of the Spirit does not fit us for salvation. It is the glory and
blessedness only of such as love God, such as are the called ac
cording to his purpose, that all things work together for their
good. Whatever comes short of salvation, may, without objec
tion, be called common ; and in the immense benefits of this
kind which are conferred by Christ upon the unthankful and
disobedient, and which do not secure their salvation, we have at
once the key, the ground, and the measure, of those common
operations of the Spirit which come short of salvation. Surely,
there is no occasion either to deny their reality, or to undermine
the foundations of our hope in order to allow them.
5. In our English version of the New Testament Scriptures,
the same Greek word* is rendered both covenant and testa
ment. The word of itself undoubtedly has both significations ;
and when Messiah sealed, with his blood the covenant to which,
as the Son, he was a party in eternity, all the blessings of
redemption which had always been in him covenant mercies
* AcadqKT].

44 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
to believers, became thenceforward testamentary devises of the
Saviour to his followers. He gave the cup to his Apostles, and
said, Drink ye all of it ; for this is my blood of the new testa
ment (diadrJKrjc) which is shed for many for the remission of sins.'
There are also two senses in which this covenant is truly called
a covenant between God and believers. For, in the first place,
every believer was really embraced in it, in his covenant head,
the Lord Christ. And, in the second place, every believer in his
personal union with Christ, in his new creation by the Holy
Ghost, wherein he accepts, receives and relies upon Christ for
' salvation, enters personally into covenant to take God to be his
God, and Christ to be his Saviour, whom he engages, through
grace by faith, to follow in a new obedience f and God accepts
him, in covenant, and seals to him the blessings and benefits of
the Covenant of Redemption.3 Nor is the universe itself, which
was cursed for man's sake, to be excluded from its share in the
blessedness of man's redemption. The Lord Jesus declared in
the most emphatic manner, that his crucifixion was the crisis of
all things ; that by means of it the ruin of Satan, the judgment
of this world, and the universality of his own dominion, would
be established.* And it is the constant doctrine of the Scrip
tures, that all things are to be restituted in Jesus Christ, and
that the whole creation, which groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now, shall be delivered from the bondage of corrup
tion, into the glorious liberty of the children of God.5 There is
no need of discussing cosmical questions of any sort here. He
who created all things, will restore all things which have been
deranged or polluted by the entrance of sin through the fall of
man ; and that creation which he pronounced, in the survey of
the whole of it, to be very good, will emerge from its long bond
age under corruption, purged by fire, a new heavens and a new
earth, more glorious than the old. All the enemies of God shall
be put under the feet of the glorified Redeemer ; death shall die,
and hell shall be the prison-house of Satan and his seed. As
for man, he shall be exalted inconceivably above his primeval
condition, inconceivably beyond all to which it was possible for
him to have attained under the Covenant of Works. In con-
1 Matt., xxvi. 28 ; Rom., ix. 4 ; Eph., ii. 12 ; Gal., iv. 24.
2 Isa., lis. 21 ; Gal., iii 16-21. a Ezek., xxxvi. 28, 27 ; John, vi. 37-44.
*¦ John, xii. 23-33. 5 Acts, iii. 19-21 ; Rom., viii. 19-23.

CHAP. II. J THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 45
nection with him, the highest glory of God in his being, his
perfections, and his works, will be illustrated forever ; and his
own blessedness and renown are carried so high as to be ex
pressed by saying, he shall be made partaker of the divine
nature.1 As far as it is permitted that we should judge, the ob
jects which are embraced in this stupendous covenant are worthy
of the means it employs; and it is impossible to doubt that those
means are infinitely efficacious to their end. It is in the light
of these means and their efficacy, these objects and their nature,
this end and its transcendent glory — in one word, of this Cove
nant of Redemption, that the whole word of God, and our per
sonal share in the grace it reveals, become distinct to the humble
follower of Christ. It is in the absence of that light that the
children of God stagger through life under a load of tormenting
doubts and fears, and are saved at last, as it were, by fire.
6. Primarily, therefore, and in its great elemental sense, the
Covenant of Grace or Redemption is a covenant from eternity,
between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for the resti
tution of all things from the effects of the fall of man ; the
realization, in thought, of the eternal purpose, counsel, and con
currence of the Godhead, and the three persons thereof, as the
whole is revealed in the sacred Scriptures ; in general, for the in
finite glory of God and, in particular, for the eternal blessed
ness of sinners of the human race, chosen of God, redeemed by
Christ, and effectually called unto salvation by the Holy Ghost.
The plan of salvation revealed in the Scriptures is the complete
realization, in time, of this eternal covenant. The Scriptures are
a complete disclosure of it, so far as is needful for our salvation.
The Kingdom of God in this world is the manifestation of it,
from age to age, in time; and when time is done, the triumphant
Kingdom of Saints in glory will manifest it completely and for
ever. Secondarily, and in a. subordinate sense, it is a covenant
between GotTand every sinner saved by grace : because all such
were- -represented by Christ, their federal head, in the covenant
itself ; and being, in due time, supernaturally regenerated by the
Holy Ghost, they come actually into covenant with God, through
Christ. It is they who make up the mystical body of Christ.
They constitute that true Kingdom of God which is sometimes
called the Messianic Kingdom, with reference to its head ; some-
' 2 Peter, i. 4.

46 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
times, the New Creation, with reference to its author ; most
generally, the Church of God, with reference to themselves.
They are the heirs of all the promises, and for them is laid up in
heaven an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, which shall
never pass away.
7. There are, then, two sufficiently distinct aspects of this
amazing covenant. On the one hand, as it is divinely exhibited
to us in the Mediator of it, working out our salvation ; preceded
by the eternal purpose, counsel, and acts of God, which resulted
in his incarnation and sacrifice ; and followed by the mission and
work of the Holy Ghost, applying to men the whole work of
Christ. On the other hand, as we behold man and the applica
tion to him of the blessings and benefits of that covenant. At
first, wholly depraved, and a child of wrath ; yet still susceptible
through the power of God of restoration to him. Then,
awakened by the Spirit of God to a sense of his true condition ;
yet still perverse, stupid, and rebellious. Then, born again,
from above, and of the Spirit ; yet weak, frail, erring, and very
slow of heart to believe. At last, closing his career of sin, and
pardon, and deliverance, in peace, perhaps in triumph. Now it
behooves us to realize these two distinct aspects of this great sub
ject — this divine and this human element of our destiny. Both
of these are to be made full account of in all our endeavours to
comprehend the ways of God towards man, in all our efforts to
keep our hearts in his fear and love. If we exalt the human
element too much, then we lose sight of the infinite need of di
vine grace, and fall into presumptuous estimates of our own ability
to something good ; and if we weaken it too much, we lose that
pungent sense of responsibility, and that deep impression of
duty, which it is one of the noblest offices of the Gospel to en
lighten and to exalt. On the other hand, the least weakening
of the divine element, no matter in what way, is immediately
fatal ; and every error on that side immediately reacts and pro
duces a corresponding and fatal error on the other side. Nothing
can be more absurd than to suppose that religion in its very na
ture, consists merely of emotions ; unless it is more absurd to
suppose that such emotions as God would recognize as constitu
ting true religion, can exist independently of true knowledge of
him. It is true that mere knowledge is not religion • but it is

CHAP. II. J THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. 47
more emphatically true that neither ignorance nor error is re
ligion. But what is most important is, that ignorance and error
separate us from God precisely in proportion as they exist ;
while God himself has told us, that to know him, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, is eternal life.1
' John, xvii. 3.

CHAPTER III.
RELATION OF THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION, TO THE INNER LIFE
OF MAN, AND TO HIS FUNDAMENTAL RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS.
I — 1. The Will of God is the Rule of Duty to Man considered as a Creature. — 2. The
Rule of Duty to Fallen Creatures for whom God provides a Saviour, is the Will
of that Saviour. — 3. Precise relation of the Revealed Way of Salvation, to the
nature of Religion, and of Man. II. — 1. Salvation for Sinners, through sover
eign Grace. — 2. Comparative Statement of their Condition — and the Remedy. —
3. Comparative Statement of the Moral Impotence, and the Moral Susceptibility
of Fallen Man. — 4 This Condition of Fallen Man, the Covenant of Redemption,
and the actual Process of Salvation mutually illustrated. — 5. The Sovereignty of
God and the Dependence of the Creature, universal in all things, are emphatic in
Grace unto Salvation. — 6. Divine Grace rendered effectual, only through our
personal Redemption. — 7. That personal Redemption made available to us, not
by our act, but by the work of God's Spirit. III. — 1. The most remote reasons
of our personal Salvation. — 2. The most remote reasons of the failure of personal
Salvation to be universal. — 3. On one side an illustration of God's infinite Per
fections beyond the Covenant ; on the other of his infinite Perfections within the
Covenant ; on both the display of his infinite Nature. — 4. Restatement of Re
deeming Love, in its method, and in its results.
I. — 1. If there were no God, there could be no religion ; and,
in that case, the existence of a moral conscience in man would
be the most inscrutable of all the wonders of his being. It would
be the precise response of our nature to our Creator ; when, in
reality, there was no such thing as a Creator. To say that we
have an understanding — and then deny that there is any such
thing as truth — is less absurd than to say we have a consoience —
and then deny the existence of the very object of that conscience.
As to our having a religious nature, it is just as certain as that
we have any nature at all. But the sense of our dependence on
God, and the sense of our responsibility to God, are the deepest
manifestations of that religious nature ; precisely as the fact of
that dependence and the fact of that accountability, are the
deepest foundations of religion itself. And so in the nature of
the case, to which our own nature responds, we are to direct all

CHAP. III.] THE COVENANT — AND THE SOUL. '49
our actions, not according to our own pleasure, but according to
the will of God. And this obligation, which is in some sort the
very essence of all religion, is equally binding upon every crea
ture of God, that is capable of knowing him.
2. Every thing which separates between God and man — sin
in all its forms — is abnormal, that is, unnatural to man as he
was created by God. Sin places man in a new relation to God ;
but still leaving him the creature of God, it neither releases him
from the dominion of God, nor from his dependence on God. The
obligation to regulate all his actions by the will of God, still con
tinues in full force, while his ability and his desire to do so are
both lost, and his sense of obligation to do so deprives him of all
peace in his sins. The way of access to God for sinless creatures
is open and clear, and they have light and strength to walk
therein. But to sinful creatures, nature affords no access to God,
and reason discloses none, except merely that they may come and
be condemned. That any form of religion should be effectual in
restoring a sinful creature to the favour of God, it must, therefore,
be supernaturally revealed, it must contemplate him as a sinner,
it must deliver him from condemnation for his sins, and it must
restore to him both the desire and the ability to conform his ac
tions to the will of God. In effect, this has been done through
a Saviour. A new relation has been established between God
and fallen men, considered not merely as creatures, nor merely
as sinful creatures, but as sinful creatures still capable of resto
ration and of salvation. It is a relation of grace on one side and
faith on the other, superadded to the relation of dominion on one
side and dependence on the other, which existed before. The
fundamental principle of this religion for sinners must necessarily
be, dependence on the Saviour revealed to him by God. And
the essential principle which has been shown to lie at the basis
of all religion assumes a corresponding form, namely, that all
sinful creatures for whom God has provided a Saviour, are bound
to regulate all their actions, not according to their own pleasure,
but according to the will of that Saviour.
3. God the Father, the supreme ruler of the universe, requires
of every creature that complete obedience which lies, as I have
shown alike from the nature of God, and the nature of man, and
the relations between them, at the base of all religion ; and by
consequence, he demands against sinful man, satisfaction to his
VOL. II. 4

50 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
immaculate justice, to his broken covenant, and to his violated
law. God the Son undertakes to render that satisfaction, and is
ordained to the execution of that work. God the Holy Ghost
applies to the redeemed, the satisfaction demanded by the Father,
and rendered by the Son. The ineffable love of each divine Per
son in the Godhead to the others, prompts them all to manifest
and to illustrate in this manner, the infinite glory of each in this
sublime procedure. And thus in a line of thought suggested by
the very nature of religion itself, which is the very highest neces
sity of man, we arrive at the most naked form of exact accord
ance between the fundamental conception of the Covenant of
Redemption as revealed to us by God, and the fundamental
nature of our own inner life as attested by our own conscious
ness. Now let it be considered that the form of spiritual life
unto which fallen man is transformed, by all these acts of God
and all these changes in us, is precisely that of which in our sins
natural reason has no conception, and natural conscience no
ability ; and then the divine reality of it all seems to reach abso
lute certainty.
II. — 1. It is not the righteous — it is sinners whom the Sa
viour calls to repentance ; it is the sick, not they that be whole,
who need a physician.1 As long as we do not realize our sinful
ness, neither can we realize our need of divine grace ; and as
soon as we deny the misery which sin brings upon us, we re
nounce the necessity of divine mercy. It is, no doubt, common
for men to fall temporarily into such a condition as this ; and
ofttimes the conscience becomes so fur seared and blinded, that
this condition becomes permanent. The ordinary condition of
impenitent men is, perhaps, one of ignorance, indifference, and
inattention to divine things, and to their own spiritual estate;
and the more so in all Christian lands, where the light of God is
sufficiently diffused, to make obvious the folly of such remedies
for our fallen state, as man left to himself has been able to sug
gest. To arouse, to awaken, to engage, to enlighten the human
soul, is the first practical necessity in saving it ; and then to
quicken, sustain, and sanctify it, is to fit it for the acceptable
service, and satisfying enjoyment of God. It is by the love of
God the Father, the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
the application of both to our souls with divine light and power
' Matt., ix, 9-13.

CHAP. III. J THE COTENANT  AND THE SOUL. 51
by the Holy Ghost, that all this is accomplished. And in the
process, the word and ordinances of God, together with his divine
providence, and together with the whole forces abiding in the
nature he has given us, are made tributary to the great work of
our restoration. Countless millions of human beings have en
countered all the conditions embraced in all these statements ;
countless millions denying and rejecting the remedy made known
by God ; countless millions accepting it ; all of them on both
sides, exhibiting some phase or other of the relation of the great
truths and principles on which the Covenant of Redemption rests,
to the fundamental religious ideas, convictions, and nature of
man. Every human being who has been in reach of the word
of God, has had the opportunity of knowing what it is God pro
poses, and the means he has provided for his great end. Every
human being who has had the opportunity of seeing the children
of God, has had the means of appreciating the effects of God's
purposes and acts in restoring fallen man to his lost image. And
every human being who has either accepted or rejected the Gos
pel, has had in his own mental experience the most intimate
testimony of the relation between that Gospel and the soul, re
jecting or accepting it. The question, therefore, so far from
being obscure, is one which nothing but voluntary ignorance, or
sinful indifference, could prevent all the countless millions of
whom I have spoken, from appreciating justly and determining
with certainty. If it be alleged that other millions, perhaps as
numerous, never heard of Christ or the covenant of which he was
the Mediator ; 1 readily admit as to them, that the position in
which the Scriptures place them is such, as to require a modifi
cation of the foregoing statements, to the whole extent of remit
ting them back to the position in which fallen man stood when
he was driven from Eden — or to whatever intermediate position
they may have attained through God's mercy. They must live,
or they must die, according to their actual condition. But the
more dreadful this condition may be supposed to be, the clearer
is the evidence drawn from human nature itself, that there is no
salvation for man except through the Covenant of Redemption ;
and that it has always been administered, as it has always been
revealed, in a way of sovereign grace.
2. Our actual condition, therefore, is capable of the most dis
tinct appreciation ; and so the elements of it are capable of the

52 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
most exact comparison with that glorious covenant through
which we are saved. Depraved, but capable of restoration ; per
ceiving the true and the good — the false and the evil, but all in
distinctly and inadequately ; dependent and accountable, lying
under the clear sense of duty even amidst its perpetual viola
tions, and the strong sense of blameworthiness which even the
sense of our moral impotence sharpens instead of alleviating ;
recalling vaguely, but yet powerfully, the great estate we have
lost, and incapable of extinguishing a hope equally vague, yet
not less powerful, of a still greater estate to come ; such are the
outlines of that mysterious inner life, full of anomalies, wonder
ful in its ceaseless activity, the outworkings of whose consuming
unrest even the most calm and thoughtful can neither perfectly
regulate nor completely control. The word of God, revealing us
to ourselves, points out all the realities, all the mysteries of our
being ; and as often as we test its statements, we feel more and
more how boundless its insight is. Then it explains to us the
sources of all these mixed and wondrous things ; our creation,
our primeval estate, our trial, our fall, the promise of a. Saviour,
the sentence of God, our mortal probation, and our eternal judg
ment ; and as we listen to its great and solemn utterances, and
compare them with that inner life to which they constantly ap
peal, the darkness vanishes before those testimonies whose en
trance giveth light and giveth understanding. And then it
takes up its wondrous parable of sovereign grace. What we are,
it has already explained. How we came to be as we are, it had
also explained. But now, it is deliverance — and the way thereof.
The eternal love of God the Father ; redemption through the
Son of God made flesh ; a new, holy, blessed, and immortal
hfe, through the Holy Ghost ! And this sublime remedy is ad
dressed, point by point, to every element of the inner and the
outward life of man, as the fall left him, and as sin has made
him. The question is, the relevancy of the glorious remedy, to
the fearful case ; the relevancy of the Covenant of Redemption
to the fundamental religious ideas, convictions, and nature of
man. It seems to me that the universal judgment of all intel
ligent beings must be, that sinners who cannot be saved in this
way, cannot be saved at all. And surely it cannot be doubted
that any sinner saved in this way, will not only joyfully testify
to the efficacy and the blessedness thereof, but will forever exalt

CHAP. III. J THE COVENANT — AND THE SOUL. 53
and magnify that Saviour, whom he has found to be the way,
the truth, and the life.
3. The Apostle Paul, in celebrating our deliverance through
Jesus Christ our Lord, has recounted to us his own mental strug
gles, his weakness, and the nature of his victory, in a way level
to the comprehension of every child of God, and probably real
ized in the experience of each one of them.1 The more we are
enlightened to discern the holiness of the law of God, the more
clearly do we perceive our present inability to keep it, and at the
same time our just condemnation under it. The good that we
would, we do not : but the evil which we would not, that we do.
Well may we, with that great Apostle, cry out, on the one hand,
Oh ! wretched man that I am ; and, on the other hand, Thanks
be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord ! What can we do, of
ourselves, to commend ourselves to God, as fallen sinners ? We
cannot change our natures, even if we desired it, any more than
an Ethiopian can change his skin, or a leopard his spots : and
even if we could change it, if we desired to do so, we are abso
lutely incapable of forming such a desire, in our own strength.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.2 And, more
over, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God; for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned.3 However power
ful our religious impulses may be, it is absolutely certain that,
if left to ourselves, they can never conduct us to the true and
living God. Impotent alike to render account of our past trans
gressions, or to atone for them ; it would be of little avail, even
if we were competent to do both, so long as our depraved nature,
which we cannot change, remains a perennial source of all ini
quity, and its pollution a complete disqualification while it lasts,
for the service and the enjoyment of God. It is true, indeed,
that the pungent knowledge of all this is derived, not from na
ture, or reason, but from God. But it is also true that the soul
accepts this divine exposition of the significance of its whole
condition, as soon as the Holy Ghost has quickened it to know
God and itself. That great Apostle already referred to, has de
veloped, in his own experience, how it is that one who is a blas
phemer, a persecutor, and injurious, may be at the same time
! Rom., vii 7-25. ' Rom., viil 7. 3 1 Cor., ii. 14.

54 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
zealous towards God, even after a manner revealed from Heaven.
Nor can the carnal heart understand how the chief of sinners
could be aided in his transformation into the most enlightened
and heroic of all believers, by a voice saying to him, I am Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.1 It is here precisely, we
perceive so clearly that the world by wisdom cannot know God ;
and that this is a result neither casual nor variable, but one in
which the wisdom of God himself is involved.2 Here it is we
realize, that unto them which are called, Christ crucified is the
power of God and the wisdom of God ; and that he is made of
God unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption ! 3 Every thing in us exacts precisely what God has
done for us ; and as soon as he has accomplished it, every thing
in us exults in the completeness and the fitness of it all.
4. I have already pointed out the obligation resting on us, con
sidered merely as creatures of God, to regulate our conduct by his
will; and the corresponding obligation resting on us as offenders
against God, to regulate our conduct by the will of the Saviour he
has provided for us. In both cases obedience is the conception which
is responsive to our estate — obedience of the creature to his Creator
— obedience of the sinner to his Saviour. Under the Covenant of
Works, the obedience of the creature must of necessity be complete,
and be rendered by the creature. Under the Covenant of Grace,
an imperfect obedience of the sinner may be accepted by God, for
the sake of the perfect obedience rendered by his divine Saviour.
To suppose that God can save us in our sins is both absurd and
impious. On the other hand, we have lost by the fall not only
the ability to render a complete personal obedience unto eternal
life — but even the opportunity of making such an attempt,
since the Covenant of Works as a covenant of life no longer ex
ists. That we are naturally neither able nor inclined to render
that new obedience which God, through his grace, accepts from
penitent and believing sinners, for the sake of Christ, is felt to
be certain by every human heart ; and is, moreover, manifest in
that natntally we are not penitent, and do not believe in the
Saviour. Here, then, by our own impenitence and unbelief, we
are cut off from Christ, and from the obedience of faith ; and if
the matter is left there, we perish under the Covenant of Grace
1 Acts, xxii. 1-16 ; 1 Tim., 1. 12-17. » 1 Cor. i. 21.
3 1 Cor., i. 23, 24, 30.

CHAP. III.] THE COVENANT — AND THE SOUL. 55
itself. What occurs is, that God imputes to us the righteous
ness of Christ which is the fruit of his obedience — that we re
ceive this righteousness through faith — that the faith whereby
we receive it is a grace of the Holy Ghost resulting from the re
newal of the soul by him — that our new obedience, whether
outward or inward, is the product of the acts and works of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — and that salvation is real, and
wholly gratuitous.. We are united to our Saviour, both to suffer
with him and to reign with him : this has resulted from the
work of the Holy Ghost in us : that resulted from the act of the
Father imputing to us the righteousness of Christ : those acts
and works were all immediately the fruits of the Covenant of
Grace — and remotely of the eternal counsel, purpose, and decree
of God. Now here is the Covenant of Redemption, and the
process of our actual salvation — face to face. It seems to me
that their relation to each other is precise and complete. For
so much as relates to that covenant, God is the witness : for so
much as relates to our own souls, the testimony of our own con
sciousness is added to the declarations of God.
5. I have said repeatedly that the absolute dominion of God
over man, and the absolute dependence of man on God, are the
fundamental truths that control all the relations between God
and man. Every conception we have of God's existence, nature,
or works, every idea we can form of creation, providence, or
grace— all terminate in the absolute dominion of God. On the
other hand, every conception we have of our condition as crea
tures of God, no matter of what degree, or in what estate, re
sults in our absolute dependence on him. And every conceivable
relation between God and man, no matter how high man may
rise, or how low he may sink, and no matter by what means in
either case ; necessarily involves this dominion on the one side,
and this dependence on the other. There is no escape from this,
but by some means that will annihilate either God or ourselves ;
as, for example, by atheism which annihilates God ; or by pan
theism which annihilates everything but that which . they call
God. And what is gained by either result ? Absolutely nothing.
For our dependence on something — whether chance, or fate, or
fortune, is just as real as it was before ; and the dominion of
something — whether chance, or fate, or fortune, over us, is just
as absolute as it was before. Whatever else we have gotten rid

56 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
of, we have not gotten rid of our absolute dependence, or of an ab
solute dominion over us. Why then should it be thought strange,
that this infinite sovereignty of God should attach to his grace ?
Or rather, of all things, is not his unmerited favour that in re
gard of which his sovereign disposal should be most absolute ?
And why should it be thought strange, that our universal de
pendence should embrace dependence in the matter of salvation ?
Or rather, of all things, is not saving grace that for which sinful
creatures must be most dependent on an offended God ? If we
suppose that this sovereignty attaches to divine grace, only in
the original conception of it, then it is grace which can be of no
avail to us ; for unless we be redeemed by the divine Saviour, we
must perish. And if we suppose the sovereignty of divine grace
may go that far and stop — then we are lost ; for unless we are
renewed by the divine Spirit, we must perish. And every sup
position we can make, which comes short of bearing forward the
sovereign grace of God, divinely and efficaciously to our personal
salvation, leaves us as sinners in a condition of certain destruc
tion. In truth, the only effect of abrogating the divine sover
eignty touching the whole range of God's saving grace, is to ren
der it absolutely certain that no sinner will be saved. And all
our attempts to lower and weaken our complete dependence on
God, in our whole salvation, so far from being of any avail to
the impenitent, tend only against the hopes of the children of
God. Our nature and our condition are such, that grace may
save us ; and if the sovereignty of God be brought to bear with
divine efficacy upon our souls, it luill save us. But if we be left
to ourselves — released in auy degree from our dependence on God
and his dominion over us, in the matter of grace and salvation—
we are lost ; and they for whose supposed benefit, the elect of
God are robbed of their covenanted interest in eternal life, are
also lost. Eternal life, as St. Paul has expressly stated, is simply
the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.1
•6. If we will exclude from our conception of salvation for
sinners, the distinct scriptural idea of redemption, I suppose it
is impossible to realize in thought, even with the Scriptures to
instruct us, how it is possible for sinners to be saved. But as
soon as we admit that scriptural idea of redemption, all that I
have hitherto asserted becomes inevitable, and is all taught in the
1 Rom., vi. 23.

CHAP. III. J THE COVENANT — 'AND THE SOUL. 57
Scriptures in direct connection with redemption. We cannot
understand how, under the dominion of God, transgression can
be passed over, without atonement ; nor is it possible to inter
pret one out of many thousand declarations of his word, so as to
make out any thing else but that the wages of sin is death. The
claims of divine justice cannot be set aside ; the demands of
God's violated law cannot be resisted ; the penalty of his broken
covenant cannot be disregarded ; the infinite majesty of God can
not be defied, and his infinite dominion assailed, and his infinite
goodness outraged, without retribution. On the other hand, we
ourselves have no certitude deeper, than the reality of our own
blameworthiness in the sight of God ; we perceive nothing more
clearly, than the necessity of retribution ; we can conceive of no
impossibility greater, than that God should either approve our
sins, or deny their existence. Utterly insuperable as this barrier
is — there remains something more. For these terrible offences
are the fruit of a polluted nature, which is no more fit for God's
reconciled presence, than the sinful fruits of it are fit for his ap
probation. It is only through the unsearchable riches of his
love that God proposes to save such sinners ; and redemption
through the blood of Christ is the method by which divine wis
dom and divine power, prompted by divine goodness, accomplish
the proposals of divine love. The Lord Jesus, addressing him
self directly to the Father, said that the power over all flesh
which he had received from him, was to the end that he should
give eternal life to as many as the Father had given to him.
These are they, he added, which thou gavest me out of the
world ; thine they were, and thou gavest them me. I pray for
them ; I pray not for the world, but for them thou hast given
me.1 And to this purport is the whole of the wonderful passage,
a few words of which I have quoted. It is for those whom God
has given to him, that Christ has given himself to be a, ransom,
to be wisdom, to be righteousness, to be sanctification, to be re
demption.2 And so Christ Jesus having obtained eternal redemp
tion, by his own blood, has passed into the heavens ; and that
blood of his who through the eternal Spirit offered himself with
out spot unto God, purges our conscience from dead works, to
serve the living God.3 Well may we believe the emphatic dec-
' John, xvii. 2, 3, 6, 9. a 1 Tim., ii. 6 ; 1 Cor., i. 30 ; Gal, iv. 4, 5.
3 Heb., ix. 12-15 ; Dan., ix 24, 25.

58 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
laration of Christ, All that the Father giveth me, shall come
to me ; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.
Well may we confide in his assurance, that it is the Father's
will, that of all he has given to the Son, he should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again, at the last day.1
1. It is not a little remarkable that the natural heart easily
contents itself with any general statements of God concerning his
divine grace ; but is prompt to take offence as soon as those state
ments assume a specific and determinate shape. And yet it is
extremely obvious, that if, after all, it was left wholly and abso
lutely to us, whether we would choose to be saved or not, — ad
mitting that in such a case any natural heart ever would choose
to be saved, in the manner pointed out in the Gospel ; the final
and decisive matter, in every case, would be an act of the human
soul, and that in its unregenerate state — and not a work of the
Spirit of God. And it makes no difference how this act of the
soul is explained, so long as it is the final and decisive thing,
whereby we live or whereby we perish ; for salvation is made to
depend, at last, on some action of our depraved soul, and not on
the power of God. No doubt the soul must consent, and does
consent ; it believes and repents and it is saved. But it is the
soul renewed by the Holy Ghost, which thus consents, believes,
and repents ; these acts of the soul are all manifestations of its
new life, not methods of obtaining that hfe. We are not chosen
of God because we have chosen Christ, but we have chosen Christ
because we were chosen of God. And in point of fact, however
we may bewilder ourselves, this is the actual experience of the
human soul. Not as distinct always as in the case of .Abraham,
or the case of Saul of Tarsus ; but real and inevitable in the
case of every renewed soul ; and Christ may as truly say to every
one of them, as he said to his Apostles, ye have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you.2
III.— 1. When we attempt to pass into the bosom of God,
and to seek for the most remote reasons of our personal salva
tion — and the most remote reasons for the failure of personal sal
vation to be universal ; it becomes us to speak with the greatest
reserve and modesty. It is perfectly certain that no reason known
to any child of God, exists in him, upon which he could ground
any explanation of God's eternal love for him. Perhaps we may
1 John, vi. 37-39. a John, xv. 16.

CHAP. III. J THE COVENANT — AND THE SOUL. 59
venture so far as to assert, that in our present state of being, no
one could understand clearly, even if it were revealed to him,
what the exact nature of that remotest reason was. And yet we
dare not say that God, who is the fountain of all intelligence,
can act without a sufficient reason ; nor can we venture to assert,
that when we come to see light in the very light of God, as the
Psalmist has expressed it,1 we shall not comprehend innumerable
mysteries of God, of the very existence of the most of which we
may now have no suspicion. We cannot, without denying the
faith, hesitate to assert that God so loved the world, that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should
not perish, but have everlasting life.2 Nor are we permitted to
doubt that this free and special love of God is the ground of our
being made heirs of God, according to the hope of eternal life ;
for which we are fitted by the washing of regeneration and re
newing of the Holy Ghost ; which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.3 In that free and eternal
love of God, we have found the most remote reason of our per
sonal salvation which is comprehensible to us, or revealed by God.
And surely no object of it could conceive of any thing so enno
bling, as a motive to whatever is good or great ; any thing so as
sured as a foundation on which to rest ; any thing so affecting
as an incentive to unqualified self-consecration ; any thing so
overwhelming as a power within the soul, so irresistible as a
force impelling the soul ! And the rapture of our brother Paul
should find a response in all Christian hearts, in behalf of every
one of which he has exclaimed, that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.4
2. The other aspect of a mystery so fearful in itself, and so
obscure to us in its earliest stages, demands of us still more self-
distrust in pursuing its remotest reason. It is clear to us that
sinners perish for their sins. But this, under a dispensation of
divine grace, is scarcely a sufficient explanation ; because it is
the glory of Christ that he is able to save to the uttermost, all
who come to God by him : and indeed, he not only does save
1 Ps. xxxvi. 9. 3 John, iii. 16.
3 Titus, iii. 4-7 ; Eph., ii. 4-10. 4 Rom., viii. 38, 39.

60 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
many of the chief of sinners, but his salvation is exclusively for
sinners. Going back a step farther, it is clear to us that the re
jection of Christ, is the cause of our perdition ; but we must
bear in mind that all to whom he was ever offered, have rejected
him — none more distinctly than many of the chief of saints —
and that all would persist in doing so forever, but for the grace
of the Holy Ghost. Still going back, we easily understand that
it is by grieving and resisting the Holy Ghost, we remain obsti
nately in our alienation from Christ, and so perish ; but it must
not be concealed that every child of God would have done the
same thing, with the same result, if it had not been for the spe
cial, efficacious, and preventing grace of the Holy Ghost, enabling
him, and inclining him, and fitting him 'to accept Christ. In
another step backward, we encounter the source of all evil in all
men, in their original depravity ; and at the next step we en
counter the cause of this natural pollution, in the fall of man ;
but, as to both of these terrible realities, there is absolutely
nothing which can distinguish the case of one human being from
another ; for all are by nature equally the children of wrath, and
the first man, Adam, was equally the progenitor and the repre
sentative — the root, of all. We have, therefore, traced the mys
tery to a point antecedent to the entrance of sin into the uni
verse, and have found the remotest reason of the perdition of
ungodly men still eluding us — still passing back as we carefully
follow it. At last we must pass into eternity, and put in a nega
tive form, what before we put in a positive form. We do not
know, neither could we comprehend if it were explained to us,
why the special and free love of God, did not select for its eter
nal objects the particular sinners which it did not select, any
more than why it selected the particular sinners it did select.
And yet we dare not say there was no reason for it ; that it was
a mere caprice. What we know is, that both facts are asserted
in the most distinct manner by God, in his holy word ;' that the
existence of the Covenant of Redemption involves them both •
that the personal history of every human being establishes one or
the other of them ; and that the aggregate career of the whole
race of mankind is inexplicable, unless both of them be true.
Being true — every thing is explained — which we are capable of
understanding ; but in a manner wonderful and overpowering.
1 Rom., ix. 22, 23 ; Eph., i. 5, 6 ; Prov., xvi. 4; Matt., xxv. 34, 41.

CHAP. III.] THE COVENANT  AND THE SOUL. 61
3. The whole case terminates at last in the same sublime re
sult, whether we pursue it simply upon the word of God, or
whether we illustrate the systematic theory of salvation by the
course of divine providence practically developing it, or by the
inner life of the individual soul personally exhibiting it. We
cannot conceive that either creation, or providence, or grace,
could exist without an end worthy of God, or in a manner con
trary to any of his infinite perfections. The illustration of his
infinite being to an intelligent universe, and thereby his own
declarative glory, and the highest blessedness of the universe
compatible with the chief end of its own existence ; is the high
est end which we can conceive, and is the end declared by God,
as the reason of creation, providence, and grace. Redemption
belongs to that part of the case which we call grace ; and must
incur the force of the end and reason of the whole case — and
does so in the most explicit manner. Upon whatever ground
sin exists in the universe, it is a ground which the infinite
wisdom of God, and the infinite holiness of God respect ; and
upon whatever ground misery exists, it is a ground which the
infinite goodness and mercy of God respect. Addressing the re
sources of his infinite being, for the ends and upon the reasons
already suggested, to the treatment of the tremendous questions
of sin and misery, in such a universe ; most assuredly it ought
not to surprise us, that one result should be the illustration, for
ever, of his immaculate justice, that another result should be the
illustration, forever, of his infinite beneficence — and that both
results should so occur as to display his nature and perfections in
the clearest manner. Still less should it surprise us, that in
such a case God should reveal to us these sublime procedures
with the ends and effects of them ; that thus revealed, they
should be found to accord with our own nature and condition, a
nature created and then renewed in the image of God, and a
condition to which these very procedures of God have relation ;
or that, clear as all might be in its immediate personal ap
plication to us, it should all be overpowering, and much of it
inscrutable, in its most remote analysis, and in its immeasurable
compass. This appears to be precisely what has occurred. We
shall comprehend it all the better, in a higher state of existence.
In our present estate what we need is, a sufficient insight to com
prehend in what manner, and upon what principles, it may all

62 THEKNOWLEDGEOFG0D. [BOOK I.
avail to deliver us from the wrath, to come. And the more
clearly we can see that we are exposed to that wrath, the more
urgently does it become us to address ourselves to the remedy
afforded by the blood of Christ. Nay, that very sense of our sin
fulness is at once a proof that we are like those Christ came to
save, and a help to us in discerning him as the way, the truth,
and the life. It is a true saying, that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners ; and the assured way of being saved is to
call on his adorable name.1
4. We are told that God has chosen us in Christ Jesus before
the foundation of the world, that we should "be holy and without
blame before him in love.2 And in immediate connection with this
statement, the separate and the concurring action of each person
in the Godhead, for us and in us, as well as the blessings and
benefits which flow to us, and the glory which redounds to God, '
are distinctly set forth.3 It was the will of God that the Son
should undertake our salvation ; and he did it with delight.4
As a part of his reward, he asked and received as his own, those
whom he would redeem by his own most precious blood.5 And
it was his unalterable love to the Father, and to the redeemed,
which led him to undertake and perform all his work as Media
tor between God and men.6 It is, in divine love, through divine
goodness, and with a divine satisfaction, that through the coun
sel, the purpose, and the will of God, we are chosen by him be
fore the foundation of the world, in Christ Jesus, in whose blood
we have redemption, and in whom we are sealed with the Holy
Spirit, unto the praise of the glory of God.7 This, let us re
member, is not stated as the conclusion of our poor reason, but
is the detailed account given by inspiration to the saints them
selves, through the greatest human expositor of the mind of
God : and therewith all the Scriptures concur.3 And therewith
also the unalterable faith of the church of God agrees, and the
spiritual life and experience of the children of God accord. The
work of God confirms the word of God.
1 1 Tim., i. 15 ; Rom, x. 13. 2 Eph., i. 4. 3 Eph, i, passim.
4 Ps. xl. 6-10. B Ps. ii. 6-9 ; Isa, liii. 10-12.
6 John, xiii. 1 ; xvii. 4-6. T Eph., i. 1-13.
6 John, iii. 15-17 ; Rom., v. 8 ; 1 Thess, iv. 8 ; 1 Pet, i. 2 ; 2 Thess, ii. 13.

CHAPTER IV.
THE SPECIAL OBLIGATIONS LAID ON MAN, AS SPECIAL CONDITIONS
OF THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION.
I. 1. Ultimate Truths concerning Human Nature. — 2. Influence of these Truths
upon the Divine Means of Human Restoration. — 3. The Universal Relation of
Obedience to God and Life in God : this Relation as exhibited through the Cove
nant of Redemption. — 4 The Universal Need of Special Divine Assistance, in
order to Obedience and Life. — II. 1. Special Conditions of the Covenant of Re
demption considered as a Covenant between God and Elect Sinners. — 2. The
Grounds of Separation between Men and God, and the Means of their Removal
— with the Relations of all to the Conditions of this Covenant. — 3. Faith and
Repentance, the Conditions of Salvation for Sinners. — III. 1. The double Office
of both these Graces of the Spirit: their special Nature as considered here. — 2.
Analogy between the two Sacraments which signify and seal, and the two Condi
tions on which we receive, all the Benefits of this Covenant. — 3. Saving Faith
summarily explained. — 4. Repentance unto Life summarily explained. — 5. Re
pentance toward God considered as a Duty, in the neglect of which Salvation is
impossible for Sinners. — 6. Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, considered in the
same respect. — 7. Analogy of the two Covenants, with respect to the obligatory
Force of their special Conditions. — IV. 1. Nature of the Impotence produced by
Sin: and of Obedience performed in Sin. — 2. No conceivable Change in God or
Ourselves, can make Salvation for Sinners possible, in any other way.— 3. It is
effectual in this way, only upon the Allowance of Divine Assistance. — i. The
overwhelming practical Illustration furnished by all Sinners, whether Believing
or Unbelieving, Penitent or Impenitent. — 5. The Means proposed by God, and
their Result.
I. — 1. There are elements in human nature, ultimate truths
of our being, original data of consciousness, which neither the
teacher of theology nor the preacher of the Gospel, can lose
sight of for a moment, without giving up, at the same time, the
very foundation of every appeal to man. The sense of duty,
which touches on one side our sense of the true, and on the other
our sense of the good : the sense of responsibility, commensurate
exactly with the sense of duty, testifying continually both to our
moral nature, and to the moral government which is, and which
must forever be, over us : the sense of blameworthiness on ac
count of duty neglected and condemnation justly incurred, which

64 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD. [BOOK I.
is the testimony of our conscience to our guilt : the sense of
satisfaction on account of duty discharged and approval justly
awarded, which is the testimony of our conscience to our recti
tude : these are indestructible conditions of our moral constitu
tion, which must exist, so far as we can understand, while our
nature exists, under every possible form of the divine adminis
tration over us. Any fundamental change in them applied to
our whole race, would immediately change the relations of the
whole race to Adam, to Christ, and to God, as well as the rela
tions of the individuals of the race to each other ; and any
such change applied to any individual of the race, would im
mediately break in two the chain of his own continued conscious
existence, and destroy his personal identity.
2. Whatever, therefore, may be the nature of the Covenant
of Redemption, considered as a covenant in eternity between
the Persons of the Godhead, having any applicability to man ;
in all the obligations it may lay on him, and all the conditions of
it which may have special relation to him — these fundamental
peculiarities of his moral constitution will be made full account
of by him who is the author alike of human nature, and of the
infinitely gracious covenant by which that nature is to be restored
and exalted. In like manner, only still more clearly, when in
that eternal covenant, Christ is considered as the head of all
believers, or it is considered as being manifested in time as a
covenant between God and the soul of the believer ; this moral
constitution of man, deduced not only from his own intimate
consciousness, but also from the statements of God concerning
it in his blessed word, must, in a manner, be decisive in its in
fluence on the infinite remedy, so far as it is to be applied to his
own inner life. It is hardly worth while to discuss questions
which seem to be so obvious. I, therefore, content myself with
repeating, that in every act and work of God, he respects, in the
most exact manner, every other act and work of his ; every de
parture from this method being indeed strictly miraculous. And
as to his covenant dealings with man, the fundamental principle
on which they all proceed, is the special bestowment of new and
higher mercies : and the specifio difference between God's Cove
nants with man, considered as of Works and of Grace, lies in the
transcendent mercy of the way in which grace is bestowed as
well as in the transcendent grace itself It is under the light of

CHAP. IV. J CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. 65
truths such as these, that whatever conditions and obligations
are annexed to the Covenant of Redemption, are to be contem
plated ; -as on the one hand they are exalted in their relation to
the glory and love of God, and on the other magnified in their
relation to the sinner they would save and advance. The idea
of their being obstructions which the sinner must overcome,
difficulties thrown across the entrance of the way of life, is
wholly inconsistent with the nature and objects of Redemption,
and wholly subversive of our hope of deliverance thereby.
3. It has been abundantly shown, that if God had not made
the Covenant of Works with man, every duty obligatory on man
in his primeval estate, would have been a condition of life : and
that any breach of any obligation imposed on him by that estate
sufficiently grave to require redress, would have necessarily for
feited the favour' of God. Everywhere under the dominion of
God, obedience and life go together. The universal obedience of
all, in all things, under our primeval estate ; the restricted and
covenanted obedience of Adam, under the Covenant of Works ;
the universal and covenanted obedience of Christ, under the
Covenant of Grace ; and the new obedience of the elect under
the same covenant. Everywhere it is obedience and life. Do
and live: do that others may live: do that sinners may live, and
living may do in Christ. These are the successive forms in which
the universal conception of obedience and life is developed in
the word of God, and the spiritual progress of man. The duty
of universal obedience unto life in man's first estate, or that of
special obedience unto life under the Covenant of Works, could
be no clearer, no more binding, no more indispensable to the re
ward, nor its breach any more attended by loss of the favour of
God : than the duty of the new obedience under the Covenant
of Redemption, and the loss of the favour of the Saviour with
out it. There is this grand difference, that Adam fell, and that
Christ triumphed; so that in Adam it is the consequences of the
breach of duty that we encounter ; while in Christ it is the con
sequences of all righteousness fulfilled that we encounter. But
this instead of making more obscure makes more clear, the obli
gation of our new obedience in order to the favour of the Saviour,
and the recovered favour of God, and therewith our recovered and
better life through him. And so with relation to that new obe
dience, and in order to our fitness for it, are those special condi-
5

66 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
tions and obligations of the Covenant of Bedemption, through
which our ability to that new obedience is either obtained or
manifested. And this is but another way of saying, those spe
cial conditions and obligations are with relation to our union with
Christ, and our restoration through him to God; and are in order
to enjoy and manifest that union and that restoration. And if
no such special obligations and conditions were annexed by God
to the Covenant of Redemption ; what would occur would be,
that every duty and every obligation of man under that covenant,
would become a condition of life to us, under it. That is, in
effect, the Covenant of Grace would be most signally changed to
our total undoing. For now, by means of these special condi
tions and obligations, we are so united to Christ, that our imper
fect obedience is accepted on account of his perfect obedience :
whereas, but for them, our new obedience would have to be per
fect in all things, in order to be accepted.
4. Nor does it alter the case at all, under either covenant,
that man, on account of his fallibility under one, and his de
pravity under the other ; stood in constant need of divine help,
in order to perform the special duties imposed on him, as condi
tions of obtaining the blessings held forth in either covenant.
For he needed the divine aid, under both covenants, to enable
him to discharge every duty possible under each of them, as
really as he needed it to perform the special duties designated as
special conditions of them, and special tests of his condition be
fore God. His dependence on God is absolute, both as a crea
ture merely, and as a sinful creature. His moral constitution,
once fallible only, is now fallen : but it is otherwise the same
moral constitution. Life and immortality, now brought to light
in a new, perfect, and glorious form by the Gospel for sinful
men, were offered to be confirmed and augmented to man in his
estate of innocence. The grand . difference is, that under the
first covenant, special divine aid was not promised and was not
given, and therefore fallible man did not discharge the special
condition of that covenant — but fell : while under the second
covenant special divine aid was promised and is given, and
therefore fallen man does discharge the especial conditions of that
covenant — and is restored. And the whole ground of this differ
ence is, that the first covenant was one of Works, while the sec
ond covenant is one of Grace and Redemption. I have explained

CHAP. IV.J CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. 67
at large, in another place, the merciful nature of the special
condition of the first covenant. It is still more obvious, that the
special conditions of the second covenant, namely, Repentance
toward God, and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, are mani
festations of divine mercy so special and so distinct, that with
out them the perdition of all sinners is as inevitable, after the
publication of the Covenant of Grace, as before. It is by deal
ing simply and thoroughly with the great truths of God, and
keeping before our minds and hearts the sublime proportion of
faith, that we escape many errors, and solve many difficulties,
and receive light and comfort as we walk humbly before God.
II. — 1. The Covenant of Redemption as a covenant in eter
nity, between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, absolutely con
sidered ; as a covenant also, in which all the redeemed were rep
resented by the Son of God, their covenant head ; and finally,
as a covenant between God and the soul of every believer, mani
fested in time ; has been already very carefully set forth. And
then the perfect accordance of that covenant, in whatever light,
with our own intimate spiritual life, nature, and convictions, has
been exhibited at length. Considered more especially as a cove
nant between God and the soul of the believer, and as a covenant
in which our divine Bedeemer represented all the elect of God ;
the special conditions and obligations of it, concerning which we
now particularly enquire, assume their most distinct form. And
as we make application of these aspects of it, in the light of the
great truths I have just been attempting to set forth, we shall
see how completely it is the foundation of our hope, and how
thoroughly it provides for our salvation.
2. The Scriptures plainly teach, as I have repeatedly pointed
out, that there are two grounds of separation between God and
our souls, and two things required in us in order that we may be
restored to the favour of God. Our actual transgressions, in
thought, word, and deed, terrible as they are, must be disposed
of in such a manner as will satisfy divine justice : and while
they remain as they are, they present an insuperable barrier
between God and the sinner. Our polluted natures, the source
of all actual sins, must be purified ; for while they remain as
they are, they render us utterly unfit for the service and en-
ioyment of God. Here are the two terms between every sin
ner and God : the two necessities preliminary to any possible

68 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
restoration of any sinner to God. Now how it is that Jesus
Christ, the Mediator of the Covenant of Grace, removes directly,
by his own satisfaction for us, all such barriers and difficul
ties as lie in our actual offences ; and how by the purchase
and gift of the Holy Ghost, he indirectly removes all such as lie
in our polluted nature ; I have largely explained in a former
Treatise. And how, in the practical application to us by the
Holy Ghost, of the benefits of Christ's whole work as Mediator,
we are led on from one degree of grace and strength to another,
through the whole Christian experience and the new life, to end
less glory and blessedness ; will be set forth in order, in this
Treatise. The point immediately before us is, those conditions
of the Covenant of Redemption, directly responsive to our actual
and our original sin, our practical and our inward pollution ;
those special obligations upon us, immediately responsive to par
don and purification ; those special duties under the Covenant of
Grace, which respond to the special duty laid on Adam under the
Covenant of Works ; those special graces immediately connected
with our new life in Christ, which are analogous to the special
aid which would have been given to man, if Adam had obtained
the promised reward, and his seed had obtained it in him. I
have already said, they are Faith and Repentance.
3. The Apostle Paul, in his solemn and final appeal to the
Elders of the Church at Ephesus, when, by his request they met
him at Miletus, as he went up bound in the Spirit, to Jerusalem,
to encounter bonds and afflictions ; plainly told them that he had
kept back nothing that was profitable unto them, but that show
ing and teaching, not only publicly but from house to house, that
which he had testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks,
was Repentance toward God, and Faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ.*1 And then he solemnly adjured them, that having so
taught, he was pure from the blood of all men, because, said he,
I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.f2
Faith and Repentance, therefore, — Repentance toward God and
Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ; — on the part of man, sum
marily express the whole counsel of God concerning our salva
tion. These are the grand obligations resting on man under the
Covenant of Redemption. These are the grand conditions of
* Ttjv hs rbv Beov fieravotav, ml tvlotiv tt)v he tov nvpiov rjvuv 'lrjaovv Xpwrov.
1 Acta, xx. 21. f n«<rov ttjv povhrjv toi! GeoO. ' Acts, xx. 27.

CHAP. IV.] CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. 69
that covenant, as propounded to us by God. Unless these con
ditions are performed — unless these obligations are discharged
salvation by that covenant is impossible for man. By that cove
nant, therefore, they who never were sinners cannot be saved ;
for, in the scriptural sense, they can exercise neither Faith nor
Repentance. It is not the righteous, but sinners, whom Jesus
came to save. In like manner, the unbelieving and the impeni
tent, though they be sinners, cannot be saved. It is the precise
and explicit purpose of God, to save penitent and believing sin
ners ; and this is perfectly elemental in the Covenant of Re
demption, and in the way of its practical administration. From
the commencement of the ministry of John the Baptist, onward
through all ages, the cry has continually sounded in the ears of
lost men — Repent ye.1 From the moment that Paul and Silas,
in the jail at Philippi, proclaimed for the first time to the race
of Japhet, the Gospel of the Grace of God, every soul desiring to
know what it must do to be saved, has received for answer, Be
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy
house.2 And Jesus himself, preaching the Gospel of the King
dom, and proclaiming that the time was fulfilled and the King
dom of God at hand, laid the foundation of all his teaching, and
of all salvation through him — in the great command, Repent ye
and Believe the Gospel !3
III. — 1. Faith and Repentance, it is necessary to observe, oc
cupy a double position, in the matter of our salvation — and per
form a twofold office therein, They are in a peculiar sense, not
only graces themselves, but means whereby other graces exist or
grow ; acts, also, of the soul — and moreover means and aids to
other acts of the soul, and therefore, in both respects duties.
Being graces of the Holy Spirit, they can be nothing else than
exercises of the renewed soul ; manifestations of the new life
begotten in us by him, even the life of the second Adam, who
was a quickening spirit and the Lord from Heaven, — of which
all the Redeemed are made partakers. And in this respect they
partake of the nature of every christian grace. But besides
this, as we derive every thing through Christ, and Faith in a pe
culiar manner unites us to him, and has a peculiar relation to
him ; it becomes the means by which all that Christ bestows on
us is received. In like manner, as we receive pardon of sin from
1 Matt., iii 2. ' Acts, xvi 31. " Mark, i. 15.

70 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD. [BOOK I.
God, together with all that is immediately involved therein, and
Repentance has a peculiar relevancy to him on one side, and to
our sins on the other ; it becomes one means of all our growth in
grace and in conformity to God. These functions of Faith and
Repentance are manifestly different from those which they both
perform when we consider them as the special conditions of our
being Christians at all. In the former aspect, they will both be
considered carefully, in another connection ; it is in the latter
aspect we are considering them now.
2. There is a wonderful analogy in all these mysteries of
grace. In the two Sacraments of the Christian Church — Bap
tism and the Lord's Supper — we have represented, by the former,
1/1 our cleansing through the work of the Holy Ghost, and by the
..latter, our pardon and acceptance through the sacrifice of Christ.
And this pardon and purification, as I have before shown, are all
that is necessary to our salvation. In like manner, in the two
great offices of the Covenant of Redemption — namely, Faith and
Repentance — we have set before us, in the former, the only
means of union with Christ, whereby alone can we obtain any
grace at all — and whereby we can obtain all grace ; and in the
latter the only means of our deliverance from sin, either outward
or inward, either original or actual. Nothing can be more cer
tain, as I have repeatedly shown, than that every benefit we de
rive from Christ is made to depend, in some way, on our Faith
in him ; while all pardon of sin is directly connected with Re
pentance, and all increase in holiness is beyond our power, ex
cept as we see and hate sin on one side, and see and strive after
holiness on the other. And thus we have multiplied corrobora
tions of the mystery of Godliness. The twofold barriers to God,
in our offences and our pollution, removed in our pardon and
purification, through the work of Christ, and the work of the
Spirit ; and all this set forth alike, in the sacraments of the
Covenant of Redemption, whereby its benefits are signified and
sealed to believers ; and in the conditions of that covenant as
they are held forth to penitent and believing sinners, and as they
are actually imparted to us, in proportion as these great condi
tions are fulfilled in us — these great obligations discharged by
us. An infinite order and fulness, as well as a divine simplicity
and power, pervade the whole counsel of God for our recovery.
And though the carnal mind cherishes only enmity to the things

CHAP. IV.J CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. 71
of the Spirit, and though flesh and blood cannot inherit them ;
yet the renewed soul that is docile and earnest, will find cease
less comfort and strength, as it advances in the nearness and the
distinctness of its vision of them.
3. Passing by all scholastic distinctions, the faith of which I
speak continually, is Saving Faith : the act of those who believe
to the saving of the soul.1 The object of it is the Lord Jesus
Christ.2 The rule of it is the word of God.3 The author of it
is the Holy Ghost.4 It is in the soul of man, a living power,6
which works by love,6 which purifies the heart,7 and overcomes the
world.3 And the aim and end of it is the salvation of the soul.9
Now what is intended to be asserted is, that it is a fundamental
condition of the Covenant of Redemption, that the soul of fallen
man in order to partake of its benefits, must first of all incur the
benefit of exercising this Faith in Jesus Christ: and that, under
the dispensation of divine grace in Jesus Christ, it is the duty
of all men to possess and exercise this habit of the soul.
4. In like manner, passing by all scholastic distinctions, the
repentance of which I speak continually, is Repentance unto
Life : the act of those who turn unto God, sorrowing for their
sin.10 The object of it, is God himself, whose mercy in Christ
Jesus, the penitent apprehends.11 The author of it, is the Holy
Spirit.12 The rule of it is the word of God, in all that it has
commanded and all that it has forbidden.13 The subject-matter
of it is, on the one side, ourselves as sinners, and all our sins,
from which we turn with holy hatred ; and on the other, every
good thing, and God in Christ as the chief good, to whom we
turn with set purpose of heart after a new obedience.14 The
fruits of it, are all good works.16 And the end and aim of it, are
pardon, acceptance with God, and eternal life.10 Now what is
asserted is, in this as in the preceding case, that it is a funda
mental condition of the Covenant of Redemption, that the soul
of fallen man in order to partake of its benefits, must first incur
this benefit, of exercising Repentance toward God, along with
Faith in Jesus Christ : and that under a dispensation of divine
1 Heb, x. 39. a Acts, xx. 21. 3 Rom, x. 14, 17.
< Eph, i. 17-19. s Gai., ;;. 20. « Gal., v. 6.
' Acts, xv. 9. s i John, v. 4. >1 Pet, i. 9.
10 Acts, xi. 18; xx. 21. " Ps. exxx. 3-7. u Zee, xii 10.
13 2 Cor., vii 9-11 ; Deut, xxix. 29. " Ps. Ii. 5, 6 ; Acts, xxvi. 18.
15 Matt, iii. 8. is Mark, i. 4; Luke, xiii. 3-5 ; Acts, xl. IS.

72 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD. [BOOK I.
grace in Jesus Christ, it is the duty of all men to possess this
penitent, as well as the preceding believing habit of the soul.
5. It is, as I have already said, in the sense of the second of
the two statements annexed to both of the two immediately pre
ceding paragraphs, that Faith and Repentance are to be specially
contemplated at this point. It is a duty which we owe alike to
God and to our own souls, to repent of our sins and to forsake
them : a duty perfectly clear in itself, on the ground of its own
evidences, and which cannot be denied without denying the being
of God, or denying the moral nature of man. It is a duty, the
neglect of which renders salvation simply impossible, if by sal
vation we mean any thing different from depravity. On the
other hand, the duty of honouring and obeying God, of seeking
his favour, and regulating our conduct according to his will, is
also perfectly clear upon the ground of its own evidences. And
while it is neglected, salvation, if it means any thing different
from alienation from God and unfitness for his service, is incon
ceivable. It is apparent, therefore, that if the Covenant of Re
demption had failed to make Repentance toward God an absolute
condition of salvation for sinners, that omission would have been
inconsistent with the nature of God, of man, of sin, and of sal
vation, as far as we are capable of understanding. Except ye
repent, said Jesus, ye shall all likewise perish.1
6. That it is the duty of all men under a dispensation of
divine grace, to believe in the Saviour provided by God for their
deliverance from sin and misery ; is also, of itself and upon the
ground of its own evidences, perfectly clear. In this case, the
obligation resting on sinful creatures to regulate their conduct by
the will of the Saviour ; is precisely of the same natuie as the
obligation resting on man considered merely as the dependent
creature of God, to regulate his conduct by the will of his Crea
tor. But it is sufficiently plain that it is impossible for sinners
to regulate their conduct by the will of a Saviour, while they
neither obey him, trust him,. nor believe in him : that is, it is
self-evidently plain, that the first duty of a sinner is to believe
unto salvation in the Saviour whom God has provided. Just as
the duty of Repentance toward God, results directly from the
two facts that there is a God and that man has sinned : so the
duty of Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, results directly from the
1 Luke, xiii. 3, 5.

CHAP. IV.] CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. 73
two facts that man is a sinner and that Christ is the Saviour of
sinners. And to have omitted to make this first duty of the
sinner, a fundamental condition of the Covenant of Redemption,
would, as far as we can understand, have utterly subverted the
spiritual system of the universe disclosed to us in nature and in
providence, revealed to us in the word of God, and confirmed
by our inner life. And so the Lord Jesus has said, if ye be
lieve not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.1
7. If we will admit, or if it can be proved, that the scriptural
account of the creation and fall of man and of the offer of sal
vation through the blood of Christ, is true ; then the condition
of man as a sinner, under the requirements of the Gospel, and
the condition of man as no sinner under the requirements of the
Law, is, as to the obligatory force of those conditions, respectively,
that is, as to the nature of duty, essentially the same condition.
The Gospel is as perfectly suited to the condition of fallen man,
as the Law could be to the condition of unfallen man. The whole
question is, in the first place, whether man owes any obligation
to God ; and, secondly, whether, admitting that he does, it can
be a conceivable end or way of salvation to release that obliga
tion. St. Paul has told us plainly that if Faith released the
obligation of man to God, this would be a fatal objection ; but
that, on the contrary, Faith establishes that obligation.2 It is
no part of salvation to show favour to sin — but to sinners : the
very height and object of that salvation, as a mercy to sinners,
being involved in their complete deliverance from sin. But it
has been shown that the sense of duty in man. though obscured
and depraved, cannot be obliterated without destroying his ra
tional and his moral nature — and rendering every conception
of salvation absurd as to him. It remains, therefore, that of two
possibilities one must occur. We must reject the way of salva
tion offered in the Scriptures, and remitting ourselves to Nat
ural Religion, accept the only provision it makes for sin —
namely, death : or we must accept the duties of Repentance
toward God, and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as unalterable
conditions of salvation for sinners through the Covenant of Re
demption. IV. — 1. It is made the ground of a cavil that we are not able
to perform these conditions and discharge these obligations :
1 John, viii. 24. 2 Rom., iii. 31.

74 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD. [BOOK I.
and, strangely enough, of an opposite cavil, that we are able to
do both. The first cavil is in order to deny the binding force
of that which exceeds our ability: the second cavil is in order
to deny the supernatural aid whereby ability is conferred on us.
As to the first, if we will reflect that what we mean by our
inability, is neither more nor less than our depravity ; then it is
tantamount to saying that depravity is in its own nature justifi
able ; which is a contradiction in terms. As to the second, that
which we boast of having accomplished, and that ability in our
selves by which it was achieved — whatever it may be — can be
neither more nor less than the natural result of our depraved
powers; but if this can be truly called either Repentance toward
God or Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, then, obviously, the
Covenant of Redemption is wholly insignificant. Both cavils
are founded on a general misconception of the nature of sin : to
which is added, in the first one, a special misconception of the
nature of duty ; and in the second one, a special misconception
of the nature of salvation. A sense of the impotence which de
pravity begets, is inseparable from the sense of depravity itself:
a sense of the reality of our Faith and Repentance is inseparable
from a sense of self-abnegation and self-condemnation : a sense
of deliverance from the wrath of God, is inseparable from the
sense of a new illumination and a new life within us.
2. It is impossible to conceive how we could be made par
takers of the blessings of salvation, otherwise than as the Scrip
tures propose, without producing the most prodigious results.
For, on the one hand, any serious change in the nature of God,
of sin, or of holiness, would make what we now call God, sin, and
holiness, perfectly immaterial to us, and us to them. But, on the
other hand, any change in us, corresponding to the change just
supposed, so as to bring us into sympathy with that new state of
things : would separate our existence into two portions having no
relation to each other, would destroy our personal identity ; and
would convert all God's dealings with us into acts of mere power,
regardless of all moral distinctions. So that whatever imaginary
difficulties we may create in order to evade the necessity of Faith
and Repentance ; the insuperable difficulty is, to save sinners in
any other way.
3. These conditions of salvation, then, do not discharge in
any degree, the infinite dominion of God over us, or release our

CHAP. IV.] CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. 75
absolute dependence on him ; since the fundamental and unal
terable relation we bear to him is that of creatures to their Cre
ator. Nor can the performance of these conditions give us — no
matter how we came to perform them — any strict or any merito
rious claim upon God for any recompense or any reward ; because
to believe what is infinitely true, to regret what is infinitely
wrong, to embrace infinite mercy, and to avoid infinite ruin,
proves nothing except that he who so acts is not a madman. Nor
are these conditions of such a nature, that they either preclude
divine assistance, nr render it unnecessary, in order to their per
formance. Man, when fallible, needed divine assistance, to pre
vent his fall. Man, when fallen, needs divine assistance, in order
to his recovery. The creature depends upon his Creator — the
sinner depends upon his Saviour — -every dependent being needs,
and must eternally need, each according'to his kind, divine grace
to help him in his time of need. But this of which I constantly
speak is the Covenant of Grace itself, whereby Redemption is
provided and is applied to fallen man. And so close is the con
nection between the nature and exercises of the human soul, and
the scriptural account of the creation, fall, and recovery of man,
that the pungent exhibition of the mystery of Godliness, in all
the power and fulness thereof — though it be foolishness to them
that perish, yet unto them which are saved, it is the power of
God.1 4. In every part of this great subject the remotest point of
our enquiries always presents the most serious difficulty. We
come always to the same profound certainty which affects every
thing else, that salvation is not absolute and universal ; to the
same inscrutable union and separation of the finite and infinite,
at the foundation of all ; to the same tendency to opposing re
sults, one human and the other divine, in the last solution. On
the other hand, nothing could be more immense and more over
whelming, than the practical demonstration which everywhere
exists, to put beyond doubt the final shape of those truths whose
remotest forms may so perplex us. Without one single excep
tion, every human soul that embraces Jesus Christ as its Saviour,
does so by Faith in his name — and every one that returns to
God, does so by Repentance for sin ; and every one openly and
joyfully confesses that he has done both, through divine grace —
1 1 Cor, i. 18.

76 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD. [BOOK I.
and yet that, so far from being put in bondage either in the pro
cess or the result, he has done it freely, and has been set free
therein. On the other hand, every human soul that has failed
or refused to beheve in Jesus Christ, is fully sensible that Christ
is not his Saviour ; and every one that will not repent of sin, is
fully sensible that Christ is not the ground of whatever hope he
may suppose he has before God ; nor is one of them able to sug
gest any reason why God is not his God, and Christ his Saviour,
which would not be completely removed and confuted by Faith
and Repentance. But this, in its whole extent, is just the mani
festation of what God has said— just the universal illustration of
the truths I have been endeavouring to state, to classify, and to
enforce. Again I repeat, the whole work of God confirms his
word ; and our nature in its inmost life, and our reason in its
utmost power, and our experience in its whole compass, each de
livers its distinct confirmation.
5. On account of the extreme importance of the matter, it
may be proper to note in a special manner, how complete the
means are which God has provided to lead men to Faith and
Repentance. Truth is the very aliment of the soul ; and God
has made the belief of divine truth, made known by himself,
concerning his infinite glory, and his eternal love for us, and con
cerning our own endless blessedness ; the very point in which
our souls embrace Jesus Christ, and pass over from death to life.
A sense of our blameworthiness is a most complete and pungent
manifestation, at once of our moral nature and of its present con-
dition^-on the one side God and his nature and dominion, on the
other our creaturehood, and our depravity and shame therefor ;
and in this very point God locates the first movements of our
discharge from the bondage of the law of sin and death, and of
our freedom through the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.1
And thus, all the outward means of grace and salvation, by which
the knowledge of ourselves and of God is so continually, so ur
gently, and so completely delivered to our rational and moral
faculties ; find in the very depths of our nature, the very con
ditions to which they can most effectually appeal. According to
the structure of our nature, and the character of the means used
by God, how is it possible to doubt, that the result which ought
to follow is, that we believe and repent ? But this result does
1 Rom., viii. 2.

CHAP. IV. J CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. 77
not follow. And the result which does follow, so long as we are
left to ourselves, is absolutely incomprehensible, except as we ac
knowledge that the carnal mind is enmity to God, not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be.1 Wherefore, there can
be no remedy but that ' proclaimed from heaven, namely, that
we put off the old man, which is corrupt ; and be renewed in the
spirit of our mind ; and put on the new man, which after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness.2
' Rom, viiL 7. 2 Eph., iv. 22-24.

CHAPTEE V.
THE QHCONOMV OF THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION.
L 1. Transition from the Objective to the Subjective Consideration of the Knowledge
of God.— 2. General appreciation of the (Economy of Grace. — 3. Method pro
posed here. — II. — 1. The Four Estates of Man, and the Relations of the two
Covenants thereto. — 2. The absolute Unity of the Way and Method of Salva
tion, under all Dispensations. — -3. Divine Grace, through the Mediator. — 4. Per
petual Development thereof. — 5. Perpetual Sufficiency thereof. — III. — 1. The Es
sence of the Covenant of Grace. — 2. Fundamental points of Agreement between
the Covenants of Works, and Grace. — 3. Fundamental points of Difference be
tween them. — 4. What is involved in this comparison, and what results from it. —
IV. — 1. Gradual disclosure of the Covenant of Redemption. — 2. Universal prin
ciple and result of this progress. — 3. Unity of the Counsel of God and of the
Essence of the Covenant of Grace ; variety of Dispensation. — V. — 1. Dispensa
tions of the (Economy of Redemption. — 2. Our own posture in this vast adminis
tration, perfectly distinct. — 3. The Adamic Dispensation. — 4. The Noacic Dispen
sation. — 5. The Old World and the New — Adam and Abraham, connected by
Noah. — 6. The Abrahamic Dispensation, and Covenant. — 7. The Institutions of
Moses. — 8. Their career and their catastrophe. — 9. Christ : the Gospel Church. —
10. The future Dispensations of the Covenant of Redemption. — 11. The nature
and the power of the Knowledge thus attainable.
I.— 1. The aim of this first Book of this Treatise of the Know
ledge of God Subjectively Considered, is to point out the method
by which, in its widest sense, the objective Knowledge of God
becomes subjective ; the relation between the mere outward
knowledge of divine things, and the method and power and ef
fects of that divine knowledge in the soul and upon the life of
man. The preceding chapters might perhaps be considered as
having sufficiently accomplished that purpose. For the Cove
nant of Grace and Redemption, which is the expression of the
whole purpose and power of God manifested in our salvation, has
been carefully considered in its nature, its relations, and its force,
up to the point of the effectual, internal application of its bene
fits unto and within the soul of man : to which we might now pro
ceed. That is, I have endeavoured to exhibit the first utterance by
God of the existence and nature of this covenant, and to point out

CHAP. V.] (ECONOMY OF REDEMPTION. 79
the influence thereof upon the catastrophe produced by the Fall
of Man, and the entrance of sin ; then to state as clearly as I
could, the origin, the object, and the great principles and truths
of this covenant ; then to disclose the intimate relevancy of it to
our own intimate nature, and to our fundamental religious ideas
and convictions ; and then to exhibit and to illustrate the unal
terable conditions on which its benefits can be applied to fallen
men, and the corresponding special obligations resting on them.
What would immediately follow would be the exhibition of sal
vation in the human soul, in the actual present posture of grace
on one side, and man on the other.
2. It occurs, however, that the actual present posture both
of divine grace and of sinful men, with respect to salvation
through the Covenant of Redemption, is related in a manner so
intimate, to all that has gone before, and to all that is to follow,
touching both the development of grace and the career of man ;
that a right understanding of the actual and present, is greatly
promoted by a clear perception of the relation of that present to
the past even to the beginning, and to the future even to the
end. The administration of the Covenant of Redemption has
been an immense and continual development of the grace of God
in the salvation of fallen men ; and the point at which our race
now stands is one of rest, so to speak, in that grand progress, and
we have reached it only after incurring the whole force of divine
providence up to this point. And before us, both in grace and
in providence, both in time and in eternity, are other immense
developments, other immense cycles. It is nothing that these
rests are long or short, compared with each other, whether in the
past or in the future ; they all influence each other — they are all
parts of one whole ; and some insight into all of them, into their
relations to each other, and into the grand whole they all make
up, is necessary to the clear knowledge of any part ; as, for ex
ample, the part now appertaining to us, and in connection with
which we must be saved, or must perish. It is this total admin
istration of divine grace in its whole progress, and in its whole
connection, which I call the CEconomy of the Covenant of Re
demption, and whose general appreciation seems to be the neces
sary conclusion of the foregoing chapters of this Book, and to
be necessarily preliminary to the exhibition, in the next Book,
of the work of salvation within us.

80 THE KNOWLEDGEOF GOD. [BOOK I.
3. In attempting to sketch in a very narrow compass, an out
line so vast, in which questions so immense occupy an area ex
tending from the beginning to the end of time — and stretching
both ways into eternity ; it behooves, not only, that we walk
very carefully in the light of God, but that every step be taken
very humbly before him. Recognizing the whole as a manifes
tation of God, I have exhibited aspects of it, more or less exten
sive, in various parts of the Treatise of The Knowledge of God
Objectively Considered ; and especially in the Fourth Book of
that Treatise, which is devoted expressly to the consideration of
those manifestations of God whereby all our knowledge of him
is obtained. I have occupied a considerable portion of the chap
ters which treat of Divine Providence, of the New Creation, and
of the Sacred Scriptures, with various illustrations of this great
topic. What I shall further say will be in the way of completing
and generalizing the subject, with special reference to its use in
this place ; praying the reader who will honour me so far, to ex
amine what I have advanced in the chapters just alluded to.
II. — 1. The condition of man is represented to us in the
Scriptures in a fourfold aspect. His original condition was per
fect, but fallible ; in which our first parents alone existed — and
from which they fell by transgression. By that fall the whole
race came into its second condition, which is one of weakness and
depravity ; in which it underlies the sentence of God pronounced
at the fall, and awaits the final sentence of the great day. The
third condition of man is one of begun recovery ; regenerated
and partially sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and enjoying union
and communion with the Saviour Christ Jesus ; which condition
is not universal of all men — but only of all penitent and believing
sinners. The fourth condition of man is one of perfect restoration
and eternal glory and blessedness ; which is the final estate, not of
all men, but only of just men made perfect, through the complete
fruition of God in Christ. The impenitent and the unbelieving
perish in their sin — endless perdition being the final condition of
ungodly men. The original condition of fallible perfection, was
the one to which the Covenant of Works applied ; and the object
of that covenant was to relieve man from the peril arising from
the fallibility of his nature, to invest the human race with the
absolute possession of a life at once perfect and immortal, and to
secure to it the perpetual augmentation of glory and blessedness

CHAP. V.J (ECONOMY OF REDEMPTION. 81
therein. The Covenant of Grace applies to the second condition
of man, namely, to his fallen, weak, and depraved condition ;
and its object is to restore man, through a Saviour, and by means
of a new creation, to the image, the service, and the enjoyment
of God in this life, and to the complete and endless fruition of
him in a better life to come. It has therefore no relation to man
except as he is considered, first, in his sins, then as penitent and
believing, then as carried forward through his new life to his im
mortal inheritance. Grace and glory for fallen men, are the sum
of its proposals.
2. However various the aspects of God's merciful dealings
with sinful men may seem, there never was but one divine way
of salvation revealed ; and there never was but one divine method
of making that way of salvation effectual. That method always
was and needs must be, as it regarded man, by divine assistance
through divine love ; granting to us pardon for our sins on ac
count of the satisfaction of Christ, and renewing our nature by
the Holy Ghost, so that we might, by Faith, accept the right
eousness of Christ imparted us, and by Repentance turn from
Satan unto God. Any thing short of this would leave salvation
wholly out of our reach ; while any thing essentially different
from it would be wholly inapplicable to our condition. The
divine way of salvation to which this divine method appertains,
the fruit of infinite beneficence, wisdom, and power — always was
and needs must be, by the incarnation, the obedience and sacri
fice, and the glorious resurrection and ascension of the Son of
God ; and by the application to us by the Holy Ghost of all the
benefits of the work of Christ, secured to us in the Covenant of
Redemption ; and as a consequence, our deliverance, restoration,
and endless perfection and blessedness. Therefore the whole
administration of the Covenant of Redemption necessarily em
braces all that God has yet done, and all that he will ever do, in
the way of grace and glory for fallen men. There never was any
way of salvation for sinners, but through a Mediator ; there
never was, nor will be, but one Mediator between God and men ;
and the man Christ Jesus, is that Mediator.1
3. Whatever is unto salvation, under whatever aspect, at
whatever period, and by whatever means, is therefore of mere
grace : yea, free, sovereign, efficacious, special, eternal grace.
1 1 Tim., ii. 6.
VOL. II. 6

82 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
This grace is absolutely and exclusively in, by, and through the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the Covenant of Grace ; out
of whom there is no grace of God unto the salvation of fallen
men. This grace and salvation, are unto all the redeemed
through Faith and Repentance, covenanted through the blood
of the Son of God ; both in that he was a party to the eternal
covenant, in that he represented them as their head therein, and
in that God renews the covenant with each one of them upon
his actual union with Christ. And all the blessings and benefits
of all this covenanted mercy, are actually applied by the Holy
Ghost, in time and eternity, to every soul saved out of our lost
race, from the fall of Adam to the end of time.1
4. The progress of divine grace in the soul, is represented by
the Saviour to be like leaven, which a woman took and hid in
three measures of meal till the whole was leavened.2 God re
veals himself in the hearts of his people by little and little ;
leading them powerfully, but almost imperceptibly, from one de
gree of grace and strength unto another, until all of them in Zion
appear perfect before him. It is in this way also, that he has
developed the plan of salvation, and led his Church across the
ages with a constantly increasing light. One dispensation has
emerged from the bosom of another, as each in succession accom
plished its own special end ; all tending in the same direction —
all constituting portions of one great GSconomy of Grace. A
covenant from eternity was proclaimed for the first time as a
practical remedy for sin, in God's sentence upon Satan for his
part in the fall of man, even before he passed sentence upon
man. Its development through all time is the most glorious
manifestation of God to the universe. Its consummation will
occur at the delivery up of the Kingdom it, has created, by the
Son to the Father, upon the Lamb's Book of Life ; and God
will be all and in all. But from that point a new and higher
glory for eternity will begin — the precise nature of which, eter
nity itself must unfold.
5. It necessarily follows, and the Scriptures expressly teach,
that the Jewish system was as really a dispensation of the Cov
enant of Redemption as the Christian system is :3 and that from
Adam to Moses the same covenant, though differently adminis-
' 1 Cor, iii. 31-33 ; Heb., vi. 13-20 ; Rom., viii. passim.
g Matt, xiii. 33. s Heb., viii., ix., x

CHAP. V.J C3C0N0MY OP REDEMPTION. 83
tered, was as really administered as it was during the personal
ministry of Christ, or is now.1 The Saviour promised to Adam,
was the same Saviour promised more explicitly to Abraham, to
Moses, and to all the Prophets ; the same who was crucified
under Pontius Pilate, who is now preached unto the Gentiles,
and who will judge the world in righteousness. It also follows
of neccessity, and the Scriptures expressly teach, that however
the administration of the covenant may have varied, from period
to period, in its outward application to the elect ; yet, under
every successive dispensation of it, the means provided were suf
ficient and effectual for the comfort and salvation of those who
received them, under whatever form, and in whatever stage of
the divine (Economy.2 For the Spirit of God was always in the
Church of God, and with the redeemed of God, making effectual
application of the existing means of grace to the souls of all be
lievers.3 Nor must it be overlooked, that the extraordinary deal
ings of God with his people, in the way of divine guidance and
support, were always great and striking in proportion as the ordi
nary means of grace existing under the particular dispensation
were, as compared with other means of grace, either small or ob
scure. Nothing is more striking than this : and we need only
compare carefully the present condition of the Church in these
respects, with its condition under any former dispensation, to
appreciate the importance of the truth stated.
III. — 1. The whole (Economy of the Covenant of Grace thus
contemplated, suggests two aspects which, taken together, pre
sent for our consideration a complete outline of it. The first of
these exhibits the covenant considered in its essence, in its analogy
with the Covenant of Works ; and discloses to us the agreement,
and the difference between the two — and therein the nature and
the state of man under each. The second opens before us the
whole progress and development of God's mercy unto the salva
tion of fallen men, under all the successive dispensations of the
Covenant of Redemption ; and furnishes us with the means of
appreciating distinctly our actual position in this divine admin
istration. What is meant by the essence of this covenant,
which on one side is to be compared with the Covenant of
Works, and on the other side is to be traced through a manifold
1 Rom, iv. 2 ; GaL, iii. 7-14. 3 Heb, xi, passim.
5 John, viii. 56 ; 1 Cor, x. 1-4.

84 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
progress of its own ;. is that wherein its own nature and unity
consist. For what it provided was always the same eternal life,
under the same peculiar form of life, namely, that of fallen men
restored to the lost image of God. And the way in which this
was provided was always through a Mediator between God and
fallen men, and always through the same Mediator, to wit, Im-
manuel — the Messiah of the Jewish Scriptures — the Christ of
the Christian Scriptures — the author and the giver of that eter
nal life. And the method by which that eternal life was always
bestowed on fallen men, was in that they were divinely enabled
and inclined to exercise Repentance toward God, and Faith
toward the Lord Jesus Christ. However various may be the
manifestations of this covenant, however distinct its successive
dispensations, or however wide the difference between the first
and the last aspect of its vast QSconomy ; its absolute oneness
cannot be disputed, when the same grace reigned, the same sal
vation is propounded, the same Saviour is held forth, the same
method of union with him is exhibited for the rescue of the same
fallen race, throughout.
2. The most fundamental points of agreement between
these two covenants may, perhaps, be stated in the following
manner :
(a) Both of them are the product of divine wisdom and
love, and are addressed with divine authority and power to the
particular conditions of human nature, which they respectively
contemplate : while both of them were proofs of infinite con
descension on the part of God, and proposed unspeakable and
eternal mercies to man.
(b) Both of them propose an identical, and peculiar method
on the part of God, of dealing with his creature man ; a method
we express by the word Covenant. Whereby God, in order to
confirm and augment the blessedness of man before he fell, and
in order to restore, increase, and perpetuate that blessedness after
man had fallen ; propounded to man the attainment of an in
finite reward, upon conditions which, while they were obligatory
on God, were so full of goodness to man, that nothing could pre
vent his reaping the promised reward, except deliberate rejection
of his Creator before the fall, and deliberate rejection of his Sa
viour after the fall.
(c) And as touching these conditions themselves, both cov-

CHAP. V.] C3C0N0MY OF REDEMPTION. 85
enants agree in this, that the head of those to be benefitted
under each, to wit, Adam under the 'first, and Christ under the
second, so stood for and represented them, that the triumph or
failure of that head should be decisive concerning every one he
represented. Upon this great and identical principle the condi
tion and the reward of the first covenant, to wit. perfect obedi
ence and endless perfection, became by its breach by Adam utterly
impossible under it; and the conditions and reward of the second
covenant, to wit, Faith and Repentance, and salvation as the re
sult, became infallibly certain by the execution of it by Christ.
(d) Both of them demanded on the part of the creature a
righteousness that would satisfy a divine law and a holy God ;
and both of them required the same, and a peculiar kind of
righteousness, to wit, that which is manifested by the perfect
love of God and of our neighbour. And both of them proposed
to secure to every one represented in them respectively, the abso
lute certainty of possessing this righteousness in a peculiar and
an identical manner, to wit, by means of their union with him
who was their head. On the one hand, having the righteousness
of Adam, had he stood, imputed to them ; on the other hand,
having the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. In like
manner, on the one hand having the righteousness of Adam's
nature, had he stood, inherited by means of a natural genera
tion ; on the other hand having the righteousness of Christ
wrought in them, by means of supernatural regeneration. In
both instances, the righteousness to be obtained by the head
under each covenant, and to be manifested as above set forth,
was a divine righteousness in this, namely, that it was the right
eousness of perfect conformity to a divine law.
(e) Both covenants proposed to deal with men in two ways,
very dissimilar in themselves and extremely difficult to be per
fectly reconciled with each other ; yet both absolutely inherent
in the nature of man and of both covenants. That is, they pro
posed to deal with men considered as a race — which they are ;
and also considered as individual persons, which they are. Both
of them in the development of this double aspect of humanity,
and of the divine mode of dealing with it by covenant; provided,
as has been shown, a common head. In each of them successively
our destiny as a race was so decided, as that our personal respon
sibility was nevertheless secured, and our individual freedom pre-

86 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
served. If we were to conceive of either covenant as annihilating
the total influence of the other, in that case the reign of one — •
either one — would be absolute and universal : all saved— or all
lost. Except in that way, we cannot conceive of any other re
sult, than a mixed one, founded upon the existence of both
covenants, and upon their peculiar and identical manner of con
templating and dealing with humanity.
(/) In effect, therefore, both covenants agree in this also,
that neither of them had an absolute and universal efficacy, unto
a specific result. To a certain intent both of them had : to a
certain intent neither had. They limit each other — in a peculiar
way, difficult to express, but practically perfectly obvious.
Through Adam — ultimately — some men — -not all men — perish :
through Christ — ultimately — some men — not all men — are saved.
As there is but one human race, and that determinate before
God in the total number of its individuals : the saved and the
lost are its two factors — each diminishing the whole by its own
amount ; each representing the finality of one covenant in the
respect now considered. On the other hand, it will be forever
true that all men were once sinners, and the whole of our uni
verse polluted ; and it will be equally true that in a certain sense
the whole universe will be retrieved from sin, and that death
itself shall die. Still the universality is peculiar, and is respon
sive in both cases. But these mysteries are very high, and should
be handled with the dread of God upon us.
3. The most fundamental points of difference between the
two covenants, may, perhaps, be stated as follows :
(a) As the conditions of humanity to which the two cove
nants were respectively addressed were wholly different, the im
mediate object of them, respectively, was also different. The
first covenant found man perfect, but fallible ; and what it im
mediately proposed was to deliver him from the peril of that fal
libility, and to cdnfirm and augment forever his existing perfec
tion. The second covenant found man fallen and depraved ; and
its immediate object was to extricate him from his condition of
ruin, and from the endless perdition to which he was hastening ;
and to confer on him endless glory and felicity, by restoring him
in this life to the lost image of God through a new creation, and
by bringing him through death and the resurrection to an im
mortal existence with God.

CHAP. V.J (ECONOMY OF REDEMPTION. 87
(b) They necessarily differed in the way of accomplishing their
object respectively. Though it was unto life, and through divine
goodness, and by way of covenant, in both instances ; in the first,
it was from God to his creature who was already perfect, in the
second from God to his creature fallen from his perfection and
wholly depraved. The whole way of the first covenant, there
fore, was through the headship of a mere man ; while the whole
way of the second was through the headship of the God-man.
The way of the first was thoroughly natural ; the way of the
second was thoroughly supernatural. And this is a difference
stupendous in itself, and decisive throughout.
(c) They differed, utterly, in the inherent force of each, and
thereby, in the result to which each tended. The exact execu
tion of each would produce precisely that to which it was compe
tent — no more, no less. But the first had in Adam no resources
except such as existed in human nature, perfect but fallible ;
while the second had in Christ all the resources ever possible in
human nature — and all the resources of the divine nature be
sides. To say the very least, the first tended to failure as
strongly as to success ; for it actually failed, and that, as far as
we know, under the first temptation. Nor, according to any mode
of judging, competent to human reason, or revealed to us by
God, are we able to understand how such a covenant could have
avoided the equal hazard of failure at every trial, and therefore,
apparently, failure at last. On the other hand, it is wholly in
conceivable how the second could fail : and the Scriptures plainly
tell us, it cannot.
(d) The first covenant was founded, so to speak, upon what
was already known to man, either as written on his heart by God,
or as added in the great acts of God toward man in his primeval
state, anterior to the existence of this covenant ; to which its
own explicit and merciful, but brief statements, were added.
But it neither promised, nor provided, nor gave any additional
strength to any who might seek to perform its conditions and
reap its reward. The second covenant in its whole foundation
and compass propounds a new creation for man — an additional
revelation to man, every part of which is of transcendent import
to him, and for the boundless glory of God. And this covenant
promises, provides, and gives to every one who seeks to perform
its conditions, and reap its rewards, all grace, and light, and

88 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD. [BOOK I.
strength, for every time of need. And the divine revelation
which discloses it, is so completely the power of God unto salva
tion to every one that believeth, that the very sum of the cove
nant is, that God will be their God, and that they shall be his
people.1 (e) The first covenant secured to us life, upon condition that
retaining the righteousness we had already, we should first secure
the additional righteousness to be obtained by the further perfect
obedience required in it. The second covenant secures to us
both life and the righteousness required in order thereto ; it does
this while, having no righteousness of our own, we were dead in
sin ; it does it by making the obedience of faith, instead of any
perfect obedience of our own, the method of the righteousness
which God accepts.2 United in a Covenant of Works, with
our covenanted and natural head — -who was a mere man — we
can be made partakers of nothing higher than his estate, and
can be made partakers of a righteousness like his only in our
perfect obedience. United in a Covenant of Grace with our
covenanted and supernatural head, who is the Lord from heaven,
we are made partakers of his grace and his glory, through no
righteousness at all of our own, nor through any obedience of
ours, except that of faith ;3 but through the righteousness of
God, by faith in Jesus Christ, unto all, and upon all them that
believe.4 (/) As these two covenants relate to sin and to sinners, the
difference between them is absolute. The first revealed sin and
rebuked it, and left sinners to endure its fearful penalty ; the
second reveals the pardon of sin and the deliverance of sinners,
through the Mediator, whom it provides. The one is a dispen
sation of Wrath and death to fallen men ; the other is a dispen
sation of grace, mercy, peace, and eternal life even to the chief
of sinners. The one has no remedy for any sin — but death ;
the other glories most of all, that it is able to save to the utter
most all who come to God by Jesus Christ. The one grounds all
its proceedings against every one who underlies its terrible pen
alty, upon the personal condition of the culprit, individually
considered ; the other grounds every thing upon Christ alone, and
upon the pers.onal condition of each individual considered merely
i Jer, xxxi. 33 ; Rom, i. 16. 2 Rom, iii. 21, 22 ; v. 1 ; Eph, ii. 8.
' Rom, xvi. 26. ' Rom, iii. 22.

CHAP. V.J (ECONOMY OF REDEMPTION. 89
with reference to his relation to Christ. As so profound and per
vading in the Covenant of Grace is this idea of Mediation and
Redemption, of which the Covenant of Works knows nothing,
except that when it encounters Christ its claims are ended and
its power broken ; that the whole church of the living God, the
whole Messianic Kingdom, the entire New Creation, will be de
livered up to God the Father, at the consummation of all things,
merely upon the Lamb's Book of Life.1
4. This survey, imperfect and condensed as it is, exhibits an
outline of the entire dealings of God with man, in the way of
covenant ; and except in the work of creation, and in those
great providential acts of which I have spoken so often, which
immediately followed it and preceded the Covenant of Works — ¦
God's entire dealings with man have been of that kind most dis
tinctly set forth under the idea of a covenant. Moreover, it is
by comparing the two covenants through which God has disclosed
his purpose in the creation of man, with each other, as has been
done, that we obtain the clearest general conception of both of
them ; just as it is by following the gradual and steadfast devel
opment of the one which now involves all the hopes of the human
race, which I am about to attempt, that we obtain the clear
est general conception of the precise point in its sublime pro
gress, which touches our actual and individual position. Such a
survey as I shall briefly attempt, would be at once useless and
impossible, but for the unity of this second covenant thus va
riously administered, and but for the divine unity of the Scrip
tures which disclose it, and of the infinite intellect and will from
which those Scriptures proceed. And it seems impossible to
doubt, after any serious comparison of that covenant with the
one which preceded it, that both of them proceed from the same
divine source, and have reference to the same race of creatures.
Contemplating that race from a widely different point of view,
but directed alike to the securing and advancing its felicity and
glory, they necessarily provide a way peculiar to each. Agreeing
in all that is covered by its being the same God, the same race,
and the same great object ; differing in all that is covered by
one of them being a Covenant of Works for the advancement of
a perfect but fallible race, while the other is a Covenant of Grace
for the recovery of the same race fallen, but susceptible of resto-
' Phil, iv. 3; Rev, xiii 8; xx. 12 • xxi. 27.

90 THEKNOWLEDGEOFGOD [BOOK I.
ration, and for its advancement beyond what was possible if it
had never fallen.
IV. — 1. He whom God distinguished above all mortals in the
gift of wisdom, has warned us with great emphasis that it is the
glory of God to conceal a thing.1 Long before Solomon, the
greatest of all the men of the East, a man perfect and upright,
as we are divinely told, had taught that God holdeth back the
face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.2 And long
after Job, he wrho was not a whit behind the chiefest Apostle,
exclaimed in the wonder of his marvellous insight of divine
things, Oh ! the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God !3 If there be any thing which can be sub
jected to human scrutiny, which is above all other things calcu
lated to beget the state of mind thus variously expressed by men
so great, so illustrious, and so taught of God ; it is undoubtedly,
this very progress of the saving grace of God in its amazing
movement along the course of time. How slight and indistinct
are the first obscure promises of the Saviour, compared with the
light and majesty of his personal ministry ! Yet how indistinct
was his veiled glory in his estate of humiliation, compared with
the unutterable glory in which every eye shall see him, and all
the kindreds of the earth wail because of him ! We must bear
in mind, however, that it is not the purpose of God which is in
distinct ; but it is the knowledge of it by man which from ob
scure beginnings, is increased under each successive dispensation,
like the path of the just, a shining light that shineth more and
more unto the perfect day. And the greatness of that glory
which God conceals, and the majesty of that dominion over
whose face he spreads his cloud, and the unsearchable riches
of his divine wisdom and knowledge, are in nothing more dis
tinctly proved, than in the vastness of the force which is seen to
reside in this mighty power of God unto salvation, even when
it is most indistinctly proclaimed to man. When God said to
Satan that the seed of the woman should bruise his head — the
simple utterance involved a total change in the posture of the
human race, and of the whole universe. Yet how have sixty
centuries developed that utterance !
2. As we attempt to follow this great (Economy of the Cov
enant^ ol -Grace, and to compare its several aspects at its several
1 Prov, xxv. 2. a Job, xxvi. 9. a RonLi ri 33

CHAP. V.J (ECONOMY OF REDEMPTION. 91
stages, with each other ; we find one clear and universal princi
ple running through the whole process. The more perfectly this
covenant is developed, the greater is the distinctness given to
the points in which it differs from the Covenant of Works. The
farther back we go, concealing as we go back the knowledge we leave
behind us, and which did not appertain to the ages we pass over,
the less distinctly do we see the Saviour and his cross : while,
contrariwise, the more each successive dispensation rises in the
bosom of this great (Economy of salvation, the more distinct is
the vision of the Messiah, and the more conspicuously is he the
centre of all grace. Everywhere, as I have already shown, the
essence of the covenant is present, and is exhibited more or less
distinctly. But as we find the natural life of men gradually
shortened and degraded, we find the reality and the peculiar na
ture of immortal life which is to supplant it, more clearly dis
closed. As the utter inability and unwillingness of fallen men
to know God by their own wisdom, or to retain the knowledge
of him when it was divinely imparted to them, became more des
perately confirmed ; the full knowledge of that Saviour who is
the true God and eternal life, is more plainly exhibited. And
as the total inefficacy of any law, any rite, any type, any
shadow, to supply completely the place of grace and truth in
leading fallen men to believe in the Saviour unto life everlast
ing, was more copiously exhibited ; the real power whereby sin
ners do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, is more explicitly held
forth in the demonstration of the Holy Ghost. And so this
greatest work of God exhibits the same method which is dis
closed in all other works of his : and this most glorious of all
the parts of the eternal dispensation of the Son of God, is char
acterized by the same sublime progress, after the same divine
method, as all the other parts. Cycle after cycle — ineffable repose
and then divine work — the omnific Word and the life-giving
Spirit — exact concatenation of every part and majestic assent of
the whole to an infinite consummation ! And herein is that
dispensation* of the fulness of times wherein God will gather
together in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth — even in him.1
3. Throughout the whole (Economy of the Covenant of
Grace, in all its dispensations, there is present every mark of
* OiKovofua — (Economy. 1 Eph, i. 10.

92 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
that enduring unity which distinguishes every part of the deal
ings of God, and which has been already pointed out as mani
fested by a comparison of this with the preceding covenant. At
the same time we encounter the widest variety of application :
a variety demanded, as between the covenants, by the changed
nature of the creature ; and as between the various dispensa
tions of the latter covenant, by the constant and progressive
changes in his condition, and by the successive manifestations
of divine grace. The more carefully we explore all these dispen-
sations — the antediluvian — the patriarchal — the Jewish— the
Christian ; the more deeply we consider those secondary varia
tions to which these dispensations are subject within themselves,
or the eternal results to which they all conduct; the more do we
everywhere behold the stedfast and unshaken progress of God's
eternal counsel for the manifestation of his own glory, in bring
ing fallen men to the saving knowledge and endless fruition of
himself. All the glory and blessedness reserved in heaven for
them that love God, is more than can be fathomed by us now —
more than flesh and blood can comprehend, much less inherit.
But as we behold the deep foundations which God has laid, and
as we trace them back into eternity ; it is not presumption, it is
simple faith, which prompts and sustains the profound assurance,
that these are the very foundations upon which our souls rest,
and that we may safely follow them into the world to come, and
rest eternity upon them.
V.' — 1. Adam — Noah — Abraham — -Moses — Christ — the Gos
pel Church — the Millennial state — the Glorified state ; to which
add the second coming of the Lord — the Resurrection of the
dead — and the eternal Judgment — in some connection with the
last two states of the Church. These are familiar words to the
children of God. Do they not know that he who understands
all they imply, understands all that is involved in creation,
providence, grace, and glory ? Let us pause at the sixth phrase
— the Gospel Church : it is there, now eighteen centuries from
its origin, that we stand to-day. Before its origin, five distinct
epochs covering forty centuries. Until our period shall close —
who can tell how long ? The five phrases which follow are con
stantly on the lips of Christian people, in some sense or other :
but in what sense exactly, or even in what supposed order and
connection as to most of them ? Whatever all these phrases

CHAP. V.J (ECONOMYOFREDEMPTION. 93
may express, when fully understood — this much is certain, that
all of them relate, in the most distinct manner, to the Covenant
of Redemption- — -that, taken together, they express the whole
progress and result of it — and that separately, or variously com
bined, they indicate not only the reality, but the nature of all
its great successive dispensations. It is not to ascertain par
ticular truths, but it is to illustrate the great career of truth,
that I employ them here : that immense administration which
in the chapters of a former Treatise specially cited in an earlier
part of this chapter, I have already briefly exhibited under three
distinct aspects. Once in treating of the relations of divine
providence to the Messianic Kingdom ; once in developing the
progress of divine knowledge through the New Creation ; and
once in treating the whole career of the Kingdom of God con
templated alike in its head, in its author, and in its members.
In the present chapter — as in this First Book throughout —
what is specially important is the clear appreciation of the inti
mate and necessary connection between the Objective and Sub
jective Knowledge of God ; that is, between the inner life of
men, and by consequence their outward condition, whether con
sidered as individuals or as a race, and the knowledge they pos
sess of the true God and of Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
2. The present stand-point of the human race with reference
to this glorious administration of God, is capable of a perfectly
distinct appreciation, in every aspect of .the whole subject, and
in every relation of it to us. Of course, it is not meant that all
men can know, or that any one does know, all the present, much
less all the past, and least of all the whole future, touching any
aspect of the Covenant of Redemption. But all men may know
with infallible certainty, and immense multitudes do know, that
the present condition of the human race is neither the patri
archal, nor the millennial condition of man ; that the present
posture of Redemption is not the one it occupied before the Incar
nation, nor the one it will occupy after the second coming of the
Lord ; that from the remotest past the causes of whatever ex
ists are made obvious to us by God, together with their constant
working, and their present state ; that all that is actual to us
now is manifestly full of all future results ; and that multitudes
of those results, in all their overwhelming vastness, are so re
vealed to us by God that the knowledge of them and the effects

94 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
of them are really and effectually, though not perfectly and com
pletely appreciable by us. The very thought and the very illus
tration used by the Apostle Paul, still apply as distinctly to us
as to those he personally addressed ; for, if I may illustrate the
work of grace by the work of creation, the evening and the
divine repose of the Gospel day, which we call long and God
calls short — still continue, and the millennial morning and work
which may complete that Gospel day are not yet come. There
fore said Paul, and we may repeat, But now we see not as yet
all things put in subjection under the feet of the Son of Man.
What we have seen is, that Jesus was made a little lower
than the angels for the suffering of death ; that he by the grace
of God has tasted death for every man ; and that he has been
crowned with glory and honour. And we have seen, and still
see, many sons of God brought to glory ; we see that Christ is
not ashamed to call them his brethren; and we see how infinitely
it became God, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect
through suffering. And what we may be sure of is, that it is
wholly impossible for us to escape perdition, if we neglect this
great salvation, which has been spoken by the Lord, and con
firmed unto us by those who heard him ; God himself bearing
witness both with signs and wonders, and the Holy Ghost with
divers miracles and gifts.1
3. From this point, looking back to the fall of man, we hear
the promise of the Seed of the woman, and see man sentenced
and driven from Eden. This promise ; the consecrated rest of
the Sabbath day ; the sacrificial recognition of God, of a Sa
viour, of sin, and of deliverance ; the knowledge of the moral
law ; and the miraculous ministration of God personally and by
his angels ; these unitedly exhibited the antediluvial aspect of
the Covenant of Redemption. The condition of human society
answerable to it was characterized by the immense length of hu
man life — by the great extent of families — by the total absence
of any organization civil or sacred except that of the household —
and by the universal prevalence of a single language. This was
the antediluvian condition of mankind, secular and religious. It
survived the catastrophe of the universal deluge — -and received
its first great shock at Babel in the land of Shinar, by an imme
diate act of God confounding the language of all the earth, and
' Heb, ii. passim.

CHAP. V.J (ECONOMY OF BEDEMPTION. 95
scattering the human race abroad upon the face of all the earth.1
Nor did the great increase of divine knowledge vouchsafed to
Noah and to Abraham by God, concerning which I have treated
in another place ; put an absolute end to a state of the Church so
remarkable ; and to a state of society which still prevails in a
form somewhat modified, so extensively upon earth ; embracing
the greater part of the descendants of Abraham himself.
4. Nothing can be more distinctly asserted than God has as
serted in his blessed word, that the whole human family, except
the eight persons who comppsed the household of Noah, were
drowned in the flood ; and that the whole human race afterwards
existing, is descended from these eight persons ; that is, except
his own wife and the wives of his three sons, from Noah himself,
who is the second progenitor of the race.2 It is in the covenant
which God made with "this preacher of righteousness, as the
Scriptures call Noah,3 that the nature and foundation of civil
government, more extensive than that of the household, and as
a divine institution, are first intimated, and in connection there
with the purpose of God touching the destiny of the earth and
of the human race considered as inhabitants thereof, and concern
ing the stedfastness of nature while man and the earth shall
exist in their present relations to each other ; in confirmation
of which he set his bow in the cloud, that man might see it and
trust God. It can add nothing decisive to the matter imme
diately before us, to discuss those permanent physical changes,
real or imaginary, upon the earth itself, and upon its relations to
our solar system, over which the learned have disputed ; which I
therefore pass in silence. But it is important to observe that the
second great shock to the unity of mankind, in the establishment
of distinct varieties of the race, has, even to the present mo
ment, permanent relations to the family of Noah. It is a new
world of which he is the head. Its life is shortened, its language
is confounded, its unity is disturbed, a new condition of society
is divinely provided for, and initiated under Nimrod in Shinar,
and Asshur at Nineveh : and all these things are before our eyes,
after so many centuries, in forms unspeakably aggravated. The
(Economy of Bedemption alone advances. The lines of Shem, and
Ham, and Japhet, and even Canaan the son of Ham, are traced
far enough to show all coming ages the origin of all nations and
' Gen, xi. 1-9. * Gen, vi.— xi. 3 2 Pet, ii. 5.

96 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
peoples.1 Then, dropping all the rest, the line of Shem is traced
to Abraham,2 and through him to Christ ; in whom, after so many
ages, those omitted Gentiles are to be restored to God ; in whom,
rejected by his own to whom he came, it is this day preeminently
those omitted Gentiles to whom God has granted repentance unto
life, and out of whom he is taking a people for his name.3
5. The patriarch Abraham was the lineal descendant of Shem
in the tenth generation ; and of his life on earth of one hundred
and seventy-five years, one hundred and ten years coincided with
the latter part of the life of his great ancestor. Leaving the
ark when he was about a hundred years old, Shem lived about
five hundred years in the post-diluvian world — and may have
been for more than a century, perfectly familiar with the father
of the Faithful ; about thirty-five years of which period were
after the divine call, of which I have now to speak.4 But Shem
had passed a hundred years in the antediluvian world, the whole
of which he may have passed in -the company of Methuselah who
was his father's grandfather ; and above two hundred and forty
years of the entire life of Methuselah coincided with the later
years of Adam, his sixth lineal ancestor.5 Two persons, one of
them the great grandfather of the other, separate between Adam
and Abraham ; these two companions, it may have been, for a
century ; the first a companion of Adam for two centuries and a
half; the second a companion of Abraham for more than a cen
tury. Moreover, the interval between Adam and Noah was but
a century and a quarter, and that between Noah and Abraham
was less than half a century : the two lives of Adam and Noah
covering eighteen hundred and eighty years of the whole period
from the creation to the birth of Abraham — and leaving; a com-
paratively short interval before, and a still shorter one after Noah.
It is Noah, therefore, in reality, who connects Adam with Abra
ham — the first man with the father of the Faithful. His mar
vellous life, resting for five centuries on the world before the
flood, and for four and a half centuries on the world after the
flood ; constituted an astonishing epoch in the Economy of Re
demption, and at the same time afforded the means of transit
between the Adamic and the Abrahamic epochs, each of them
as illustrious as itself.
6. The dispensation which extends from the call of Abraham
1 Gen, x. ' Gen, xi. 3 Acts, xi. 18 ; xv. 14 * Gen., xi. = Gen., v.

CHAP. V.J (ECONOMY OF REDEMPTION. 97
and God's covenant with him, to the Exodus from Egypt under
Moses and the giving of the Law, occupied according to the re
ceived chronology, for which we have the authority of the Apostle
Paul, a period of four hundred and thirty years.1 The greater part
of the Book of Genesis, and a considerable portion of the Book of
Exodus, are devoted to it ; and it is a subject of continual allu
sion and explanation throughout the Scriptures. The distinct
accounts we have of Melchizedeck, who was cotemporary with
Abraham,2 of Jethro, who was cotemporary with the earlier min
istry of Moses,3 and of Balaam, who witnessed almost its close ;4
give us clear intimations of the existing state of divine knowledge,
and of human affairs ; and these are confirmed by multitudes of al
lusions and incidents found in the sacred narrative — and rendered
certain by the Book of Job, who was, it is probable, earlier than
Moses and later than Abraham. The call of Abraham, was in
effect the rejection of the whole race besides ; and the tendency
of the whole race, as such, has been continual and decisive
against God. The sacrament of circumcision given to Abraham,
created for the first time a precise, visible separation between
those in covenant with God, and all beside ; and the sacrament
of the passover, whose institution signalized the close of this dis
pensation, as circumcision did its commencement, made this sep
aration still more complete, by exhibiting still more clearly, the
ground, the nature, and the object of it. These sacraments en'
tered in a fundamental manner, into the next succeeding dis
pensation ; and passing under new forms, by the ordination of
Christ himself, into the bosom of the Gospel Church, they still
survive as signs and seals of the Covenant of Redemption. The
covenant which God made with Abraham, to whom he appeared
seven or eight times,6 was manifold in its aspect. It was a cove
nant personally between God and the patriarch, embracing him
self and all his posterity, and stipulating for great blessings
temporal and spiritual to him and to them. It was a Covenant
between God and Abraham, embracing after a peculiar manner,
his descendants through Isaac, which embraced all the Jewish
people, and the land of Canaan as their inheritance. It was a
covenant between God and Abraham, wherein the patriarch was
accepted as the father of all believers, and all of them received
' Gal, iii. 17. » Gen., xiv.; Heb, vii. 3 Ex., xviii.
4 Num., xxii. — xxi v. * Gen, xii^ — xxiii.
VOL. II. 1

98 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
unspeakable promises in him. And above all, it was a covenant
between God and Abraham wherein the patriarch was accepted
as the representative of humanity itself ; and as such received
promises for all the kindreds of the earth, and above all promises,
that of the Saviour of the world, as his seed.1 In all these as
pects, this amazing covenant has accomplished its stipulations
through all succeeding time. In the promised line of the family
of Abraham, the visible church of God became immediately con
spicuous. In the form of a great people it came in contact with
all the great world-powers developing themselves in the post
diluvian world, according to the purpose of God revealed to
Noah. And their deliverance from Egypt, their abode in the
wilderness, and their triumphant settlement in the promised
land — all miraculous and all typical of things far greater than
themselves ; were made the occasion and the means of organizing
that theocratic commonwealth of the Jews, which constituted so
remarkable an epoch in the (Economy of Grace.
7. The institutions of Moses, established about twenty-five
centuries after the creation, continued with divine authority for
about fifteen centuries. They are capable of being considered
in a threefold point of view ; once in their purely civil aspect —
once as a system of actual religion and positive morality — and
once as a typical system involving and exhibiting more or less
distinctly, a spiritual system far higher than itself. These
three elements are, indeed, combined in the most intimate man
ner : for the system they jointly composed was to be practically
administered over the most enlightened nation in the world, as
at once their only temporal government, and their only way of
eternal salvation. Still, from the point of view we occupy, it is
not difficult to separate these elements. We readily understand
that as a system of .positive religion and morality, these institu
tions would combine and would exhibit, all that God had made
known until then of the way of salvation ; and that they would
be fitted to receive and to preserve all immediate and all further
communications of his grace. Thus we find them grounded upon
the Moral Law, which God had written on the heart of man when
he created him, and which he now wrote on tables of stone ; we
find the revelation of divine grace, of a Saviour from sin, and of
life through him, the burden of the entire system ; and we find
1 Rom., iv. passim ; Gal., hi. passim ; Rom, ix. passim.

CHAP. V.J CECONOMYOFREDEMPTION. 99
the sum of all the past history of Redemption reduced to a
written form, and the continuance and perpetuity of that sacred
record made one of the chief distinctions of a dispensation, at
tested by so many and such stupendous miracles, and replen
ished with such fulness of divine inspiration. Omitting the Book
of Job which is probably a monument of the Abrahamic dispen
sation, the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures belong to this
era. In like manner, we easily perceive, that all that was purely
typical in the institutions of Moses, was exhausted and can
celled when that became actual which it only signified ; and we
perceive as well, that institutions replenished with such types
of better things to come, bear in their own bosom at once the
proof and the cause of their own weakness and decay. Touching
the Mosaic institutions considered as a purely civil polity, my
impression is that men have never adequately conceived either
their nature or their design. Civil institutions higher than the
household, had no existence amongst men, and no revealed au
thority from God, before the flood. The purpose of God to
organize society, and to organize his own kingdom in the world,
both more completely than before — was first made known to
Noah and to Abraham ; and both parts of the purpose in its
earliest development, were exhibited in this theocratical com
monwealth. There are interests of mankind absolutely tem
poral, and there are evils to which man is unavoidably subject in
a state of sin: the former inseparably incident to his mortal exist
ence, the latter to his mortal existence as a sinner. What seems
to me to be taught by the civil institutions of the Jewish people,
and that upon the authority of God himself — is the great princi
ples and truths which underlie the most successful treatment
of all such interests, and all such evils. Human civilization,
human progress, human liberty and security ; property in its
own nature, use, and liability ; rights and duties of the citizen,
whether public, social, or personal ; misdemeanours, crimes, and
punishments; the great problems which connect themselves with
national independence, and with the public force, and general
prosperity ; those vast and intricate questions connected with
trade, money, pauperism, and servitude. These are the topics
to which Moses addressed himself : and while I am obliged to
admit that no competent annotator known to me, has expounded
his wonderful conceptions ; I do not hesitate to assert that what

100 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
he has taught, seems to me to be replenished with divine
wisdom. 8. This Jewish state preceded the existence of all those uni
versal world-powers which the post-diluvian principle of human
society developed. In its career it came in contact with all four
of them, and perished finally under the blows of the last and
greatest of them all — after Messiah had come, and been cruci
fied. Daniel, its great apocaliptic Prophet, in his captivity at
Babylon under the first of them, revealed the career and fate of
them all, and especially of the first three : and John, the great
apocaliptic Prophet of the Christian dispensation, in his captivity
at Patmos under the last of them, took up the sublime vision
where Daniel left it, and made it complete. Nothing is so as
tonishing as the catastrophe of the Jewish state, the Jewish
institutions, and the Jewish people. The Messiah, in whose
name the theocratic commonwealth had been founded and
always administered, to whom every thing tended, and of whom
every thing was full, came at last, only to be rejected and set at
nought. They said, Let his blood be upon us, and upon our chil
dren ! Fearful words — fearfully accomplished ! Their divine
commonwealth utterly subverted — their divine institutions sup
planted by the still more glorious institutions of the Saviour,
whom they caused to be crucified — and themselves, the seed of
Abraham, the children of the covenant, and the chosen people
of God, wanderers for eighteen centuries, the wonder and the op
probrium of mankind. Solemn and true are those words— The
wild dove has her nest, and the fox has his cave ; mankind have
their country ; what has Israel but the grave ?
9. The Word was made flesh, says the Apostle John, and
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,' full of grace and truth.1 This is the
great parable which, from the beginning of time, has been on the
lips of all the redeemed : the Word made flesh — grace and
truth — the glory of the only begotten of the Father ! This is
the significance of the incarnation, the crucifixion, and the as
cension, the second coming of the Lord. This is the meaning
of that great day of Pentecost — this is the sum of our Christian
Bevelation — this explains the Gospel Church throughout its
whole career — this is the intent of this dispensation of the Holy
1 John, i. 14.

CHAP. V.J (ECONOMY OF REDEMPTION. 101
Ghost with power. The glory of the only begotten of the
Father — grace and truth — the Word made flesh ! This is the
cry with which the tribes and kindreds of mankind rise from the
dust and look abroad upon the day, and return to the brightness
of Zion and the glory of her rising. This is the burden of the
hymn of every soldier of the cross, whether it be a hymn of vic
tory, or of martyrdom, on earth — or of hosannah in the highest,
in the realms of light. This, therefore, is our posture this day :
the Gospel Church — the dispensation of the Holy Ghost — the
great parable of the Word made flesh — grace and truth — the
glory of the only begotten of the Father !
10. If it can be thought sufficient, after all that has been
said, to pass over, with a brief general statement, the glorious
epoch of the personal ministry of Christ, and that of the out
pouring of the Holy Ghost, the founding of the Gospel Church,
and its progress until now : it could hardly be excused, in this
connection, and considering how much it may be needful to say
hereafter, to enter particularly upon those great dispensations
which are still future. It is not indeed the particular object of
this Treatise, to trace the career of the Church of God ; but to
exhibit the truth of God, in its simplicity and power, subjec
tively in its effectual working upon and in the soul of man, and
the effects which necessarily result therefrom. To a certain ex
tent, as has been shown, the whole preceding CEconomy of Re
demption is involved in the just appreciation of what is now actual,
and of its effects : to a certain extent, all its future (Economy is
involved in like manner — but is involved more generally, and
more distinctly as a consequence than a cause of our union with
Christ — as results rather than means of salvation. The future
of that great CEconomy, therefore, except as it helps to deter
mine our actual position, falls more naturally for its precise con
sideration, towards the close than towards the commencement
of an inquiry into the Knowledge of God Subjectively consid
ered. For the present it may be sufficient, in addition to the
general statements already made, to say, that what is actual, or
what is past, is not more certain nor more distinct in its great
outline, than is all the future of this vast (Economy. Nor is
that which exists connected with what has gone before more
strictly, than what is to come is connected with both. Nay, it
never can be made as certain, that when we were enemies, we

102 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK I.
were reconciled to God by the death of his Son ; as it is, that
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.1 And so of all
the rest.
11. The Scriptures warn us with great emphasis, that divine
truth constitutes a sublime system, and that it behooves us to
comprehend and respect its divine proportion — not less than to
possess with clearness its separate parts. In like manner, as I
have repeatedly shown, the administration of this system of truth
unto salvation — constitutes a sublime CEconomy, whose divine
proportion is as real and as intelligible as any particular portion
of the stupendous scheme. And in both cases that which is
general and that which is particular, mutually affect each other;
and the two divine systems mutually influence each other ; and
there results from their union a third and more exalted general
ization, which is the highest form of knowledge ; perhaps too
high for us now, but which we perceive to be real, and to con
tain solutions, which are, as yet, beyond our reach. How con
tinually are we obliged to reiterate the outlines of the plan of
salvation, in order that we may feel the highest foroe of each
part of it ? In the same way the parts of this perpetual admin
istration of salvation enter into its whole CEconomy. It is not
merely names, and dates, and epochs, and helps to the memory:
it is the recognition of an unbroken concatenation of God's
working, the appreciation of a stedfast progress of that working
in the development of his eternal counsel, that the words Adamic,
Noacic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, signify when applied to ancient dis
pensations. And the very same thing is intended when we speak
of the personal ministry of Christ — of the dispensation of the
Spirit and the Gospel Church state ; and again the very same
touching the millennial and heavenly states, with all their won
ders, which are still to come. What I urge is this insuperable
concatenation between all the parts of this infinite CEconomy —
this sublime progress of the whole ; the overwhelming grandeur
and efficacy of the Knowledge of God attainable in this manner:
and the intense relation of the whole aspect of divine things,
thus exhibited, to the Covenant of Redemption as it involves, on
one side, the glory of God, and as it reveals and applies, on the
other side, the power of God unto salvation.
' Rom, v. 10.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD,
SUBJECTIVELY. CONSIDERED.

ARGUMENT OF THE SECOND BOOK.
This Second Book is devoted to the exposition of the work of God, the
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, in the personal and direct application of the Know
ledge of God unto the Salvation of individual men. It is the very action and
crisis of the subjective consideration of the saving Knowledge of God. Every
thing that has gone before, not only in the First Book of this Treatise, but in
the whole of the preceding Treatise, is unto the work developed in this Book.
Every thing which can follow is essentially determined by what is settled in
this Book. Errors, even grave errors, heretofore or hereafter, might not be
fatal : but any fatal error here is wholly destructive. For if our souls can but
be saved, the rest is only secondary : but if we miss the way in the actual mat
ter of being saved, the rest is utterly worthless. The reader can desire of me
no better token, than that I take my own soul in one hand, and the light of hfe
in the other — and bid him if he will bear me company, watch earnestly for the
life of his own soul. In the First Chapter of this Book, which is the Sixth of
this Treatise — the endeavour is to point out the exact manner in which we be
come personally interested in the salvation covenanted in Jesus Christ, and indi
vidually reap the benefit thereof, in being actually saved. Passing over much
that is proved in this Chapter, the main thing established is, that a real and spir
itual union is indissolubly established between the human soul and the Person of
the Son of God : that, on our part, this is by means of Faith in the Divine Re
deemer crucified for us — which Faith is the product of the work of God's Spirit
in our soul — -which work of God's Spirit is the result of our personal redemption
by Christ : and that the invariable fruit of this union of the soul with Christ is
our fellowship — communion — with him in Grace and in Glory — by means
whereof we participate in all the blessings and benefits of the Covenant of Re
demption. The Seventh Chapter, which is the Second of this Book, explains
in a general manner the nature and effect of that great and decisive work of
God in man, which is commonly expressed by the terms — Effectual Calling. In
doing this, various incidental questions of the highest importance are discussed ,
such as the Natural Ability of fallen man to what is spiritually good — the nature
of Free Will — the Gospel Call — what is required of man, and what he can do —
the relation of certain states of the unrenewed soul to certain states of the re
newed soul — the relevancy of the work of God and the nature of man to each

104 ARGUMENT OF THE SECOND BOOK.
other; and the hke. The main object being to demonstrate the reality, the na
ture, the manner, and the effects of a gracious, and effectual vocation by God of
the soul of man unto Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost, through the divine Word;
wherein our mind is savingly enlightened, our will is renewed, our conscience is
sanctified, and a new heart is given to us ; the result being our present reconcili
ation to God, and our endless salvation. The Eighth Chapter, being the Third of
this Book, is devoted to the exposition of the scriptural doctrine of man's Regen
eration ; wherein the teaching of Jesus Christ on this subject is carefully consid
ered, and the relation of the doctrine taught by him, to the spiritual system of the
whole Scriptures, and to human experience, is pointed out; and various incidental
questions, such as the state of the soul in Regeneration — the instrumentality of
divine Truth therein, and the applicability of this way of salvation to infants, are
discussed. The chief matters established being — that fallen men must perish un
less they are restored to the image of God : that this restoration is accomplished
by a spiritual and personal renovation of our fallen nature — by the Holy Ghost
through divine Truth, in and.for the sake of Jesus Christ the Mediator of the Cov
enant of Redemption, after the model of God himself: that man incurs this change,
being passive in it, after a peculiar manner: the whole being a most sovereign
and gracious act of God the Creator of man, and Saviour of sinners, the most
remote known reason for which in the case of each individual, is God's free,
special, and eternal love for his elect. In the Ninth Chapter, which is the Fourth
of this Book, the doctrine of Pardon and Acceptance of Sinners is disclosed.
Its position in the Plan of Salvation is settled — its special office is disclosed —
the relations of each Person of the Godhead to the matter are explained — and God
bhown to be most just and righteous in his gracious, complete, and gratuitous jus
tification of regenerate sinners, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ whose right
eousness imputed to us by God, is shown to be the sole meritorious ground of
the act of the Father setting us free : and Faith in Christ crucified, wrought in us
by the Holy Ghost, to be the sole channel and manner of ouf receiving that im
puted righteousness. In the course of the general argument all the main ques
tions of an incidental kind are examined ; and at the close of it, the doctrines
of Covenant, of Headship, and of Imputation, are discussed in their mutual rela
tions, and their fundamental relevancy to Salvation by Grace. The Tenth
Chapter, which is the Fifth of this Book, is employed in setting forth the man
ner in which all regenerate and justified sinners become by Adoption, sons and
heirs of God : the nature, grounds, and effects of that most gracious act of God :
and the relation of the whole matter to us — to the plan of Salvation — to the
Persons of the Godhead — and to the Covenant of Redemption. The analogy
between the treatment of the divine Attributes, and the Graces of the Spirit in
us, is disclosed : the method of explaining our salvation pointed out by the
Apostle Paul in Romans viii., is expounded and applied : our relations to sin, to
the law, to God's providence, and to God himself, are shown to be wholly
changed by reason of his adopting us as his sons : our inheritance of all the
promises of God is exhibited: our heirship of God, and our joint heirship with
Christ — are proved to embrace an indefeasible title, and a present partial posses
sion and enjoyment of the whole work and glory of God as Creator, and as Re
deemer — and of God himself as our crowning inheritance. And the great sub-

ARGUMENT OF THE SECOND BOOK. 105
ject is concluded with some brief statements concerning the principles both gen
eral and personal, and the method both abstract and practical, involved in it,
and settled by it. The Eleventh Chapter, which is the Sixth of this Book, dis
cusses the whole doctrine of Sanctification under four general divisions : in the
first of which the relation of the work of Sanctification to the Plan of Salvation,
and that of this grace to the great graces before explained, is disclosed : in the
second, the nature and characteristics of this crowning grace, and the progress
of it in the human soul, with the general exercises of the soul therein, and par
ticularly with reference to Faith, to Repentance, and to our Love of God — are
traced : in the third, the divinely appointed means of our progressive Sanctifica
tion are pointed out, and the manner of their use and influence explained : and
in the fourth, the power of God in this dying unto sin, and renewing more and
more in entire conformity to Christ, is vindicated — the relation of the Godhead,
and each Person thereof to this work in the souls of the children of God is set
forth — and the special relevancy of the death and resurrection of Christ to the
perfection of the divine life in man, is proved and illustrated : the whole being
an attempt to state and sum up the nature, manner, and extent of that complete
conformity to God, for which all Christians are commanded to strive. In the
Twelfth Chapter, which is the Seventh and last of this Book, the consummation
of our communion with Christ in Grace, and the consummation of our commu
nion with him in Glory in this life are explained, and the crowning benefits of
the Covenant of Redemption bestowed on the children of God in this life, are
set forth in their order, and in their connections. The attempt is made to trace
the hfe of God in the soul of man — wholly through the domain of grace into the
domain of glory; and to demonstrate the nature, reahty, progress, and eternal
results of the whole. In this way the First Fruits of Glory — the Earnest of
the Spirit — the Sense of God's Love — Peace of Conscience — Joy in the Holy
Ghost — Rejoicing in Hope of the Glory of God : also the nature and extent
of the evidence which the soul may obtain and rest on : Spiritual Weakness —
Distrust — Doubt — Indifference — Backsliding — Self-delusion — Perseverance —
Assurance ; together with the relation of death, and the resurrection, to the
saints, and to the final triumph of the Mediatorial Kingdom — are brought suc
cessively under review. In this Book, therefore, Union and Communion with
Christ — Effectual Calling — Regeneration — Justification — Adoption — Sanctifica
tion — and the consummation of Grace in the First Fruits of Glory, are dis
cussed ; and the Knowledge of God Subjectively Considered, is traced in its
divine effects upon and in the human soul, from its first awakening to the con
summation of grace : and the whole progress of the soul itself thus exercised, is
disclosed, according to the measure of the grace given to me. The grand truths
supposed to be established in this Book, stated systematically and in the most
summary manner, are those which follow, namely : — That through the applica
tion of the benefits of the Covenant of Redemption, by the Holy Ghost, to sin
ners redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, they are united by Faith to the
divine Saviour — and being so united to Christ, have Communion with him both
in Grace and in Glory : — That by a work of divine grace, executed by divine
power towards us and in us, which is the result of God's special and eternal
love for us, God draws us by his Word and Spirit, to Jesus Christ his Son our

106 ARGUMENT OF THE SECOND BOOK.
Saviour, thus reconciling unto himself by him, all who are redeemed by the Lord
Jesus Christ : — That by a saving work of God's Spirit in the soul, through the
instrumentality of divine Truth, and for the merits' sake of Jesus Christ, our
fallen and depraved nature is renewed in the image of God, and the elect of
God are thus Born Again : — That by a most gracious act of God, he sets all re
generate sinners free from sin and death, accepts their persons and services as
righteous, and declares their full right to eternal life, solely on account of the
righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and received through Faith alone : —
That all sinners thus regenerated and justified, are by a most gracious act of
God the Father, for the sake and on the designation of Jesus Christ, Adopted as
Sons of God, made heirs of all the promises of God, heirs of God himself, and
joint heirs with Jesus Christ, the Son of God : — That all these Adopted Sons
and heirs of God are, through a constant and increasing Sanctification, fitted for
the use and enjoyment of their boundless inheritance: which occurs through
the virtue of the death and Resurrection of Christ, by the indwelling of the
Word and Spirit of God in their hearts : they being enabled more and more
through Repentance toward God and Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, to
die unto sin, to be renewed in the spirit of their mind, and to live unto right
eousness : — That the children of God saved by Grace, led and taught by the
Word and Spirit of God, besides enjoying all the Benefits of the Covenant of
Redemption, which are bestowed on them through their Communion with Christ
in Grace ; may also enjoy, in this life the First Fruits of Communion with him
in Glory, whereby they possess the earnest of their boundless and eternal in
heritance, in a settled sense of God's love, in peace of conscience, in joy in the
Holy Ghost, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.

CHAPTER VI.
THE APPLICATION OF THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION TO INDI
VIDUAL MEN : UNION AND COMMUNION WITH THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST.
I. !•. Man's Alienation from God, and Perpetual Shortcoming. — 2. Perpetual Neces
sity for Special Divine Grace. — 3. These two Facts Combined and Applied : the
Result, — 4. Special, Determinate, Effectual Salvation. — II. 1. Prerogatives of the
Regenerate : Apostles' Creed : — (a) Communion of Saints : — (b) Forgiveness of
Sins: — (c) Resurrection of the Body: — (d) Life Everlasting. — 2. Divine Sum
mary concerning these Prerogatives : — (a) "We are in Christ, and he is made mto
us Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption: — (i) This is o/God,
and by God: — (c) Thus we are Divinely United to Christ, and have Communion
with him : — (d) We are Specially Called and Chosen of God hereunto : — (e) And
that in Special Contemplation of our own Vileness ; — (/) And to put an End to
all Glorying, except in him. — III. 1. Immediate Effect of the Application to us
of the Benefits of Redemption in our Union and Communion with Christ. — 2. The
Mystical Body thus created. — 3. Matters involved in our Union with Christ : — (a)
God gives Christ to us, to be our Saviour : — (6) He gives us to Christ, to be his
People: — (c) Christ's Consent to this Union: — (d) Our Consent thereto: — (e) Un
avoidable Certainty of the Result of this Union. — i. The Spiritual Means whereby
this Mystical Union is effected : — (a) On the part of Christ, it is his own Spirit —
the Holy Ghost : — (V) On our part, Saving Faith in the Divine Redeemer oruci-
fied for us: — (c) Infinite Efficacy of these Means. — IV. 1. Fellowship with Christ
— 2. Fruits of our Communion with him. — 3. Communion with him in Grace. —
4. Communion with him in Glory. — 5. Clearness and Certainty of the Results
reached.
I. — 1. In considering the results of God's dealings with the
human race, nothing is more obvious than the utter shortcoming
of man in every condition in which he has been placed. The
original fall of man under the Covenant of Works ; the apos-
tacy of the race under the first dispensation of the Covenant of
Grace, and its almost total destruction by the flood ; the new
and nearly complete rejection of God by the whole race during
the Noacic dispensation, and the fearful acquiescence in that
result manifested by God in the call of Abraham ; the entire
condition of the race thus rejecting God, as exhibited to us
during the whole period covered by the Abrahamic and Mosaic

108 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
dispensations ; the whole career of the Old Testament Church
itself, terminating with the rejection and crucifixion of the Son
of God ; and now under the Gospel Church for eighteen centu
ries, the deplorable persecutions that Church has endured, the
unspeakable evils of which its own corruptions and apostacies
have been the cause, and the ceaseless triumph of every form of
wickedness, in one immense portion after another of the whole
race, through all these centuries ! What are all these but over
whelming exhibitions of the utter shortcoming of man — the
whole constituting one boundless proof of his alienation from
God ?
2. It has been equally manifest throughout the whole career
of the human race, and throughout all God's dealings with it,
that there has been a perpetual necessity on the part of God, to
supplement the ordinary divine helps bestowed by him on man,
with special divine aids, in order to secure to man the complete
enjoyment of whatever mercies were given to him, or to obtain
from him the complete discharge of whatever duties were re
quired of him. The more perfectly we understand the condition
of all things under the Covenant of Works, the more wonderful
it is that man fell ; and in like degree the more clear it is that
it was the lack of special divine help — grace — which it was im
possible for God to give consistently with the nature of the trial
through which man was passing, which made that trial fatal. And
the very conception of the Covenant of Grace, and its promulgation
after the Fall of man ; and all the successive dispensations of it
from Adam to Christ; and the advent and whole work of Christ;
and the outpouring and whole work of the Holy Ghost, ; and all
the dealings of God with men under the New Testament Church:
all constitute one unbroken series of the most illustrious proofs
that special divine aid — grace — is the one grand and unalterable
condition of duty completely discharged, and of mercy completely
enjoyed. And if any thing could make the shortcoming of man
more distinct, and the need of special grace more conspicuous ;
it would be the fact that this being, so impotent to the true and
the good, is distinguished most of all by his ineffaceable convic
tion of the reality of truth and goodness ; that this being, so
averse to God, the only object of all true religion, has no impulse
in his nature so deep and so stedfast as his religious impulse,
3. That all men do not participate of the blessings revealed

CHAP. VI.J UNION AND COMMUNION WITH CHRIST. 109
in Christ, and embrace the conditions of that eternal life which
is brought to light through him ; is therefore no more than a
new illustration of the whole career of a race, whose evil deeds
show that they love what God calls darkness more than what
God calls light.1 That any of them heartily embrace that mercy
and completely attain that life ; proves, on the other hand, that
special divine aid — grace — has been given to them by God. And
that God reveals and applies his merey, not to reprobate vessels
of wrath fitted for destruction, but to the objects of his free and
special love, making them possessors of the unsearchable riches
of his grace ;2 is but the continued manifestation of his entire
mode of dealing with man. However we may cavil at this,
which is but a way of showing our terrible alienation from God;
or however we may justly stand in awe as we behold it : we
ought to be fully aware that but for this special grace of God,
it is infinitely certain that not a single sinner ever would be
saved. At any rate, we cannot deny the reality of this divine
way of dealing through special grace, without at the same time
rejecting the Scriptures as the word of God, discrediting the whole
course of divine providence, refusing all credence to the total
history of our race, denying the moral government of God which
is administered before our face, disbelieving the testimony of
every renewed soul, and silencing alike the voice of conscience
and the voice of God's Spirit within us. He who can do all this,
will have for his pains only this, that he is a living proof of the
truth which he denies ; for if grace were not special, he might
not have been what he is.
4. The Word was made flesh : they that believe on his name
become the sons of God : for they are born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.3 They
are born again, born from above, born of the Spirit.4 For the
sons of God are as many as are led by the Spirit of God.6 By
his own blood Christ has obtained eternal redemption for us.6
And all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him are
amen unto the glory of God by us.7 God according to his
mercy saves us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of
the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Saviour ; that being justified by his grace, we should
> John, iii. 19. 2 Rom., ix. 22, 23; 1 Cor., ii. 8-16. 3 John, i. 12, 13.
i John, iii. 3-7. e R0m., viii. 14. « Heb., ix. 12. 7 2 Cor., i. 20.

110 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.1 All that
the Father giveth me, saith Christ, shall come to me ; and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And this is the
Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at
the last day.2 Such statements as these — and the number of
them throughout the Scriptures is past computation — cover the
case in all its possible bearings, and hardly admit of being wrested
out of their clear sense. Touching the present matter, their
simple and naked declaration is, that the elect of God, being
redeemed by the blood of Christ, are made partakers of all the
benefits of that redemption, by the Holy Ghost. Every thing is
special, every thing is determinate, every thing is effectual. Nor
is it possible for us to conceive how it could be otherwise, viewed
from the divine side of such questions : nor viewed from the hu
man side of them, how it could be possible for any sinner to be
saved, if it were otherwise. If we could prove that God does
not choose us — what we would gain would be our infallible per
dition. If we admit that he does choose us, then he must have
changed his mind concerning us, or his purpose to choose us must
be eternal. But he tells us plainly not only that his choosing us
— our election by him — is of grace, and according to his own pur
pose ; but that our salvation and the holy calling which fits us
for it, are not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose'and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began.*
II. — 1. The earliest, the most comprehensive, and the most
universally accepted of all the summaries of faith which have
existed among Christians — that which is commonly called the
Apostles' Creed — has recapitulated the chief prerogatives of
which the elect of God, by the specific application to them of
the benefits of redemption by the blood of Christ, are made par
takers through the Holy Ghost.3 That ancient symbol states
first the faith of all Christians concerning God the Father, sec
ondly concerning the Son ; thirdly concerning the Holy Ghost ;
and fourthly concerning the Church. In this last division the
great prerogatives of believers are stated under four heads, thus :
1 Titus, iii. 4-7. * John, vi. 37, 39.
* Kcit" iaXoyrjv x^PLT0S- Rom., xi. 5. — Kar' kn\oyfiv Trpodeoic- Rom., ix. 11. — Eor"
ISiav irpodeaiv Kal X"-?lv T^tv Sodeiaav jjfttv iv Xpiaru 'I-qaov irpb xpovuv aiuviov. 2
Tim., i. 9. 3 John, i. 12, 13.

CHAP. VI.] UNION AND COMMUNION WITH CHRIST. Ill
(a) The Communion of Saints. For we are no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the gaints, and of the
household of God ; and are built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cor
ner stone.1 And we are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innu
merable company of angels, to the general assembly and church
of the first born, which 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 of
sprinkling, that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel.*
(b) The Forgiveness of Sins. For there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death.3 Moreover, as God not only foreknows and predestina'tes
his children, but also justifies and glorifies them, who can gainsay
these things ? If God be for us, who can be against us ? If
God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how
shall he not with him also freely give us all things ? Who shall
lay any thing to the charge of God's elect, when God himself
justifies them ?4
(c) The Besurrection of the Body. For the declaration of
Christ is express that the hour is coming in the which all that
are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and
shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto the resurrec
tion of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection
of damnation.5 For the Lord Jesus Christ, if he be our Saviour,
will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his
glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even
to subdue all things to himself.6 Children of the first Adam who
was made a living soul, and was of the earth, earthy, we have
borne the image of the earthy : children of the second Adam,
who was a quickening spirit, and the Lord from heaven, we shall
also bear the image of the heavenly : and thus we shall possess
the kingdom which flesh and blood cannot inherit — and wherein
death is swallowed up in victory.7
(d) Life Everlasting. For God will give eternal life to them
1 Eph., ii. 19, 20. * Heb., xii. 22-24. 3Rom., viii. 1, 2. « Rom., viii. 29-33.
5 John, v. 28, 29. " PhiL, iii 20, 21. 7 1 Cor., xv. 45-54.

112 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and
honour and immortality.1 And though sin hath reigned unto
death, even so shall grace reign through righteousness unto eter
nal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.2 For while the wages of sin
is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord.3 Yea, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us
again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for those who are kept by the
mighty power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time.''
2. A summary, still more thorough and complete, of the
benefits secured to us in the Covenant of Bedemption, together
with the ground of their bestowal on us, and the manner in
which they are effectually applied to us, is furnished in a single
sentence given by inspiration of God. But of him — namely,
God — are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us Wis
dom, and Bighteousness, and Sanctification, and Bedemption.5
That is to say :
(a) We bear to Christ Jesus such a relation as God expresses
by saying, We are in him : and Christ Jesus bears such a rela
tion to us as God expresses by saying that he is made unto us
Wisdom, Bighteousness, Sanctification, and Bedemption.
(b) In both respects this relation between us and Christ
Jesus has occurred in such a manner, as God expresses by say
ing that we are in him of God, and that he is made unto us
by God. (c) We being so in Christ Jesus of God, as to possess by
him, and to partake through and in him of Wisdom, Bighteous
ness, Sanctification, and Bedemption ; and Christ Jesus being
so made by God unto us, Wisdom, Bighteousness, Sanctification,
and Bedemption ; we are actually united to Christ Jesus, and
that by a divine work ; and actually have communion with him
in grace and in glory.
(d) To this, let it be added as distinctly taught in immediate
connection with the summary we are considering, and as exple
tive of it, that we were called of God unto this fellowship of his
1 Rom., ii. 7. ' Rom., v. 21. 3 Rom., vi. 23.
t 1 Peter, i. 3-5. s i rjor., L 30.

CHAP. VI.] UNION AND COMMUNION WITH CHRIST. 113
Son Jesus Christ our Lord -,1 that to those thus called of God,
Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom :2 that the
grace of God which is given them by Jesus Christ, enriches them
in every thing :s and that waiting for the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, he will confirm them unto the end, that they may
be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ/
(e) That God, in this whole procedure of his grace, chose and
called his saints in contemplation of their being foolish things of
the world, chosen to confound the wise : weak things of the
world, chosen to confound the mighty; base things of the world,
and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to nought things which are.5
(/) And, finally, we are plainly told, that it was in the wis
dom of God that the world by wisdom knew not God, and that
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe:' that this very preaching of the cross which is the power
of God to them which are saved, is to them that perish foolish
ness :7 and that the whole procedure of God in the choosing,
calling, and saving his saints, was precisely and eternally de
signed to stop all flesh from glorying in his presence, and to
cause that all that gloried should glory in the Lord :8 every thing
being the result of that favour which God shows towards us, and
of those gifts which he bestows upon us, which are the two chief
senses of the phrase, The Grace of God.
III. — 1. The immediate effect upon us of the application te
us of the benefits secured for us by the Covenant of Bedemption,
and of the bestowment upon us of the first fruits thereof ; is, as
has been already intimated, our Union and Communion with the
Mediator of that Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what
immediately results from that, is our Communion with all saints
— which is the first benefit stated in the Apostles' Creed ; the
truth of which I have before shown, and the full exposition of
which will occupy us hereafter. United to our covenant Head by
faith, our persons are beloved, and our services are accepted in
him, and we receive all grace and all good from him." And
united to all saints by love, we have a participation in all that
distinguishes them and us. as partakers of one common sal
vation. 1 1 Cor., i. 8. • 1 Cor., i. 24. 3 1 Cor., i. 4. 4 1 Cor., i. 7, 8.
6 1 Cor., i. 27, 28. « i Cot^ i. 21. 7 1 Cor., i. 18. a 1 Cor., i. 29-31.
9 John, i. 16, 17 ; Eph., ii. 4-13.
VOL. II. 8

114 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
2. In the contemplation of God, as I have shown fully in a
previous chapter, the Covenant of Bedemption in its most funda
mental sense, had relation to the elect of God ; and each person
of the Godhead stood related therein to the special work he would
perform — the special part he would take in their salvation. This
is so emphatic concerning the Son, who, besides being a party to
that covenant, became the Mediator of it between God and men;
that all the redeemed became parties in interest to it as repre
sented by him, who as their covenant head engaged for their re
demption and received them as his : and they became actually
his in their regeneration in a personal covenant with him. That
body of which Christ is the head is mystical, that is it is both
real and spiritual, and is made up of elect sinners, redeemed
by him, and all united to him by faith, and to each other by
love ; as I have before said. Innumerable statements of the
Scriptures relate to this universal and invisible Church of Christ,
and to his relation to it as Lord, and Buler, and Bedeemer, and
Head, and Husband, and all in all : and one whole Book (Can
ticles) is devoted to the elucidation, by means of the most sacred
and intimate of all human relations, of the ties between the Sa
viour and his elect Bride. The union of this whole body, and
of every member of it, with the person of Christ, is a mystical
union, that is a real and spiritual one ; and the manner of its oc
currence is also mystical, but yet real and spiritual ; so that the
body itself, and its union with Christ, and the manner in which
that union is effected, are all of one and the same nature. There
is nothing metaphorical in the case, much less any thing imagi
nary: neither is there any thing physical or corporal. But never
theless it is real, regard being had to the things united: for while
the Apostle admits it to be a great mystery, he asserts the fact
that our nature, soul, and body, are united to the soul and body
of Christ, for we are declared to be members of his body, of his
flesh, and of his bones :1 nay, in a certain sense, the church is the
very body of Christ, and each saint a particular member of that
body :2 and they are all made partakers of the divine nature.3
When we have regard, on the other hand, to the means whereby
the mystery of this union is wrought, they are ail spiritual means,
and will be pointed out directly. And so the union between
Christ and the believer, which immediately results from the ap-
i Eph., v. 29-32. 2 1 Cor., xii. 27. 3 2 Peter, i. 4.

CHAP.VI.] UNION AND COMMUNION WITH CHRIST. 115
plication to us of the benefits of Bedemption, is a union at
once real and spiritual ; and is, therefore, properly called
mystical. 3. This union with Christ involves immediate and boundless
results ; and that so fundamentally, that we oannot conceive
properly of its occurrence, without conceiving of those matters
thus indispensably connected with it. For example,
(a) In this act, God gives Christ to us to be our Saviour ;
thus accomplishing the very purpose of his free and special love.
For, said Christ, God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.1 And so Christ said again, I have man
ifested thy name to the men which thou gavest me out of the
world : thine they were, and thou gavest them me ; and they
have kept thy word.2
(b) In this act, also, God gives us to Christ, to be his peo
ple, and to be saved by him ; thus accomplishing the most fun
damental stipulation of the Covenant of Grace, and the unal
terable purpose of God to have a seed to serve him. For it is
written, that both he that sanctifieth and they who are sancti
fied are all of one : for which cause he is not ashamed to call
them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my breth
ren. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath
given me.3 And Christ has explicitly told us, that he is entirely
and exclusively the Master of all who are united to him.1
(c) It was in contemplation of this very union between Christ
and all believers that the method of the grace of God by way
of the Incarnation of the Son, became the way of salvation for
fallen men : and in full view thereof, that the Son covenanted to
redeem us, and to receive us as his, thus united to him. For in
all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren.5
And forasmuch as the children which God had given him, are
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part
of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is the devil ; and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.'
And so he consented to become Immanuel, which is, God with
us, and to be called Jesus, which is, Saviour.7
1 John, iii. 16. * John, xvii. 6. 3 Heb., i. 11-13. * Matt, xxiii. 8-10.
5 Heb., i 17. " Heb., ii. 14, 15. ' Isa., vii. 14; Matt., i. 21-23.

116 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. LB00K n-
(d) Our consent to this union with Christ, is the very foun
dation of our taking him to be our Lord — the very essence of our
professing his name — the very expression of our taking his yoke
upon us— the very proof of our divine call. For, said Christ, no
man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my
Father.1 And the burden of the song of the Bride is, I am my
beloved's, and my beloved is mine.2 And his children express
their delight in him by saying, I am the Lord's ; and by calling
themselves after his name.3 And the rest they find unto their
souls, is by taking his yoke upon them, and learning of him.4
(e) It may be readily conceded — and is theoretically unques
tionable, that even after all this, the sinner if left to himself
would certainly apostatize from Christ, and perish : the grounds
of which statement being numerous, and chiefly very obvious,
need not be recapitulated here, out of their place — farther than
to note the general fact, that however far the restoration of fallen
man may proceed in this life, it is not perfected here. But we
are to bear in mind that the union with Christ is an inseparable
union ; that the act of God giving Christ to us, and the act giv
ing us to Christ, are irrevocable, covenant acts ; that Christ has
actually performed his part of the covenant, and the Father, and
the Holy Ghost, have commenced the performance of theirs, and
gone a great length therein — all which has been proved : and
then, it appears to me, that the whole grounds of the theoretical
possibility, much less certainty of the perdition of a soul once
united to Christ, vanish at once. Now let us add, point by point,
that the love of God is everlasting, and the love of Christ un
changeable :5 that the Covenant of Bedemption is an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure :" that Christ's interces
sion for his people is continual and effectual :7 that the divine
seed and Spirit of God abide in every one that is born of God :8
that they have the explicit promise that they shall not depart
from him, and the distinct assurance of Christ that they shall
never perish :" and finally that there is an inheritance, incorrupt
ible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
those whom God hath begotten again unto a lively hope, by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto which they are
1 John, vi. 65. 2 Song of Sol., ii. 16 ; vi. 3 ; vii. 10. 3 Isa-., xliv. 5.
4 Matt., xi. 20. 5 Jer., xxxi. 3 ; John, xiii. 1.
" Heb., xiii. 20, 21 ; Isa., liv. 10. 7 Heb., vii. 25.
9 1 John, iii. 9— if 27. s Jer., xxxii. 40 ; John, x. 28.

CHAP. VI.] UNION AND COMMUNION WITH CHRIST. 117
kept by the mighty power through faith unto salvation, ready to
be revealed in the last time.1 If any one of these numerous and
conclusive truths is worthy of human acceptation, then there
can be no doubt as to the destiny of those whom the Apostle
Feter characterizes as elect according to the foreknowledge of
God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obe
dience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.2 But seeing
that every one of these truths is distinctly revealed by God, and
that their reiteration is incessant throughout the Scriptures ; I
can no more conceive how we are to discredit the sublime result
which they all establish, than I can conceive how man could ob
tain any advantage, or God gain any glory, by discrediting that
result. Why should not God save his elect ?
4. I have already said that all the means whereby our union
with Christ is wrought, are spiritual means : and I had before
shown that the union itself was the immediate result of the ap
plication to us of the benefits secured to us by the Covenant of
Bedemption : from whence it follows, as has already been shown
in another way, that the benefits of the Covenant of Bedemption
are applied to us by spiritual means. Froceeding now to point
out those means, it is striking to observe how, in the very nature
of the case, as well as in the very nature of man, there lies an
absolute impossibility of the truth of the doctrine of sacramental
grace, ex opere operato, upon which every system of will-worship,
and formalism, from the highest Bomanism downward, funda
mentally rests.
(a) The spiritual means whereby the benefits of the Covenant
of Bedemption are applied to us, and from whose application to
us, the effect is our union with Christ ; may be contemplated in
a twofold aspect. On the part of Christ, it is his Spirit which
makes the oracles, the ordinances, and the ministry which God
has established, effectual in gathering and perfecting his saints.3
This is the especial work of the Holy Ghost.4 And this union of
the believer with Christ is the work of God's special grace, by
the Holy Ghost, wrought in our effectual calling.5 It is by the
Spirit given to us, and abiding in us, that we dwell in Christ,
and Christ in us." If the Spirit of God dwell in us, we are not
in the flesh, but in the Spirit : but if any man have not the
1 1 Pet. i. 1-5. » 1 Pet, i. 2. 3 Eph, iv. 11-13 ; Isa., lix. 21.
4 Titus, iii. 5, 6. « Eph., i. 18-20 ; ii. 6-8 ; 1 Cor., vi. 17. « 1 John, iii. 24— iv. 13,

118 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.1 This Spirit is bestowed on
every believer, and resides and powerfully works in all of them,
shedding abroad the love of God in their hearts.2 It is in Christ,
that he is the Spirit of life unto them :3 and it is by him that
they are inseparably united to Christ."
(6) On our part, the sole means of union with Christ, is
Faith in him : for by grace are we saved through faith : and that
not of ourselves ; it is the gift of God.6 It is at once the first
saving effect, and the most general instrument within the soul,
of the Spirit of Christ disposing and enabling us to embrace him
and cleave to him.8 It is by faith in Christ, that we receive from
God through Christ, every covenant blessing and benefit :7 and
it is by faith in Christ, that we render back to God through
Christ, all holy and thankful obedience.8
(c) Well may we say, therefore, that Faith is a saving grace
whereby we receive and rest upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation,
as he is offered to us in the Gospel. Nor does it seem to be pos
sible for a candid mind to avoid perceiving, that by such means
as these, supposing them to be real, a perfectly simple, spiritual,
and efficacious way is pointed out to us by God, whereby a mys
tical and inseparable union is established between the person of
Christ and the soul of the believer. Nor to avoid seeing that
this is accomplished by the Holy Ghost applying to the soul of
the believer, the benefits secured to him by the Covenant of Be
demption. It remains to point out, very briefly, the nature and
effects of that communion with Christ, which results from our
union with him.
IV. — 1. The infinite goodness of God's nature, is the farthest
point to which we can penetrate in such enquiries as these. One
form in which divine goodness finds expression, is in the free and
eternal Love of God ; and that Love is made effectual, towards
its objects, in the special and efficacious grace of God. That
grace expresses itself in the whole work of the Mediator of the
Covenant of Bedemption : and it expresses itself again in the
whole work of the Holy Ghost, founded upon that whole work
of the Saviour. The general manner of this work of the Spirit
is to apply to the objects of God's Love, the benefits of Christ's
; Rom., viii. 9. 2 1 Cor., iii. 16 ; Rom., v. 5.
5 Rom., viii. 2. 4 1 Cor., xii. 13 ; Eph., ii. 18-20; iv. 4.
6 Eph., ii. 8. 6 2 Cor., iv. 13 ; Gal., v. 5 ; Eph., iii 16-21,
' Rom., v. L, 2. 8 Col., ii. 7 ; Gal., v. 0.

CHAP.VI.J UNION AND COMMUNION WITH CHRIST. 119
Bedemption ; the effect of that is our union and communion
with Christ ; and the effect of our union with Christ, and the
manner of its production, have just been explicated in a general
way. Thus united to Christ, through his Spirit, by a living
Faith, as new creatures, we have that Fellowship with him, of
which the Scriptures speak so decisively, and to which they con
stantly allude. It is God who is infinitely faithful, by whom we
are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.1
It is declared to be that fellowship of the mystery, which from
the beginning of the world hath been hid in God ; but which it
is one special object of preaching among the Gentiles the un
searchable riches of Christ, to make all men see ; to the intent
that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places
might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, ac
cording to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord.2 And so it is set before us as the fellowship of the
Spirit ;a the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ ;4 the fellow
ship of the saints with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."
2. This divine fellowship, therefore, is that communion with
Christ, whereby we participate with him in all the benefits
flowing from the execution of all his offices of Prophet, Priest,
and King, as Mediator of the Covenant of Grace. Being one
with him, we are invested with the right to all that is his ; are
put in partial possession of it in this life — and will receive the
full fruition of it in a higher state of existence." The Lord Christ
being made unto us of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption ; we are so in him that we participate of his
wisdom, his righteousness, his sanctification, and his redemption.'
So that we can assert no less, than that we have communion with
Christ in Grace, and in Glory.8
3. United to Christ in our Effectual Calling, and therein
born again of the Spirit and from above ; our communion with
Christ in Grace, therefore, is the participation with him in all
the benefits of his Bedemption, which specially appertain to this
life. The chief of these, besides our Effectual Calling, and our
Begeneration, just alluded to, are our Justification, Adoption,
and Sanctification ; together with all the benefits which, in this
1 1 Cor., i. 9. 2 Eph., iii. 8-11. 3 Phil., ii 1.
4 Phil, iii 10. 5 1 John, i 3. ° Col, ii 10 ; Rev., ii 28.
7 1 Cor., i 30. s jonn| xvii. 21-24.

120 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
life, accompany or flow from them ; the whole of which have a
peculiar relation to saving Faith and Bepentance unto life, as I
have explained in part in another place, and will explain further
hereafter. 4. But there is also communion with Christ in Glory, as well
as in Grace. In this life they who are united to Christ may
participate with him in the first fruits of his glory. At the sep
aration of their souls from their sinful bodies, at dearth, they
will have complete participation in glory with Christ. At the
Besurrection and final Judgment, their reunited souls and bodies
will advance in an inscrutable participation in glory with Christ.
And, it may be permitted to add, somewhat further above all
comprehension now, is intimated as their final portion and estate,
when the Mediatorial Kingdom, in its perfect glory, shall be
delivered to the Father on the Lamb's Book of Life.
5. It is to the particular matters which have now been stated
very generally in their great relations to each other, to Christ,
and to us ; that our attention is to be directed in a special man
ner. What we ought to desire above all, is to understand with
perfect clearness this mighty working of God within us ; to re
alize in our own souls every step of this progress as it is devel
oped, from our utter impotence in sin and misery, through divine
grace, to glory beyond utterance. At every step, every error is
capable of immediate detection ; for I appeal exclusively to the
word of God, and confess my ignorance as soon as that is silent.
It is to the conscious experience of each particular soul, that I
continually address myself, from the depths of a soul that has
passed along all the way it attempts to disclose ; except that it
perceives there is a height it has not reached, and sighs for the
sublime fruition of it. There are millions which cannot be num
bered, who have found victory and peace, through union and
communion with the Saviour of sinners. No one ever found vic
tory or peace by rejecting him. How that mystical union and
communion are to be established between that Saviour and our
souls, is more distinctly explained to us by God, than any truth
relatively a thousandth part as important to any other science,
ever was explained. And the power through which we realize
these things, even the power of God, does not admit of being re
duced to a comparison with all other powers combined. How
then are we to account for its apparent inefficacy ? Therein lies

CHAP. VI.] UNION AND COMMUNION WITH CHRIST. 121
one of those overwhelming demonstrations, which are so deeply
imbedded in the very structure of the Gospel. The very first
articulate utterance of salvation was coupled with the dreadful
sentence — I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed : and
the very last closed with the not less dreadful sentence — God
shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the
Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book.1
The shortcoming of man and the special grace of God united —
mean life : severed — the result is death. We forget that we are
condemned already — and that the whole question is, of the pos
sibility of deliverance, while we await the final sentence.
1 Gen., iii 15 ; Rev., xxii. 19.

CHAPTER VII.
EFFECTUAL CALLING: WITH THE MANNER OF ITS OCCURRENCE.
I. 1. Effectual Calling: its Significance, and Relations. — 2. Nature of the Difficulties
which embarrass its Treatment. — 3. Our Natural Ability to Good : wholly nuga
tory for Salvation. — i. Free Will : its Nature and Limitation in all Beings. — 5.
The Free WiU of Adam, before his Fall : of all men since the Fall : utterly impo
tent to our Recovery. — II. 1. The Gospel Call, and its Result, with Natural Ability
and Free WiU to help. — 2. The Work of the Divine Spirit, in our Effectual Cahing.
- — 3. Its Recognition, in its Divine Work, of Man's actual Condition: Terms of the
Problem.- — 4. Detailed Statement: — (a) A Work of Infinite Grace and Almighty
Power : — (6) Caused by God's free and special Love : — (c) Relation of the Father and
the Son, to the Method of our Effectual Calling: — (d) Agency of the Holy Ghost:
— (e) Means used by him: — (/) Effects upon our Understanding: — (g) Upon our
WiU : — (h) Upon our Heart : — (i) Upon our Conscience : — (j) Result upon our pres
ent, and endless State : — (k) Effectual Calling thus considered. — III. 1. A second
Analysis from the point of view thus reached. — 2. Demonstration that the Root
and Substance of our Effectual Calling are Divine and Gracious. — 3. Detailed
Statement of what is required of us. — 4. Relations of Natural and Regenerate
States of the Soul to each other: Obligations resulting therefrom. — 5. Inefficacy
of our Endeavours : Detail of the Spirit's Work within us. — 6. Efficacy of this
Divine Work — without Violence to our Nature.
I. — 1. Man, in the state in which he was created, a personal
spirit in the image of God, bore the divine likeness both in that
the faculties of the soul were shadows of divine attributes, and
in that the tendencies of his soul were towards all that God ap
proved. The one God manifests himself to us in as many as
pects and ways as our limited nature can comprehend ; and we
express our sense of God himself considered in these ways and
aspects, by ascribing such and such Attributes to him ; as, in
tellect, will, power, and the like. And to aid our weakness still
further, we put into classes such of these Attributes as appear
to us to be analogous to each other, or to be founded on some
clear distinction ; as Primary, Essential, and the like. In like
manner, if we would consider this finite image of God, our own
spirit, in its absolute oneness and simplicity; and consider all its
faculties as only so many manifestations of its own essence ; and

CHAP. VII.] EFFECTUAL CALLING. 123
then classify those faculties according to the analogies and dis
tinctions which we observe amongst them : we would have the
word of God on one side, and our own consciousness on the other,
and the divine nature before our face, in building up to perfec
tion the true science of our own being. At the first step we ob
serve how such a being must perceive in God the sum of all truth
and all goodness, and must cleave to him with all the fervour of
its pure nature. At the next step we perceive the peril of such
a being from the fallibility which is inherent in its very nature as
created — as dependent, and as finite. And at the third step we
perceive, that having fallen, its posture with reference to God is
wholly changed ; and that in proportion as it has, by that fall,
lost the image of God, so will it cease to cleave unto God, or be
come indifferent to God, or become wholly averse to God. And
at the fourth step we perceive that the divine restoration, through
grace, of this fallen creature now wholly averse to God, must
needs be the result, not of its spontaneous endeavours after God,
but of God's supernatural working upon it. It is this wonderful
working whereby men are called from a state of sin to a gracious
and glorious communion with God, which I intend by the phrase,
Effectual Calling. For above all other distinctions in the human
race, the most effectual one is that which separates it into those
who love God, and those who do not : and of the former we are
plainly told that all things work together for their good. And
then it is added, that their love for God is the result of their
having been called according to his purpose ; a calling directly
connected, on one hand, with their predestination to be con
formed to the image of his Son, and, on the other hand, with
their own justification and glorification. Besults — like all others
involved in divine grace — which flow from the utter impossibility
of separating the elect of God, from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.1
2. If every member of the human family was to be restored
to God and saved, the treatment of a question of this sort would
be extremely brief and simple ; if indeed, in that case, all treat
ment of it was not useless. Or if those who will be saved and
those who will be lost, were totally separated from each other
here on earth, or were capable of being unmistakeably distin
guished from each other while all are living together in sin; such
i Rom., viii 28-39.

124 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
an aspect might easily be given to the subject, as would silence
the ordinary cavils of impenitent men. Whatever real difficul
ties embarrass the subject, arise not from the nature of this, or
any other special truth; but from the absolute nature of the case,
in applying the saving grace of God to the mixed and proba
tionary condition of fallen men, in such a manner as to prevent
that grace from being absolutely fruitless on one side, and from
seeming to our weak faculties to be merely capricious on the
other. And these difficulties are augmented by our proneness to
treat with tenderness, if not with a kind of reverence, cavils
which we accept as honest doubts of sincere enquirers, for whose
satisfaction we would allay the mystery of godliness ; while God
in his blessed word constantly repels them as mere refuges of lies,
fatal to the souls of men, and insulting to the majesty of God.
God never permits us to forget that the real posture of the ques
tion is such, that nothing but sovereign and special grace can do
us any good. Nay, if we were to judge of ourselves merely by
the manner in which we have treated this very aspect of it,
namely, God's calls to us to repent and believe the Gospel ; we
could say no less than that we must be lost, without some most
effectual interposition of God. And this is merely admitting
that to be true of our own soul, which the Scriptures teach us is
true of every soul ; a truth without which no soul can be saved
at all. It is the efficacy of that truth which I desire to ex
hibit now.
3. We possess, even in our fallen state, ability to perceive
and to conform to those natural and temporal obligations, which
we owe as natural and moral creatures to ourselves and others :*
and the right discharge of duties of that description, draws after
it the greatest natural and temporal blessings — as the right un
derstanding of them involves some of the most important parts
of human knowledge. I have constantly asserted the enduring
force of that natural morality which appertains to our very nature
as moral beings, until we are finally sentenced and shut up in
hell ; and to the irrevocable permanence of all those great prin
ciples and truths, which belonged to our primeval condition as
really as our very essence did. It is the culture, the love, and
the practice of these things, which are the chief ornament and
glory of man considered merely as a creature of God : and the
1 Rom., ii. 13-15.

CHAP. VII.] EFFECTUAL CALLING. 125
height to which he can still rise thereby, is the noblest monument
and proof of the sublime estate he once enjoyed. But the mo
ment we pass out of natural and temporal things — the moment
we enter the domain of unseen, spiritual, and eternal things —
then such knowledge as nature and reason afford us as the
ground of religious duty', is wholly insufficient ; and all the re
sources of nature and reason are wholly nugatory. We have
passed into a region above our strength as depraved creatures :
we are seeking, as sinners, to know and to do, what was once
possible to us as creatures in a higher estate — but never was pos
sible to us as sinful creatures in any estate at all. If we never
come to the knowlege of the Saviour of sinners and the obliga
tions of Bevealed Beligion, we never come to the bare possibility
of being saved : because as mere creatures there is no longer a
conceivable way of being saved, for us ; and the only way possi
ble for us as sinful creatures, is unknown to us. And a step far
ther, after we have come to the mere knowledge of the Saviour, and
of the obligations of BevealedBeligion, and the conditions of salva
tion for us as sinners; we find at every endeavour that something
far beyond this is needful; for our carnal mind is not only enmity
against God, but it is not subject to his law, neither indeed can be.1
These are not conjectures: they are ultimate truths. We speak of
a divine and effectual call to salvation ; and we begin by render
ing salvation impossible without the revealed knowledge of Jesus
Christ : and impossible with that knowledge, merely of itself.
Ultimate truths, I repeat : asserted ten thousand times in the
word of God, attested by the universal experience of the human
race, and perfectly explicable at the bar of reason and con
science. 4. In such a case as this, it is idle to talk about free will.
The free will of the fallen angels did not keep them in heaven ;
nor has it ever brought one of them out of hell. The free will
of Adam did not prevent him from losing his estate of perfec
tion — nor has a single one of his countless descendants gained a
solitary point towards the recovery of that estate, by means of
his free will. Nor is there a being in the universe who — if he
knew what was meant — would believe a devil or a sinner, if he
should say he had changed his nature by an act of his will ; any
more than he would believe an Ethiopian who should say he had
1 Rom., viii 7.

126 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
made himself white by an act of his will. Now if any one sees
fit to assert that if this be so, moral freedom is at an end, and
sin and holiness, and reward and punishment are idle words ;
which in effect is continually asserted ; the answer is precise and
decisive. First, as to the fact — the cavil is merely absurd. For
every human being has in his own consciousness, the proof and
conviction of both facts which are alleged to be contradictory,
namely, his moral freedom and his moral impotence : and the
universe is full of one overwhelming demonstration, that its moral
ruler is the author of both these convictions and facts in the soul
of every sinner of the human race. And secondly, as to the
theory — the cavil is purely idle and self-contradictory. For no
being exists, or can be conceived to exist, with any such free will
as the theory supposes. It is impious to imagine that God's
Free Will is competent to counsel, or determine, or decree, or
execute, or design, any thing contrary to the sum of his own per
fections. It is absurd to say that Satan has any freedom of will
to any thing good. It is inconceivable that any will in any being,
any more than any other faculty, or attribute, or power, should
be of that kind, that it will not enter into the sum of all the
forces which make up the particular nature, of which it is a por
tion ; and that it refuses to incur whatever is inherent in the
essence of the nature, of which it is one element.
5. Man, therefore, when he was perfect but fallible, possessed
a form of free will answerable to that peculiar form of moral ex
istence ; and was competent, it may be possible and is commonly
alleged, to direct spontaneously his free actions, to good or evil ;
subject, however, if strictly tried, to the certainty of final lapse ;
and subject, moreover, to the perpetual necessity of special divine
aid, founded in the intimate nature of every dependent exist
ence ; both of which conditions I have discussed elsewhere. But
the will of the unfallen man, like every other will, in every being,
was one of the attributes, faculties, powers of the essence ; and
as such, was necessarily affected by them, and in turn necessarily
affected them. There was but one Adam, and he had but one
nature, but one person, no matter in how many aspects he may
present himself. His will, therefore, was subject to the control
of his intellect and reason, enlightened by knowledge, guided by
conscience, agitated by passions, determined by motives ; its
very freedom, perfect of its kind, but yet restricted and limited

CHAP. VII.] EFFECTUAL CALLING. 127
after its kind, that is by the essence of the nature to which it
appertained. Now if this essence changes, the will must change
too ; because, otherwise, the will is not of the essence, and in
that case man would have no will ; and, therefore, to say that
the will of man is not depraved by the fall, as is constantly said,
is the same as saying, either that man has no nature indepen
dent of mere acts, or that his nature is not depraved. But if we
have no nature independently of our acts, it is more silly to talk
about saving a soul, than to talk about saving an idea ; and if
our nature is not depraved, salvation from sin is mere folly when
proposed to such as have no sin. In his fallen state, therefore,
man possesses his original nature, but in a form fatally changed :
for its essence is depraved, and by consequence, all its attributes,
powers, and faculties are depraved. He still has a will, and that
will still has freedom : but it is a will utterly depraved — and a
freedom which attaches to and is limited by the will thus de
praved. His free will is subject to the conditions belonging to
all the other powers of his nature ; subject to the influence of
all those powers upon it ; and subject to the absolute condition
of the essence of the nature. Every thing is depraved together
— essence, nature, faculties, will, freedom, all are depraved : for
all make up one personal spirit, and he is depraved : or if he is
not, he certainly has no need of a Saviour, and such enquiries as
these are frivolous. But it is perfectly obvious that any such
free will as any sinner can possess, is utterly incompetent to that
evangelical obedience which the Gospel demands ; utterly in
competent to the working of any such change in our nature as
the Gospel exacts. Nor does the Gospel hesitate to assert, and
urge upon us as one of the most fundamental truths involved in
the very obedience which it demands, and the very change of
nature which it exacts ; our utter depravity, and by consequence,
our utter natural impotence to all that is evangelically good.
The virtue and the vice which philosophy contemplates, are in
their nature, their motive, their sanction, and their result, im
measurably lower than the virtue and the vice which Bevealed
Beligion contemplates. And Philosophy herself can plainly see,
that supernatural knowledge, directed to supernatural results,
must provide a supernatural agency and supernatural means, to
work in as well as to work for a fallen nature, of which the fun
damental necessity is its own new creation.1
1 John, iii. 1-21.

128 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
II. — 1. The word of God, in perfect recognition of the original
adaptedness of human nature to the service and enjoyment of
God, and of its present susceptibility in its fallen condition, to
be restored to the lost image of God ; furnishes in the divine
Bevelation it contains, the perfect knowledge of the divine
method of the restoration of man. This knowledge comes to us
in such a manner, namely, by the word of God, as to give to its
absolute truth the highest certainty of which truth is capable :
and it comes to us with that infinite authority of God, which in
vests it with an uncontrollable majesty and efficacy. The will
of God is made known to us : that will which — whether as crea
tures dependent on the Creator, or as sinners dependent on the
Saviour, it is the first necessity, the first interest, the first duty
of man to obey. In the whole revealed will of God, nothing is
more distinctly stated, than that God is not willing that any
should perish, but is willing that all should come to repentance ;
and he appeals to his own long-suffering for proof of what he
says.1 Nay, seeing that he hath appointed a day in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he
hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men,
in that he hath raised him from the dead : he has added the
weight of his infinite authority to the plea of his boundless
mercy, and now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.2 He
assures us that these boly Scriptures are able to make us wise
unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.3 He de
clares to us, that this Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth.4 By prophets and by
apostles alike, he has proclaimed to every generation of men,
Behold now is the accepted time: Behold now is the day of salva
tion.5 And by Prophets and by Apostles alike, the fundamental
principle of the divine administration of grace, has been loudly
and continually asserted to be, that whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved.6 And now what is the re
sult of all this proclamation of divine mercy — all this gospel call
to men, through all ages ? Let us trace the whole career of
grace from Adam's day to our own — and see if we can discern
one single clear instance in which, throughout all generations,
one single sinner embraced this gospel call, in his own strength,
i 2 Pet, iii. 9. ' Acts, xvii 30, 31. 3 2 Tim., iii. 15. 4 Rom., i. 16.
5 Isa., xlix. 8 ; 2 Cor., vi. 2. s Joel, ii 32 ; Acts, ii. 21 ; Rom., x. 13.

CHAP. VII.] EFFECTUAL CALLING. 129
and without God's special grace added to the gospel call. Alas !
no. All our natural ability, upon which we are so prone to rely;
all our boasted free will, about which we are so sensitive ; yea,
all divine knowledge merely as such : however real may be our
possession of these inestimable gifts of God — however great may
be the obligation resting on us to bless God for them, and to use
them all aright — however they may all enter and be taken for
granted in our Effectual Calling : beyond a doubt neither of
them, nor yet all of them, can deliver us from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Shall God, then, be robbed of the glory of his grace ? Shall his
elect be left to perish ? Or will our stupid and perverse hearts
consent that God may make one more effort ?
2. I have stated that Philosophy herself could plainly see,
that in a case like this, supernatural agency and means were
as necessary to be added to natural knowledge, as that was to be
added to our natural ability. And it has been clearly and re
peatedly shown that the Scriptures revealed to us an Infinite
Agent as the author of the whole work of restoration in us ; and
that they disclose both the means and the manner of their use
by this divine Agent, and the nature of their effects on us, when
so used by him. This Infinite Agent, as has been repeatedly
shown, is the Holy Ghost, the third Person in the adorable
Trinity ; whose special work it is to apply to us the benefits of
the Bedemption purchased by the blood of Christ. In a previous
chapter I have endeavoured to explain what is meant by the
common operations of the Spirit. Besides those there are other
operations of a peculiar kind which the Scriptures ascribe to the
Spirit. He is represented to be author of much that we habitu
ally ascribe to the natural endowments of men. A few out of
innumerable examples are, the inconceivable strength and daunt
less courage bestowed on Samson i1 the exceeding skill in the
arts given to Bezaleel :2 and the high capacity for government
with which Saul was temporarily replenished.3 Moreover, he is
the author of those wonderful gifts which the Scriptures call
spiritual, alike from their own nature, and from their peculiar
susceptibility of being made means of edification in divine things;
but which, though ordinarily bestowed only on saints, seem
nevertheless to have been bestowed even on reprobates. Amongst
i Judges, xiv. 6. a Exod., xxxi. 3. s 1 Sam., xi. 6.
VOL. II. 9

130 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
these the power of healing, of tongues, of prophesying, and of
miracles, are to be classed ; concerning which, let them exist
where they may, there can be no doubt of their being gifts of the
Holy Ghost.1 But the saving work of the Holy Ghost is differ
ent from all the foregoing operations ; and is that true, holy,
quickening, and by consequence perpetual and effectual opera
tion of his, whereby the vital influence of saving grace, from
Christ the head, is communicated to every member of Christ's
mystical body.2 In this sense the world neither knows nor re
ceives the Spirit of truth : but the children of God know him,
for he dwells with and in them.3 For grace and peace are mul
tiplied unto all who are elect according to the foreknowledge of
God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obe
dience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.4 And now,
as in the preceding instance, let us search diligently and see if
we can find, from the beginning of time until now, a solitary
case of clear restoration to God, produced otherwise than by the
Effectual Call of the Holy Ghost : or a solitary case of contin
ued alienation from God, under that divine and life-giving call.
We may indeed pronounce the whole matter absurd ; declare it
to be impossible in itself and dishonouring to God ; and revile
all earnest Christians as hypocritical, self-deceived, or fanatical.
This is done continually, and has been done always : nor will I
stop to urge how remarkable a confirmation of this glorious part
of God's dealings with men, is afforded by this fatal judgment
of them that are lost, that the power of God unto salvation is
foolishness, or worse.5 What I urge is, that according to all the
knowledge in possession of the human race, the soul of every
human being is risked for eternity, upon the reality or the
fallacy of the matter here put in issue : and therefore it
surely becomes every one to be thoroughly persuaded in his
own mind.
3. Our nature, though depraved, is still the same nature that
was originally bestowed on man — the same that in its renewed
state is united to Christ — the same that in its glorified estate
will be perfectly blessed in the full fruition of God forever. Duty,
and the inward sense of it, as really appertain to man in his
fallen, and in his renewed, as in his primeval state ; and every
1 1 Cor., xii. 1, 4, 31 ; xiv. 1, 37. * John, vi 51, 57, 63. 3 John, xiv. 17.
4 1 Pet, i 2. si Cor., i 18.

CHAP. VII.] EFFECTUAL CALLING. 131
attribute, power, and faculty which must exist before we can
predicate those things of man, also still appertain to his nature.
In passing from an estate of sin and misery into an estate of
union and communion with Christ, and thereby of salvation ; the
actual condition of the nature thus changed must be taken fully
into account, in whatever special and supernatural aid may be
bestowed on man, and in whatever supernatural work may be
wrought in him. His conscience, his understanding, and his
will, are absolutely such in his fallen state, as his fallen nature
is ; and the divine grace which would deal with that fallen na
ture, must deal with these fundamental elements of it, in com
plete recognition of their own depraved condition. And thus in
all the process of our restoration to God through our Effectual
Calling by the Holy Ghost, these two things are to be perpetually
considered ; namely, the effectual work of divine grace, and the
peculiar condition of our fallen nature. The Holy Ghost, and
fallen man, and the divine vocation which one gives and the other
receives : a state of sin and misery, and a state of restoration to
God through Christ, and the transition from the former to the
latter state : these are the elements of this great problem. To
a true spiritual insight, long familiar with divine things, and long
observant of the movement of our inner life, these are simple,
elemental truths. As such, our divine Bedeemer taught them
to Nicodemus.1 Yet that simple-hearted enquirer after truth,
though he was a ruler amongst God's ancient people, and after
the straifcest sect of their religion ; marvelled as he heard them.
And we, in estimating so great a matter in the double aspect
which it constantly presents, ought to remember that it is at the
feet of Jesus that all satisfying knowledge is to be obtained. For
the main embarrassments arise, not merely from any separate
view either of God or of ourself, but from the relation between
the two. So if we virtually exclude Jesus, the chief term in any
possible solution, how are we to obtain satisfying knowledge of
the way of life, and how are we to walk in it ; when he is omitted
who is himself, the way, the truth, and the life ?2
4. Whoever will attentively consider what has been advanced,
and the grounds upon which the conclusions reached are based,
will probably agree that the whole subject is capable of being
stated in a simple, precise, and perfectly intelligible way. If so,
1 John, iii 12. a John, xiv. 6.

132 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
then we can see clearly, and certainly, what this great and effec
tual call of God is ; what are the effects which it produces, the
means by which those effects are brought about, and the manner
in which they occur and are manifested. It is this which I will
now attempt.
(a) Effectual Calling is a work of God's infinite grace, execu
ted by his Almighty power. It is more than a divine act; it is
a continued series of divine operations, and therefore may well
be called a divine work. We are wholly unable to imagine any
reason for its performance, which does not involve the grace of
God as its chief element : nor is there known to man any power
competent to its execution but the Almighty power of God. And
all this, which seems to human reason to be inevitable, is pre
cisely asserted in the word of God.1
(6) The moving and original cause of our personal salvation,
and so of our effectual calling of God, is not at all nor in any de
gree, any thing in us :2 but is the free and especial love of God
for his elect :3 according to his eternal purpose and grace in
Jesus Christ.4
(c) The method of doing this is, that we are divinely brought
to the Father through Jesus Christ, through whom alone is there
any access to the Father :5 and learning of the Father, we come
to Christ, effectually drawn unto him by the Father :6 and so we
are reconciled to God, through Jesus Christ.7
(d) In all this, the sole efficient Agent is the Holy Ghost, the
third Person in the adorable Trinity ; by whom we come to the
Father through the Son, and by whom we are drawn to the Son
by the Father : the salvation to which God has from the begin
ning chosen us, being made ours through the sanctification of the
Spirit, and the belief of the truth — of which truth the Spirit is
the author.8
(e) The means used by the Spirit, are all such as man is ca
pable of being influenced by, for good : but especially the provi
dence of God, the ordinances of God, and very, particularly the
word of God, whereby we are called to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(/) In this divine work of our Effectual Calling, our mind is
1 Eph., i 18-20 ; 1 Thess., i 8, 9. 2 Titus, iii 3-6. a Eph, ii 4-10.
4 2 Tim., ii. 9, 10 ; Acts, xiii. 48. « John, xiv. 6. ' John, vi. 44, 45.
7 2 Cor., v. 20. s 2 Thess., ii. 13 ; 2 Cor., iii. 3, 6. 9 2 Thess., ii. 14 ; John, vi 63.

CHAP. VII.] EFFECTUAL CALLING. 133
spiritually and savingly enlightened ; our eyes being opened, and
we being turned from darkness to light, and from Satan unto
God, receiving the forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in Christ.1
(g) In like manner our will is renewed, and determined by
God's Almighty power to that which is good ; so that we most
freely and joyfully embrace Christ as he is offered to us in the
Gospel ; God working in us, both to will and to do of his good
pleasure.2 (h) A new heart is given to us and a new spirit is put within
us by God : and he takes away the stony heart out of our flesh,
and gives us a heart of flesh :3 for it is with the heart that man
believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation.4
(i) The conscience is awakened, quickened, enlightened, and
sanctified ; and we are made able and willing to answer the
divine call, and to accept and embrace the grace offered and con
veyed through Jesus Christ.6
{J) As the result, fallen men are completely extricated from
their natural estate of sin and misery, are translated into an es
tate of grace and salvation, are led on from one degree of grace
and strength to another, are kept by the mighty power of God
through faith unto salvation, and finally receive the end of their
faith in the salvation of their souls.6
(k) Contemplating our Effectual Calling in this manner, we
behold its nature and its progress, as an infinite reality divinely
and graciously wrought out upon and within our fallen nature,
according to its actual condition, powers and susceptibility. In
this general survey is involved implicitly or explicitly the greater
part, perhaps the whole of the knowledge of God unto salvation.
Amongst other things directly involved, and not sufficiently de
veloped in a mere outline, are those immense topics commonly
expressed by the words, Begeneration, Justification, Adoption,
and Sanctification ; the discussion of which will follow in their
order. III. — 1. If we will reflect on the successive propositions
which have just been stated — every one of which seem to be
1 Acts, xxvi. 18 ; 1 Cor., ii. 10, 11. 2 Phil., ii. 13 ; Deut., xxx. 6.
3 Ezekiel, xxxvi 26. * Rom., x. 10.
5 Rom., viii 2; Eph., ii 1-7. e 1 Peter, i. 1-9 ; Eph., ii. passim.

134 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
sustained by the express testimony of God, and the whole united
to form a perfectly coherent system ; we shall perceive not only,
that the whole way of our salvation subjectively considered, is
set before us, as I have already intimated ; but that various acts
on the part of man, many others on the part of God, and not a
few which imply both the efficiency of God and the concurrence
of man, are plainly stated or necessarily suggested to us. Con
sidered under this point of view, let us attempt another analysis
of the immense subject.
2. Man in his fallen state could not possibly know, except by
a divine Bevelation, that God was willing to restore him to his
favour. So far as he retained the knowledge, or the sense of his
original estate, and so far as he had proofs of the goodness and
mercy of God to him in his fallen estate ; he had grounds of
hope, possibly of expectation, that God would pity and help him.
But how it could be done — and what it would result in — if God
had remained silent, far exceeded man's capacity even to con
jecture. That it would occur by means of the incarnation and
sacrifice of the Son of God ; and that its result would be the per
fect blessedness of man, in the complete enjoyment of God to all
eternity ; is incapable of belief except upon the authority of
God himself — and even then only as the most stupendous miracle
of divine love. And so deeply seated is all this, that even after
all has been divinely exhibited to man, unbelief is the special
form of his most complete rejection of God ; and at its founda
tion, that unbelief rests on our inward denial either of the ability
or the willingness of Christ to save us. Lying thus in total dark
ness concerning divine grace, God is pleased to reveal his pur
poses of infinite mercy to us : lying in total helplessness, he is
pleased to make those purposes efficacious towards us. What
can we know or do, with our will, our understanding, our con
science all depraved — our whole nature in a condition at once
sinful and miserable — alike ignorant and impotent concerning
any restoration to God ? Most clearly, the whole foundation of
every thing we can mean by a divine call to eternal life, lies
wholly out of our reach ; completely beyond any control of ours.
It rests merely and absolutely in the disposal of God. In its
very root, it is divine and gracious : nor is there so much as a
conceivable possibility that it could be otherwise.
3. Whatever may be the condition of fallen men considered

CHAP. VII.] EFFECTUAL CALLING. 135
merely as creatures of God, it is manifest that it becomes their
immediate duty to give diligent heed to the Saviour of sinners
as soon as God is pleased to reveal him unto them. To this in
tent is that warning so often repeated in the Scriptures, He that
hath ears to hear, let him hear ; and that promise made in so
many forms — Incline your ear, and come unto me ; hear, and
your soul shall live ; and I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David. ' And if the mercies
thus pressed on us are withheld from others, this only increases
our obligations to him who bestows them, and our guilt if we
reject them. All our faculties ought to be devoted to whatever
part of the call of God unto our souls, he is pleased to vouchsafe
unto us ; and our attention — which we are prone to avert from
such subjects — ought to be fixed upon them with the deepest en-
gagedness. And this conduct on our part, so clearly obligatory
upon us, God has been pleased to intimate is a way whereby we
may hope to excite right desires within us, and to preserve and
augment the gifts of the Holy Ghost.2 And thus there may
arise within us, a conviction of the greatness of our sin and mis
ery, and of the truth- of all God's testimony : and the contem
plation of all his works and dealings, of all his infinite goodness
to us, and, above all, of his unspeakable grace and mercy in the
salvation provided for us — may lead us to repentance.3 More
over, the earnest consideration of the judgments of God may
serve to convict us, and fill us with anxiety concerning our state
here, our latter end, and our everlasting condition.4
4. We can hardly fail to observe that, although no state of
the unrenewed heart can be any inducement to God, in any
proper sense, to do our souls good ; yet, undoubtedly, there are
certain states of heart which, in point of time, are proximate to
conversion; and there are other states which, apparently, are
never immediately followed by conversion. This is the lowest
statement of these phenomena which can be made ; and if the
immediate object now was to discuss them, it would be necessary
to make a much higher statement of them. Because there is a
resemblance which may become extremely close, between certain
states of the unrenewed heart, and certain analogous states of
the renewed heart : and there are other states of the unrenewed
" Luke, viii. 8 ; Isa., Iv. 3. ? Acts, xvi. 14 ; Luke, xxiv. 45.
9 Ps. xix. 2-5 ; Acts, xxiv. 17 ; Rom., ii 4. * Acts, xxiv. 25.

136 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
heart, utterly remote from every thing found in the renewed
heart. And theoretically, as well as practically, those states of
the unrenewed heart which are proximate to conversion, are
matters of the very highest interest. Considering man to have
been created in the image of God — to be still susceptible of
restoration to that lost image — to be actually restored to it in
his Effectual Calling— and to be thus restored in a manner which
recognizes and respects the actual condition of his nature ; it is
not easy to see how the phenomena to which I have alluded
could be otherwise, while it is easy to see in them, one of those
immense confirmations of the way of life, which are scattered so
thickly along its divine course. Beyond question, the efficacy of
any outward means of grace addressed to a free, rational, and
moral agent — must have relation to these very phenomena, and
to their bearing upon our salvation; and so it is one of the three
great Offices of Christ to be the Teacher of men. How dili
gently, then, ought all men endeavour to cultivate these states
of soul which appear to have any tendency towards the greatest
of all good ; and, in like manner, strive against those of an op
posite character. How carefully should we avoid all that God
has forbidden, and perform whatever he has required ; which, as
to outward conduct and common duties, we have natural ability
to do, under the dilgent use of the means of grace, especially
when helped by the common operations of the divine Spirit.
Confessing at every step the actual condition of our hearts, and
the real state of our progress ; we should be above all careful
that we do not harden our hearts, or resist or grieve the Holy
Ghost ; above all, diligent in the use of the word of God which
is the great means of our recovery.1 To crown all, we' should be
instant and importunate in prayer to God, through Jesus Christ
for all that we need and desire — and especially for the Holy
Ghost ; for salvation is impossible except by the agency of the
Holy Ghost, and prayer is at once the very breath of the peni
tent soul, and the very means by which it is carried towards
its new birth, and sustained in its new life. Six times has
the Saviour asserted, in a few connected sentences, that our
heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that
ask him.2
5. How little is there which man can do, that is not embraced
1 Jer., xxiii 29. 2 Luke, xi. 9-13 ; Matt., vii. 7-12.

CHAP. VII.] EFFECTUAL CALLING. 137
in the foregoing summary ? Alas ! how few are there who at
tempt so much ! Yet how plain is it, that until the Spirit
actuaUy enters our hearts with his saving power, all that I have
recounted, comes far short of our Effectual Calling. There is
that which God alone can do : and he does it. His Spirit stands
and knocks at the door of our heart : he arouses our conscience
whose sanctification is the main remedial end of our calling: and
begins in us, effectually, that great work whose fundamental ex
pression is, that we do not choose God, but he chooses us.1 And
then we must have a divine illumination, whereby a supernatural
conviction of the truth revealed by God is produced in the mind,
and a spiritual insight and understanding of it is shed abroad in
the soul.2 Moreover, we must receive this truth in the love of it
and in the power of it, with a living knowledge adequate, through
the motives which attend it, to direct our actions according to
the commandments of God. And, to crown all, we must have
that inward desire and purpose to conform all our thoughts and
actions to the truth of God, and to have our will swallowed up
in the will of God, in the power of which we freely and joyfully
come to Christ as our Saviour, and are united to him in our
Effectual Calling. That all this, from beginning to end, is based
on Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and accompanied by
Bepentance toward God — both of which are fruits of the Spirit;
need not be insisted on here, after what I said in a preceding
chapter. 6. Impenitent men are apt to profess a total inability to
understand how these operations of the Holy Ghost can occur,
without doing practical violence to our nature and faculties ;
while the children of God who have actually incurred these
divine operations, are apt to be insensible to purely theoretical
difficulties, which they know to be illusive. And beyond a doubt,
the case is wholly with God and his children. For arguing d
priori, what can be theoretically more absurd, than to question
the ability of God, who is the author of our nature and its facul
ties, to deal with us according to that nature and those faculties,
by any means, to any end— the sole limitation being that a direct
contradiction shall . not be involved in the terms : since every
thing else is within the competence of God, and is seen to be so
by human reason ? And arguing d posteriori, what can be
1 Rom., iii 20. 2 2 Cor., iv. 6.

138 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
practically more absurd, than to deny on theoretical grounds the
possibility of actual occurrences, which take place by the thou
sand, in the form denied to be possible, before our faces, and
which have existed by the million as far back as history extends?
And yet the children of God should not allow themselves for a
moment to forget, that by nature they are children of wrath like
all others ; nor will any renewed soul ever utter any thing in
consistent with that ancient exclamation of God's servant, 0
Lord, thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed I1
1 Jer., xx. 7.

CHAPTER VIII.
REGENERATION: ITS NATURE, AND THE MODE OF ITS OCCURRENCE.
I. 1. Relation of the New Birth to our Effectual Calling. — 2. The Posture of this
great doctrine in the Jewish mind, during the Ministry of Christ : Joseph of Ari-
mathea — Nicodemus. — 3. Explanation of it by Jesus to Nicodemus. — 4. His
statement of the ground and manner of it. — 5. Relation of the Doctrine of this
Statement of Jesus to the Spiritual System of the Scriptures, and of the Plan of
Salvation. — II. 1. Regeneration defined. — 1. It is one of the Benefits of the
Covenant of Redemption. — 3. It is wrought in Man by the Holy Ghost- — 4. The
Elect of God, and they only, are Born Again. — 5. Divine Truth the Efficient In
strument in our Regeneration. — 6. The Satisfaction made by Christ, is the Meri
torious Cause of our Regeneration. — 7. In Regeneration our Nature is Renewed
in the Image of God. — UI. 1. Force of the Truths stated, in their bearing on
questions passed over. — 2. The State of the Human Soul in its Regeneration. — 3.
Concerning the Salvation of Infant Souls. — 1. Restatement of the sum of Saving
Knowledge, touching our Divine Regeneration : (a) We must perish unless we
are restored to the Image of God : (b) We are restored by the Divine Renovation
of our Nature : (c) The Nature thus Renovated is the same Nature that Fell : (d)
The Holy Ghost is the Efficient Agent : (e) Divine Truth the Efficient Instru
ment : (/) It is in, and for the sake of, Jesus Christ: (g) God is the Model after
which it is wrought : (h) Man is wholly Passive in this new-creating act of God:
(i) It is a sovereign and gracious act of God the Creator and Saviour. — 5. The
Certainty, the Necessity, and the Efficacy of this great Spiritual Change in Man.
I. — 1. We are to bear in mind continually that the know
ledge of God unto salvation is that which is made subjectively
effectual in the soul : and that there is no other knowledge which
is capable of being made effectual unto salvation : nor is this
knowledge capable of producing that result, except as it is made
effectual by the work of the Holy Ghost in man. The benefits
secured for us in the Covenant of Bedemption, and bestowed
upon us through the Mediator of that covenant, are applied to
us by the Holy Ghost working faith in us, and thereby uniting
us to Christ as our Saviour. Thus mystically united to Christ,
we have communion with him in grace and in glory : and by the
term Effectual Calling, we give expression to that great work of
God by his word and Spirit, wherein his elect are united to

140 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
Christ, and wherein they incur those changes and receive those
benefits, which appertain to those who pass over from a condition
of sin and misery, into a condition of grace and salvation. The
great change is their Begeneration ; to the explanation of which
this chapter is devoted.
2. The Apostle John in his brief narrative of the triumphant
entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, and of the outburst of popular
enthusiasm with which he was hailed with blessings as the King
of Israel, come in the name of the Lord ; makes two remarks
explanatory of the real state of the public mind, thus carried
suddenly away by an impulse which they who felt it did not,
probably, fully understand. His first remark is, that though
Jesus had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on him : and his second is, that nevertheless among the
chief rulers many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees
they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the syn
agogue.1 Of those chief rulers, thus acting that they might re
tain their distinguished position in that great synagogue which
constituted so remarkable a feature of the policy of the Jewish
people in the age of Christ — impelled by a love for the praise of
men greater than their love for the praise of God, as the Apostle
expresses it ; two have connected themselves in the most remark
able and affecting manner, with the personal history of the Sa
viour, and their names have come to us surrounded with touching
proofs of their first weakness, and their after courageous love.
Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable counsellor, a rich man, a
good man and a just, who also himself waited for the Kingdom
of God, was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews.
Yet he refused to consent to the counsel and deed of the mur
derers of the Lord of life. And when all was over, he went in
boldly unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus, and bought
fine linen, and took the body down and wrapped it in the linen
and laid it till the Jewish Sabbath should pass over, in his own
new sepulchre which he had hewed in a rock, and wherein never
man before was laid ; and then he rolled a great stone unto the
door of the sepulchre, for the day was the preparation, and the
Sabbath drew on, and the sepulchre was nigh at hand.2 Nico
demus was a man of the Pharisees, and a ruler of the Jews.
1 John, xii. 37-42.
a Matt, xvii. 57-60 ; Mark, xv. 43-46 ; Luke, xxiii. 50-56 ; John, xix. 38-42.

CHAP. VIII.] BEGENERATION. 141
Every time his name is mentioned, he is described as that Nico
demus who came to Jesus by night : so characteristic did that
manner of approach seem, and so remarkable, as we will soon
see, was the interview that night. Yet on a memorable occasion
when the great body of which he was a member, had sent offi
cers to arrest Jesus and bring him to their bar, and they had re
turned and confessed that they had been awed by him ; the firm
rebuke of Nicodemus arrested, for the time, the proceedings
against the Saviour.. And after they had crucified him, it was
Nicodemus who acted in concert with Joseph of Arimathea in
taking' the body of their Lord from the cross, and giving to it
temporary sepulture. He met Joseph at the cross, having
brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds,
and took the body and wound it in the linen clothes with the
spices, as the manner of the Jews was to bury, and put it in the
sepulchre which was hard by in Joseph's garden, waiting till the
Sabbath day should pass.1 These two illustrious Jews alone, of
all the human race, appear to have participated in this unpar-
alelled event. The glory is all theirs. Even the women which
came with Jesus from Galilee — only followed after, and beheld
the sepulchre and how his body was laid ; and then they re
turned and prepared spices and ointments ; and rested the Sab
bath day according to the commandment.2 In the meantime the
chief priests and Pharisees, with the consent of Pilate, had made
the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.3 We
know, therefore, what took those devoted women back to the
sepulchre, very early in the morning of the first day in the week.
Their purposes of reverence and love were defeated by the resur
rection of the Lord of glory.
3. It is to Nicodemus that Jesus, in that interview at night,
has explained with the greatest distinctness the great doctrine
of the New Birth. Babbi, said the Jewish ruler, we know that
thou art a teacher come from God ; for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus, ac
cording to that constant habit founded upon his divine insight,
responded not to the words but to the deep thought and inward
difficulty of the anxious spirit : the great doctrine of a spiritual
kingdom, and of the way of entrance into it, which constituted
1 John, hi. 1 ; vii 45-53 ; xix. 38-42. * Luke, xxiii. 55, 56.
3 Matt., xxvii. 62-66.

142 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
the marked feature of all his teachings, and which found a re
sponse more or less vague, but always deep, in the heart of every
devout Jew that was waiting for the consolation of Israel. His
answer was, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
again he cannot see the kingdom of God. The Apostle John has
recorded the conversation, in a few sentences — the difficulties of
Nicodemus, the explanations of Jesus : nothing more striking,
nothing more important, nothing more explicit, was ever given
to man.1 Except a man be born again — except he be born from
above — except he be born of the Spirit : he cannot see — he can
not know — the kingdom of God. For that which is born of the
flesh is flesh : and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Moreover, that kingdom which no man can see, understand,
know, except he be thus born again; neither can he enter, except
he be born of water and the Spirit. That real spiritual kingdom
of God is to be known and to be entered only by means of a new
spiritual creation. Thus spiritually known and entered — water
is at once the sign of the purification of all who truly enter that
kingdom, and the seal of all the blessings of that kingdom unto
them : and thus can no man, except as born of water, enter the
visible kingdom of God ; any more than he can, except as born
of the Spirit, either know or enter the spiritual kingdom of God.*
There need be no marvel at. these things, the Saviour intimates,
because they seem to us mysterious; for there are no occurrences
around us, not even the most common — whose first cause and
essence are not inscrutable to us.2 Above all, they who are anx
ious and thoughtful about spiritual things, and to some extent
enlightened concerning them — need not marvel at that which
is perfectly elemental and ultimate truth. But however that
may be, this much the Saviour told Nicodemus, that this doc
trine of the necessity and reality of a new, spiritual, and divine
birth, is not only wholly fundamental in his system of truth unto
salvation; but so thoroughly does that system rest on it, that no
man can receive any truth beyond this, until this one is received;
* John, iii. 1-21.
* Yevvvdn avuBsv — yevvn0?i Jlvevfiaro( — iSeiv — uasWeiv : born from above, born
of the Spirit — we know and enter the kingdom. But yevvr/6ij ef vdaroe — elaeWelv : born
of water, we enter it. The spiritual kingdom universal : and the visible form of it :
knowing and entering the former by a new creation ; entering the latter by a sacra
ment a John, iii. 3-8.

CHAP. VIII.] REGENERATION. 143
and that no visible kingdom of God can be justly conceived of,
except as it stands related to the universal kingdom of the re
generate.1 4. And then the Saviour explained in the clearest manner,
both the ground and the manner of this new and heavenly birth.
The Son of Man/says he, must be lifted up ; that whosoever be-
lieveth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life : as
God had taught his people even by Moses, when he bade him lift
up a serpent of brass upon a pole, that they who had murmured
against God and been bitten unto death by fiery serpents, might
turn to God and live as they beheld the sign of his mercy in this
type of Christ. It is on account of this sacrifice of Christ, and
in virtue of it, that men mortally diseased of sin, may be healed
as they look to him, may be snatched from the destruction to
which they hasten — may be restored to God by a new and spirit
ual creation, and may live forever. Moreover, this sacrifice of
Christ is the result of God's sovereign Grace ; for Christ repeats
under the form of divine love, what he had just said under the
form of human necessity ; for God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. The two phrases —
" Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up," and " God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son;" are, there
fore, precisely equivalent to each other, so far as the third phrase
which responds to both of them equally, is concerned : that is,
so far as relates to the infinite reality and certainty of salvation
by Faith in the crucified God-man. And thus our believing in
Jesus Christ is most clearly declared by him to be the method
of our knowing and entering into the kingdom of God; the
proof that we are born again spiritually and divinely, that we are
the objects of God's love, and that we shall live forever. And
just as clearly, our not believing in him is declared to exclude us
from the possibility of knowing or entering the kingdom of God;
to prove that we are not born again, but are left under condem
nation ; and to aggravate that condemnation, while it aug
ments both the grounds and evidences upon which we shall
perish.2 5. If the sacred Scriptures, instead of being so replenished
with the doctrine cf the supernatural restoration of man to the
1 John, iii. 11-13. ' John, hi. 14-21.

144 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
lost image of God, that they are wholly inexplicable as soon as
that idea is lost sight of ; had contained nothing decisive on the
subject before this explanation of it specially given by Christ
himself to Nicodemus ; we should have been obliged to engraft
that transcendent truth upon all the other teachings of Christ,
as the complement of all — or to disallow Christ himself, as a
teacher come from God. But, in effect, Christ has only made
perfectly distinct the exact form of the grand truth concerning
our recovery, with which the whole Scriptures were pregnant, and
to which the Covenant of Grace was directly pointed. And if
any thing could increase our sense of its truth established by so
many divine statements, and of its fitness demonstrated by its
own nature and effects ; it would be the systematic completeness
which it gives to the vast and wonderful spiritual system of
which it is the centre, sustaining, like the keystone of a mighty
arch, one half on either side. The original perfection of man,
his fall, and his subsequent state of sin and misery ; his extrica
tion by the grace of God, and that grace exhibited in the sacri
fice of the Son of God : here is one limb of the stupendous arch.
For the other limb, the favour and protection of God in this
present life, and endless glory and felicity in a higher and better
life to come. Now fill the gap between them. Man united to
this divine Bedeemer, who was crucified in his stead, by a divine
and spiritual work wrought within him ; which work is a new
creation, wherein he recovers the lost image of God — and which
manifests itself by Faith in the Saviour of sinners. And now
the heavenly fabric is complete !
II. — 1. Taking our start now from this clear and broad de
velopment of the subject made by the Lord Jesus, not only in
its own nature, but also in its relation to the plan of salvation,
and to the whole proportion of faith ; we have before us an open
way through the innumerable illustrations, arguments, and de
clarations relating to it, which we find scattered over the whole
volume of inspiration, If we are humble and diligent, we need
not, therefore, have any fear of going astray. And in the light of
this whole testimony of God, I venture to define, that, Begenera
tion is one of the benefits of the Covenant of Bedemption, being
a saving work of God's Spirit in the elect, whereby, through the
instrumentality of divine truth, and for th'} merit's sake of
Jesus Christ, their whole nature is renewed in the image of

CHAP. VIII. J REGENERATION. 145
God. And I will endeavour to establish and explain the chief
points of this definition.
2. Our natural condition is described to be such, that we have
our understanding darkened — 'that we are alienated from the life
of God — that we are ignorant of him — that our hearts are blinded
and unfeeling — and that the common result is, that, left to our
selves, we give ourselves over to lasciviousness, to work all unclean -
ness with greediness.1 In a condition so terrible, it is not strange
that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ;
nor that they are foolishness unto him ; neither that he cannot
know things which can be discerned only spiritually.2 The con
stant declaration of the Scriptures is, that the Covenant of Be
demption provides a complete remedy for this deplorable con
dition ; and that besides this, there is no other remedy actual, or
possible ; and I have ventured constantly to assert, that if the
Scriptures are divinely inspired, or if man can trust either his
own experience or consciousness, none other is even conceivable.
If, therefore, a spiritual Begeneration occurs to fallen man : if it
is a means, nay, the very chief inward means of his deliverance :
and if it occurs through that which the Mediator of the Cove
nant of Bedemption has done and suffered — all of which has
been proved : it follows, of necessity, that this spiritual Begen
eration is one of the benefits which that Covenant has secured
for fallen man.
3. That this spiritual Begeneration is a work of the Holy
Ghos t, the whole statement of Jesus to Nicodemus explicitly de
clares, and the whole Scriptures testify, times and ways beyond
computation. Since every good and every perfect gift is from
above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is
no variableness, neither shadow of turning ; it would indeed be
wonderful, when of his own will he begets us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures ;
if it could be supposed that this best and most perfect gift our
souls can receive — though made ours through the sacrifice of
Christ, and by divine light, and divine truth, and a divine be
getting of us, should be the solitary example of variableness in
the unchangeable God.3 There are three conceivable human
ways in which it might be supposed to be possible for us to re
ceive and believe on Jesus — which the Apostle John calls,
1 Eph., iv. 18, 19. a 1 Cor., ii. 14. 2 James, i 17, 18.
VOL. II. 10

146 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
respectively, of blood, of the will of the flesh, and of the will of
man. That is, it is conceivable that such a result might be
hereditary — or it might conceivably be self-produced — or it might
conceivably be produced by some influence of our fellow-men
upon us ; besides which there is no other conceivable human way.
But he repeats and rejects as impossible, all three of these ways ;
and asserts in the most precise manner, that all who become sons
of God by receiving and believing in Jesus Christ, do so as the
result of a superhuman change which has passed upon them :
namely, they are born of God.1 Even from of old, God's pro
phets had plainly taught that all spiritual effects are produced,
not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of
hosts.2 For God's saints are God's workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works : God, who is rich in mercy, for
his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us
up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus : nay, hath saved us by grace, through faith ; and that
not of ourselves : it is the gift of God : not of works, lest any
man should boast.3 And six or seven centuries before the Apos
tle Paul gave the emphatic testimony I have just repeated, the
prophet Ezekiel, in explaining the significance of the valley of
dry bones, in the midst of which the hand of the Lord had car
ried him out, in the Spirit of the Lord, and set him down ; had
set forth the very process by which, under the means of grace,
bone comes to bone, and sinews and flesh and skin are laid upon
them. For as he proclaimed the word of the Lord, there was a
noise and a shaking ; and when the Spirit of the Lord came upon
them the bones stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great
army. And the Lord said to the prophet, Son of man, these
bones are the whole house of Israel.4 It is not, therefore, a
figure of speech, when it is said that Christ lives in those who are
crucified with him ; and that the life which they live in the flesh,
they live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved them and
gave himself for them.6 For all our hope that we shall appear
in glory with Christ, when he shall appear, is founded on the
certainty that Christ is our life.6 And nothing can be more idle
than to call that a mere persuasion, which God calls an irresist-
1 John, i. 12, 13. 2 Zech., iv. 6. 3 Eph., ii. 4_io.
' Ezek^ xxxvii 1-11. 6 GaL, ii. 20. • Coloss., iii. 4.

CHAP. VIII.] REGENERATION. ]47
ible and saving power ; working in us to the production of a
saving Faith in us, by the new creation of the soul itself ; the
very same power, namely, that of the Holy Ghost, by which he
wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set
him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.1
4. It is greatly to be regretted that good men should allow
themselves to reject, and to foment prejudice against terms
which God himself uses with great emphasis in his blessed word.
The word elect and its kindred words are used many times in the
sacred Scriptures ; and the word predestinate and its kindred
words are occasionally used in them ; and the ideas they express
and the truths they convey, and which are expressed and con
veyed in many other ways, are precise in themselves, fundamen
tal in the salvation of man, and embedded not only in the very
structure of the Gospel and of divine grace, but in the very na
ture of God. Moreover, human experience and observation
establish nothing more palpably, than that the course of divine
providence is directed under truths and ideas, precisely analogous
to those we express by the words divine predestination and elec
tion : nor is the course of human affairs, or the career of a single
human being, capable of being explained in any other way. In
like manner no soul was ever brought to a saving knowledge of
God, which did not willingly and joyfully admit that God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in
our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ.2 Grace unto you, and peace, be
multiplied, says the Apostle Peter, elect according to the fore
knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ. Blessed, he adds, be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begot
ten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and unde
filed, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who
are kept by the mighty power of God through faith unto salva
tion ready to be revealed in the last time.3 And to this effect is
the whole testimony of God concerning that chosen generation,
that royal priesthood, that holy nation, that peculiar people, as
the same Apostle calls the elect, whose very calling he declares
'- Eph. i passim; Coloss., i passim. ' 2 Cor., iv. 6. 3 1 Peter, i 2-5.

148 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
to be, that they should show forth the praises of him who hath
called them out of darkness into his marvellous light.1 Nor, if we
will consider, is there any alternative which does not subvert the
Gospel, and destroy its conception of salvation. It is conceivable
that all men perish : it is conceivable that none perish : it is
conceivable that the idea of the new birth is a mere delusion : it
is conceivable, as I have before shown, that Begeneration might
occur in either' one of three human ways, namely, of blood, of
the will of the flesh, or of the will of man. But the Scriptures
assert in the most positive manner, that all these conceptions are
utterly false. Yet these conceptions exhaust the possibilities of
the case, except that the elect of God, and they only, are born
of the Spirit, and are saved. Of necessity, therefore, if man can
believe God, or if he can believe his own consciousness, this is
true. But to disbelieve our consciousness is impossible ; and to
disbelieve God is both impious and absurd ; and is, besides, the
highest proof that we shall perish, unless we be born again,
5. The instrumentality of the word of God in Begeneration
seems to be clearly asserted in the Scriptures, and to be involved
in the very nature of the case. As the divine Spirit is the only
efficient agent, so divine truth is the only efficient instrument,
in the spiritual renovation of man. The Apostle James, con
trasting our natural with our renewed state, declares concerning
God, that of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.2
The Apostle Peter, explaining the manner of purifying our souls
in obeying the truth through the Spirit, says, we are born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth forever.3 The Apostle John declares
that the reason why whoever is born of God doth not commit sin,
is that his seed remaineth in him.4 Which answers to the dec
larations of the Apostle Paul, that God hath from the beginning
chosen us to salyation, through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth :5 that Faith can exist only by knowledge of
the word of God ;" and that those whose spiritual father he him
self was, were begotten in Christ through the Gospel.7 And to
crown the whole, the Lord Jesus, in that wonderful discourse in
which he declares that his flesh and his blood are the life of his
.disciples, and explains in what manner and in what sense this is
i 1 Peter, ii 9. 2 James, i. 18. 3 1 Peter, i 22, 23. 4 1 John, iii 9.
' 2 Thess., ii 13. 6 Rom., x. 17. ' 1 Cor., iv. 15.

CHAP. VIII.] REGENERATION. 149
so ; closes his exposition with these decisive words, It is the
Spirit which quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing ; the words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are hfe.1 The
great doctrine thus taught, seems to be inevitable, in every as
pect of the subject cognizable by human reason. Although we
cannot fully understand why the Second Person of the Trinity
should be called, by emphasis, The Word ; yet we cannot avoid
seeing that under that appellation both the old creation and the
new are so immediately appurtenant to him, that the former is
by the Word of Power, and the latter by the Word of Grace.
When he said, Let there be light, the result was not more instan
taneous, nor the force more irresistible, than when he said, Fol
low me! And when we reflect on the indissoluble connection
between the work of Christ and the work of the Spirit, in all
things pertaining to salvation ; it seems to me that we would be
forced by the urgency of theoretical truth, to infer and assert the
connection in the Begeneration of the soul, even if the Scrip
tures had left the point obscure. On the other hand, if we con
sider our own nature, which incurs this superhuman change ; we
know indeed too little of the essence of our spiritual being, to
speak with great confidence of the relative fitness of a work of
infinite grace and almighty power on it, considered as performed
by the divine agent, uamely, the Holy Ghost, with or without a
divine instrument, namely, the word of God. But as soon as we
come to consider the attributes, faculties, powers of this spiritual
essence of ours ; the case is very different. For we do know
very much concerning these — and all of them incur, along with
the essence to which they appertain, that change which is the
product of infinite grace and almighty power. And manifestly,
the Intellect, the Conscience, the Will, the Mind, the Heart, the
Soul of Man, are incapable, as far as we can comprehend, of
being morally and spiritually renovated, except through some in
strumentality of moral and spiritual truth. And so the emphatic
response of all things, human and divine, confirms the constant
and explicit statement of the Scriptures, that while the Holy
Ghost is the divine and efficient agent in our Begeneration — and
the true author of it ; the truth of God is used by him instru-
mentally therein ; of itself, like every other mere instrument,
incompetent ; and effectual only as used by him. I venture to
1 John, vi 63.

150 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
make, not without diffidence, a statement founded upon a very
large experience in dealing with the souls of men, which seems
to me to be a simple but momentous practical illustration of the
transcendent psychological truths I am attempting to explain.
I have never known a single human soul deeply awakened, that
was not specially aroused to the importance of some particular
aspect of divine truth, or of some special truth : and I have never
known the same soul to be twice awakened by the same truth :
and I have never known a single soul that embraced the Saviour
at its first awakening.
6. I have said that this, like every other blessing and benefit
secured to fallen man by the Covenant of Bedemption, is be
stowed on us for the sake of the Mediator of that covenant, the
Lord Jesus Christ. In every case, such general expressions, as
the merit's sake of Christ, involve, more or less fully, the whole
doctrine of Christ and Salvation. When it is demanded, why
it is that fallen man must be regenerated at all ? the answer is
very obvious, that in their natural state they are neither able nor
inclined to serve or enjoy God: while, on the other hand, God is
so far from considering them either fit or worthy to serve and
enjoy him, that the whole earth is full of proofs of his just dis
pleasure, and his blessed word abounds with declarations, that if
we remain as we are, so far from ever seeing his face in peace,
we shall all surely perish. God, in his infinite beneficence, does
not desire that any should perish, but would rather all should
turn and live: and in the manifestation of this infinite grace, the
whole work of Bedemption by Christ, and the whole work of the
Spirit applying the benefits of that Bedemption, occur. I have
just been pointing out how it is that Begeneration is one of the
chief works of the Spirit, as I had immediately before pointed
out bow it is one of the chief benefits of Christ's Mediation. The
immediate question is, how does it stand so closely connected
with the merits of Christ's mediatorial work, as to oblige us to
locate the meritorious cause of this, along with every other ben
efit of the Covenant of Bedemption, in Christ himself? And
the explanation is both simple and complete. For the nature of
God, the nature of transgression, and the nature of the case is
such, that every transgression and disobedience must receive a
just recompense of reward : and this necessity is so profound
and universal, that the incarnation of the Son of God, in order

CHAP. VIII.] REGENERATION. 151
that he might be the Mediator between God and men, and then
his perfect obedience and his infinite sacrifice, as God-man thus
mediating, constitute the only alternative to the absolute perdi
tion of the whole race of sinners. In the satisfaction which
Christ has rendered, lies the possibility of any escape for us; the
meritorious cause, so far as sinners are concerned, of all that
divine grace ever proposed in their behalf — and manifestly, there
fore, of that without which all else is nugatory, namely, their
new creation. The grand truth of Bevelation considered as gra
cious, is a Saviour for sinners : the grand duty of sinners is to
embrace this Saviour — their grand necessity to partake of the
merits, and so of the benefits of his Bedemption. As for the
elect, they do thus embrace him, and do thus partake of his
merits and of his benefits. All the results both ways, are
summed up in a single divine statement : The first man Adam
was made a living soul : the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy ; the second man
is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also
that are earthy : and as is the heavenly, such are they also that
are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; neither doth corruption in
herit incorruption. It is the life of Christ- — -and it is for the sake
of Christ.1 7. The last point stated is, that in Begeneration the whole
nature of the elect is renewed in the image of Gad. God recon
ciles us to himself by Jesus Christ : therefore, if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature.2 This new creation is the workman
ship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.3 Crucified
with Christ, it is Christ that lives in us ; and the life that we
live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved us, and gave himself for us.4 For being dead, and our life
hid with Christ in God, and Christ himself being our life ; when
he shall appear, then we also shall appear with him in glory.5
Assuredly, this new life must manifest itself by such vital opera
tions as are appropriate to its own renewed nature. But these
manifestations are fruits of that life — -not the very life itself;
graces following Begeneration — not Begeneration itself. It is not
1 1 Cor., xv. 45-50. 3 2 Cor., v. 17, 18. 3 Eph., ii 10.
4 Gal., ii 20. 5 CoL, hi. 3, 4.

152 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
the operations of our nature — it is our nature itself, in its essence,
and of necessity in every element of that essence, and in every
power, faculty, quality, attribute, force of that nature, which has
incurred this new creation. And it is expressly declared, that
when we put off the old man, which is corrupt ; and are renewed
in the spirit of our mind ; and put on the new man ; we put on
that which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holi
ness.1 Benewed by the Holy Ghost, renewed in Christ Jesus, it
is God himself after whose image we are thus renewed. And
thus of all spiritual mysteries, this greatest is amongst the plain
est ; it is our restoration to the image of God ! How it is con
ceivable that such a renovation could occur, except in the manner
pointed out in the Scriptures, I can no more understand, than
I can understand how any one can study the Scriptures and not
see that they clearly teach the reality and the nature of this
renovation ; or how any one can reflect on the whole case as
made out concerning it in the Scriptures, and not perceive that
under that precise state of case, this renovation is not only ab
solutely indispensable in itself, but inevitably certain to occur.
III. — 1. It does not appear to me to be necessary to repeat
here what I have carefully taught in other places, concerning
various matters connected, more or less closely, with the grand
truth I have been considering : much less to enter upon other
questions which, however important they may be supposed to be,
are either necessarily resolved by what I have endeavoured to
settle herein ; or are in their own nature not capable of a precise
and decisive settlement. Two topics, perhaps, from the immense
extent to which they operate, and from the deep interest which
attaches to them, ought not to be wholly overlooked. The first
relates to the actual state of the human soul, at the instant
and in the act of its new creation : the second to the applica
bility of the method of salvation herein disclosed to the souls
of infants. 2. Touching the former topic, having discussed it fully as a
point of objective Knowledge,* little beyond its subjective appli
cation need be said here. The New Birth, of which I have been
treating, is the fourth method by which life is declared to be im
parted to man : the other three are, creation, natural birth, and
the resurrection of the body. This method is illustrated through-
1 Eph., iv. 22-24. * See chapter xxix., First Part of Theology.

CHAP. VIII.] REGENERATION. 153
out the Scriptures, by each of the other three ; and is repeatedly
explained as a New Creation, a New Birth, and a Quickening
from Death. Nothing known to us can be more certain than our
total passivity in our original creation, in our being naturally
begotten and born, and in our resurrection from the dead. If,
therefore, our new creation, birth, quickening,— is appropriately
represented by the old, in the Scriptures ; nothing can be more
idle than to assert that in the new, any active, much less any
efficient part is taken by the soul. Nevertheless, as I have stated
in another place, our passivity in Begeneration is every way
peculiar : not that of the dust of which we were originally made,
nor that of the foetus to be born, nor that of the dust which is to
rise from the dead: but the passivity in the New Creation is that
of a living soul, which passes from spiritual death to spiritual
life, under the almighty power of an Infinite Spirit. And be
sides, as I have shown, the very change involved is the recovery
of the divine image by a fallen spirit, which, however much of
that image it may have lost, retained enough of it, not only to
be susceptible of that very restoration, but to possess the iden
tical nature before and after its fall, and before and after its re
covery. It seems to me, therefore, that it subverts the idea of
the New Creation, taught in the Scriptures, to claim any activity
for the soul, much more any efficiency in its own Begeneration.
At the same time it appears to be of the highest importance, to
bear in mind, that the renovation is absolutely spiritual ; and
that the passivity asserted is that peculiar to a living soul, which
incurs a vital renovation, through the instrumentality of divine
truth, made effectual by the almighty power of a divine agent.
I grant that the weakness of our conceptions, and the poverty of
language, make the articulate utterance of such distinctions less
complete than their importance demands. What I insist on is,
that the first distinction is fundamentally important, and the
second one hardly less so. For the difference between a spiritual
renovation, wholly or even partially spontaneous, and one pro
duced by the work of the Holy Ghost, is total and absolute; and
the difference between a spiritual renovation produced by the
work of the Holy Ghost, with absolute reference to the nature
of the spirit which is the subject thereof, and one produced in
like manner, without any regard to that nature, is immeasurably
great.

154 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
3. Considering what multitudes of the human race die before
they appear to us to have arrived at that maturity of their facul
ties, and that development of their nature, which we judge to be
necessary in order to make them responsible for their conduct as
moral agents ; it becomes a matter of very great importance to
ascertain, if we can, the bearing of any proposed method of sal
vation upon them. Two points may be considered settled beyond
dispute, and fundamental in themselves. First, that from the
moment of our personal existence, we exist as sinners ; and that
whatever is meant by Original Sin is meant of every human
being, as much of one as of another. The second is, that by
whatever way any sinner is saved, all sinners are saved who are
saved at all ; for there is but one God, one Mediator between
God and men, one Spirit, one body, one hope, of one calling, one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Father of all.1 An impenetra
ble veil is thrown across the course of our conscious existence —
beyond which our memory does not penetrate; so that we cannot
know with positiveness, in after life, what were our earliest men
tal and spiritual exercises. But, at the same time, we can recall
nothing, remember nothing, which impeaches, in the slightest
degree, the deep conviction, the absolute certainty of our per
sonal identity, and our continued identical self-conscious exist
ence. If we could pierce that mysterious veil, how many mysteries
of our being might we not hope to see explained ! I am not
able to perceive, in the actual state of knowledge attainable by
us concerning our earliest mental and spiritual exercises, upon
what ground it is that we can question the applicability to an
infant soul, of any part of that glorious work which is allowed
to be applicable to an adult soul. Being a fallen soul, why may
not the work of the Spirit be effectual in it ; and why may it not
be united to Christ, and have communion with him in grace, as
no one doubts it may have communion with him in glory ? To
say it cannot believe in Christ, is to say far more than we know:
and, besides, if this were true, what would follow would be, that
there must be more than one way of salvation, or infants cannot
be saved at all. I have said in a previous chapter, that I know
of no scriptural warrant, when the sum of revealed truth is
taken together, upon which the damnation of infants can be as
serted ; and I have given some reasons for my belief, that the
i Eph., iv. 4-6.

CHAP. VIII.] REGENERATION. 155
assertion is not only gratuitous, but untrue. To speak of elect
infants determines nothing : for unless it could be first proved,
or at least made probable, that some of them perish forever as
infants, it might well be, and probably is, that all of them dying
in infancy are elect. It must indeed be admitted, that the infant
seed of believers stand in a different relation to God from the
infant seed of reprobates ; for whatever can be concluded favour
ably to all infants, concludes as well for the infant seed of be
lievers ; while besides all that, there are additional, repeated,
and distinct testimonies of God, that the infant seed of his peo
ple are the children of the covenant. The special matter here,
however, is simply the applicability to the soul of any infant, of
the infinite Grace of God and of the almighty power of the
Spirit of God, in its supernatural Begeneration, which, it seems
to me, is settled as soon as we admit that an infant is a fallen
human being, capable of being saved at all. We ought to re
member, for our comfort, that Adam's sin cannot be more effect
ual to pollute, than Christ's righteousness is to cleanse ; and
that the resources of divine goodness, and wisdom, and power,
are all infinite. And we ought to avoid, above all folly, the
wresting of the Scriptures, it may be, to our own .destruction, in
absurd attempts to make that which we know with clearness and
certainty, accommodate itself to that concerning which our
knowledge is both limited and obscure.
4. In a matter of such transcendent importance, of which the
Scriptures never lose sight, concerning which no evangelical min
istry is ever silent, which involves the point upon which the destiny
of every fallen human soul turns for all eternity, and the action
upon which the Gospel of salvation is subjectively and irresist
ibly confirmed to man ; it may be excused — if indeed it should
not be thought necessary, to restate, in a brief and clear manner,
the sum of saving knowledge, with relation to it. Thus :
(a) Man, created in the image of God, lost that image by sin
ning against God ; and must be restored to it, or remain for
ever unfit for communion with God, averse to it, and excluded
from it.
(b) In Begeneration, fallen man is restored to the lost image
of God by the divine renovation of his depraved nature.
(c) The human nature which is thus created anew, is the
same human nature which fell : the change which takes place

156 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
therein being wholly spiritual as to its kind, and wholly of the
person in whom it occurs.
(d) This change upon the human nature of the fallen sinner
in whom it personally occurs, is the result of a work of infinite
grace and almighty power ; in which the Holy Ghost is the sole
efficient agent.
(e) The efficient instrumentality whereby this change is
wrought in man, is the Truth of God, made known by him unto
salvation, and made effectual by the Spirit of God ; the change
wrought being in man, and not in the truth, nor in God.
(/) It is in Christ Jesus, Immanuel, the Mediator of the
Covenant of Bedemption, that the whole takes place ; it is in
consequence of his work, on account of his merits, for his sake,
through his truth, by his Spirit, unto his life — that man is Born
Again. (g) It is after God, that our nature is restored ; God himself
is the divine model of the new creation : created originally in
his image, after his likeness, we are really and spiritually restored
thereto in our New Birth.
(h) In this work of divine renovation, man is wholly passive ;
we incur the change ; but that passivity is altogether peculiar,
namely, that of a living soul, which incurs a vital, spiritual res
toration, wrought in a manner wholly regardful of its own abso
lute essence and nature.
(«') It is therefore a sovereign act of God the Creator of man
— God the Saviour of sinners : wherein, through his infinite grace,
not human nature in its totality — nor all human beings — but
those sinful persons of the human race, and those only, who will
inherit eternal life through Jesus Christ, are renewed in the
image of God : and the most remote reason of their individual
Begeneration revealed by God, or conceivable by us, in the free,
special and eternal love of God, which he signifies by calling
them his elect.
5. However any portion of this sublime concatenation of re
vealed truth, may appear to the carnal mind to be repugnant to
all just ideas of God, of man, of sin, and of salvation ; the over
whelming facts remain, that this is what the Scriptures teach —
this is what the Church of God in all ages has been nourished
by — this is what every humble and earnest disciple of Christ pro
fesses to have experienced in his own soul. And it may be as-

CHAP. VIII.] REGENERATION. 157
serted without reserve, that any representation of a spiritual
renovation in man, essentially variant from this, is inconsistent
with human nature, contradictory of human experience, and
irreconcilable with the spiritual system of the universe disclosed
in the Scriptures and confirmed by every thing known by man
concerning God and nature. Nor need we be under the slightest
apprehension that we can, by any statements of ours, exaggerate
the necessity or the reality of this restoration from spiritual death,
or carry too high its eternal effects. It is the distinguishing
truth of the Dispensation of the Holy Ghost — the nearest test of
true religion under the Gospel state of the Messianic Kingdom.
Of all the truths of vital Christianity, this is the one which seems
to be most easily lost sight of by a backslidden church ; the one
which a shallow philosophy shuns and suspects the most ; the
one which ungodly men the most disrelish and disbelieve ; the
one upon which hypocrites most thoroughly make shipwreck.
Who cannot see in all this wonderful array, new proofs of every
element which enters into the general statement concerning this
great doctrine, and of the grand truth to which they all conclude
— and which our divine Saviour sums up with so much empha
sis, Ye must be born again !

OHAPTEE IX.
JUSTIFICATION: WITH ITS NATURE, METHOD, AND EFFECTS.
L 1. The Friend of Sinners. — 2. Our Sins must be Punished in Hell forever, or freely
Pardoned by a gracious God. — 3. Proportion of Divine Faith : Position of Justi
fication therein. — 4. Explanation of its Office in Salvation. — II. 1. Original De
feasance of Satan's claim and power over the Elect. — 2. Consummation of their
Redemption. — 3. Recapitulation of the Work of Christ. — 4. Infallible certainty of
the Justification of God's Elect. — 5. StiU, God must be Just, even in their Justi
fication. — 6. And his Righteousness therein is most conspicuous. — 7. Our Justifi
cation is most Gracious, most Complete — Gratuitous — and Free : with absolute
Reference to our Union with Christ. — 8. The Righteousness of Christ imputed to
us, the Meritorious Cause : the Law of God established. — III. 1. Definition of
Justification by Faith. — 2. It has immediate Reference not to our Nature, but to
our State. — 3. Its Relation to the Covenant of Redemption, and to other Benefits
thereof. — 4. Our Justification is an Act of God : and that Infinitely Gracious. —
5. The practical personal Effects of this Sentence of the Father : the Ground on
which it rests. — 6. What Righteousness of Christ it is which is imputed to the
Penitent Sinner, as the sole ground of his Justification. — 7. The Reality and the
Manner of Receiving this imputed Righteousness, by Faith. — 8. The Doctrines of
Covenant, of Headship, and of Imputation — as they relate to Salvation.
I. — 1. The Son of man is come to save that which is lost.
These are the words of Jesus : the words of him whom they
called in derision, the Friend of Sinners — and whose answer was,
They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick—
I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.1
It is in the complete recognition of our own sinfulness, that we
recognize the need of a Saviour : it is when we perceive the peril
and burden of our sins, that we desire to know how we may be
delivered from them : and the more we are aroused to a sense of
their pollution, their dominion, and their guiltiness, the greater
is the importance -w.e attach to any remedy for them, which pro
mises to be effectual. Any serious consideration of the subject
ought to satisfy us, that the possible results of the case lie in
very narrow limits, and admit of very clear statement. Under
the dominion of that infinitely wise, just, righteous, and Al-
1 Matt, ix. 12, 13 ; xi 19 ; xviii 11.

CHAP. IX.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 159
mighty Buler, who is also infinitely good, gracious, and merciful,
against whom all our offences have been perpetrated ; it is not
possible for us to conceive of more than two general modes in
which the sins of men can be disposed of, one of which modes is,
perhaps, conceivable under several possible aspects. I will state
them briefly.
2. It is certainly very obvious, that unless our sins can be
disposed of in some other satisfactory manner, they may be, and
if we dare trust either the word of God, or our own reason and
conscience, or the common judgment of mankind, they must be
adequately punished. And however we may delude ourselves
into some vain hope, that the adequate punishment of such sins
as ours, against such a Buler as the living and true God — will
neither be great nor lasting ; we ought to be fully aware that
what he means by adequate is immense and eternal ; and to say
the least, there is small wisdom in risking our souls upon the
hope that he will shrink from the execution of that, of which he
has so solemnly warned us. It is indeed conceivable, and that is
the other general possibility, that our sins may be disposed of in
some way satisfactory to God, without his being obliged to pun
ish us for them in hell forever. And this theoretical possibility
has two aspects ; one resting on ourselves and the other on God.
Concerning ourselves, it is no doubt conceivable by fallen man,
in his blindness and depravity, that he can himself make to God
all the satisfaction which such sins as he idly judges his to be,
can require : and this fatal conceit is exhibited in all the super
stition, idolatry, fanaticism, and will-worship — from the worship
of the Devil and the offering of human sacrifices, down to the
worship of insects — which have degraded our race through all
ages. Concerning the divine aspect of the possibility we are con
sidering, it is conceivably twofold. For it is conceivable by man,
in his abounding ignorance of God, and himself, that human
conduct is of so little importance in itself, or is so far indifferent
in the sight of God, that he takes small notice of our sins in this
hfe, and will take less, or no notice of them in any life to come :
and this fatal delusion is the very life of all the practical atheism
which has afflicted mankind under innumerable disguises, ranging
from the highest pretensions of austere virtue and philosophy,
down to the most brutal licentiousness. And in the remaining
aspect of this divine possibility, it is conceivable that God should

160 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
himself, independently of man, make some satisfactory dispo
sition, external to man, of the sins of men — as, for example, he
might pardon them — in consequence of which we need not perish
for them, but might, notwithstanding we had been guilty of
them, still obtain eternal life. It seems to me, that of these four
conceivable alternatives which exhaust the subject, and one or
other of which is, therefore, obliged to be true ; the second one,
which rests on total ignorance of ourselves and of sin, and the
third one, which rests on total ignorance of God, and which to
gether have cursed and degraded the human race, may be dis
missed as soon as we confront them with the word of God, with
an enlightened conscience, or with the havoc they have wrought.
The alternatives which remain, are all that exist, or can exist :
namely — that we must be punished for our sins in hell forever,
or we must receive from a gracious God the free pardon of them
all. It is one chief object of the Scriptures to reveal to man this
last alternative. It is one great end of all the means of grace to
press it upon his attention. It is this free pardon of all our sins
which is the first of the benefits embraced under the term Justi
fication, which has a meaning as precise in Christian Theology,
and as decisive of the whole scope of that greatest of all sciences,
as it is possible to imagine any term, in any science, can have.
3. Let me state succinctly the proportion of faith, and then
locate precisely, the great doctrine of which I am now to treat.
God the Creator never designed to deal in the same manner with
fallen angels and fallen men : nor did God the Saviour — man
being fallen — ever design to deal with the whole fallen race of
human beings alike — whether that race be considered totally, or
by peoples, or by nations, or by families, or by individuals — and
whether God's dealings be considered temporal or spiritual, provi
dential or gracious. On the other hand, it was always the pur
pose of God's infinite grace, not to permit the whole race to perish
in its sins ; but to save from amongst the sinners of that race, a
people for his name, a seed to serve him, a kingdom through
which the glory of his infinite being and perfections should be
made illustrious, by means of their restoration and blessedness,
to all eternity. These, the Scriptures call the Elect of God. The
immediate object of the Covenant of Grace was their Bedemp
tion : and in that covenant they were given by the Father to the
Son, who was to become incarnate for them, and as the Mediator

CHAP. IX.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 161
of that covenant redeem them by the sacrifice of himself: it
being the part of the Holy Ghost to create them anew, and sanc
tify them wholly. In this work of the Spirit applying to the
Elect the benefits of that covenant, they are united to Christ in
their Effectual Calling, by being Born Again, and are thus made
partakers of his life : and thus united to him as their covenant
Saviour, they have communion with him through the divine Spirit;
in which communion with Christ, they partake of all that he in
his whole Mediatorial work, has merited and purchased. They
are, therefore, effectually called ; in the process of that Effectual
Calling, they are Begenerated ; being Begenerated they are Jus
tified — which is the point at which we are now arrived. It may
be added, and will be shown fully in its proper place, that be
sides being Begenerated and Justified, we will be Adopted as
sons and heirs of God, will be sanctified through the Holy Ghost,
and will be glorified with Christ forever !
4. Now it has been clearly pointed out that the two things
which separate between us and God, have both of them direct
relation to sin, which is that accursed thing which God hates,
and which he cannot look upon with the least allowance. The
first of these is our depraved nature, which must be renewed ;
the necessity of which renewal, and the nature and author of it,
are declared thousands of times in the Scriptures; are specifically
held forth in the first sacrament of the Covenant of Bedemption;
and have been explicated at large in the preceding chapter, when
treating of Begeneration. The second obstacle to any reconcilia
tion between God and sinful men, lies in the offences which they
have actually committed. It never entered into the mind of God,
to save a sinner in his sins, nor to pardon his sins while he is still
the enemy of God ; and it is wholly idle to talk about the justi
fication of impenitent, unbelieving, unregenerate men. Nor is
there the least necessity for any obscurity or perplexity, by con
founding Begeneration, Sanctification, or any work or grace of
God relating to our inner life, with his sentence of Justification,
which relates to our acts and our estate, and which is unalterably
and invariably founded upon the certainty of our previous inter
nal change ; previous, I mean, of course, in the order of thought,
for in reality they never are, nor can be separated. It is of our
actual sins, all of them, and in their widest sense, and of our
persons and services, and of our title to eternal life, considering
VOL. n. 11

162 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
us as being actually born again, that this divine act, this sentence
of God which we call justification, completely and irreversibly
disposes. It is this which the word of God perpetually holds up
before the followers of Christ : it is this which the second sacra
ment of the Covenant of Bedemption exhibits to us in the sym
bols of the broken body and shed blood of the Son of God : and
this is the special subject of our present enquiry. Whom God
did predestinate, says the Apostle Paul, that is whomsoever he
did by his free and immutable counsel, purpose, and decree,
choose to grace and glory, them he also called : that is, he did
by his word and Spirit, invite and draw them from a state of
sin and misery, to a state of grace and salvation, and did for
Christ's sake, and by Christ's Spirit regenerate their souls, and
unite them to Christ by Faith. And the Apostle adds, Whom
he called, them he also justified ; that is, being born again of
the Spirit, and united to Christ by Faith, God discharged and
acquitted them — both from the guilt and punishment of sin, and
declared their persons and their services to be acceptable in his
sight, and pronounced them to have an indefeasible title to eter
nal life : the whole of which sentence was founded absolutely
upon the merits of Christ imputed to them by God, and received
by them through Faith in Christ. What is further declared by
the Apostle concerning their glorification, — that is, their posses
sion and fruition of the inheritance thus decreed to them by a
title so transcendent, under a sentence so sublime, will be care
fully considered hereafter in its proper place.1
II. — 1. Let us recollect what has been repeated so often, and
what is full of such important consequences, namely, that the
first promulgation of divine mercy for man was made in the sen
tence of God upon Satan, for his seduction and ruin of man.
In that sentence God broke the dominion of the implacable
murderer and liar ; and made utterly void all right which he had
acquired over the eleet, by the Fall of man. In the eternal
Covenant of Bedemption, they were parties in interest, and were
so far parties in form, that the Son of God, who was to take their
nature, represented them as their covenant head therein. And
what should be the first utterance of the fact, that there was a
divine Bedeemer, if not the declaration of his triumph, of the
overthrow of Satan, and of the deliverance of the redeemed who
1 Rom., viii. 29, 30.

CHAP. IX.] JUSTIFICATION BI FAITH. 163
were his brethren ? But God went farther still ; for he not only
declared the release of all the members of the mystical body of
Christ, from the dominion of Satan ; but he declared them, in
their head, to be the enemies and conquerors of Satan. Standing
where we stand, with the whole word of God in our hands, and the
total development of his providence and his grace under our eyes;
it is impossible for us to avoid seeing that all this is involved in
the first Gospel promise.1 Seeing, then, from the very beginning,
the open declaration by God of his determinate counsel and pur
pose to deliver the heirs of eternal life through the Mediator, from
the condemnation of the Devil ; it would be strange indeed,
after Christ has actually redeemed them with his most precious
blood, and destroyed him who had the power of death, that they
should go all their lifetime under the bondage of corruption.2
2. And however great may be the dominion of sin, and how
ever certain its condemnation ; and however clearly and fully the
Law of God may assert both ; and however earnestly that Law
may demand sentence and execution against us ; and however
impossible it may be to deny, to silence, or even to extenuate
the accusations brought against us by Satan ; the refuge which
is set before us in Christ Jesus, is sufficient and complete. Has
not God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh ? Is not the righteousness of the law
thus fulfilled in us ? Has not sin received an adequate condem
nation ? Is not the law content with its own righteousness ren
dered to perfection, and its own penalty and curse fully borne ?
Is not Christ the end of the law itself for righteousness, to every
one that believeth ?3 How then can there be any condemnation
to Christ's brethren, which are in Christ Jesus ?4 There is the
cross of Christ — and there is Christ himself, at the right hand of
the majesty on high, in our nature, exalted to be a prince and a
Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins.6
Let sin, and the law, and death, and hell, bring something
against his ability to save — something against his willingness to
save : or let them be dumb when God would justify us for
Christ's sake. Do they admit Jesus and the resurrection ? Then,
the law, which is the strength of sin, and sin, which is the sting
of death, and the Devil, who has the power of death, ought all
1 Gen., iii. 14, 15. » Rom., viii. 15-21 ; Heb., ii 14, 15. 3 Rom., x. 4.
4 Rom., viii. 1-4. « Acts, v. 31.

164 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
to know, that God has given us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.1 For was he not declared to be the Son of God
with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrec
tion from the dead ?'' And is it not positively certain, and so
plainly declared, that unless his sacrifice of himself for us had
been accepted of God, he never would have risen from the dead ?
And so the resurrection of Jesus is an incontestable proof that he
was delivered for our offences, and that we are justified through
his blood !3
3. It is impossible for us to exaggerate the greatness, and the
completeness of that which Christ does for us, with reference to
our Justification, and to what is involved therein. In the very
act of his incarnation, and the manner thereof, he laid the only
foundation that could be laid, whereby the original depravity of
the elect might be healed, and their want of original righteous
ness might be supplied. For being conceived by the Holy Ghost
in the womb of a virgin, he was himself absolutely pure, and re
plenished without measure with original righteousness : over
whelming facts, whose force we habitually overlook. And his
person being thus constituted Immanuel, and his work as Me
diator of that covenant in which he was the surety of the elect
being fully entered upon ; in all his offices of Prophet, Priest,
and King, and in both his estates of humiliation and exaltation ;
but most especially in every part of his priestly office, and in his
estate of Humiliation ; he performed, point by point, every thing
requisite to bring around the precise and glorious result, that
God might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in
Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood.4 Emptying himself, and humbling himself, he has
in our nature and in our stead, satisfied divine justice and every
requirement of the law of God, by his perfect obedience, and by
enduring the curse and penalty of that law, by the sacrifice of
himself, and by the manner thereof : in all things, by the infi
nite dignity of his person, giving infinite value to his work. He
has abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light,
by the Gospel : he has cast out the prince of this world, that is
Satan— leading captivity captive, and openly triumphing over
him : and he is now seated at the right hand of the majesty on
1 1 Cor., xv. 56, 57. 3 Rom., i. 4.
8 Rom., iv. 25 ; 1 Cor., xv. 17 ; 1 Peter, i. 21. 4 Rom., hi. 25, 26.

CHAP. IX.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 165
high — whence he will come to judge the world in righteousness,
and to give to his saints the kingdom prepared for them from the
foundation of the world !
4. Supposing God to have any elect — supposing them to be
united with Christ by Faith in his name — supposing them to be
so closely united with him as to be his body1 — nay, to be one
Spirit with him :2 how is it conceivable that in such a state of
case, God will not openly declare their sins to be all blotted out
— their persons and their services to be acceptable to him P And
who could object when he even declares them to be sons, heirs
of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ ? The Father, who is
in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto himself — not imputing
their trespasses unto them — will he not believe the testimony of
the Holy Ghost who has himself renewed these elect souls ?
Will he reject the plea of his eternal Son, who has taken their
nature, and who, besides being the surety and the Bedeemer, is
the Advocate of these elect souls — the very souls whom the
Father loved with a love so special, that he spared not that very
Son, but freely delivered him up for them ? Surely if the Church
of the living God is ever warranted in asserting with unanimous
consent any truth under heaven, it is warranted in teaching all
its children to say, I believe im, the forgiveness of sins ? Surely
that Church knows, that no duty was ever more solemnly enjoined
on it by Christ, than that repentance and remission of sins
through his blood, should be preached in his name, among all
nations.3 5. Still, however, we are warned by God that he must not
only be just when he justifies even those who believe in Jesus ;
but there must be an open declaration of the divine righteous
ness therein.4 We are to set it down as absolutely certain, that
so far from being saved in sin, we cannot be saved at all without
possessing a righteousness which will satisfy the perfect law of
an infinitely holy God. The immaculate truth, the adorable
justice, the infinite rectitude — nay, the very nature of God, and
of man also, renders the salvation of a sinner impossible on any
other condition. What do we gain, then, by covering and deny
ing the guilt of sin, thereby striving to make an inadequate
righteousness suffice ? Let every mouth be stopped, and all the
1 1 Cor, xii 13-27. ! 1 Cor., vi 17.
8 Luke, xxiv. 47 ; Matt, xxvi 28. 4 Rom., iii. 24-26.

166 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
world become guilty before God : for by the deeds of the law
shall no flesh be justified in his sight : for by the law is the
knowledge of sin : and all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God.1 Nor does human experience make any thing
more certain, nor the word of God more distinctly declare any
thing, than that the natural depravity of all men is far more
dreadful than they habitually suppose, and that when left to
work itself out freely, its fruits are wholly abominable.2
6. But in the justification of a renewed sinner through faith
in Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God is most conspicuously
set forth : for the very ground of God's sentence justifying him
is a righteousness bestowed upon him, on account of his union
with Christ, which is not only perfect, but divine : a righteous
ness, as will be shown immediately — which is made ours, not by
deeds of righteousness which we have done, but by the grace of
God, through the Bedemption that is in Christ Jesus. For God
makes his righteousness in the remission of sins, as palpable to
the universe, as his grace is, by delivering up his only begotten
Son to be a sacrifice in the place of those whose sins he remits.3
And that for which God thus delivered up his Son, was our Be
demption :4 it was a propitiation for us, and for remission of sins
unto us :6 was unto God's justification of us : and to give us
such a victory over sin, that to all eternity nothing should be
able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord." And by means of this work of Christ we ourselves
are made partakers of the righteousness of God :7 and are in
vested with that- divine righteousness :8 and are not only free
from condemnation, but even the law itself acknowledges that its
righteousness is fulfilled in us.9 This divine righteousness be
comes ours through faith in Christ crucified, and is the portion
of all them that believe : for there is no difference.10 For by
faith we are in Christ Jesus : and being in him we are justified
freely by his grace, through the Bedemption that is in Christ
Jesus.11 In whom also, after that we believed, we were sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise.12
1 Rom., iii. 19, 20, 23. 2 Rom, i 21-32 ; ii 9-18.
3 Rom., hi. 21, 25 ; viii. 32. 4 Rom., iii 24. 5 R0m., iii. 25.
B Rom., viii. 37-39. * 1 Cor., i. 30. » PhU. hi 9.
s Rom, viii. 1-4. 10 Rom., hi. 22. « Rom, iii 24; viii. 1.
13 Eph, i. 13.

CHAP. IX. J JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 167
7. In the justification of sinners, the question of their union
with Christ is a foregone matter, which, if it were disputable,
would render all access to God for that purpose impossible. Nor
is there any question about the sufficiency of their own works as
any part of the ground of their Justification- — -for that question
lies even deeper against them than the other : the very concep
tion of salvation, and a Saviour, involving the conception of our
guilt, and the gratuitousness of our whole deliverance. For even
supposing we could do any thing to mitigate the severe justice
of our condemnation, or to exculpate ourselves wholly from a
large part of it, all of which is absurd : still, so much condemna
tion as was left, must be fatal to us, or it must be remitted by
the grace of God : and then even if no condemnation remained,
the question of our title to eternal life, would be left just where
it would have been if there had never been any Saviour : for it is
one thing to allow us to escape hell, and quite another thing to
give us a crown of glory. The question is never between merit
and grace : it is always, as to us, between grace and works. As
to any merit in our works, even the infinite grace of God cannot
allow us to proceed upon a supposition, which God cannot admit
without doing violence to his whole nature and character. As
to the merits of Christ, they are infinite ; and as soon as they are
brought to view, the grace of God has boundless room for exercise,
and then both the Spirit and the Bride may say, Whosoever
will — let him come.1 The moment we deny that Faith in Christ
crucified is the indispensable condition of our Justification by
God, we subvert the whole plan of salvation, render the blood
of Christ nugatory, and make our pardon and our title to eternal
life irrespective of any new creation. But the moment we admit
that Faith in Christ crucified is the indispensable condition of
our Justification, we admit also our new creation : for Faith in
Christ is a grace of the Spirit, and its exercise is a vital a,ct of
the renewed soul. And then it immediately follows, that as soon
as our justification is thus connected with the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, it is, on the part of God, absolutely gracious,
and as to us perfectly free, that is, exclusive of any merit in us.2
So clear is this, that God tells us, that no promise of his that is
gracious is capable of being received by us, except through faith:
and the blessedness of those to whom God will not impute sin, is
1 Rev, xxii 17. a Rom, iii 24.

168 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
therefore of Faith, that it might be of grace.1 And to make the
case complete, we are told, and are told at the same time that it
ought to put an end to all boasting; that we are not saved by our
works, but that we are saved by the grace of God, through faith;
and that even this is not of ourselves, for the faith itself is the
gift of God.2
81. The complete righteousness, therefore, on account of which
God justifies us graciously, freely, and justly, is not the right
eousness of our works, that is, the righteousness of the law ; nor
is it any righteousness of our own of any sort whatever — except
as it becomes ours by being imputed to us by God, and re
ceived by Faith, as we shall see presently ; but it is wholly and
really the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ our Lord, which
is made ours through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of
God which is by Faith, even that righteousness unto which man
believeth with the heart !3 Yet this righteousness is so imputed
to us by God for our Justification, and is so received by us through
Faith in Christ, that, so far from making the law of God void
through Faith, which indeed would be a fatal objection, we estab
lish the law by Faith.4 We establish it by our fellowship through
Faith, with him who is our head and Lord, and who alone — and
we in him — ever perfectly obeyed and magnified that law : and
who then, and we in him, endured its curse and penalty. We
establish it by making it, in all its fulness, the absolute rule
of the faith and obedience of our renewed souls. We es
tablish it, in that it was itself the means in the hands of the
Holy Ghost, who is the author alike of it and of our new life,
unto all the grace and all the glory of which we can partake with
Christ. Nay, it is- the new creature alone, that either desires or is
able, to keep the law of God : and it is only when in Christ Jesus
he is delivered from all condemnation, and walks not after the
flesh but after the Spirit, that the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus sets him free from the law of sin and death.5
III. — 1. In the common judgment of the true Church of God
in all ages, this great doctrine of gratuitous Justification, through
faith, on account of the imputed righteousness of Christ, is not
only one of the most capital and distinguishing points of the
Christian religion ; but it is one of those test doctrines which so
i Rom, iv. 16. * Eph, ii. 8, 9. s PhU, iii 8, 9 ; Rom, x. 10.
4 Rom, hi. 31. 5 Rom, viii. 1, 2.

CHAP. IX.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 169
involve, implicitly or explicitly, the whole system to which they
appertain, that whether as a science or as a rule of life, the sys
tem is absolutely determinable by them. No complete and sys
tematic expression can be given to the scriptural conception
which Christians signify by this term, without furnishing therein
the means of determining the faith and life of all who profess
Christianity : nor can a precise and complete definition of the
term itself be framed, which will not thoroughly and fundamen
tally involve the grand truths of the plan of salvation. Under
these impressions, and as the result of all I have advanced, I de
fine Justification to be one of the benefits of the Covenant of
Bedemption, being a most gracious act of God, wherein he sets
the Elect free from sin and death, accepts their persons and ser
vices as righteous in his sight, and declares their full right to
eternal life — all and solely for the sake of the righteousness of
Jesus Christ, the Mediator between God and man, which is im
puted to them by God, and received by them through Faith alone.
I will briefly explain the parts of this definition in succession ;
avoiding, as far as possible, the repetition of what I have already
advanced. 2. I will not enter into scholastic discussions, or turn aside
from the pursuit of positive truth, for any speculation. They
who need or desire such things — whose importance I do not ques
tion — will find them in abundance. It is enough to say that in
discussing most of the benefits of the Covenant of Bedemption,
that which we contemplate in ourselves, is their influence upon
our nature ; while, with regard to Justification, that which we
contemplate in ourselves, is its effects upon our relations — and
these relations are fundamentally those which we bear to God
considered absolutely, or to one or other of the persons of the
Godhead. And nothing is farther from my intention than to
teach, that God will ever approve any thing sinful either in our
nature or our acts ; or will ever say or do any thing which will
imply that we have not been sinners exceedingly in his sight, or
that he ever looked upon sin with any thing but abhorrence.
Still it is not any inherent righteousness which is immediately
considered as in us, in our Justification — which, if that were the
case, would render our Justification impossible : while, never
theless, such inherent unrighteousness as appertains to us in our
unregenerate state, puts our case beyond the reach of further en-

170 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
quiry, and therefore, indirectly, the fact of our renewal by the
Holy Ghost is decisive. But the specific righteousness imme
diately considered, is, as to us, an outward righteousness, of which
the judge and the law take cognizance. There is no objection,
therefore, to calling the proceeding forensic, in accommodation
to our weakness ; for in reality what God does in our Justifica
tion is judicial — it is a divine, irreversible sentence, decreeing
pardon and eternal life to the believing soul, for the sake of
Christ crucified.
3. I have proved, in various places, that our union and com
munion with Christ, result from the application to us, by the
Holy Ghost, of the benefits of the Covenant of Bedemption :
that the whole work of God in our Effectual Calling is designed
to put us in possession of the grace and the glory resulting under
that covenant, from that union and communion with Christ : and
that regeneration is one of the chief of those benefits, and di
rectly involved in our Effectual Calling. It follows too clearly
to need a detailed proof, that if by our communion with Christ,
we participate in the benefits of that covenant, and are justified
for his sake, then that justification is a benefit of that covenant :
which follows in like manner from the nature of our Effectual
Calling — and its connection with Christ and the covenant on one
side, and with Justification on the other side : and which follows
again, on like grounds, with reference to regeneration. Being a
benefit of the Covenant of Grace, it is obliged to be, in its own
nature, essentially gracious. But since those whom God pre
destinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, them he
also called ; and whom he called, them he also justified ; and
whom he justified, them he also glorified :' it is apparent that
Begeneration, Justification, and Glorification — are indissolubly
united to each other — and that all appertain by the Covenant of
Bedemption, to all who are conformed to the Lord Jesus — that
is to the elect. Nor is it possible to see how God could contem
plate a sinner as justified, without contemplating him as Effect
ually Called, and Begenerate ; nor to see how he could annul
his sentence of Justification, without annulling every thing back
to his eternal covenant, and then annulling it.
4. That which God does in our Justification, is a most gra
cious act on his part. It is an act performed towards us and
- Rom, viii. 30.

CHAP. IX.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 171
concerning us by God, not a work wrought in us by God : and
on the other han.d it is really a divine act, as distinguished from
a divine statement, persuasion, influence, or any thing of the
sort. I, even I, saith God, am he that blotteth out thy trans
gressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins ; I
have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a
cloud thy sins : return unto me ; for I have redeemed thee.
Sing, 0 ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it.1 And from this
act flows every blessing to us, which follows it in the definition I
have given. As between the Father and the Son, this act of
God towards us, is not gracious : for the Son had paid for us the
deepest price this world ever heard of, namely, his most precious
blood. But, as between God and our souls, it is infinitely gra
cious, alike in itself, in all that led to it, and in all that flows
from it. For God himself first provided his only begotten Son
as our surety, then for our sakes spared him not, but imputed
our sins to him, then accepted his satisfaction in place of our
destruction, then imputed to us for our Justification that right
eousness of his Son, thus wrought out, requiring of us nothing
but that we accept by Faith in his Son, the righteousness so im
puted to us, and crowning all by himself giving us the Faith.2
Let us add to this, the fact of our own utter worthlessness and
vileness, in the sight of God, and the conception, as far as we
can form it truly, of the height of glory and felicity to which
God will bring us ; and then deny, if we can, the grace of God
in our Justification !
5. It is in this gracious act, and at the moment of this union
with Christ, that the elect are set free. This truth I have ex
plained in detail iu its objective aspect, in the Thirty-Third
Chapter of the First Part of Theology. We now see precisely
its subjective position and force. Set free by our new creation,
from the dominion, and pollution, and power of Satan, and
sin, and death ; we are set free from their condemnation, and
punishment, and terror in our Justification : restored to the
image of God, we are also restored also to his favour. This is the
personal, practical result, in each individual case. The sentence
of God pronounced on Satan at the fall of man, was a general
deliverance of the mystical body of Christ : the sentence of the
Father, pronounced at the resurrection of Christ, was a procla-
1 Isaiah, xliii. 25 ; xliv. 22, 23. ' Rom, hi. 22-25 ; Isaiah, liii passim.

172 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
mation that full satisfaction had been made and accepted for
every one whose general deliverance had been proclaimed from
the beginning : his sentence pronounced at the moment of the
union with Christ of each member of that mystical body, is the
individual deliverance of each one of them : and the sentence
pronounced by the Son in the great day, is the personal glorifi
cation of each one : and then the kingdom is delivered up, on the
Lamb's Book of Life ! It is the third sentence — even our per
sonal Justification, which now immediately concerns us. Ad
judged to be delivered from the condemnation, and from the
dominion of sin — though destitute of any proper righteousness
inherently our own — there is ground enough in him who is our
head and Lord, to support the sentence.1 The sacrifice of Christ
is sufficient to justify the deliverance of all who are united to
him, from all obnoxiousness even to eternal death, much more
to any lighter punishment for sin. Benewed by the Holy Ghost,
their original pollution may righteously be pardoned, and they
may be presented as unpolluted before God, on account of the
immaculate purity of Christ's human nature, and the infinite
worth imparted to it, in his person. And the perfect obedience
of the whole life of Christ, is ground enough on which to decree
to all who have communion with him, a participation in his eter
nal life. Not only, therefore, are our sins pardoned, but as I have
defined, our persons and our services are declared to be accepted
by God, and we ourselves are decreed to be entitled, through
Jesus Christ, to an eternal participation in God's Love and
Glory.2 As to the work of Sanctification which follows Justifi
cation, and the work of Begeneration, which in the order of
thought precedes it, and which is necessarily taken for granted
in it, all that is asserted of either herein, is incidental : but nev
ertheless, both are so involved in the case, that unless they are
taken for granted, the case breaks down of itself, at each suc
cessive step. The sentence of God, that, for Christ's sake, we
are accepted of him — and that, for Christ's sake, we are entitled
to eternal ife ; is not only distinguishable, but is obliged to be
distinguished, from the work of God uniting us to Christ, and
the work of God fitting us for eternal life. But the act of God
in one part of the case, cannot be explicated out of its insepa
rable connection with the work of God in the other parts of the
: Phil, hi. 9. 2 Rom, viii. 28-39; 1 Cor, i. 26-30; Phil, iii. 8-12, 20 21.

CHAP. IX.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 173
case, because, in point of fact, it cannot be truly explicated as
occurring in a way in which it did not occur at all. In full view
and perfect knowledge of the whole case, from beginning to end,
in all its parts, and all its relations ; the well-considered, final,
and irreversible sentence of God the Father is, that this elect
sinner being found united to Chriet by Faith, is, for Christ's
sake, entitled under the Covenant of Bedemption to pardon, ac
ceptance, and eternal life. And it is so decreed : and in its form
and in its substance, this is Justification through Faith.
6. The matter of our Justification, that is, the meritorious
cause of it, is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this has been so often pointed out, and so variously proved, that
I content myself with merely adding here somewhat in addition,
without repeating what has already been shown. That right
eousness of Christ, which is the meritorious cause of our Justifi
cation, is not the essential, eternal, incommunicable righteousness
of his essence, considered as he is merely God : for that is one of
the attributes of the Godhead. But the righteousness of which
we are made partakers, is the righteousness of his person consid
ered as made up of the divine nature united to the human in its
sinless state.1 The righteousness of the perfect obedience of
this person, Christ, thus constituted, to the whole law of God :2
and the righteousness of the perfect satisfaction rendered by
him to divine justice :3 the whole of which was done and suf
fered for us in our nature and in our stead.4 Here is righteous
ness, answerable to our natural unrighteousness ; answerable to
our unrighteousness towards the precepts of the law, broken
continually by us ; and answerable to our unrighteousness to
wards the penalty and curse of the law, both of which, as trans
gressors, we underlie. It will be observed how completely all
this depends on the Person of the Saviour as Immanuel ; upon
his office as Mediator between God and men, and especially upon
the priestly work thereof ; and upon the covenant of which he
was the Mediator. Now the point is to possess ourselves of this
righteousness of Christ. There are two aspects in which this is
possible — is real. In one aspect, a righteousness like that of
Christ is wrought in us — nay, we are made partakers of his
nature and his life. This is the product of Effectual Calling,
Begeneration, Sanctification, and Glorification. In the other
i Heb, vii. 26. 2 Matt, iii. 15. 3 1 Peter, ii. 24. 4 2 Cor, v. 14-21.

174 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
aspect, the very righteousness of Christ himself is set over to our
account by God, as if we had actually wrought it out ourselves
in every particular. It is imputed by God to his elect, through
sovereign grace ; it was brought in and wrought out, by Christ,
as their covenant head, for them : it was so stipulated in the
Covenant of Bedemption, and it is practically and exactly so
done. Because it is, the elect are, for Christ's sake, and because
Christ became incarnate for them, obeyed for them, died for
them, and rose again for them ; regenerated and sanctified by
the Holy Ghost, being by him and through his work, made both
willing and able, both fit and inclined, for participation with
Christ in grace and in glory. Now the first and most constant
expression on their part, of the reality of these things in them, is
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, of which more will be said imme
diately. But upon the instant of their vital union with Christ
being manifested by faith in him ; then they are competent to
receive by faith this righteousness of Christ as the ground of
their Justification before God ; and then God most graciously,
most freely, most justly, most righteously, imputes that right
eousness to them. They, by faith, accept it, receive it, rely on
it, trust to it. That righteousness, thus imputed, thus received,
is the sole ground of the justification of sinners, revealed by God
to man.1 Upon the data stated in the Scriptures, it is not con
ceivable that the Justification should fail to occur, or fail of its
effects. Upon any other data ever yet stated or conceivable by
man, it is apparently demonstrable that it could not occur — and
that the alleged effects could not follow. It seems to me, that
when we have reached the highest form of scientific truth, and
find our conclusions accord with an overwhelming experience, and
conform to the whole sum of divine testimony ; we have obtained
a result on which we may calmly repose, even when the hazard
is the soul itself.
7. When we say that the righteousness of Christ imputed to
us by God is received by us, we necessarily imply that something
is done by us responsive to the sovereign and gracious act of God;
we receive and rely upon the divine righteousness thus imputed
to us ; we accept the divine sentence which justifies us for the
sake of that righteousness. When we add that it is by faith
alone that we receive the righteousness of Christ imputed to us
1 Jer, xxii. 6 ; Rom, iii. 22-28 ; iv. 5-8 ; v. 17, 18 ; 2 Cor, v. 19-21 ; Titus, iii. 5-7.

CHAP. IX.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 175
by God, we necessarily imply that what is done by us responsive
to the sovereign and gracious act of God, is the act of a renewed
soul ; because nothing is more certain than that faith is one of
the graces of the Spirit, and that its exercise by us is the first
and most constant proof of our new creation. But every one of
these is a decisive fact; and the whole put together make a case,
incapable of being solved except in the way which the definition
I have framed sums up. By some internal spiritual process or
other, the righteousness of Christ must be received by us ; or
salvation must be purely physical, purely formal, purely of force,
purely an incantation, or something of some sort absolutely non-
spiritual — and therefore absolutely nugatory as to our soul.
But there is no conceivable way, internal and spiritual, by which
the human soul can receive the righteousness of Christ, imputed
to it by God ; except by apprehending it, accepting it, resting on
it, and appropriating it. But simply and exactly, this is Justi
fying Faith. Besides, there is in this act of the soul, that which
the soul is wholly incapable of doing in its unrenewed state ;
and that whether what is done be considered in its relation to
God, or to the Mediator, or to divine truth, or to depraved human
nature. For as long as it is with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness, the heart remaining in its desperate wickedness,
and its surpassing deceitfulness, neither will nor can so believe ;
and this is the constant testimony of God and of the human
soul. This Justifying Faith, therefore, is the immediate and
universal proof that the soul is united to Christ by a new birth;
and if so, there is but this alternative possible, namely, that the
righteousness of Christ, to which every renewed soul united to
him has a gracious but an indefeasible title, under the Covenant
of Bedemption, sealed with the blood of Christ, must be imputed
to it ; or the whole fabric of scriptural salvation is a pure illu
sion, which vanishes as soon as the first earnest soul puts it to
the test. Still further, it is apparent that nothing in the act of
faith itself, receiving the imputed righteousness of Christ, or in
him who performs that act ; is any part of the righteousness of
Christ thus imputed : wherefore it is wholly absurd to say, that
they, or either of them, are any part of the meritorious cause of
that Justification, of which it has been abundantly proved that
the imputed righteousness of Christ is the sole meritorious cause,
either actual or conceivable. The act of believing, or the soul

176 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II,
that believes, may or may not be meritorious, in some sense or
other : it is merely idle to move that enquiry in this relation.
For justifying Faith is the mere vital evidence of our union with
Christ, and so of the fitness, for Christ's sake, of the imputation
of his righteousness ; the mere instrument by which we are
united to Christ, and by which, in consequence of our union and
communion with Christ, we receive this, and every other benefit
of the Covenant of Bedemption. And so, as the Apostle Paul
has explained all in one sentence, Christ crucified is unto them
which are called, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom
of God.1 8. No aspect of the spiritual system of the sacred Scriptures
is more striking and characteristic, than that which developes their
conception and statement of covenant, of Headship, and of im
putation, of which I have now spoken so much. These doctrines
stand or fall together ; and the plan of salvation is simple and
precise, if we will accept these grand and controlling ideas of
God, in the manner and in the proportion in which he has dif
fused them through all other revealed truths. If any thing is
indispensable to the salvation of sinners, surely the pardon of
their sins is : and if any true saying of God is worthy of all ac
ceptation, surely that one is, which declares that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, with the chief of whom it were well
if we could feel more keenly that we might justly class ourselves.
But, how a sinner can be pardoned and saved unless his sins
were imputed to Christ, and the righteousness of Christ imputed
to him ; the Scriptures do not tell us, nor is man able to con
ceive. And how our sins could be imputed to Christ, or his
righteousness could be imputed to us, unless he should take our
nature, and take our place, and so become our Federal head, in
the whole matter of our salvation ; none ever knew, ever dis
closed. And that one of the three Persons of the Adorable
Godhead, should become incarnate as the Federal head of all
saved sinners, and as the Mediator between God and men, should
do and suffer, what Christ has done and suffered, involving at
' JO
every step the glory of God, and the fate of God's created uni
verse, and the destiny of God's rational creatures ; and yet so
far from doing this by covenant, that both the other persons
of the Godhead should be idle and unconcerned spectators of
' 1 Cor, i. 23, 24.

CHAP. IX.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 177
prodigies so awful and so decisive, is hardly less insupportable,
than the escape of such monstrous suggestions, by the perdition
of every sinner that exists ! Why should we resort to such fatal
absurdities ? Why need we seek to pervert the word of God ?
The Covenant of Bedemption, the Headship of the Son of God,
the doctrine of Imputation — these sublime truths with which the
Scriptures are replenished, reduce the whole doctrine of Salva
tion, as a part of the spiritual system of the universe, to a form
as distinct and coherent as the most positive truth is capable of
assuming. And in this form, salvation, become a sublime science,
is only purged from human folly, to run in its own strength its
own career. To all penitent and all believing souls, the light,
and the life, and the joy, and the peace that passeth all under
standing ! To all justified souls, the outward demonstration of
the reality and the completeness of their Bedemption, and the
inward means of a sweet sense, a comforting assurance, an un
shaken confidence, that their sins are pardoned, and that they
shall see God's face in peace ! To all suffering and tried souls,
an inexpressible comfort, founded on the completeness of God's
love, and of the proof of it, that he is not punishing but is purg
ing them for the coming glory, and that all things work to
gether for their good ! To all doubting and troubled souls, a
refuge like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land — a re
freshment for which they long even as the hart panteth for the
water brooks ! Let all the waves and all the billows go over us,
and let deep call unto deep exulting over us ! God hath depths
still more awful than their depths, from the deepest of which
this voice of his love comes to us ever more — God hath the water
of the river of eternal life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the
throne of God and of the Lamb !
VOL. II. 12

CHAPTER X.
ADOPTION: ITS GROUNDS, NATURE, AND FRUITS.
I. 1. Analogy between the treatment of the Divine Attributes, and the Graces of tho
Spirit. — 2. Diversities of the treatment of both subjects: and the Effect. —
3. Treatment of the latter subject by the Apostle Paul — 4. His method adopted,
and apphed. — II. 1. Scriptural account of our Adoption, -as Sons of God. — 2. The
Act of Adoption is by the Father, for the sake and upon the Designation of
Christ, in behalf of those who have been Regenerated by the Spirit, and Justified
by the Father. — 3. Relation of Adoption both to the outward Acts and inward
Work of God, in our Salvation. — 4. Adoption defined : Portions of the Definition
which have been explained sufficiently : Portions which require further explana
tion. — III. 1. By Adoption as Sons of God our Relations to Sin are changed. —
2. Our Relations to the Law of God are changed. — 3. Our Relations to all Earthly
Things, and to God's Providence over them and us, are changed. — 4. The Rela
tions of our inner life to God are changed. — IV. 1. Our Heirship. — 2. Heirs of all
the Promises. — 3. Heirs of God and Joint Heirs with Christ. — 4. As such, we
have an indefeasible Title to the whole world : that is to the Work and Glory of
God as Creator. — 5. And constitute the kingdom of God : inheriting the Work
and Glory of God as Saviour. — 6. And God has given himself to us, as our Crown
ing Inheritance. — V. 1. Particular Truths : Proportion of Faith : Spiritual Insight
— 2. The Lot of each Heir : the Crown of each : the Positive Consideration of
the New Creature. — 3. Illustrative deduction: career of each saved Soul.
I.- — 1. When we attempt to consider the perfections of God,
it is necessary for us to bear in mind continually, that it is one and
the same infinite Spirit, which is always the subject of our medi
tations. It is our own weakness which obliges us to contemplate
that glorious being in various, and to some extent, separate as
pects, in order to obtain some satisfying knowledge of an exist
ence which we cannot contain in one view. Something analogous
occurs when we address ourselves to the consideration of the life
of God in the soul of man. We must not allow ourselves to for
get that the New Creature is the same and the single object of
our scrutiny, no matter how variously we may contemplate it, or
the life of God manifested in it, or upon it, or by it. What we
endeavour is, to get more perfect knowledge of it, and of God in
his dealings with it, by means of all the aspects under which we

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 179
successively consider it. In this way such terms as, acts of God,
works of God, graces of the Spirit, gifts of God, benefits of the
covenant, elect, regenerate, justified — and multitudes like them,
become specific, and convey precise knowledge. In one case it is
God himself who is the immediate object of our enquiry ; in the
other case it is the New Creature ; in both cases the distinct and
constant impression of the true nature of our pursuit, will prove
of the highest value in making our progress at once clear and
sure. 2. If it had happened that the first systematic expositors of
divine truth, in both of these transcendent departments of know
ledge, had been so illuminated of God that a perfect conception
of the subject, a perfect method of treating it, and a perfect or
der of developing it and classifying its results, had been hit upon
• — and had been followed by all subsequent teachers : in what a
different posture would the sublime science of God, and the exact
and systematic knowledge of it by men, this day stand ! Yet
such a beginning, and progress, and result, would have been ut
terly different from all that has occurred touching all knowledge :
and what may be safely pronounced impossible with regard to
the humblest departments of knowledge, is preposterous when
demanded concerning a knowledge which embraces, on one hand
the incomprehensible God, and on the other the depths of the
human soul — and lying between the two all their boundless rela
tions to each other. Confining myself to the matter imme
diately before me, and to the illustration of it in the preceding
paragraph ; it is apparent that to make it fundamental that
either the knowledge of the divine perfections, or the knowledge
of the New Creature, should be perfect on our part, before we
can say it is certain, is merely absurd, and puts an end at once
to all attempts to demonstrate, to develope, and to classify, what
knowledge is really attainable. But if neither of these know
ledges is perfect, or can be : then it follows that all who en
deavour to obtain either of them, or to distinguish, and to impart
them, are liable, even while they essentially agree with each
other — to differ in many subordinate particulars, or even to reach
the same result by divers ways. To say nothing of diversities in
gifts and attainments of those who devote themselves to such
attempts ; the infinite compass of both subjects is such, that
they may, from different points of view, be cast into systems

180 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
adopting different distinctions and a different nomenclature — and
all be really true ; or into systems developing, one, some particu
lar portion, and another, some different portion, and the whole
fit and supplement each other. It is impossible to give names
and places, in any human system intended to aid men in the
pursuit of truth, to every thing in God which every pious heart
knows to be worthy of love and praise — that is to every known
perfection of God's nature. In like manner, it is impossible in
any such system, to give names and places to every act of God
for the New Creature, and every work of God in it, and every
manifestation of the life of God by the New Creature — that is to
every benefit and every blessing of the Covenant of Bedemption.
Nor is this a reproach to the truth — nor even a hindrance to its pur
suit and attainment. It is only a great lesson to us to have charity
for those who are weaker than ourselves, and yet not to follow im
plicitly after those who are stronger than ourselves, but to follow
Christ only. It is for God's truth — to which such reflections
ought to drive us as to our only satisfying resource — an abiding
proof of its infinite glory and fulness. For here is a small volume
which any superior man could master absolutely in a few months,
if it were the product of merely human intelligence ; and yet the
greatest of mankind through all ages, and after life-long study
of it, have all united in this strange testimony — the wayfaring
man, though he were a fool, need not err concerning the great
and pervading sense of this book — but its depths are unfathom
able by any created intelligence !
3. These observations will perhaps appear the more suitable
in this place, when it is recollected that we are in the midst of
subjects of the very highest importance — whose treatment has
been very various, even by such as hardly differed perceivably
concerning the absolute nature of the subjects themselves. Which
are the decisive benefits of the Covenant of Bedemption — those
which draw after them and involve the rest ? Which do the
Scriptures themselves give this distinct prominence to — and what
names do they affix to them ? How, according to the nature of
man, and the laws of his being in the pursuit of truth — are these
grand points to be most justly and truly ordered ? It is here, as
I have already explained, that our weakness manifests itself in a
manner analogous to the manifestation of it, when the attributes
of God are to be treated by us. I have sought, upon that greatest

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 181
of all difficulties, to suggest a classification, and to demonstrate
the foundations of it. And now coming upon a subordinate but
analogous difficulty, and fully sensible of its extreme importance
in many aspects of practical religion as well as systematic truth ; I
have preferred, up to this point, to rely on the force and coherence
of the truth itself for the vindication of the particular benefits of
the Covenant of Bedemption, which have been selected for special
treatment ; rather than to discuss the question separately. The
Apostle Paul has given us a precise and comprehensive state
ment of the subject, which ought to be taken as our guide. His
statement grounds itself upon that division of mankind which is
perfectly decisive — namely, such as do, and such as do not, love
God. Now, says he, all who love God, do so because they are
the called according to his purpose. For God having, from eter
nity, a perfect knowledge of his children according to the elec
tion of grace, predestinated them to be conformed to the image
of his Son. Their calling, under the power of which they became
lovers of God, was the result of that predestination : as the pre
destination was the result of God's distinct, personal, eternal
knowledge of his own.1 The result of that calling and its ante
cedents and consequences, was their justification. And the result
of that justification, and all that preceded, was their glorification.
And the end of all is, that nothing shall ever separate them from
that love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, which is the founda
tion, in all respects, of that love of theirs for God with which
the Apostle's statement began.2 It seems to me this, while it
admits not of being gainsaid — is at once decisive and sufficient.
4. It is this divine summary which I have carefully followed—
and shall follow to the end. That to which the elect were pre
destinated by God, was that they should be conformed to the
image of his Son ; and their love to God is incontestable proof
that they have been thus conformed.3 The Scriptures abundantly
teach us that this conformity is the result of the work of the
Holy Ghost : that this work of the Spirit is a benefit of the
Covenant of Grace ; and that this love of the elect for God is a
grace of the Spirit. I have therefore commenced this Book, and
this immediate question of the life of God in the soul, with the
demonstration of our union and communion with Christ, by means
of the application to us of the benefits of the Covenant of Be-
1 2 Tim., ii 19. a Rom, viii 28-39. 3 1 John, iv. 6-10.

182 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
demption by the Holy Ghost. In the second place, I have dis
cussed that divine calling of God, which the Apostle declares to
be an infallible result in the case of every one predestinated to
be conformed to the image of Christ ; in which that union and
communion with Christ, before spoken of, is consummated.
Now that communion with Christ is a participation with him, in
all the benefits of the Covenant of Bedemption, secured by him
for the elect, that is, in all the grace and all the glory of the
Bedeemer. And this communion with him is founded on the
double participation of a common life between Christ and the
believer : first, by Christ taking the nature of man, and sec
ondly, by the new creation of man by the Holy Ghost : and
this New Birth of the human soul is the most decisive mat
ter to us, in our calling of God. I have, therefore, in the
third place, demonstrated this great reality of Begeneration.
Another fruit of our divine calling asserted by the Apostle, is
our Justification, which is explicated in the chapter immediately
preceding this. What is demonstrated thus far then is, our
Union and Communion with Christ, our Effectual Calling of
God, and, as the result of both, our Begeneration, and our Justi
fication. But besides being born again, and besides being par
doned and decreed to be entitled to eternal life for Christ's sake;
there are unsearchable riches of that grace whereof we are made
partakers through our fellowship with Christ our Saviour ; one
of the most precious and immense portions of which follows, in
a manner, immediately on our Justification, as that does on our
Begeneration. This is summarily expressed by the term Adop
tion, whose precise place and signification in the ceconomy of
salvation subjectively considered, is thus ascertained ; and whose
ground, nature, and fruits, will now be briefly explained.
II. — 1. When the fulness of the time was come, says the
Apostle Paul, treating this subject expressly, God sent forth his
Son, made of woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his
Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art
no more a servant, but a son ; and if a son, then an heir of God
through Christ.1 Undoubtedly one part of the object of the
Apostle in the passage from which this statement is taken, was
1 Gal, iv. 4-7.

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 183
to explain the great superiority of the condition of believers under
the Gospel Church state, to their condition under the Mosaic
dispensation. This, however, only makes more distinct the real
nature of the great doctrine we are examining, after it has at
tained its final and complete form. And so, in another Epistle,
he tells us that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
hath chosen the faithful in Christ Jesus before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love : having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his
will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the Beloved.1 And the Apostle John speaking of
the advent of Christ and his rejection by the Jewish people,
adds, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to be
come the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name ;
which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God.2 It is in this manner that, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ : by whom also we have access by faith unto this
grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of
God.3 It was because the children of God were partakers of flesh
and blood, that the Son of God also himself likewise took part
of the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the Devil : and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
For Christ that sanctifieth, and the children of God who are
sanctified, are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to
call them brethren. And so deep and so effectual is this par
ticipation of our nature by Christ, and this participation of his
nature by bis brethren, that it is said it became God, for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffer
ings. And the conclusion of a connected statement full of so many
wonders, is that in all things it became Christ to be made like unto
his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest
in all things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins
of the people. Surely we ought to lay to heart such things as
these. For inconceivably precious as the matters thus revealed
to us are, it is also inconceivable how we shall escape if we
1 Eph, i. 1-6. 2 John, i 12, 13. * Rom, v. 1, 2.

184 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
neglect so great salvation : a salvation taught by the Lord
himself, God bearing witness both with signs and wonders, and
divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to
his will.1
2. It is God the Father who adopts us as his children. It is
expressly written, Behold what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.2
That we should be holy and without blame before him in love,
he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world; having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.3 He actually
adopts us as sons only by Christ — only in Christ — only for the
sake of Christ — only after we have trusted in Christ — only after
he has justified us on account of the righteousness of Christ im
puted to us and received by faith: he does it to the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Be
loved — in whom also after we believed, we were sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise.4 Nothing — absolutely nothing— in our
salvation, leaves Christ out of view for a single instant. This
adopting act of the Father might seem to have sufficient rele
vancy to Christ— without demanding some new and precise in
tervention on his part, in the case of every child of God. For
the whole matter proceeds upon what he has already done — and
upon what both the Father and the Spirit have already done in
his name and for his sake — and upon what the penitent and be
lieving soul has obtained from him and through him. But no :
Christ must interpose directly. This soul has received Christ — it
believes on his name — it is born of God. Shall it not be adopted
by God as a Son — and if a Son, then an heir — an heir of God,
and a joint heir with Jesus Christ ? Yes — yes, surely, provided
Christ will but speak the word, — To him give I power to become
a son of God.5 * In every crisis of our destiny, it is Christ who
stands surety for us : it is Christ's recognition that we are his,
which decides our fate. It was so in the eternal covenant of Be
demption — it will be so when in the great day he shall acknow
ledge us before his Father and the holy angels — it is so at eveiy
instant of the existence of every child of God. Nor is there any
i Heb, ii passim. 2 1 John, iii 1. 3 Eph, i 4, 5.
4 Eph, i. 6-14. 6 John, i 12.
* E£otNTta — jus— dignitas — concessio; — authorization — authoritative designation. '

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 185
possibility that any recognition of us as his should ever be fruit
less — even to the consummation of our glory, when he will point
to the record of our names in that book of life, upon which he
will deliver up the mediatorial kingdom to the Father. Most fit
then is this authorization of Christ — this giving of power, as our
English Bible has it — this authoritative designation of us by
Christ — declaring our fitness as his brother to be adopted as a
son by his Father, upon which the Father does actually adopt
us. Most fit is it, also, that here as in every other part of applied
salvation, if I may so speak, all the persons of the adorable
Trinity are set conspicuously before us. It is the Holy Ghost
who, by his divine work within us, has made us meet to be par
takers of the inheritance of the saints in light : it is Christ who
authoritatively declares this fitness of his brethren, and pro
pounds them for this great and decisive act : it is the Father
who, by a most gracious, sovereign and irreversible act, adopts
us into the number and gives us a right to all the privileges of
sons of God.
3. It is nothing to the present purpose to enquire in how
many other senses we may be truly called the sons of God, or in
how many other senses even the Scriptures may designate the
whole family of man, or any portions, or individuals of it, as the
children of God. None of them concern the matter we are now
considering, namely, the blessings which justified believers in
Christ acquire, by their adoption as sons and heirs of God. God
has an only begotten Son — the same in substance — equal in
power and glory with himself. It is he who became Immanuel —
and who is the divine Saviour of sinners. There is no conceiva
ble way in which any being, much less a fallen sinner of the
human race, can become a son of God in any sense bearing the
most distant resemblance to the one I have been pointing out —
except by becoming, in the very way declared in the Scriptures,
the brother of the Son of God, and by adoption the son of God.
That way involves the whole plan of salvation — and rests upon
the truth and efficacy of every part of it. And, what is infin
itely remarkable, it is the concrete of the whole outward form of
salvation, brought directly into union with the concrete of the
whole inward form of salvation. Distinguishing the acts of God
towards us, from the work of God within us — which we are ob
liged to do; Adoption completes those acts in a manner perfectly

186 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
decisive, and when stated by God to us, perfectly obvious ; and
yet in a manner wholly remote from all human thinking — until
God states it to us. We call ourselves the brethren of Christ
and the sons of God so familiarly, that we are apt to forget what
mysteries of divine love and wisdom, are involved in the terms we
use. The whole Scripture doctrine of Adoption is utterly inca
pable of being true, or even intelligible — unless the Godhead
exists in three Persons in one Essence — unless the Second Per
son be the Son of God and the Saviour of the world — unless the
human race be a fallen race capable of restoration — unless the
Holy Ghost actually regenerates sinners, and the Father actually
justifies them for the sake of Christ the Saviour — unless the
sacred Scriptures are not only the word of God, and the infalli
ble rule of our faith, but the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth. But conceding all this — without the
whole of which the scriptural idea of Adoption is equally im
practicable on the side of God, and on the side of the sinner ;
who could have deduced from the whole, any thing more than
that sinners are restored to the lost image and favour of God,
are saved from sin and misery in this world, and from Hell for
ever, and are brought to glory and endless felicity ? Admit that
the Son of God has taken our nature — and that by the new birth
we are made partakers of his nature : does it necessarily follow
that we are to share, not only all his grace, but all his glory ?
Does it necessarily follow that we are to share with him his
infinite inheritance as the Son of God ? Above all, does it
necessarily follow that we shall do all this as absolutely his
brothers — as absolutely sons of his Father ; and that by his own
procurement, and through the boundless love of God, a divine
sentence shall award to us, in this life, an indefeasible title as
sons and heirs, not only to the whole inheritance, but to the
actual possession and fruition of the earnest of it, here below ?
It is God who has explained to us that these things flow, as a
part of the unsearchable riches of his grace, from that boundless
store of which it has never entered into the heart of man to con
ceive. It is God, who thus carrying, by his acts of grace, the
blessedness of our estate even in this life, above the reach of our
highest endeavours to comprehend it all ; reserves only the per
fect completion of his work of grace within us — through our
progressive sanctification — that we may be fitted at last for the

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 187
eternal weight of glory to which our title is now complete. Con
sider that God has said to us, Ye are by nature children of wrath:
consider also that he has said to us, Ye are the light of the
world! The danger is not great, of our exaggerating the distance
between these two states.
4. I therefore define that Adoption is one of the benefits of
the Covenant of Bedemption secured to the elect, being a most
gracious act of God the Father, in and through his only Son
Jesus Christ, whereby all that have been regenerated and justi
fied, being openly propounded as brethren of Christ, are taken
into the number, receive the name, and are admitted to all the
liberties and privileges of the sons of God, and are made heirs of
all the promises, heirs of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus
Christ. After what has been proved in this and several preceding
chapters, there is no necessity to enlarge upon all the separate
parts of this definition. That the grace of Adoption into the
family of God is a benefit of the Covenant of Bedemption : that
it is secured therein to all the elect of God, and to none besides :
that it is God the Father who pronounces the sentence of Adop
tion, and that it is not a work of God within us, but an act of
God — and that of mere grace towards us : that it is an act per
formed solely for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, in favour
only of his regenerated and justified brethren, to whom this very
thing is conceded by him in a way of authoritative designation :
and that therein they are admitted to the number and receive
the name of sons of God : all these fundamental truths have — as
I suppose — been so variously established and explained, that no
one who accepts the general doctrine of this whole Treatise, will
question here that they are positive truths of the Knowledge of
God Subjectively Considered. The remaining portion of the de
finition, which asserts that in our adoption we are admitted to all
the liberties and privileges of sons of God — and are made heirs of
all the promises, heirs of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus
Christ : will require further exposition. It is very manifest,
however, that the priceless and immeasurable blessings and bene
fits, liberties and privileges, immunities and dignities which ap
pertain to the sons of God : can be treated in an attempt like
this, only under a severe and narrow classification. And all
those exceeding great and precious promises of God : all that
unsearchable riches of grace and glory with Christ : all those

188 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
divine liberties and immunities to the whole of which, as heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ, we acquire by our Adoption
an irreversible title, sealed with the blood of Christ, attested by
the Spirit of God, grounded on the eternal love of the Father,
and guaranteed by the everlasting Covenant of Bedemption : all
the vastness of this incorruptible and undefiled inheritance :
what can mortal powers, restricted within bounds so limited, do
concerning it, beyond some brief, general, distinguishing reca
pitulation of some of the chief parts, which are near enough to us
to be seen with some distinctness ! This is what I must now
attempt. III. — 1. By our adoption as sons of God, all our relations to
sin, to condemnation on account of it, and to slavish terror by
reason of it, are totally changed. Being dead to sin, we cannot
any longer live in sin. Having been planted in the likeness of
the death of Christ, the same thing must occur with reference to
his resurrection. For our old man was crucified with Christ, that
the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should
not serve sin. Having died with Christ we must also live with
him : free from the dominion both of sin and of death : but alive
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sharing with the Son
of God, who is not ashamed to call us his brethren, a common
nature both by reason of his incarnation and our regeneration,
and then for Christ's sake not only justified by the Father but
adopted as his sons ; immunities the most immense touching our
former sinful and miserable estate are granted to us — and privi
leges the most immense touching our new estate of deliverance,
security and peace, are bestowed upon us.1 For we have peace
with God ; peace which we obtained through our Lord Jesus
Christ ; the method whereof was, that we were justified on ac
count of his righteousness imputed to us, and received by faith :
and then there remained no controversy between us and God —
for we were ready to take his part even against our own humbled,
sorrowing, and penitent souls. But the same faith in Christ
which gave us access to God for justification— gave us access
too for this peace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the
glory of God: yea, and are ready to rejoice even in tribula
tion, for the sake of the patience, the experience, the sustaining
hope, the fervent love shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy
1 Rom., vi. passim ; Heb, ii passim.

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 189
Ghost which is given to us.1 As for condemnation, there can be
none to them who are in Christ Jesus — who walk not after the
flesh but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made them free from the law of sin and death.
What the law could not do, the Son of God did : and through
his satisfaction and the work of the Spirit, even the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled in us : and to be spiritually minded is both
life and peace. He in whom the Spirit of God dwells, is not in
the flesh but in the Spirit : and he who has the Spirit of Christ,
is his : and Christ's dwelling in us, is life : and all that are led
by the Spirit of God, are sons of God. But the sons of God do
not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear : but they receive
the Spirit of Adoption whereby they cry, Abba, Father. The
Spirit itself bearing witness with our spirit, that we are the chil
dren of God : and if children then heirs of God, and joint heirs
with Christ : if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be
also glorified together.2 I grant that these wonderful statements
of the word of God, prove a great deal more for us than they are
cited here to prove : but that makes it only the more clear that
the sons of God are set free from sin, from condemnation, and
from terror. It would be wonderful indeed, that when we were
open enemies of God he reconciled us to himself by the death of
his Son ; and yet after we were thus reconciled, and have become
his children, he could not, or would not, save us by the life of his
Son.3 2. In like manner our relations to the law of God are wholly
changed. Whatever law of God ever bound and obliged the
elect of God, and whatever penalty and whatever curse of any
such law hung over them, by reason of any transgression thereof,
or any want of conformity thereto ; one universal proposition
applies to all — we are not under the law, but under grace.4
Whatever may be said about deserved punishment— is answered
by the sacrifice of Christ : whatever about the claims of the pre
ceptive portion of the law is answered by the complete obedience
of Christ : whatever about our depraved nature is answered by
the incarnation of the Son of God and our regeneration by his
Spirit : and his resurrection, wherein he was proclaimed to be
the Son of God with power, and wherein is the complete proof
of full satisfaction rendered and accepted for his brethren — put
1 Rom, v. 1-5. * Rom, viii. 1-17. 3 Rom, v. 10. 4 Rom, vi 15.

190 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
our case in such a posture that the justification by the Father of
those regenerated by the Spirit, followed from the very faithful
ness and justice of God.1 Then came our Adoption as sons and
heirs of God, involving not only, but declaring that the deliver
ance of the children of God is pot only from the bondage of cor
ruption, but into a glorious liberty.2 For where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is liberty.3 Nor is any exhortation of the Gospel
to us more explicit, than that we should stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, and not be entangled again
with the yoke of bondage.4 Even that unalterable moral law,
which is founded in the very nature of good and evil, which was
written on the heart of man at his original creation, and was
written again by the finger of God upon tables of stone and
delivered to Moses ; that holy, just, and good law, which would
have saved us if any law could save those who transgress it — has
changed its relation to us upon our being adopted into the family
of God. That blessed law is still a rule of duty, a rule of faith,
a rule of judgment, a doctrine of perfect holiness unto us. But
its just and inexorable demands as a Covenant of Life — its ter
rible curse against every one who continueth not in all things
written in it to do them — its fearful penalty denouncing a just
recompense of reward against every transgression and disobe
dience under it — its terrible and universal sentence that the soul
that sinneth shall die : all these pass us by, and fall on him who
loved us and gave himself for us, and who is able to present us
faultless before God, yea, holy, and unblamable, and unreprovable
even in his sight.6 We do not desire to be set free from service—
'nor from obedience ; a service the most earnest and lovino- — an
obedience the most scrupulous and absolute — in those who have
the most abounding freedom and ability unto that service and
obedience, through the deepest insight and conformity to that
most perfect law, which is an infallible guide to the will of God
concerning our salvation. But we are set free from slavery even
to that most righteous law, whose very holiness makes its do
minion terrible, even to those who would gladly keep it if they
could, who blame themselves and not it when they come short of
it, and who would protest with uplifted hands against the smallest
diminution of its sublime rectitude. Our Lord, our Master our
1 1 John, 1 9. 2 Rom, viii. 21. = 2 Cor. iii. 17.
4 Gal, v. 1. 6 Jude, 24 ; Col, 1. 22.

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 191
Elder Brother — -kept it and then suffered under it — both for us :
our God and Father, who is the giver and maker of it, has put
that righteousness to our account — and now we are his sons ! Let
that suffice. And let Satan, and the powers of this world, and
all persecutors know, that the liberty of the sons of God, which
the law of God himself not only respects but upholds, is not a
licentiousness, but is a consecration to Christ, so absolute, that
the glory of his crown is as deeply involved as the peace of their
own conscience is, in the exclusive loyalty which his followers
owe and render to him.1
3. And now if we will look away a little from sin and the
law, and look abroad upon the world around us, and scrutinize
the infinite providence which sustains, controls, and directs all
things ; we shall discover how deeply our new relation to God as
his sons, affects our relations to all earthly things, and to the
providence which is over and in them all. Directing us concern
ing the course of this world, concerning our relations to it and
our conduct in it, and concerning his providential care over us ;
God commands us to come out from among the wicked and to be
separate from them — and adds with special emphasis, Touch not
the unclean thing ; and I will receive you, and will be a Father
unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty. And this he tells us has been the uniform and per
petual condition of the duty of his children and his providences
over them.2 Nor is any thing in all God's word more clearly
disclosed, than that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to his pur
pose.3 And thus as children of God we recover the right, which
our race lost by the fall of Adam, not only to the free but to the
sanctified use of the creatures of God ; for it is only as he gives
us his Son, that he with him freely gives us all things.4 As to
the wisdom of this world, it is foolishness with God ; and the
thoughts of the wise are known to God as vain. Far be it, there
fore, from those who possess all things, to glory in man. For,
saith God, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or
life, or death, or things present, or things to come : all are yours ;
and ye are Christ's ; and Christ, is God's.6 Considering that we
are but strangers and pilgrims upon earth — and that all things in
1 Rom, xiv. 4; Acts, iv. 19 ; xv. 10 ; Gal, iv. 8-11. * 2 Cor, vi. 16-18.
' Rom, viii 28. ' Rom, via 32. 5 1 Cor, hi. 19-23.

192 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
it and of it, are of that nature that they cannot satisfy us, and
that they perish in the using : they who love God, and to whom
God hath shown that the sum of all good consists in doing justly,
loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, can conceive of
nothing more perfect than the provision which he has made for
them. Keeping themselves unspotted from the world, they
have a covenant right to the free and sanctified use of all the
creatures of God, and the infinite providence of God is pledged,
that all things shall work together for their good !
4. If we will again turn our thoughts in a new direction, we
shall perceive that there is an inward, and very near and intimate
aspect of this participation of the liberties and privileges of the
children of God. For in Christ Jesus we have boldness and
access with confidence to God by faith : an access the result of
which is peace with God, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of
God.1 For joy in the Holy Ghost, as well as righteousness and
peace, appertain to us as sons of God :2 a joy which the Scrip
tures declare to be unspeakable and full of glory.3 Moreover the
sons of God are led by the Spirit of God — and have therein a
divine testimony of their Adoption — of the intercession of Christ
for them at the right hand of God — and of their assured partici
pation of the unalterable love of God.4 They are able to say,
Abba, Father, because they have received the Spirit of Adoption:
and that is a witnessing Spirit, which beareth witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God.5 And as if to put the
matter wholly out of dispute, the Apostle in another place adds
that because we are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his
Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.6 That is, this Spirit
is given unto us because we are God's children, and then it tes
tifies to us that we are his children. And this Holy Spirit of
God is a sealing, as well as a witnessing Spirit — sealing unto the
day of Bedemption, all the children of God.7 And as a sealing
Spirit, it is that Holy Spirit of Promise which is the earnest of
our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased posses
sion, and God shall have gathered together all things in Christ,
in whom we have obtained the inheritance.8 Why then should
there be any marvel — that joy in the Holy Ghost should be a
1 Eph, hi. 12 ; Rom, v. 1, 2. 2 Rom, xiv. 17. » i pet., i 8.
4 Rom, viii 14, 34, 39. * Rom, viii. 15, 16. 6 Gal, iv. 6.
» Eph, iv. 30 ; Rom, viii 21, 23. B Eph, i. 10, 14.

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 193
preeminent element in the Kingdom of God ? or that the
members of that kingdom should rejoice in hope of the glory
of God ? Although they never saw Jesus — is there not reason
enough why they should love him supremely : reason enough
why, believing in him, they should rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory ? Why should there be any wonder, that, as
the end of such faith as this, the children of God should receive
the salvation of their souls P1
IV/ — 1. I have abstained in the preceding exposition from
saying any thing having a special and separate relation to the
idea of heirship — having as far as possible confined myself to the
idea of sonship. I wished to fix attention upon our relation as
sons of God by Adoption, to sin, to the Law, to this present evil
world and God's providence over us therein, and to the work of
grace in our own souls specially relevant to this particular stage
of our progress in the divine life. Whatever else relates to our
participation in the privileges and liberties, the rights and bene
fits, the immunities and dignities of the children of God — my
limits oblige me to pass over — as I am constantly obliged to pass
over whatever will bear to be omitted from a statement, which,
while it is general, ought to be thorough. I have stated in the
definition, portions of which I have been endeavouring to illus
trate, that by Adoption into the family of God, the brethren of
Christ become heirs of all the promises, heirs of God — and joint
heirs with Christ. And now I ought to add a few words en
forcing these statements.
2. The Apostle Peter tells us that unto them who have ob
tained the same precious faith that he had, through the right
eousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ — grace and peace
are multiplied through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our
Lord. He adds that we, through the divine power, by means of
a calling which is to glory and virtue, and having received through
the knowledge of God, in Christ, all things that pertain to life
and godliness ; have received exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these we might be partakers of the divine na
ture, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust.2 We are told by the Apostle Paul, that it was in order to
confirm the promises made unto the fathers, and that the Gen
tiles might glorify God for his mercy : that Jesus Christ was a
i 1 Pet, i 7-9. 2 1 Pet, i 1-4
VOL. II. 13

194 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
minister of the circumcision for the truth of God.1 In other
places he states, that all the promises of God in Jesus Christ are
yea, and in him are amen, unto the glory of God by us :2 and
that it is through faith and patience that all God's saints inherit
his promises.3 How vast these promises are, we may have some
conception when we find it asserted with the greatest emphasis,
that godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the
life that now is, and of that which is to come.4 And the mystery
of that godliness to which such an inheritance belongs, embraces
of itself and as incontrovertible parts of its own essence, an
inheritance greater than all it could draw after it : for when we
have it, we have God manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,
seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, received up into glory.5 To all this is added one of the
most remarkable passages in the word of God — remarkable for
the amazing distinctness with which the final glory of the saints
is secured to them — remarkable for the divine condescension and
the divine demonstration with which this is done. God, willing
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immuta
bility of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath : an oath sworn to
Abraham, the father of the faithful, and because God could
swear by no greater, he swore by himself : that by two immuta
ble things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might
have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before us : which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil : whither the forerunner is for us entered, even
Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Mel-
chisedec." 3. That they who are adopted as the children of God for the
sake of the only begotten Son of God, are made heirs of God,
and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, is implied throughout the
Scriptures, is hundreds of times involved in statements relating
immediately to the subject, and is repeatedly asserted in the most
distinct manner. If it were otherwise, I do not suppose any
mortal would ever have conceived such an idea, or have ventured
to utter it. If children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint
heirs with Christ : if so be that we suffer with him, that we may
* Rom, xv. 8, 9. a 2 Cor, i. 20. » Heb, vi. 12.
4 1 Em, iv. 8, 9. 6 1 Tim, iii. 16. ¦ Heb, vi. 13-20.

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 195
be glorified together.1 If a son, then an heir of God through
Christ.2 That they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheri
tance amongst them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.3
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things.4 If ye
be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
the promise.5 That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of
the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ, by the
Gospel.6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us
again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time.7 But there is no necessity to multiply citations
of this sort. The conception which pervades the whole word of
God is, that iu restoring man he will exalt him to a condition far
more blessed and glorious than that from which he fell. And as
soon as we receive with clearness a knowledge of the way in which
God accomplishes this amazing purpose, we cannot avoid seeing
that in the very process of our own restoration and salvation,
that purpose of God is necessarily accomplished. Human nature
has been taken into indissoluble and eternal union with the
divine nature; and innumerable human beings have been created
anew in the image of God ; and these all have been constituted
into the one family of the Father, whose children they are.
When we think of what we have been and are, these things may
overwhelm us with astonishment and shame : when we consider
the things themselves, we must be filled with inexpressible joy
and peace. But when we see it plainly set down in that word,
which we know will abide though heaven and earth pass away —
that all these redeemed souls are made partakers of the infinite
righteousness of Christ, and of his divine life by a new creation;
it does not seem incredible that they should partake of all grace,
of all glory ! In effect, that is just it. The whole inheritance
of Christ, as the Mediator between God and men, is shared with
all his brethren : the Father adopting them all as his children,
adopts them also as his heirs — joint heirs with his only begotten
i Rom, viii. 17. 2 GaL, iv. 7. ' Acts, xxvi. 18. 4 Rom, viii. 32.
s Gal, iii 29. « Eph, iii 6. » 1 Pet, i 3-6.

196 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
Son. And hundreds of times in his blessed word, the complete,
irrevocable, endless devise is ratified and repeated. And millions
are daily enjoying their earthly portion : and millions of millions
are enjoying their heavenly portion : and all are awaiting an
increase of their portion with every increase, by every means, of
the glory of God, in the execution of his eternal purpose !
4. It may serve to give distinctness to our conceptions of this
great subject of our heirship — as before to that of our sonship —
to illustrate, as briefly as possible, a few chief points connected
with the boundless inheritance. And in the first place, by be
coming heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, the adopted
children of God acquire an indefeasible title to the whole world.
I do not mean merely, that they acquire a covenant right to such
a portion of the things of this world as is best for them, and to
the sanctified use of so much thereof as God allows them to
enjoy, and that all things temporal work together for their good :
the whole of which is indeed true, and of the. highest importance
to us. But God, at the beginning, gave to man dominion over
the earth and all connected with it, and bade him subdue and
replenish it. And when this immense endowment was forfeited
by man, and the earth itself was cursed for his sake ; God an
nulled the dominion of Satan over the elect — leaving the earth
still under the curse, but with the assurance that it should yield
bread to the sweat of man's face. When Noah came forth from
the ark, God, by a new covenant with him, recognized the claim
vested but slumbering in the elect, as I have just explained : and
reiterated the original command to replenish it. From thence
onward throughout the Scriptures, the purposes of God concerning
the ultimate destiny of the earth are more and more openly de
clared. So far as the present matter is concerned, it is clearly
revealed that the promise to Abraham, that he should be the heir
of the world, was not made to him or to his seed through the
law, but through the righteousness of Faith.1 Nay, that this
promise to Abraham and his seed, was specific and singular — not
of many, but one — which is Christ.2 From whence it follows,
as the Apostle proves at large, that if we be Christ's, then are we
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.2 And so
the Son of God by his name of The Seed of the Woman delivered
us from Satan, and by his name of The Seed of Abraham delivered
1 Rom, iv. 13. ! Gal, iii 16. 3 Qai^ jy, 29.

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 197
the earth as our inheritance, from the curse. Two particulars of
great importance are insisted on in the Scriptures. The first is,
that the creature was subjected to vanity and the bondage of
corruption, not willingly, and in hope : and that its deliverance
into the glorious liberty of the children of God will occur along
with their manifestation, their adoption, to wit, the redemption
of their body, as our English version has it.*1 The second par
ticular is, that though the day of God must come, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat : nevertheless, we, according to his pro
mise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness.2 It does not appear to me that the Scriptures
teach that this earth, whether in its present or its renewed and
glorious condition, is to be the final inheritance and habitation
of the saints, any more than the constant abode of our race. But
I do not see how we can deny, without great wresting of the
Scriptures, that they do teach us plainly, that it is an immense
inheritance belonging to us by the original gift of God ; lost and
polluted by the fall of man ; recovered by the blood of Christ ;
restored to us for his sake as sons and heirs of God ; purged, re
newed, and to be occupied in glory and felicity, short only of our
final rest and triumph when the kingdom itself is delivered up to
the Father.
5. It is of that spiritual kingdom, as another portion of the
inheritance of the heirs of God, that I now add a few words.
The truths set forth in the preceding paragraph conclude to the
great result, that the work and glory of God as Creator, are the
inheritance of his heirs. In this paragraph the great result to
which our thoughts are directed is, that the work and glory of
God as Bedeemer, are also the inheritance of his heirs. I appoint
you a kingdom, said the Saviour to his Apostles, as my Father
hath appointed unto me : that ye may eat and drink at my table
in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of
Israel.3 And when one who sat at meat with him heard some
touching words uttered by him, and exclaimed, Blessed is he that
shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God : the Saviour immediately
* A.7T0Ka7i,vipic vlodeaia — airoXvTpoatc tov aa/taro;, appear to be equivalent to each
other in this passage, so far as the time of the deliverance of the creature, has any
relation to the condition of the heirs of the creation.
i Rom, viii 19-23. ' 2 Pet, iii 12, 13. * Luke, xxii 23, 30.

198 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
explained by one of his most striking parables, how that kingdom
was perpetuated, and who the members of it were.1 And on
another occasion expressly teaching his disciples, he said, Fear
not, little flock : for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you
the kingdom :2 the kingdom prepared for you from the founda
tion of the world.3 And the Apostle Peter declares, that be
lievers being a generation chosen to show forth the praises of him
who called them out of darkness into his marvellous light : are
not only a people, a nation, and a priesthood — but that as a people
they are peculiar, as a nation holy, and as a priesthood royal.4
This Kingdom of God, which the Apostle James tells us, God
has prepared for them who love him ;5 this universal body of the
redeemed, this commonwealth of the elect, is exhibited through
out the Scriptures under a threefold aspect : first, as the Messianic
Kingdom, held forth under Christ the head and Lord : secondly,
as the New Creation exhibited as a Kingdom, every member of
which is regenerated and sanctified by the Holy Ghost ; and
thirdly, as the Church of the living God, manifested through its
members, every one of whom is the object of the free and eternal
love of God, and has been redeemed by the blood of the Son of
God — now militant, fighting for their Saviour and their inheri
tance — but hastening to their millennial triumph — and beyond
that to their eternal glory. We ought to reflect, that in truth
this Kingdom of God, though spiritual, is so far from being ideal
that all other kingdoms have for their chief object, the working
out of a certain security, protection and success for this divine
kingdom. And as the divine concession that any such world-
powers should exist, was given only, after the drowning of the old
world, and on account of the wickedness of man, and not until
after sixteen or seventeen centuries of progress by the Kingdom
of God ; so the whole of them are to pass away — and the highest
use of which they are finally capable, is to be made into a king
dom for the Lord and his Christ." And the end of the prince of
this world, the power that worketh in the children of disobedience
— cast out as he was by the lifting up of the Son of man— is that
he shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the
beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night
forever and ever.7 As for impenitent sinners — the wicked shall
' Luke, xiv. 10-24. " Luke, xii. 32. 3 Mat, xxv. 34. * 1 Pet, ii 9. = James, ii 5.
6 Rev, xi 15 ; Daniel, ii 44 ; vii. 13-18. 7 j0hn, xii 31, 32 ; Rev, xx. 10.

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 199
be turned into hell, with all the nations that forget God.1 It is
this divine kingdom, visible to men now only in the imperfect
lives of the weak heirs of it — but yet replenished with the power
of God — and chosen as his peculiar portion ; which God has
given to his children, and through which he will make them
blessed and himself glorious, beyond all that the heart of man
can conceive — -and that through eternal ages.
6. When God has given to us his work and glory as Creator,
and his work and glory as Bedeemer — as I have shown in the
two preceding paragraphs he has done ; there remains, as it
would seem, nothing else to bestow upon us. For we bear to
God no relation that is not involved in our condition as creatures,
or our condition as sinners ; and God bears no relation to us that
is not involved in his being God our Creator, and God our Saviour.
But, God has found an inheritance greater than all besides. He
has given himself to us ! There can be no approximation of the
finite to the infinite which will not leave an infinite chasm be
tween the two : and therefore man when created, however really
he was an image and likeness of God, stood very far off from
God. Compared with the posture in which those, whose portion
God is, now stand, the original posture of man is not a just illus
tration. For in the process of restoring man to the lost image
of God — what was done was not a simple act of infinite power
effacing defilement and restoring the obscured image and lost
perfection, such as it was : but new and transcendent events oc
curred — and the very process of restoration led to results so
foreign from our human thinking, and so inscrutable in them
selves — that even after God.has carefully explained them to us,
and after we have personally experienced their effects — the whole
appears only the more wonderful. The infinite has taken the
finite into mysterious union with itself ; God has become incar
nate in human nature. This is the fundamental fact : and it is
no longer a question of the chasm between the finite and the
infinite — but a problem to be worked out on this new basis, of the
inseparable union between the two — the God-man. The out
working of that superhuman problem gives this result, namely,
the regeneration of the soul of fallen man by the Holy Ghost —
and by this means the participation of humanity in its individual
aspect, as before in its totality — with the divine nature : and so
' Psalm ix. 17.

200 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
a second and very different union of the finite and the infinite —
the New Creature. Upon this every thing else follows : upon
this all else depends. We must deny the incarnation, or — what
would be futile after admitting it — we must deny the New Crea
tion : otherwise we have to stultify both ourselves and God, to
escape being thoroughly orthodox and evangelical. These stu
pendous events, these inscrutable realities — with so much flowing
from them as is revealed by God and understood by man ; con
stitute that condition of things which is expressed by saying,
God himself is the crowning portion of that immeasurable inheri
tance which he bestows upon those who, through Jesus Christ,
are adopted as his children and declared to be his heirs. God
himself is the satisfying portion of their souls. And in return,
their love for God is not only the manner of service, and the way
of recognition, but is the method of enjoying their inheritance —
which above all is acceptable to him. We see so clearly our own
unworthiness, we shrink so timidly from the scoffs of those who
walk in darkness, that we understate the teachings of God, and
our own most exalted communion with him. And yet, if we
know any thing of God or of our own souls, we know assuredly
that the possession and enjoyment of God himself, is the consum
mation at once of the glory which he can derive from us, and of
the felicity which we can derive from him.1
V. — 1. In the treatment of such subjects as these, it is of the
utmost importance to avoid any approach towards any exaggera
tion, of the particular matter at any time under special considera
tion. On the other hand, the certainty and the completeness of
the general result, depend upon oiir ability — -while we discuss
successive truths — to keep steadily before the mind the whole
proportion of faith, and the exact relation of each particular truth
to all other particular truths, and to the grand scheme of which
all of them are but elemental parts. To an infinite mind the
whole is but one truth, intuitively perceived, and that with per
fect clearness. It is a resource of weakness not of strength, 'to
take that whole to pieces and examine the parts: or to take those
parts and by putting them together reconstruct that whole. And
in both processes, the very weakness which exacts them is prone
to innumerable mistakes : from which, in the treatment of the
i 1 John, iii 2; Phil, hi. passim; Col, hi 1-4, 9, 10; Gal, ii 20; 2 Tim, i 14;
1 John, iii 24; iv. 12-17.

CHAP. X.] ADOPTION. 201
Knowledge of God unto Salvation as a science of positive truth,
the greatest security is that spiritual insight which flows from the
conformity of the soul itself to God.
2. Applying these observations to the present subject, we are
to bear in mind that all the rights and liberties, all the privileges
and dignities of the sons and heirs of God, are by no means in
stantly bestowed on them, for full, immediate, and constant
enjoyment, as soon as they are adopted by God as his children,
and declared to be his heirs. Nor is it true that the portion
bestowed on each child of God, is precisely equal to the portion
bestowed on every other child of God, whether in the kingdom
of grace or the kingdom of glory, any more than in the dispen
sation of his providence. On the contrary, each one has a lot
and a destiny peculiarly his own, which he must work out : and
answering thereto a crown peculiarly his own, which he will wear
forever. And the total sum of all the results will illustrate every
possible phase of the immensely diversified problem, of infinite
grace successfully applied to save fallen and depraved creatures,
under every form of sin, in every variety of fortune, through every
aspect of temptation, by means of every method of divine deal
ing with cases all generically alike, but full of complicated and
inconceivable peculiarities ; grace abounding, grace triumphant,
the one grand truth shining through all ! Nor is it true that
every gift and every grace bestowed by God upon his sons and
heirs, has an exclusive, or even an immediate relation to God's
act of Adoption : much less is it true that that act of itself fits
his children and heirs for the enjoyment of their whole inheri
tance. On the contrary, many gifts and many graces, and many
acts and many works, of divine love and mercy, have gone before
that adopting act of God — and many will follow after ; all con
spiring to fit the redeemed sinner to be and do what his new
condition demands. And the same thing might be said, nearly
in the same words, concerning almost every benefit of the Cov
enant of Bedemption, and concerning almost every Christian
grace — one after another. It is by habituating ourselves to the
contemplation of the New Creature as a real being — as indeed
our very self ; and to the contemplation of the vital manifesta
tions of that New Creature, as so many qualities, acts, incidents,
divinely appropriate to such a creature ; that we may best pro
tect ourselves from the illusions of our imaginations and the

202 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
mistakes of our reason ; and keep all the graces and all the rela
tions of that New Creature, in their true position with reference
to him, to each other, to the Godhead, and to each Person of the
adorable Trinity.
3. To illustrate this, in a few words. We have found this
child of God a fallen, depraved, and ruined enemy of his Crea
tor. We have seen his Creator, in infinite grace, become his
Saviour, and proclaim his eternal purpose to save him — and
reveal the plan by which he would accomplish this. We have
traced the development of this plan, till it fell with equal power
and mercy upon this sinner. We have seen him awakened,
penitent, believing — united to Christ : and, examining more
closely, we have seen him effectually called by God, regenerated
by the Holy Ghost — justified by the Father — and now adopted
as a son and heir of God : and what further of grace and glory
is in store for him, remains for us to trace. But it is all the
while the same soul : all the while the things we have been con
sidering are either the vital manifestations of this soul, first in
its state of sin, and then in its state of grace ; or else the coun
sel, purpose, acts, and works, of God the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, concerning, towards, upon, or in, this same soul in its two
estates of sin and grace. Point by point, every thing may be
made clear : but even this is a method exacted by our weakness
— as I have pointed out — with its best remedy, namely, a true
spiritual insight. And, moreover, every separate point may be
made clear, merely as a separate point, and not as an essential
element of the great whole ; which latter office of each truth is
indispensable to all adequate and secure possession of the mo
mentous subject ; and I have pointed out that the security
against this second danger from our weakness, lies in the habit
of considering divine things in the concrete and in the whole, as
they affect us. Let us be humble under the manifold proof of
the damage which sin has wrought to our understanding, even
while we take comfort in the proof afforded by the very discovery
of our weakness, that divine grace has, in some degree, restored
us, even in knowledge, to the lost image of God.

CHAPTER XI.
SANCTIFICATION: RELATION Tt> THE PLAN OF SALVATION; NATURE:
MEANS: RELATION TO THE GODHEAD.
L 1. The mutual Love of God and his Ctdldren. — 2. Relation of Righteousness to
Life : Sanctification : Consummation of Love. — 3. The Life of God in the Soul
nourished and advanced to Perfection. — 4. Sanctification compared with Adop
tion : with Regeneration : with Effectual Calling : with justification. — 5. Sancti
fication itself described. — II. 1. Sanctification a Benefit of the Covenant of Re
demption: Effects and Objects of it. — 2. A great Work of Divine Grace, pervading
the whole Man. — 3. Unequal in different Persons: Gradual: Imperfect in this
Life : Finally Complete and Sure. — 4. Relation of Sanctification to Repentance,
Faith, and Love. — 5. Efforts of the Renewed Soul after Deliverance from Pollu
tion, and Perfection in Holiness. — III. 1. Means of Grace in our Sanctification. —
2. The Word is the great Means : Divine Truth the Effectual Instrument. — 3. All
the Ordinances of God : the Sacraments — the Sabbath-Day— Religious Worship —
Preaching the Word — Prayer — Praise — Alms — Fasting — Vows — Discipline. — IV.
1. God the Author of Sanctification: Its Peculiar Relation to the Godhead. —
2. The Power exerted therein exceeds and is opposite to all Power, except that of
God. — 3. Its Exercise ascribed to Jehovah, to the Father, to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost : Explication of this. — 4. This Work of the Godhead, and the Per
sons thereof, in Sanctification, accords with the Administration of each, in the
GUconomy of the Covenant of Redemption. — 5. We are Sanctified through the
Virtue of the Death and Resurrection of Christ. — 6. Definition of Sanctification.
I. — 1. When the Scriptures would distinctly express, or syste
matically explain, the sum and result of the inward dealings of God
with the souls of the redeemed ; the emphatic characteristic which is
usually marked in them is, that they love God. It is for them who
iove God, that all things work together for good ; for it is they
only who, having been called according to his purpose, thus love
him. The divine method as explicated by God himself, begins by
pointing out the fact of their love for him — and closes by declar
ing his unalterable and eternal love for them. Between these
two points the whole scheme of salvation is expounded in one of
the most remarkable passages contained in the word of God.1
There is the loving child of God : and there is God's infinite care
1 Rom., viii 28-39.

204 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
over him. Would we understand this ? Then understand and
accept the eternal purpose of God— his eternal foreknowledge of
his children, his eternal predestination of their conformity to the
image of his Son. Understand, moreover, and accept, their divine
calling in Christ, and their divine justification by the Father,
during their mortal pilgrimage ; and their assured glorification,
begun in time, and to be consummated in eternity. After this
is told to us, it is easy to believe the conclusion of the matter,
namely, that God's love for them will surmount all things, and
survive for ever.
2. Bighteousness alone can give us no title that will endure
any longer than it endures itself. While it lasts, it may secure
life to us : if it would secure eternal life to us, it must be a
righteousness eternally continued. If it were otherwise — which
in the nature of the case it could not be — righteous Adam had a
perfect title to eternal life before he fell : and so perhaps had
Satan ; and then there was no need of the everlasting righteous
ness brought in by the divine Mediator for the salvation of fallen
men. It has been plainly shown that it is by our adoption as sons
and heirs of God. that we are put in possession of an indefeasible
title to his boundless inheritance ; and as a part of it, the ever
lasting righteousness of our brother and joint heir, the Son of
God, made flesh. The very way iii which he became the first
born among many brethren, was that God did predestinate them
to be conformed to the image of his Son.1 So that they were
predestinated to the righteousness itself, no less assuredly than
to all the fruits which flow from its possession. Being, for the
sake of that righteousness of Christ, effectually called of God,
and born again of the Spirit ; that righteousness is imputed to
us for our justification, and received by us only through Faith.
And now, being sons of God by Adoption, our Sanctification is
the gradual consummation of that righteousness in the renewed
soul. Throughout all this divine process of Sanctification, Be
pentance toward God is a kind of perpetual revulsion of our new
nature against our former estate, and the remains of pollution
still lurking in it ; a perpetual yearning of our new nature after
fuller participation of this Bighteousness. And Faith, the pri
meval vital act of our new nature, becomes the great internal
means through which every other part of the wonderful trans-
» Rom, viii. 29.

CHAP. XI.] SANCTIFICATION. 205
formation, is carried on and perfected. Until, at last, those
eternal results of which Faith is, to us here below, at once the
substance and the evidence,1 are fully reached ; and Faith itself
is swallowed up in the perfect vision of him who is at once its
author and its finisher.2 For when mortality is swallowed up of
life, and death is swallowed up in victory:3 what shall abide, will
be, that undying love of God for his children, and of his children
for him, out of which all salvation comes, and in which all salva
tion will be consummated !4
3. By the Fall of man, our whole race contracted, not only
guilt, but pollution.* It lost also its original righteousness. But
it is expressly written, that without holiness no man shall see the
Lord.5 God himself is most holy ; and the restoration of man
to the lost image of his Creator — and the predestinated con
formity of the elect to the image of the Son of God — can mean
no less, how much soever more they may mean — than their re
covery, not only of the knowledge, but of the righteousness and
true holiness of creatures having the image and likeness of God,
and conformity to the image of his Son. It is not enough that
actual punishment for sin should be remitted ; nor even that its
blameworthiness should be overlooked. Its impurity must be re
moved ; and our personal holiness must be restored.^ The sum
of all this, as a divine work toward, and in man, — the Apostle
in the brief summary so often alluded to, expresses by three
words, namely, Calling, Justification, and Glorification.6 As a
help to our weakness, the Church of God, in all ages, and ex
positors of the divine word of all shades of opinion, have
brought from other portions of the Scriptures other terms inter
posed by the same or some other inspired writer, to enlarge this
brief description. I have, in like manner, followed the chapter
on Effectual Calling with one on Begeneration, which ap
pertains to it ; and followed the chapter on Justification with
one on Adoption, which results, in a manner, from it ; and now,
postponing the separate treatment of Glorification till we have
considered all that precedes it, this chapter on Sanctification
is added to point out how the children of God, after being
Effectually Called, Begenerated, Justified, and Adopted, find
1 Heb, xi. 1. 2 Heb, iii. 2. 3 2 Cor, v. 4; 1 Cor, xv. 54.
4 1 John, iv. 8, 16. * Reatus.— Macula. 5 Heb, xii. 14.
f Poena. — Culpa.— Macula. — Sanctitas. 8 Rom., viii. 30.

206 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK n.
the life of God sustained and advanced in the soul unto
perfection. 4. Sanctification is different from Adoption, though both of
them relate to the inheritance of the redeemed : the former con
cerning our fitness to possess and enjoy every thing to which title
is given by the latter. God having brought us so far as to adopt
us as his sons and heirs, now proceeds to train us in a manner
that makes us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in light.1 Sanctification is also different from Begenera
tion ; for it is not a new creation, which Begeneration is, but it
is the nurture and perfection of that new creation, so far as that
is accomplished during our mortal existence. It is different also
from Effectual Calling : for that relates to the method of our
renewal in the image of God, while this relates to the gradual
progress of the divine life within us, unto the total completeness
of that renewal of man in the divine image. It is different from
Justification, with which it is most frequently confounded, and
with the least reason of all. For Justification is an act of God's
grace outward as to us, while Sanctification is a work of God's
grace within us : the former, moreover, relating to our state, the
latter to our nature ; the one consummated by the Father in a
single judicial sentence, the other involving a work of the whole
Godhead, and especially of the Holy Ghost, uninterruptedly to
the end of our mortal existence, to be manifested afterwards in
glory for ever. With regard to sin, it is pardoned in Justifica
tion ; but the object of Sanctification is to purge it out, destroy
it, and supplant it with holiness : and as touching holiness, Jus
tification is, by means of the righteousness of Christ imputed
to us, while Sanctification is the result of that righteousness
received into the soul itself, as a living and transforming
power. 5. Sanctification, considered of itself as a work of divine grace,
must not be confounded with sanctity, or personal holiness, con
sidered as a quality in us. Personal holiness in us, sanctity, is
the habit of doing only what is both true and good — that is, what
is right : that state of the new man in which, by a divine crea
tion, not only righteousness in its broadest sense, but especially
true holiness — the holiness of truth,* is the habit of the soul.
But man, so far from having any such sanctity as this by nature,
! Col, i. 12. * A'tKawoiivri Kai oaioTnTt ttjq alndelag. Eph, iv. 24.

CHAP. XI.] SANCTIFICATION. 207
has lost his original righteousness ; and has, besides, contracted
a defilement, and reduced his nature to a state and habit of sin,
precisely opposite to the holiness his nature needs. The process
of restoring that original righteousness, and perfecting that true
holiness — meantime healing and extirpating that inward state
and habit of sin ; is that work of grace whereby both the quality
and the habit of human actions are changed, by acting radically
and divinely upon the human soul itself. This vital progress
and steady mutation of the renewed soul, is what we call Sancti
fication ; that work of God's grace in regenerate, justified, and
adopted believers, whereby the spiritual acts and habits of their
nature are changed from sin and the fruits thereof, to true holi
ness and the fruits thereof. Considered as a great work of divine
grace within the renewed soul, it is the method whereby God
renews us completely in his lost image, and conforms us entirely
to the image of his Son, restoring us to the perfect knowledge
and love of his truth, and the complete fruition of his holiness.1
For if we have learned Christ aright, and have been taught by
him, as the truth is in Jesus ; we put off, concerning the former
conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to the de
ceitful lusts ; and are renewed in the spirit of our mind ; and
put on the new man ; which after God is created in righteous
ness and true holiness.2
II. — 1. The prophet Jeremiah, after distinctly foretelling the
captivity of God's ancient people, and their return from Babylon,
adds, as a glorious event to occur afterwards, and speaking in
the name of God — I will make an everlasting covenant with them,
that I will not turn away from them, to do them good ; but I
will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from
me.3 In another place he calls that everlasting covenant new,
as compared with the special and peculiar administration of his
grace under the Jewish dispensation ; and describes clearly but
briefly the Gospel state of the Covenant of Grace, in contrast
with the Mosaic state of it. Behold the days come, saith the
Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I
made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the
hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt ; which my cove
nant they broke, although I was a husband unto them, saith the
1 1 Cor, i. 30 ; vi 11. ' Eph, iv. 24 ; vi. 10-20. s Jer, xxxii. 40.

208 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts ; and will
be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach
no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, say
ing, Know the Lord : for they shall all know me, from the least
of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord ; and I will
remember their sin no more.1 Supposing these remarkable state
ments to have an application to the Jewish people far more exact
than has yet been realized ; that, so far from weakening, increases
the light they throw on the manner of God's gracious dealings,
under the Gospel aspect of his everlasting covenant, with the
souls of his people. The very thing which happens, as God's
children are more and more conformed to him in their progressive
sanctification is, that God becomes more manifestly their God,
and they become more manifestly his people ; they know him
better continually, and love him more as they know him better ;
and all this occurs by God putting his law in their inward parts,
and writing it in their hearts. And so, out of the bosom of the
Christian Church, in the earliest practical manifestation of these
ancient promises, the Apostle Peter proclaims the realization of
God's declarations to Jeremiah. For exhorting the elect scat
tered through the nations, to desire, as new-born babes, the sin
cere milk of the word that they might grow thereby : beseeching
them, if they had tasted that the Lord was gracious, to come to
him as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen
of God and precious : he asserts that to all believers he is pre
cious, and that it was in order to show forth the praises of him
who had called them out of darkness, into his marvellous light,
that they who had been no people, had become the people of God,
and were now a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy na
tion, a peculiar people.2 And with all these things agree innu
merable statements of the word of God. We are not, therefore,
allowed to doubt, that our Sanctification is one of the chief
benefits of God's eternal Covenant of Bedemption ; and that it is
no illusion, but a great and inevitable reality concerning the true
life of God in the soul of man ; the result of a peculiar, gradual,
and sustained work of divine grace in the elect of God — com
pleting the inward transformation which commenced in their
1 Jer, xxxi 31-34. 2 i p^er, ii 1-10.

CHAP. XI.] SANCTIFICATION. 209
Effectual Calling, and which was established in their Begenera
tion ; completing too their fitness for that vast inheritance to
which, partly in their Justification, and fully in their Adoption,
they were declared by God to be in possession of a complete and
irrevocable title.
2. Concerning the nature of this great work of grace, the
most obvious peculiarity is, its absolute totality with reference
to the whole nature of man. The very God of peace sanctify you
wholly ; and I pray God your whole spirit, soul and body, be
preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.1
A Sanctification extending to the whole man — and to every ele
ment of his being : yea, so extending, that his spirit — his soul — ¦
and his very body may be preserved blameless ; so that when
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear
with him in glory.2 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily, and we are complete in him, which is the head
of all principality and power." The Spirit which is the essence
of our being, and the very condition of our existence in the image
and after the likeness of God ; the soul concerning which it is
said that God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of
life, and man became a living soul :4 the vile body, frail, sinful,
dying — yet awaiting a glorious resurrection, and which may be
so used by God's children, as that even it may be preserved
blameless, perfecting holiness in the fear of God : concerning all,
the exhortation to us is to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of
the flesh and spirit.5 And while we are thus clearly taught the
all-pervading nature of this stedfast transformation from dark
ness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God ; we are as
distinctly taught, on the other hand, that there can be no such
thing in the divine life in man, as a partial existence of vitality
— one part pure, and another impure — some sins mortified and
strangled while others are allowed and cherished. Much less is
there any rule of compensation by which one excess which we
persuade ourselves is good, can be set against another excess
which we fear may be evil ; and least of all can we compensate
by outward acts — even the giving of our body to be burned — for
inward defilement, which nothing but an inward work of divine
grace can reach. Along with such deep and obvious truths, the
divine standard of holiness is exalted before us to the very
1 1 Thess, v. 23. » Col, hi. 4. 3 Col, ii 9, 10. " Gen, ii. 7. 5 2 Cor, vii. 1.
VOL. II. 14

210 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
heavens, and promises of divine aid in our endeavours after it
are mingled with divine exhortations and commands to us, to
make the most earnest efforts after complete conformity to God.
Nay, when every thing else fails to stimulate the renewed soul to
that earnestness which God requires in our pursuit of the infinite
prize set before us ; he hides his face from us, that we may realize
more adequately that he is the only satisfying portion of the soul.
And so in every form in which a subject so immense, and interests
so transcendent, can be presented to the heirs of eternal life ;
the one great conception of total conformity to God- — absolute
consecration to his service — engrossing love for his cause — his
name — himself, pervades the divine word, and pervades the sanc
tified heart, as the sum of all true blessedness on earth, and the
real preparation for eternal felicity and glory.
3. A work of this sort must needs be unspeakably various — we
may say unequal — wdien one Christian heart is compared with
another — in the boundless diversities of spiritual experience, and
spiritual attainments. It must, of necessity, also, be gradual ;
and cannot, in this life, ever be absolutely perfect, in the sense
that no further attainment can be made, or in the sense that no
remains of sin are left to be subdued. All these conditions have
a certain mutual dependence on each other. If absolute perfec
tion in our conformity to God were attainable in our present
state ; it is not easy to see how any diversity of experience could
exist, either in the process of reaching the one absolute type of
the immaculate holiness of the one living and true God, or in the
result after it was reached ; any more than how any thing could
be left, after that, for heaven itself to add to us. The case is
far otherwise. There are endless diversities in the endowments
of the creature — in the operations of the Spirit — -in the gifts of
God — in the administration of the Lord — in the manifestations
of the Spirit given to men to profit withal.1 Under all these
diverse conditions, each soul incurs a threefold operation ; one to
put off the old man — one to be renewed in the spirit of the mind
— one to put on the new man.2 Every soul must be planted to
gether with Christ in the likeness of his death, and must be
planted also in the likeness of his resurrection ; we must die
with Christ, and we must live with him.3 Our nature has indeed
been renewed — or else it is idle to say a word about SanctificatioD.
i 1 Cor, xii. 4-12. 2 Eph, iv. 22, 24. a Rom, vi. 5, 8.

CHAP. XI.] SANCTIFICATION. 211
But with that very renewal, the great spiritual warfare com
menced — the spirit lusting against the flesh, and the flesh lusting
against the spirit ; and these contrary the one to the other ;
so that we cannot do the things that we would.1 Between the
putting off the old man, and the putting on the new man, the
Apostle, as we have just seen, expressly locates the necessity of
being renewed in the spirit of our mind.2 The work of stripping
the soul of its polluted habiliments ; the work of clothing the
soul in its heavenly vestments ; the work of making the spirit of
the mind — the habit of the soul — recoil from its old and conform
to its new life. In all this work wrought in the name and for
the sake of Christ — the divine Spirit respects God's work of cre
ation — and deals with us as rational, moral, free creatures. And
so by his sanctifying work, he more and more subdues our wills,
enlightens our understandings, purifies our hearts, enables and
inclines us to love and to enjoy God — performing, until the day
of Jesus Christ, the good work which he hath begun in us.3 And
yet when we consider that in our flesh dwelleth no good thing,
and that even when to will is present with us, we see another law
in our members warring against the law of our mind, and bring
ing us into captivity to the law of sin which is in our members ;4
we can easily understand the nature of the peril that our progress
in holiness may be slow, interrupted, and marked by many back-
slidings : and the reason why it can never be perfectly achieved
until this mortal shall have put on immortality — this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption.6 And this is the very method of
God, in all his works. One degree after another, whether of
grace or glory ; one exaltation after another in endless dispensa
tions — cycle after cycle — higher and higher for evermore. Though
we must say of all our righteousnesses, that they are but as filthy
rags, and though we must feel that sin doth so easily beset us ;
yet we run with patience the race set before us, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.6 Nor can we, without
denying the faith and outraging the unchangeable love of God,
distrust his promise— nay, his covenant — nay, his oath — -to pre
pare his children for their infinite inheritance, and bring them to
its eternal enjoyment.7
1 Gal., v. 17. a Eph, iv. 23. 3 Phil, i. 6 ; Psal. Ii. 10 ; Ezek, xxxvi. 26.
4 Rom, vii 18, 23. s i Cor, xv. 54. « Isa, Ixiv. 6 ; Heb, xii. 1, 2.
7 Jer, xxxi. 3; Heb, vi 17, 20; xiii 20, 21 ; John, x. 28.

212 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
4. This general work of divine grace on our renewed nature,
has a peculiar relation to particular graces of the Spirit ; espe
cially to Bepentance, to Faith, and to the Love of God shed
abroad in the soul. It is not possible for us to conceive how a
free, spiritual being, can hate and shun any thing as sinful, ex
cept as it discerns truly the sinfulness of the thing ; nor how it
can hate and shun it more and more, except as it more and more
discerns truly the exceeding sinfulness of sin. In like manner,
such a being, in order to love and cleave to what is good, must
discern truly the goodness of the object ; and to increase in its
love and desire for any thing, it must increase in the clearness of
its perception that it is good. But this is the nature of the
double office of Bepentance : which out of a just apprehension
of the true nature of sin — hates it and turns from it ; and out of
a just apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, turns to
God with a set purpose of heart after a new obedience.1 Except
therefore in the continual exercise of one or other office of the
grace of Bepentance — there is no possibility of growth in grace —
and therefore none of our Sanctification. We see in this how
futile it is to suppose, that we can ever attain sinless perfection
in this life : for surely the blessed Lord had never commanded all
his people, always, to pray for the forgiveness of their daily
transgressions — if they committed none ; any more than to pray
for daily bread if they need none. We see also, how our growth
in grace must necessarily be gradual and constant, in proportion
as God withdraws the veil which obscures the true nature of sin,
and discloses its hatefulness more and more to the renewed soul ;
and in proportion as he discloses, on the other hand, his own
beauty and excellence and glory more and more ; and in propor
tion, also, as he quickens us in the power of our now life, of
which both as to its reality and its actual state, the grace whose
use I am illustrating is a manifestation so constant and so deci
sive. In like manner, as the whole conception of grace towards
us, involves continually and fundamentally the idea of the divine
Mediator between God and man ; so every idea we can form of
Sanctification, is relative to him — and all growth in grace by us,
is some increase in our likeness to him — some augmentation of
the power of his life in us. But Faith in him, while it is the
only conceivable method of our spiritual union with him, is at the
1 Acts, xxvi. 18.

CHAP. XI.] SANCTIFICATION. 213
same time the first and the most constant manifestation of our
new birth, and the channel through which all life and grace that
come immediately from him to us, are communicated to the soul.
In proportion, therefore, to the strength, the simplicity, the
purity and activity of our Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, must
necessarily be the power of that new life which we share with the
Lord from heaven ; and in the same degree must be the sted-
fastness of our growth in grace, and the final completeness of
our Sanctification. It is not merely a figure of speech to say,
that Faith is not only the evidence of things not seen, but is also
the substance of things hoped for.1 For grace and truth come
by Jesus Christ ; and of his fulness have we all received, and
grace for grace ; grace in all his children responsive to the bound
less grace in him, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily.2 It is wonderful to observe how these first and simplest
graces of the Spirit — these earliest manifestations of the life of
God in the soul of man — are made effectual unto the very highest
attainments the soul is capable of making. Bepentance toward
God and Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ — the conditions of
salvation itself — which are as familiar to the very humblest child
of God, as the path in which the wayfaring man habitually walks,
is to him ; are nevertheless, the very means by which every diffi
culty is solved, every obstacle surmounted, and the highest form
of spiritual life finally attained. The result of this growth in
grace, as I have shown is general, not partial ; it is the Sanctifi
cation of the whole man — and it is, at every step of the process,
a work involving the whole man. Nevertheless, there is a special
and infallible mark of the progress, the particular stage, and the
result of this great work of grace. He who exercises Faith in
Jesus Christ, proves thereby that he is born of God ; so he who
loves God supremely, proves thereby that he is sanctified. The
very end of the circumcision of the heart by God is, that we may
love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul.3
And the first and great commandment both of the Law and the
Gospel is couched in those words.4 The very end of the com
mandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good con
science, and of faith unfeigned.5 Faith itself works by love :"
and so working both purifies the heart and overcomes the world.
i Heb, xi. 1. s John, i 16, 17 : Col, ii 9. 3 Deut, xxx. 6.
4 Deut, vi 5 ; Matt, xxii 37. * 1 Tim, i. 5. " Gal, v. 6.

214 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
But there is no need of proving by numerous texts that which
belongs to the very structure of revealed religion. The first rela
tion between God and man was a relation of boundless mutual
love : the second relation is one of unalterable love of God to his
elect — and of pollution and hate on their part : the third is still
love on the part of God — and love on the part of the regenerate
sinner, commencing with his new birth, and increasing with his
growth in grace : the last is the consummation of God's love to
man, and the restoration of the glorified man to a love for God,
of which the primeval man had no ability, no conception. It is
the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost,1
which is at once the test of our actual relation to him, the meas
ure of our enjoyment of him, and the distinctive element in our
fitness and our ability to serve him. Beyond all this, it is imme
diately relevant both to the nature and extent of our infinite
inheritance ; for the things which eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, are the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him.2
5. I have pointed out in a previous chapter the ordinary
efforts and experience of the human soul, in the matter of our
Effectual Calling of God anterior to our Begeneration ; and now
we are to consider very briefly the peculiar nature of that force,
and the form of it, which the new creature is able to put forth
in its own gradual Sanctification. It is manifest that we can
put forth no force concurring with any outward act of God
towards us, and preceding the finished act of God ; and that
with regard to all of them, as, for example, his act justifying,
and bis act adopting us, the utmost ability of man is some act
responsive to the gracious act of God, performed after it, and
performed in consequence of a gracious ability previously con
ferred by God ; as, for example, our receiving the imputed
righteousness of Christ, by faith — which faith is the result of our
previous regeneration by the Holy Ghost. The impotence of
man to the change of his own nature, as well as the peculiar
nature of his passivity in that great spiritual change which the
Scriptures call his new birth ; have been sufficiently explained
in another place. But now that we are born again, the case does
not stand exactly as it did. We can indeed do nothing to create
ourselves ; but being already created with capacities competent
^ Rom, v. 5. : 1 Cor, ii. 9.

CHAP. XI.] SANCTIFICATION. 215
to the greatest undertakings, and whose very nature it is to be
enlarged and perfected by use ; it is the reverse of true to allege
that culture produces no lasting effect — that effort has no per
manent result ; or, on the other hand, that imbecile indifference,
voluntary ignorance, and sinful self-indulgence, leave no traces
on our noblest powers. Thus the endeavours of the new creature
to liberate itself from native pollution, and to increase in con
formity to God, are contemplated in every divine command and
encouragement tending to our growth in grace ; and, either ex
pressly or impliedly, the active co-operation of the renewed soul
seems to be always recognized in the process of its own sanctifica
tion. The number of such Scriptures is very great. Thus the
Apostle Paul says to the saints at Colosse, that although Christ
be all and in all,- — Ye have put off the old man with his deeds,
and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him.1 And still more dis
tinctly to the saints at Philippi, Work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling, for it is God who worketh in you both to
will and to do, of his good pleasure.* 2 Nothing can be more de
cisive than this. The saints are exhorted to address themselves
to the work of their personal salvation : the temper of mind in
which they should do this is that awe becoming him, with
whom they have to do, and that solicitude appropriate to the
vast interest at stake ; the encouragement offered to them is
God's working in them in all things — for willing and doing em
brace every thing ; the result is the total product of his grace.
Practically, so great is the influence of spiritual things upon the
soul that is earnestly engaged with them, that the habitual com
plexion of our spiritual experience is taken from the objects we
habitually contemplate. And so it is said, We all with open
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed
into the same image from glory to glory, even ,as by the Spirit of
the Lord.3 We ought not to forget for a moment the magnitude
of the work which is to be accomplished, nor the perfection of it
1 Col, hi. 9, 11.
* 'Trrep tvc cvdoiaae: if his be supplied, according to the English, one sense is
given : but if ifiuv be supplied, a different and possibly better sense, making the
phrase mean — prceter desiderium : thus, for it is God who worketh in you both to will
and to do, beyond your longing desire : which is the apparent sense of the Greek, if
nothing be supplied.
3 Phil, ii. 12, 13. 3 2 Cor, iii 18.

216 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
when it shall be fully done. The divine nature condescended to
take human nature into eternal union with itself, in the person
of the Son of God ; and human nature is to be elevated to eter
nal participation of the divine nature, in the person of every re
deemed sinner. A single act of the Son of God, assuming human
nature, perfected that union of God and man. But what innu
merable acts, and how amazing and multiplied in the case of
every child of God, before that participation is completely
achieved by them all ! And in every one, after what grace, and
mercy, and love of God ; after what anguish on account of sin,
what efforts to subdue it, what conflicts, what victories, what
hosannahs in the highest !
III. — 1. Having now endeavoured to explain, under the first
general division, the relation of Sanctification to the plan of sal
vation, and under the second, the nature of it as exhibited by
some of its most distinguishing characteristics ; it is necessary to
enquire more particularly by what means it is carried on in the soul,
and in what manner it is related to the Godhead as the author
of it. No terms are more familiar to the people of God than
Means of Grace — means, that is, whereby the grace of God is
made effectual to the salvation of sinners. And the complete
provision of those means of grace by God, and their universal
applicability and use in saving men, and the intimate connection
between them and the whole course of the divine life in man,
furnish a distinctive proof that the supernatural method of
divine grace and salvation is not miraculous, in any proper sense;
while, at the same time, the manifest and declared inefficacy of
all these means, merely of themselves, to produce the effects
which follow from their use, is an equally distinctive proof that
the system of grace and salvation to which they appertain, is not
natural, in any proper sense. It is, therefore, both absurd in
itself and irreverent toward God, for us to devise other means
than those appointed by him ; for us to neglect the diligent use
of all those means he has commanded, and for us to rely on those
he has appointed, otherwise than in the way, to the extent, and for
the purpose, revealed by him. Amongst the benefits of the Cov
enant of Bedemption, those which are the most nearly connected
with the means of grace, are those which relate to our first en
grafting into Christ, and those which relate to the subsequent
increase of the power of our new life within us. And between

CHAP. XI.] SANCTIFICATION. 217
these there is this wide difference, that in the former case they
are addressed to the natural man, to whom they are foolishness,'
for the purpose of awakening, enlightening, and quickening him;
while, in the latter case, they are addressed to the new man, to
whom they are very precious, for the purpose of enabling him to
grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ.2 It is, therefore, in this very matter of our Sanc
tification that the means appropriate to that great and constant
work of grace, are at once most obviously needful and most gen
erally fruitful.
2. The word of God is the great means of the sanctification
of penitent and believing sinners. Our divine Bedeemer said to
his Apostles, as he and they sat together after the last supper
was ended, Now are ye clean through the word which I have
spoken unto you.3 And when his discourse to his Apostles was
ended, addressing himself to his Father, he said, concerning those
whom the Father had given him, Sanctify them through thy
truth ; thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world,
even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their
sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth.4 Having respect to human nature in its ab
solute essence, and in all its known qualities and modes of op
eration, we are not able to conceive how the understanding of a
renewed soul could increase in divine knowledge, its conscience
increase in divine sanctity, its will increase in conformity to the
will of God, otherwise than by the instrumentality of divine
truth ; while we are also unable to conceive how it could fail to
do so, under the application of divine truth to it with the power
of God. And such, in both respects, is the universal practical
result. And such is the uniform and multiplied testimony of the
sacred Scriptures.6 Indeed, the very thing which the grace of
God that bringeth salvation has taught all men is, that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously
and godly in this present world ; looking for that blessed hope,
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us
from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zeal-
1 1 Cor, ii. 14. * 2 Pet, hi. 18. 3 John, xv. 3.
4 John, xv. 17-19.
6 Ps. cxix. 142-151 ; 1 Cor, vi. 11 ; Eph, v. 26 ; 1 Tim, iv. 5 ; 1 Pet, i 22.

218 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
ous of good works.1 And this embraces, equally, all holy Scrip
tures which indiscriminately — the whole of it- — is not only the
instrument of our Sanctification, but the rule of our New Obe
dience, able to make us wise unto salvation, through faith that
is in Christ Jesus. For all Scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness : that the man of God may be per
fect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.2
3. In a strict sense, whatever can with propriety be called a
means of grace is implicitly contained in the declaration, that
the word of God is the instrument of our Sanctification. No
doubt the divine truth itself has an efficacy in this way peculiar
to itself; and that all the means revealed in the Scriptures for
making divine truth effectual, have an efficacy peculiar to each
one. But that these are means at all, depends, as to us, upon
the single fact that God has appointed them, which fact can be
ascertained only by the testimony of the word itself. The whole
of these are ordinances of God, not excepting even the divine
Word. The chief of them are, the Sacraments of the Covenant
of Bedemption, instituted by Christ in his church to signify and
seal to his followers the benefits of his mediation :3 the Sabbath
day which God blessed and sanctified from the foundation of the
world, and afterwards embodied in the ten commandments which
contain a divine summary of the Moral Law, obligatory upon all
mankind:4 the religious worship of God, both public and private,
with the preaching of the word, the offering of prayer, and the
singing of the praises of God :5 to which, in a lower sense, are
to be added Alms, Fasting, and Lawful Vows :6 nor should the
exercise of Discipline, so emphatically commanded by God, be
overlooked.7 Very nearly connected, therefore, with our growth
in grace, and immediately relevant to our Sanctification, both as
means of promoting it, and as manifestations of it, are the New
Obedience, Good Works, and the Spiritual Warfare. Any just
consideration of these immense resources of God's church and
people, ought to fill our hearts with awe and joy. They have all
been provided by Christ for the gathering and perfecting his
1 Titus, ii 11-14. 2 2 Tim, hi. 15-17.
a Matt, xxvi, 26, 27 ; xxviii. 19. 4 Gen, ii. 3 ; Exod., xx. 8-11.
s Deut, xii. 32; 2 Tim, iv. 2; Phil, iv. 5; Col, iii 16.
« 1 John, hi. 17, 18; Matt, xh. 15; Eccl, v. 4, 5.
' Heb, xiii. 17 ; 1 Thess., v. 12, 13.

CHAP. XI.] SANCTIFICATION. 219
saints, in this life, to the end of the world : and it is he who by
his presence, and his Spirit, according to his promise, makes them
all effectual.1 The narrowness of my limits, and the strictness
of my method, do not permit me to enlarge upon any of them
here : which is of the less consequence, as they will all receive
further consideration as we advance in the disclosure of the sub
jective effects of the Knowledge of God.
IV. — 1. And now we reach the climax of this matter, in
reaching the author of all these wonderful provisions for a work
of grace, not less wonderful than they ; the adorable God, from
whose bosom all grace flows, and with it all power that makes
grace effectual. This divine work of Sanctification, so peculiar
in itself as compared with other benefits of the Covenant of Be
demption, brings the soul into peculiar relations with the God
head. The application to the Elect of the benefits of the
Covenant of Bedemption, is generally so accomplished that the
particular act or work we are considering may be seen to have
very special reference, often exclusive reference, to a particular
operation of the Godhead : as in Election, the love, and in Jus
tification, the sentence of the Father ; in Begeneration, inspi
ration, and the whole testimony borne to Christ, the work of the
Holy Ghost ; in Incarnation, satisfaction, intercession, and the
final sentence of acquttial, the work of the Son. In the counsel
of God, the covenant resulting from it, and the decree founded
on it — to speak according to our weakness — the two former sug
gest all the Persons of the Godhead, while the latter suggests
the undivided essence — Jehovah ; on the one side, the plurality
in unity — on the other the unity of that plurality : simplicity of
essence — plurality of Persons — unity. This is the aspect of the
divine existence, connected with our salvation in its foundation.
And this same aspect of the divine existence becomes manifest
again, as that salvation is being consummated in the complete
sanctification of those elect, concerning whom were that counsel,
that covenant, and that decree. In the intermediate divine acts
connected with our salvation, the distinct work of the several
Persons of the Godhead keeps an aspect of the divine existence
corresponding to that manner of working, continually before
the mind. Concerning our sanctification, the Godhead in its
unity, and each Person of the Godhead separately, are distinctly
1 Isa, lix. 20, 21 ; Eph, iv. 11-13.

220 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
exhibited by the Scriptures as concurring it in a manner peculiar
to this great and crowning work of grace ; and this is illustrated
by their relations to that eternal covenant— the consummation
of whose grace, and the commencement of whose glory, Sancti
fication itself marks as already approached.
2. To put off the old man — to be renewed in the spirit of
our mind — to put on the new man :' this, as we have seen, is the
divine description of the progress of every one who has truly
learned Christ, who has earnestly commenced a career of right
eousness and true holiness. It is not that the old man is put off
first, and then the spirit of the mind is renewed, and then the
new man is put on : which, in every respect, is impossible. But
it is, that being renewed in the spirit of the mind, simultaneously
with that renewal, and as the simultaneous effects of it, the old
man dies on one hand, and the new man arises on the other ;
both results being the unavoidable effects of the spiritual re
newal. And then as the power of this central and pervading life
increases, or is itself renewed or advanced, it follows unavoidably
and simultaneously that the putting off the old man on one side,
and the putting on the new man on the other, also proceeds.
The rising of the sun necessarily and simultaneously chases away
the darkness, by diffusing light; and as he ascends in his glorious
career, both effects proceed together. Thus our sanctification is
general, and is total, and yet is both imperfect in this state of
being, and certain to be perfect in the next. Now the power
which produces these results, is the power which renewed us in
the spirit of our mind, and which augments the vital force of the
new existence thus communicated to us. The nature of this
progress, and the means which infinite power condescends to em
ploy in this method of nourishing and advancing this life of God
in man, have been explained. It is the power itself of which we
now enquire. Manifestly, it transcends all ability of our own —
all power in the universe of which we have any knowledge, ex
cept that of God ; so manifestly, that the effects are precisely
opposite to the nature of all known power, except that of God ;
and never occur, are never conceived of, except in causal connec
tion with the power of God. This growth in grace is not a new
creation in the sense that Begeneration is, any more than natural
growth from infancy to manhood is a succession of births ; a
' Eph., iv. 20, 24.

CHAP. XI.] SANCTIFICATION. 221
truth that may help to explain to us the widely different effects
of the means of grace upon renewed and unrenewed souls. It
is no doubt true, that reformation and increased purity of out
ward life follow growth in grace ; but that these follow it merely
as effects of the inward power, — proofs of the reality of the inward
transformation, would never have been questioned, except in
order to deny the pollution of human nature, and to deny the
power of God which removes it.
3. That divine power is ascribed, in the first place, to God
considered absolutely. Infinite holiness is the source of finite
holiness. Thus saith the Lord God — (Adonai Jehovah)* — I gave
them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they
might know that I am the Lord (Jehovah)f that sanctify them.1
And the ascription of this work to Jehovah, is connected with
the most explicit recognition of earnest co-operation on our part.
Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy ; for I am the Lord
your God. J And ye shall keep my statutes and do them : I am
the Lord (Jehovah) which sanctify you.2 And this use is found
very commonly in the New Testament Scriptures : thus, And
the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.3 In like mariner the
Father is often declared to be the author of our Sanctification.
Thus Jude addresses his epistle to them that are sanctified by
God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ.4 And Paul de
clares that it is the Father which hath made us meet to be par
takers of the inheritance of the saints in light.6 And perhaps
the most emphatic statement in the Scriptures, that the word of
God is the instrument of our Sanctification, is made by the Sa
viour in earnest petition to the Father, to sanctify the elect
through his truth.6 As to the Son, his relation to our Sanctifi
cation is most express, both in that he merited and purchased it
for us, and in that he applies it to us. Thus, Paul states that
Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it ; that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word,
that he might present it to himself, a glorious Church, not having
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy
and without blemish.7 For, the very reason why he, who knew no
sin, was made sin for us, was, that we might be made the right-
* rj^rp 'lins f — rrim 1 Ezek, xx. 5, 12. J dairies njn-'
2 Levit, xx. 7, 8. 3 1 Thess.', v. 23. 4 Jude, 1. 5 Col, i 12.
6 John, xvii 17. ' Eph, v. 25-27.

222 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD [BOOK II.
eousness of God in him.1 And while it is of God that we are in
Christ Jesus, this is so accomplished, that Christ Jesus is of God
made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption.2 And with reference to the Holy Ghost, according
to the ceconomy of the divine operation, every part of the internal
work of our restoration and salvation appertains in a special
manner to him ; and amongst the rest this is expressly declared
concerning our Sanctification. Thus when speaking, at the same
time, of all three Persons of the Trinity, and explaining the rela
tion of each one to our salvation, the work of sanctifying us is
particularly appropriated to the Holy Ghost. After that the
kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared, not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and re
newing of the Holy Ghost ; which was shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Saviour ; that being justified by his
grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal
life.3 Our obligation to give thanks always to God, for our
brethren beloved of the Lord, is declared to be, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctifica
tion of the Spirit and behef of the truth ; whereunto ye were
called by our Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ.4 It appears therefore that the uncreated holiness
which is of the essence of the Godhead, and which therefore ap
pertains equally and alike to each Person of the Trinity — while
it was the basis of the peculiar form of righteousness brought in
and wrought out by Christ ; is also the ultimate source of the cre
ated holiness wrought in the elect, as the consummation of divine
grace in this life. By consequence, the power competent to pro
duce and perfect that holiness in the heirs of God, is common to
each person in the Godhead, and to the Godhead considered ab
solutely. And finally, according to the Scriptures this amazing
power is actually and continually exercised by them all, in a work
of sanctifying grace in all renewed souls ; to their unspeakable
comfort, edification, and advancement ; to the infinite glory of
the Triune God ; and, as we shall immediately see, to the highest
exaltation of the work of Christ ! And so the end, as well as the
beginning, and all the progress of our salvation, shows that the
whole is absolutely responsive to the revealed mode of the divine
i 2 Cor, v. 21. 2 1 Cor, i 30. 3 Titus, iii 4-7. 4 Titus, ii. 13, 14.

CHAP. XI.] SANCTIFICATION. 223
existence ; that the apparent obscurity of any portion of God's
word, and all its alleged inconsistencies, are founded on nothing
but our own shallow ignorance of that which it imports us so
deeply to know ; and that the more thorough and the more ex
alted our views are both of God's nature and grace, and of the
whole work of salvation divinely accomplished in us, the more
certain they are to be true in themselves and realized in us.
4. The divine concurrence of the Persons of the Godhead in
the Covenant of Bedemption, was such as to produce a plan of-
salvation with an established ceconomy, as between those divine
Persons : an administration — so to speak — not of the whole by
each person — but of a certain part by each, with the constant
presence and concurrence of all : as has been heretofore fully ex
plained. In the work of Sanctification, the same thing occurs.
It is not the whole of Sanctification by each, but it is the Sanc
tification of the whole man by the sanctifying power of each
Person of the Trinity, and by the Godhead considered absolutely
- — -in each case with reference to the ceconomy and administration
established in the covenant itself — and with reference to the pre
sence and concurrence of each. The peculiarity in Sanctification
is, that whereas in the other benefits of the covenant, the work
or act of each Person is distinct, and is to a result precise and
distinguishable from every other result ; in this benefit, the work
of each Person is to the same result, namely, one and a complete
Sanctification of the whole man ; and in that one complete result
it is not distinguishable, nor capable of being realized in thought,
what portion of the perfect holiness of the sanctified person ap
pertains to one or to another divine Person. We can distinctly
say we are purchased by the blood of Christ, we are regenerated
by the power of the Holy Ghost, we are justified by the sentence
of the Father. Of our Sanctification, we must speak in another
way ; it is a work of grace accomplished by Jehovah — the
Father — the Son — and the Holy Ghost — in those upon whom all
separate and divine acts and works, preliminary to it, have been
performed. But the particular object of this statement is, to
point out that this wonderful working in our Sanctification is
not promiscuous, nor yet total of each : but is, according to the
divine ceconomy and administration of the Godhead and the per
sons thereof, manifested in the Covenant of Bedemption. Con
cerning the Godhead considered absolutely, and concerning the

224 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
Father and the Holy Spirit ; what has been said, is perhaps suf
ficient for this place. Concerning the divine Bedeemer, a few
words of further explanation are necessary.
5. The elect were chosen by God to salvation through Sanc
tification of the Spirit ; before the foundation of the world they
were chosen in Christ that they should be holy, and they were
predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son.1 This
Sanctification of the Spirit is his powerful operation applying
the death and resurrection of Christ unto them — thereby causing
them to die to sin and to live to righteousness — renewing the
whole man in the image of God.2 It is the virtue of the death
of Christ, and the virtue of the resurrection of Christ, applied to
us by the Holy Ghost — and the virtue of the risen and exalted
Christ passing from him to us — which require us to say, not
only that Christ purchases our Sanctification as a benefit of the
covenant, but that in a still stricter sense he is the author of it.
The position covers the last act of his humiliation — the first of
his exaltation. He purged our sins by his own blood.3 How
much more shall the blood of Christ purge your consciences from
dead works, to serve the living God.4 He has not only redeemed
us and reconciled us to God by his blood f but that blood cleans-
eth us from all sin — in it our sins are washed away, and by it we
overcome all things.6 The will of God concerning our Sanctifi
cation, which Christ came into the world to execute, and by
which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all ; was so accomplished, that by one of
fering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.7 And
the Scriptures are equally decisive concerning the power of the
resurrection of Christ, and the virtue of the life of Christ im
parted to us. Being made conformable to the death of Christ,
we know him, and the power of his resurrection, as well as the
fellowship of his sufferings ; and so we may apprehend that for
which also we are apprehended of Christ Jesus.8 At present, we
are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God ; but Christ,
who is our life, will appear again, and then shall we also appear
with him in glory." Presently, mortality will be swallowed up of
life ; and he who hath wrought us for this is God ; and in the
1 2 Thess, ii. 13 ; Eph, 14; Rom, viii. 29. 2 Rom, vi. 1-12.
3 Heb, i. 3. 4 Heb, ix. 14. 6 Rom, v. 5, 10 ; Rev, v. 9.
s Rev, i 5 ; xii 11 ; 1 John, i 7. ' Heb, x. 10, 14. » Phil, iii 10, 12.
» Col, iii 3, 4.

CHAP. XI.] SANCTIFICATION. 225
meantime he has given unto us the earnest of his Spirit.1 Planted
together in the likeness of the death of Christ, we shall be also
in the likeness of his resurrection : if we be dead with him, we
shall also live with him.2 And we can truly say, I am crucified
with Christ ; nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me ; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.3 In
all these passages, the particular point elucidated, is our partici
pation with Christ, both in what he endured for sin, and in his
absolute triumph over it along with death, and the grave, and
hell : and the consequent participation with him, and from him,
of the virtue of both, and of the mind and Spirit in which he
accomplished all. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.4
The direct effect of this on us, is our increasing Sanctification ;
and this is the way of Christ's direct participation in our Sancti
fication ; and this is in exact accordance with his relation to the
Covenant of Bedemption, and to the ceconomy of that covenant,
as between the Persons of the Trinity. What is not disclosed
specially here, and what remains for each one to supply for him
self, is an adequate conception of the sufferings and of the tri
umph of Christ ; in order that we may have an adequate concep
tion of what passes, and ought to pass, in our own souls — as their
Sanctification is advanced by increasing conformity both to the
death and to the resurrection of Christ. The number is not
great of those in whom this sublime work is sufficiently regarded,
or its fruits sufficiently tasted ; and so not many understand fully
what passed in Gethsemane and at Calvary — without which it is
idle to expect that we can fully appreciate Christ's triumph over
the powers of hell and the horror of eternal death. It is only
when we turn to the Lord with all our heart, that the veil is
taken from it.6
6. The completeness of the Plan of Salvation seems to be ab
solute. The adaptedness of all its parts to each other, and to
their own special end — and the adaptedness of the whole and of
every part, to the great end of all, the eradication of sin and
misery ; exhibits a subject, the greatest, the most intricate, and
the most remote of all — in a manner so precise and clear ; that
the sacred Scriptures, even if they had no grace and no mercy to
offer to us personally, might justly challenge the very highest
1 2 Cor, v. 4, 5. 2 Rom, vi. 6, 8. 3 Gal, ii. 20. 4 Heb, xii 2. 5 2 Cor., iii 16.
VOL. II. 15

226 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
place as the most stupendous monument of sublime and success
ful thought. What then ought we to think of them, when all
this glorious intelligence is merely tributary to our salvation ?
The end of this infinite completeness, only to pour into our pol
luted and thoughtless hearts, inexhaustible supplies of grace —
that we may be extricated from a condition utterly hopeless
without that grace — and be brought to a condition unspeakably
blessed to us and glorious to God ? Yet this is the overwhelming
conclusion to which every just consideration of them forces us to
come ; the conclusion to which the imperfect disclosure which
has now been attempted, of a single point iu this divine system,
wholly compels us. In this deep conviction, therefore, and as the
conclusion of all that has now been advanced, I venture to define,
that Sanctification is a benefit of the Covenant of Bedemption — •
being a work of grace, on the part of the Triune God, wherein
the elect who have been Effectually Called, Begenerated, Justi
fied, and Adopted, are, through the virtue of the death and
resurrection of Christ, by the indwelling of the Word and Spirit,
through the use of the divine ordinances, and by the power of
God within them, enabled more and more to die unto sin, to be
renewed in the spirit of their mind, and to live unto righteous
ness, in an increasing conformity to the image of God, to his
great glory, and their great growth in holiness.

CHAPTER XII.
COMMUNION WITH CHRIST IN GRACE COMPLETE: COMMUNION WITH
CHRIST IN GLORY BEGUN.
I. 1. Conditions of our Discipleship. — 2. Nature of the Kingdom of God. — 3. Com
munion with Christ in Grace : Origin, Progress, and End thereof. — 4. Communion
with Christ in Glory: First Fruits thereof, in this Life. — II. 1. Distinction in the
Effects of Communion with Christ in Glory. — 2. First Fruits of Glory enjoyed in
this Life. — 3. Origin, Growth, and Reahty of these First Fruits. — 4. Nature and
Extent of Fitness for Eternal Life — and of inward enjoyment of God. — 5. The
Evidence which the Soul may obtain and rest upon. — 6. Spiritual Weakness —
Distrust — Doubt — Indifference. — 7. Self-Delusion — Backsliding — Perseverance —
Assurance. — III. 1. The Saints are ahowed, in this Life, a, foretaste of Heaven:
Earnest of the Spirit. — 2. A sense of God's Love : Peace of Conscience :, Joy in
the Holy Ghost : Rejoicing in Hope of the Glory of God. — 3. In Life, Death, the
Separate State after Death, Resurrection, Transfiguration, Behevers have Com
munion with Christ— -4. Relation of Death to the Saints — and to the Triumph of
the Mediatorial Kingdom. — 5. Communion with Christ in Glory — at the Resur
rection and in the Judgment. — 6. Progress of this Enquiry : and the Point
reached. I. — 1. Whosoever will come after me, said the Lord, em
phatically to the people whom he had collected unto him with
his disciples, let him deny himself, and take up his' cross, and
follow me.1 These are the unalterable conditions of our disciple
ship. Whoever will do these things, is the disciple of Christ.
Whoever refuses to do them is none of his. Nothing less will
suffice : nothing more is possible. Nor is his yoke a hard yoke :
nor his burden a heavy burden. Far otherwise. No one has ever
tasted and seen, who has not found that the Lord was precious ;
who has not seen that it was better to be a doorkeeper in his
house, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. How blessed
then are they who trust him, and find a day in his courts better
than a thousand ! For the Lord God is a sun and a shield ; the
Lord will give grace and glory : no good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. 0 Lord of hosts, blessed is the
man that trusteth in thee !2
, vi. 24; Mark, viii. 34; Luke, ix. 23. ' Psalm lxxxiv. 11, 12.

228 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK n.
2. In the bestowment of the grace of God nothing is barren,
nothing remains unfruitful. Even in his providence — -how much
more in his grace richly bestowed on his children — all things
work — all work together — all inwork mutually one upon another :
so that besides accomplishing that which is its immediate de
sign, every thing becomes in its effect, a new power, constantly
extending in depth and breadth. There is no mark of the life
of God in the soul more decisive than this : no characteristic of
it more clearly disclosed by him, who is the author and finisher of
our faith. A woman took leaven and hid it in three measures of
meal, till the whole was leavened. A man took a grain of mus
tard seed, and cast it into his garden ; and it grew and waxed a
great tree : and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.
This is the way in which God works : this is the very nature of
the Kingdom of God.1 This is the process and result of the work
ing of divine grace in the soul of the believer : one of the mys
teries of the kingdom, hid from the foundation of the world, from
all carnal understanding : plainly revealed by the Great Teacher,
and clearly understood by all to whom it is given to know those
heavenly mysteries.2
3. The infinite goodness of God, directed by wisdom, and
sustained by power infinite as itself, when addressed to the
problem of delivering the universe from the reign of sin, resulted
in that purpose of the divine will which finds its expression in
the Covenant of Bedemption. This is the form in which, speak
ing after the manner of men, the first result is expressed. The
practical outworking of this covenant, is exhibited in the entire
mediatorial work of Christ, and the entire application thereof to
the whole universe, and especially in its application to elect sin
ners of our fallen race by the Holy Ghost. In this process they
become united to Christ by Faith through grace. For Christ
has purchased redemption for the elect : and all the promises of
God in him are yea, and in him are amen, unto the glory of God
by us.3 And all for whom Christ has purchased redemption, are
made partakers of the benefits he has purchased for them, by the
application thereof to them by the Holy Ghost ; which is begun
in their Effectual Calling, wherein they are united inseparably
,to Christ. Thus united to him, they have communion with him
i Luke, xhi. 18-22. ' Matt, xiii 11 ; xi 25-27.
3 Heb, ix. 12 ; 2 Cor, i. 20.

CHAP. XH.] GRACE AND GLORY. 229
in grace and in glory. And thus two more results are successively
reached — each following the other — and all three bound together,
and all that will follow knit to all these, and to each other, by
the infinite force of the divine method which pervades them all
with a living power. For having received, in this union with
Christ, a divine Begeneration ; the communion in grace which
we enjoy with him is our partaking of the virtue of his media
tion, in our Justification, Adoption, Sanctification, and whatever
else in this life manifests our union with him.1 The end of all
is the complete fitness of the children of God for eternal life,
and their assured possession of it.2
4. They whose fellowship is with the Father, and with his
Son Jesus Christ, are they whom the Father has given to the
Son, and concerning whom the will of the Son declared to the
Father is, that they should be with him where he is, that they
may behold his glory.3 It is, therefore, not in grace only, but also
in glory, that they have communion with the Lord Jesus. Nor is
it only in another state of being that they will participate of the
glory of Christ ; for in this life the first fruits of that glory are
bestowed on them. As members of Christ, they are interested
in that glory of which he is fully possessed; for God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by
grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up together, and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus : that in the ages
to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his
kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus.4 And here we have
exhibited to us in forms which struggle to make manifest their
power and fulness, another of those mighty inworkings of which
I have spoken ; another of those glorious manifestations of the
vital power of every part of the grace of God. For just as they
who are effectually called are made partakers in succession of
the unspeakable blessings and benefits of Begeneration, Justi
fication, Adoption, and Sanctification ; so they who have been
brought that far in the Way of Life, find that other blessings,
and amongst them some of the most precious benefits of the
Covenant of Bedemption, accompany and flow from these ; and
that as the result of all, the confines of grace overlap the con-
1 1 Cor, i. 30 ; Rom, viii. 30. a Eph, i passim.
' John, xvii 24; 1 John, i 3. 4 Eph, ii. 4-7.

230 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IL
fines of glory. It is this which we must consider more particu
larly, in concluding the enquiry to which this Book is devoted,
into the nature, origin, progress, and completion of the life of
God in man, during his mortal state — his state of begun re
covery. II. — 1. Those blessings and benefits of the Covenant of Be
demption which, exceeding the effects of our communion with
Christ in his grace, are the product of our communion with him
in his glory; are subject to a very precise distinction, founded on
the periods of their bestowment. During the present life, where
the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty: and all who as with open
face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord.1 At death the body returns to earth as it was, and the
spirit returns to God who gave it.2 And so when the penitent
malefactor dying by the side of the dying Saviour, said unto
Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom :
Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou
be wi,th me in Paradise.3 But Paradise is the place where God
manifests himself in unspeakable glory. For it was to it that Paul
was caught up, calling it the third heaven, and not being able to
tell whether he was in the body, or out of the body, heard un
speakable woi'ds worthy of all glorying, but which it is not lawful
for a man to utter.4 And John informs us, that Paradise is the
placo in the midst of which is the tree of Life, of which the
glorified Bedeemer gives to every victorious saint, to eat.6 There
is, concerning the future state of man nothing more clearly re
vealed, than that the soul of the impenitent passes to hell at death,
and the soul of the believer, when released from the body, passes
immediately to the presence and fruition of the Lord ; deliv
ered wholly, and blessed and glorious beyond all human concep
tion.8 And then at the resurrection and the day of judgment,
the communion of saints with Christ in glory will at last be per
fected.7 We have, therefore, the means of determining, not only
the relations of those states which result from our communion
with Christ in grace, to those which result from our communion
with him in glory ; but we have the means also of determining
i 2 Cor, iii. 17, 18. a Eccl, xii 7. a Luke, xxiii. 42, 43.
4 2 Cor, xii. 1-5. s Rev, ii 7. « Luke, xvi. 19-31.
' 1 Cor, xv. 50-58 ; Matt, xv. 31-46.

CHAP. XII.] GRACE AND GLOBY. 231
the relations of those states, which occur at different stages of our
communion with him in glory, to each other.
2. There is, even in this life, a certain anticipated realization
of deserved doom, and of the vengeance of God, and of the fear
ful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God. A certain
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall
devour the adversaries. Nor are such things unsuitable to those
who have trodden under foot the Son of God, and counted the
blood of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified an unholy
thing, and done despite unto the Spirit of grace.1 Cain bewailed
his punishment as greater than he could bear ; and Judas,
full of horror at the thought of the innocent blood he had be
trayed, laid violent hands upon himself ; and what multitudes,
to a greater or less extent, encounter the shadow of eternal
death before they incur its endless doom ! No one questions the
reality of such things — no one perceives in them any occasion for
surprise that the death which sin cannot avoid bringing forth,
should manifest in this terrible manner the power of its working.
Why should it be thought strange that they who seek for glory,
honour, and immortality, should receive, not only eternal life in
another world, but glory, honour, and peace in this world ; when
it is manifest that tribulation and anguish, indignation and
wrath, are rendered to every soul of man that doeth evil ?2 As
suredly they for whom an undefiled inheritance is laid up in
heaven, and who are already invested with a perfect title to the
whole of it, and are wrought, through infinite grace, to a fitness
for the enjoyment of it : will not be denied by the King of kings
and Lord of lords, whose sons and heirs they are, a portion of the
first fruits of their own immeasurable inheritance to support, to
bless, yea, and to adorn them, as they struggle forward to their
Father's throne !
3. After considering the nature of faith, of the righteousness
which is by faith, and of the relation of both to our salvation,
the Apostle Paul proceeds thus : Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ :
by whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so,
but we glory in tribulation also ; knowing that tribulation work
eth patience ; and patience, experience ; and experience, hope ;
1 Heb, x. 27-29. ' Rom., ii 6-10.

232 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
and hope maketh not ashamed ; because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.1
See this distinct, and wonderful process ! Justified by faith —
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ : through faith
in whom, also, access to the holiest of all — access therefore into
this grace wherein we stand fast : rejoicing in hope of the glory
of God. Nor is this all ; rejoicing in tribulation, knowing that
tribulation, patience, experience, and hope, follow in succession,
each the product of the one preceding, and the hope thus
wrought out unfailing : as the great result, and as a great cause
too, the love of God copiously poured into our hearts through
the Holy Ghost given to us ! And so a perpetual growth in
grace and in the knowledge of God, a trustful and joyful frui
tion of the glory of God — and assurance of God's love, and the
indwelling of the Divine Spirit, are the satisfying portion, and
the habitual state of the soul. It is hard to say whether it is
more wonderful that so much, and of such a nature, can be fully
and clearly expressed in so few and simple words ; or that any
who have a deep interest in such things, and a sincere desire to
understand them, should err concerning them. Continual increase
of grace — the certainty of perseverance therein to the end — and
the settled conviction therein of eternal life ; are the assured
portion of such as, in this life, live near enough to God to enjoy
intimate communion with him. These things, says the Apostle
John, have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God ; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and
that ye may believe- — (or rather, ye who do believe) — on the
name of the Son of God.2 And in another place, Hereby we do
know that we know him- — (who is the propitiation of our sins) —
if we keep his commandments.3 And again, He that keepeth
his commandments — (that is, God's) — dwelleth in him, and he
in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the
Spirit which he hath given us :' and he had just said that the
special commandment of God is, that we should believe on the
name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another. And that
Spirit of God which he hath given to us, and which attests
his abiding in us ; even that Spirit itself beareth witness with
our spirits, that we are the children of God ; and if children,
i Rom, v. 1-5. s 1 John, v. 13.
3 1 John, ii 2, 3. 4 1 John, hi 24.

CHAP. XII.] GRACE AND GLORY. 233
then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ ; if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together.1 4. After all it may be asked, and is continually asked— What
is the precise nature and extent of this inward fitness for eternal
life — and of this inward enjoyment of God ? The former ques
tion, it is obvious, covers the entire effect, and combined result,
of our Effectual Calling, Begeneration, Justification, Adoption,
and Sanctification. Supposing them to have occurred, the fitness
for eternal life which is enquired after, is the sum of their influ
ence upon us — neither more nor less. And on the other hand,
it is not conceivable that they should be what I think I have
shown they are, and that they should occur and operate as I
think I have shown they do, without producing that very fitness
which is enquired for, as their necessary result; a fitness for eter
nal life, resulting from an actual conformity to God, and that in
the highest degree of which each human being is capable, in our
mortal state, and under our actual circumstances. To question
this fitness for eternal life of those who resemble God, is tanta
mount to questioning the fitness of God to be God : and has
always been reckoned by him amongst the most heinous insults
to his divine majesty. It was because of this outrage in Moab
and Seir, saying, Behold the house of Judah is like unto all the
heathen : that God blotted them out from being remembered
among the nations.2 As to the second question, the one concern
ing the nature and extent of our enjoying of God in this life ; it
is obvious that if we admit that a soul can be born again, and
can live in the flesh by the life of the Lord from heaven imparted
to it ; it is not possible to doubt that thus created anew, and
thus living, this divine hfe in man — this new creation- — can be
nourished, can be developed, can be consummated, as really as
any other form of vital existence : and that this must occur
according to the nature of the life itself — the means brought to
bear upon it — and the purpose of its divine author. Fitness for
the enjoyment of God is of itself felicity ; and is, besides, the
very measure of our fitness for his service, because both of them
are the measure of our likeness to him. Unless we would call in
question the infinite blessedness of God, we cannot, at the very
least, doubt that our conformity to him is the measure of our
1 Rom, viii. 16, 17. * Ezek, xxv. 8-11.

234 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
capacity to be blessed : and then we must question his infinite
beneficence, his eternal love, and his unsearchable richness of
grace, in order to exclude his children from the highest par
ticipation of his grace and glory to which they are competent.
In effect, therefore, the enquiry concerning the nature of our
present fitness for eternal life, is merely giving a personal shape
to the enquiry concerning the nature of true religion. And the
enquiry concerning the nature of our present enjoyment of God,
is merely giving a personal shape to the enquiry concerning the
actual existence of true religion.
5. The enquiry concerning the nature and extent of the
testimony, upon which each individual may assuredly conclude
as to his own condition with respect to these great realities, is
different from the two preceding, but equally capable of a pre
cise solution. With regard to the sense of self-condemnation
natural to fallen man, there is no test of religion, in its widest
sense, more unerring, than that all false religion allays this just
condemnation of the natural conscience, or else directs it to
false, and away from the true grounds of it ; while all religion
that is true, and all in proportion to its truth, stimulates this
righteous judgment of the soul, enlarges it, and directs it against
its proper object. In its best condition, this natural sense of self-
condemnation being depraved, is incompetent: and the first, and
invariable effect of divine grace in fallen man, is to awaken us to
a far truer and deeper sense of our real condition ;. and amongst
all the causes of backsliding, the most fruitful one, perhaps, is
inadequate conviction of sin. It is thus apparent why false re
ligions are usually received and professed by the mass of men in
regions where they prevail; while in regions where. God's truth
is clearly made known, the great majority of men, though they
may be speculative believers, are fully aware that they are not
the subjects of the renewing grace of God. As to them, the
present enquiry passes them by, acknowledging their just judg
ment upon themselves, reached in the manner just pointed out :
and the whole case ought to be a new proof to them of the truth
of the religion which they sinfully neglect, even while it delivers
them from the refuges of lies through which such countless mul
titudes are destroyed. If we really seek for indubitable testimony
whereby we may resolve anxious doubts, and quiet distressing
perplexities, God offers it to us in abundance. In the first place,

OFIAP. XII.] GRACE AND GLORY. 235
Ihere is the testimony of the facts in the case — to be ascertained,
marshalled, considered, and decided, justly according to their
own nature. Let us examine the Scriptures and see what they
make out an heir of God to be. Let us examine ourselves, and
see what we actually are. Let us compare one result fairly with
the other, and render upon ourselves a righteous judgment,
founded upon a righteous comparison. If the judgment is fa
vourable, surely the testimony on which it rests, and which is
the particular object of our scrutiny, is adequate to sustain it :
the testimony, namely, of God's truth — of our self-knowdedge — ¦
and of enlightened reason addressed to both. In the second
place, our moral nature may now distinctly address itself to the
case just stated, as made, pondered, and decided upon the facts.
Does the heart, out of which are the issues of life, and with
which man believeth unto righteousness, approve the conclusion
reached before as just. Does it approve, also, the state in which
the conclusion declares it to be, as right and good ? Does it
rejoice in the fruition of that state, as at once its own blessed
ness, and God's gracious work ? Here is additional and con
clusive testimony, adding a second foundation on which our
decision may rest unshaken : the testimony of our conscience —
the very life of our soul — bearing us witness. In the third place,
there is that divine Witness — the Spirit of God himself. That
Spirit which, from our first awakening onward till our commun
ion with Christ in grace begins to merge in our communion with
him in glory, has dwelt in our hearts, and with divine power led
us thus far. Now he testifies that we are sons and heirs of God,
and that we shall be glorified with Christ : and as in every pre
vious testimony, so in this — he gives us tokens of the sublime
verity he attests. He puts us in possession of an Earnest of the
inheritance of glory ! If we can ever believe the Spirit of God
at all, we can believe him in this, because here he gives direct
testimony himself:1 and then he adds a threefold divine assur
ance, each one of which, like his own testimony, is infallible.
For we receive the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father :2 we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise :3 and
we receive into our hearts the earnest of our inheritance.4 The
i 1 John, v. 6 ; Rom, viii. 16. 3 Rom, viii. 15 ; Gal, iv. 6.
3 Eph, i 13 ; iv. 30.
4 2 Cor, i 22; v. 5; Rom, viii 23 ; Eph., i. 14; iv. 30.

236 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II
sum of it is, that the testimony of our consciousness, and the
manifold testimony of God's Spirit, are added to the previous
testimony of all the facts in the case, attested and approved by
the word of God, by our rational nature, and by our moral na
ture — that is, by faith, by reason, and by conscience. If we
cannot, by these means, arrive at assurance concerning our con
dition before God, it is perfectly evident that there are no other
means by which any thing can be made credible : and human
nature is reduced to a condition of imbecility, in which neither
belief, nor knowledge, nor salvation, has any particular signifi
cance. 6. It is often asserted with great confidence that very few
believers arrive at this state of communion with Christ in glory,
in this life. Probably it would be far more correct to say, that
very few enjoythis as their habitual state. For the truth prob
ably is, that all sincere followers of Christ have, at times, a
glimpse and fruition of the glory that is laid up for them ; par
ticipation more or less frequent, and more or less distinct, of
those first fruits of the powers of the world to come, which ap
pertain to the children of the kingdom in this life. It will be
often found that they who seem to cultivate a sort of distrust, as
if it were true humility — need only to vary a little the usual cur
rent of their thoughts, to reveal a far deeper hold on divine things
than they habitually suppose they possess. Ask such persons,
what would induce them to surrender the small and uncertain
hope they have in Christ ? The answer would be, Not all
worlds ! It is true, however, we must go forward if we would
avoid the risk of being left behind. We must live near to God
if we would have constant fruition of him : we must, in our fol
lowing of Christ, keep close enough, at least, to touch the hem
of his garment, if we would never lose the healing virtue which
proceeds from him. There is indeed a progress made towards
heaven with our heads bowed down like bulrushes, and with sack
cloth spread under us. But there is, also, a return to Zion with
songs of everlasting joy, and triumph upon our heads. There is
a way to be saved, as it were, by fire : and there is a way in
which an entrance shall be ministered to us abundantly, into
the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.1
In like manner the frequent uncertainty of believers about their
1 2 Peter, i. 1-11.

CHAP. XII.] GRACE AND GLORY. 237
actual state in the sight of God, will probably be found to arise
from the small attention they pay to the subject, to their own
soul, and to God ; rendering it well nigh impossible for them to
come to any certain, much less any comfortable conclusion,
Moreover, what attention they do give to these supreme affairs,
is often misdirected ; habitually averting their thoughts from
Christ, who would give them light, and strength, and peace ;
and fastening them only on themselves, from whence only shame
and sorrow can come. And after all, the low attainments with
which the professed followers of Christ are prone to content
themselves, and the conformity to this world in which they allow
themselves, may justify very grave doubts as to the real state of
many of them — and remove all surprise at their occasional appre
hension of that which is so likely to be true.
7. That men should be found capable of deceiving themselves
about the state of their souls, no more shakes the certainty that
men need not be deceived ; than it shakes the certainty of our
ability to arrive at positive truth on any other subject, to know
that we and others are liable to deceive ourselves about it. In
deed such self-delusions are always in the face of the most over
whelming proof, capable of being positively known to us. God
has written with perfect clearness, that the wicked shall be
turned into hell ; from which just condemnation there is no
escape, except by Bepentance toward God and Faith toward
the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no possibility of fatal delusion
which does not involve one or the other of these points : and how
it could occur upon either of the two, might well appear impos
sible, if the Scriptures did not teach us the contrary — and daily
observation confirm their solemn statements. Nay, we must not
conceal that the danger arising from the desperate wickedness
of our hearts and their deceitfulness above all things, presses us
even in a higher form, and presses us even to the end. Our Lord
has taught us, that the seed which the sower scattereth is the
Word of God ; and that there is only one portion out. of four
which falls into good and honest hearts, that having heard the
word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. Of the rest,
one portion is taken away by the Devil, out of the hearts that
received it ; one portion, having no root, withered, like those who
fall away in time of temptation ; and one portion is choked by
the thorns which spring up spontaneously in our own hearts.1
1 Luke, viii 4-15 ; Matt, xiii. 1-23.

238 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
When we consider the malice of Satan, the corrupting influence
of this sinful world, and the plague of our own hearts ; our errors,
our defections, and our backslidings are sufficiently accounted
for, even if our attainments in the divine life were far greater
than they commonly are*. If we will consider what testimony
God himself has borne to his servant David :' and then consider
what David himself did in the matter of Uriah the Hittite :2 and
then what the Lord said and did, both to punish and reclaim his
servant, upon whom he had set his love :3 we shall understand
better our own perils and weakness, the anger of God at the
backsliding of his children, and the certainty with which he turns
their sins into their punishment. Assuredly, the final perseve
rance of the saints of God and their assurance of grace and sal
vation—no more depend upon their own strength, or ability, or
merit — than that eternal life to which God will certainly bring
them does. The unchangeable love of God and the everlasting
covenant of God :4 the inseparable union of the saints with Christ
and his continual intercession for them :5 the Spirit and seed of
eternal life abiding in them :6 these are the grounds upon which
their final perdition may be confidently said to be effectually pro
vided against by God. And they who sincerely believe in Christ,
and walk in all good conscience before him ;7 may, by faith
grounded on the truth of the promises of God, and by discerning
in themselves through the Spirit of God, those graces to which
the divine promises are made ;8 and by the Spirit itself bearing
witness with their spirit ;" be infallibly assured, nay, for such
are the very words of God — may know that they have eternal
life.10 III. — 1. The Spirit which God has given to his children is not
the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.11
And the very Kingdom of God itself, is righteousness, and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost.12 The children of this kingdom par
ticipating of that Spirit — possess every thing only by means of
their union and communion with the Lord Jesus, their Head and
Bedeemer. Complete in their participation of grace by means
1 1 Kings, xiv. 8 ; xv. 4, 5. '' 2 Samuel xi- passim.
3 2 Samuel, xii. 1-23 ; xiii.— xix 4 Jer, xxxi. 3 ; 2 Sam, xxiil 5.
s 1 Cor, i. 8 ; Heb, vii. 25. « 1 John, iii. 9 ; ii. 27.
i 1 John, ii. 3. 8 1 Cor, ii. 12 ; 1 John, iii 14-24; iv. 13-16.
9 Rom, viii. 16; Eph. i 13. 10 1 John, v. 13.
11 2 Tim', i 7. " Rom, xiv. 17.

CHAP. XII.] GRACE AND GLORY. 239
of that communion with him — it remains to explain more par
ticularly their participation of glory with him — especially in
this life. That this actually occurs, has been shown already ;
for indeed it is expressly written, that the Spirit of the Lord
changes us into the image of his glory, as we all with open face
behold as in a glass that glory of the Lord ; and the manner
and extent of the change is intimated, by saying it is from glory
to glory.1 Calling to mind what I have pointed out in the for
mer Treatise, concerning the significance of the Doxology at the
close of the Lord's Prayer, as given by the Apostle Matthew :
this remarkable use of the term glory, with reference to the in
creasing participation by Christ's people of his image in this life,
discloses to us how much the Apostle Paul intended to express
in the passage just quoted, and how deeply the truth I am un
folding is laid in the plan of salvation. Until the adoption,
that is the redemption of the body — in other words till the glo
rious resurrection or transfiguration of the righteous, at the
coming of the Son of Man ; the condition of God's children on
earth can rise no higher than one of groaning within themselves,
while they wait for that redemption — possessing, at the same
time, the first fruits of the Spirit.2 These first fruits of glory, be
yond which we cannot rise while we are in that estate of flesh
and blood, which is incompatible with the full inheritance of the
Kingdom of God,3 are three times designated by a very peculiar
word, which in our English version is rendered earnest'* Thus :
Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath
anointed us, is God ; who hath also sealed us, and given us the
earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.4 Again, when speaking with
confidence of our having a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens — of our groaning in our earthly tabernacle — and
of our earnest desire to be so clothed upon with our house which
is from heaven that mortality might be swallowed up of life ; the
Apostle adds, Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same
thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the
Spirit.5 And again, the same Apostle speaking of the inherit
ance to which the saints were predestinated, of the Bedeemer
through whom they obtain it, and of the means by which they
1 2 Cor, iii. 18. 2 Rom, viii. 23. 3 1 Cor, xv. 50.
* AppaflCiva — iiai» — arrhabo — earnest money. ' 2 Cor, i. 21, 22.
s 2 Cor, v. 5.

240 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
are fitted for it ; adds, Ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of
promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the re
demption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his
glory.1 Nothing could therefore be more distinctly taught, than
that the saints are invested in this life with a foretaste of that
fruition of God, which will be their portion, their reward, and
their inheritance in the life to come. It is the first fruits of their
communion in glory with Christ : it is the earnest of all that is
to follow : not only a pledge of it — but a pledge of that peculiar
sort, that delivers to us, in advance, a portion of what is to come.
2. These first fruits of glory with Christ, communicated to
the saints in this life in the form of this earnest of their future
and complete participation of the glory of which he is fully pos
sessed, and in which they are eternally interested ; are declared
to be from God and wrought by him — to be through the Holy
Spirit of promise — and to be in our hearts. It is wonderful how
the Scriptures insist upon this heart work ! Here at the be
ginning of glory, it is the pure in heart who possess God, just as
it is the pure in heart who shall at last see God — and just as, at
the very first, it was with the heart we believed unto righteous
ness, and all through our progress the love of God was shed
abroad in our heart ! And the effects which are produced on us,
are precisely analogous to this mode of viewing and treating the
whole case — precisely such effects as are incapable of being pro
duced in any other way. We sit together in heavenly places
with Christ Jesus.2 There is begotten in us a sense of God's
love.3 Peace of conscience — that peace of God which passeth all
understanding, is given to us.1 Joy in the Holy Ghost is diffused
through the soul.6 And it rejoices in hope of the glory of God.6
All depends upon the transcendent excellence of what is good,
what is pure, what is holy. All illustrates the overwhelming
truth, that supreme felicity is founded on the union of supreme
sanctity with supreme love. All has relevancy to that aspect of
God, wherein we are sealed unto him with the Holy Spirit of
Promise. First it was Faith — then it was Assurance — then an
Earnest sealed with the Spirit of Promise. Always it is trust
in God; confiding, loving, hoping, rejoicing, adoring trust in
God ! Higher than this, flesh and blood may not pass. To do so,
: Eph, i. 14 * Eph, ii 6. 3 Rom, v. 5.
4 Phil, iv. 7. 5 Rom, xiv. 17. e Rom y. 2.

CHAP. XII.] GRACE AND GLORY. 241
this corruption must put on incorruption — this mortal, immor
tality. 3. The stages of our existence are very different from each
other : but all of them are distinctly explained to us in the
sacred Scriptures. Our first period is passed on this earth, in its
present condition, with our immortal spirit and our mortal body
so united as to form one living but mortal creature. And the
highest estate we can attain here, is one in which the sanctified
soul dwells in a body wholly corrupt and under sentence of death.
The second period of our existence is that in which the soul and
the body have been separated by the stroke of death ; the one
returning to the dust as it was — the other to God who gave it.
And the third period of it commences with the resurrection of
the body in incorruption and glory, and its reunion with the soul;
after which is an endless existence of glory and blessedness to all
the redeemed of the Lord. The Lord Jesus took flesh and blood,
because his brethren, the children whom God had given him,
were partakers thereof: and the great principle on which that
was done, is declared to be, that in all things it behooved him to
be made like unto his brethren.1 He took no human person —
and therefore no personal defects : he took no pollution — for none
was original and inherent in human nature as created; and more
over, it was impossible for him, either as God or Mediator, to
take pollution. But he did take whatever was original and in
herent in human nature ; namely, a human body, and a rational
soul- — both of which he united to his divine person as the Son of
God, the second Person of the Trinity. And thus fully qualified
to be a merciful and faithful high priest — he not only made
reconciliation for the sins of the people, but in all things per
taining to God, he was at once the Apostle and High Priest of
our profession, and faithful to him that appointed him.2 He
passed through all the conditions, just explained, through which
his brethren pass — life, death, resurrection — like unto them in
all : without which we could have no communion with him, in
any condition passed through by us, but not by him. So exact
was this similitude, and so deep was the principle which made it
becoming in him to be made like unto his brethren in all things;3
that Christ was transfigured before he tasted death." And thus
when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
' Heb, ii 14-17. » Heb, hi. 1, 2. 3 Heb, ii. 17. 4 Matt, xvii 1-9
VOL. II. 1

242 THE KNOWLEEGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God ; the
dead in Christ shall rise first ; and then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air.1 But instantly, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump, and as soon as the dead who sleep in
Jesus are raised — we who shall not sleep, that is who shall be
alive at the coming of the Lord — shall be changed.2 And the
precise nature and cause of the change are explained to us ; the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus, when he comes, shall change our vile
body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, ac
cording to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all
things to himself.3 In life, in death, in the state of separation
of the soul and body, in the resurrection, in transfiguration ; the
Scriptures leave us no room to doubt that we have communion
with Christ, whether in grace or glory ; and that in all these
wonders, the similitude of Christ to his brethren — his having
passed where they have to pass, and been what they are to be, is
the foundation of that communion, and of all their blessedness
therein. As bearing upon this general subject, I have on a for
mer occasion called attention to the very remarkable period and
estate of Christ, between his resurrection and his final taking up
into heaven from the immediate presence of his Apostles near to
Bethany, on Mouut Olivet, forty days after his passion." If this
was a state not relevant to things pertaining to God in the me
diatorial work of Christ, and through which his brethren are not
to pass, and in which they are to have no communion with him :
it is, in all those respects, unique in the whole dispensation of the
Son of Man. If otherwise, it has a most important bearing upon
the question touching the condition of the saints immediately
following the second coming of the Son of Man : and appears
to teach that we are to expect then a new and very glorious dis
pensation of the risen and changed saints, but that it will not con
stitute the final and eternal state of the Kingdom of God.
4. It might be thought strange that the saints of God die at
all ; and the fact that two of them — Enoch and Elijah — have
been' translated without tasting death, might appear to embarrass
the matter still further.5 But the Scriptures set the point in a
i 1 Thess, iv. 16, 17. 2 1 Cor, xv. 50-52.
3 Phil, iii. 20, 21. " Luke, xxiv. 50-52; Acts, i. 1-12.
5 Gen , v. 24 ; 2 Kings, h. 11.

CHAP. XII.] GRACE AND GLORY. 243
very clear light. Death is the wages of sin :* and as all men
have sinned, death has passed upon all.2 It is appointed unto
men once to die : not to every man, but to men.3 For though
death has passed upon all men, the living saints who will be
changed in a moment at the appearing of the Son of Man in his
glory, will incur that sentence in that peculiar way. So won
derful is the accuracy, and so great are the resources of the
divine word. Moreover, the righteous are, at last, wholly deliv
ered from death — which is the last enemy that shall be destroyed,
and whose destruction by the glorified Saviour will be the signal
for his delivery up of the Kingdom to God, even the Father.4
Even when the saints endure its stroke, its sting and curse are
taken away ; and it is by means of it that they are set perfectly
free from sin and misery, and made capable of perfect commu
nion with Christ in glory.5 For at death, the souls of believers
are made perfect in holiness." The disembodied spirits of just
men made perfect, see God as he is, and are like him.7 Those
vile bodies — that sinful flesh in which no good thing dwelt,
must wait in the grave for their full redemption;8 certain to be
brought to glory with Jesus in whom they sleep ;9 and to be re
united, in their resurrection, each to its own glorified soul — they
themselves being spiritual, incorruptible, and for ever victorious
over death.
5. In the resurrection of the just, and the eternal judgment
which will follow it, and the delivery up of the Kingdom to God,
even the Father ; every thing that manifests the perfect com
munion of the believer with Christ in glory, will flow to him as
a benefit of the Covenant of Bedemption ; and will result like
all the fruits of his communion with Christ in glory previously
bestowed on him, whether in his mortal or his separate state,
from his original union with Christ through the virtue of his
mediation, and his subsequent communion with him in grace
and glory, as the Bedeemer of God's Elect. I do not propose,
in this place, to enter upon the consideration of these, which
may be justly called the Last Things : whose treatment belongs
to another place. It is enough to have pointed out how the un
speakable blessings to whose consideration so many chapters
1 Rom, vi. 23. 2 Rom, v. 12. 3 Heb, ix. 27. 4 1 Cor., xv. 24-26.
s Rom, xiv. 13 ; Eph, v. 27 ; Luke, xxiii. 43 ; Phil, i. 23.
» Heb, xii. 23. 7 John, hi. 2. 8 Rom, viii. 23. 9 1 Thess, iv. 14.

244 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK II.
have been devoted ; are fruitful through eternity, as well as in
life and at death ; how it is Christ through whom they are made
effectual in both worlds ; and how the very beginnings of grace
in a penitent soul here below, involve the very end of all glory to
all eternity ! Let it suffice to add, that the Scriptures distinctly
teach that, at the resurrection of the just, believers will be
raised up in glory by the glorified Bedeemer :' that in the Day
of Judgment they will be openly acknowledged by Jesus Christ,
the Judge of quick and dead :" will be made perfectly blessed in
the full and eternal enjoyment of God :3 and will be delivered
up on the Lamb's Book of Life, along with the glorified King
dom of which they are the members, by the Son to God, even the
Father, that God may be all in all.4
6. Let us not lose sight for a moment of the sublime thought
of God — of the extent to which we have traced it — and of the
position we have now reached. The First Book of this Treatise
was occupied in determining the condition of the universe, the
ends proposed by God, the means to those ends, and their divine
working until now. In this Book it is the actual, direct, effective
dealings of God with individual men — in the salvation of the
soul, which I have endeavoured to explain, to classify, and to
demonstrate. Upon such subjects the thing to be most carefully
avoided is, all attempts to invent any thing — to originate any
thing : the thing to be most carefully done is, to follow exactly
and completely the thought of God, in all its light and all its
power, to the utmost capacity of our frail nature. In propor
tion as we succeed in these two endeavours, the science of all
sciences, the science of God in what he is and what he does,
emerges from the chaos of human conceits, and from the pro
found darkness of human ignorance ; and grows into a form in
finitely distinct, and becomes a force divinely effectual. And
thus every step we take makes the next step more sure, and
makes us more competent to take it. We must not allow our
selves to suppose that these things are beyond our reach : they
are revealed to our Faith — and they are a light and a power
unto us : even by the divine grace, the power of God unto sal
vation to every one that believeth. Yet we must not presume
that they are things which open their divine nature to our
1 1 Thess, iv. 16, 17; 1 Cor, xv. 51-53. 2 Matt, xxv. 33.
3 Ps. xvl 11 ; Rev, vii. 14-17. 4 l Cor, xv. 24-28.

CHAP. XII.J GRACE AND GLORY. 245
careless, fickle, and shallow enquiries. It is they who wait on
the Lord, that renew their strength. It is in his light that
we see light. It is when God has opened our eyes that we
behold wondrous things, not only in his law, but in our own
souls, and upon the earth around us, and in the heavens
above us.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD,
SUBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED.

ABGUMENT OF THE THIRD BOOK.
This Third Book completes the exhibition of the direct work of divine
grace in man, considered individually and with reference to this life. Its aim
is to point out with absolute certainty, the operation of the New Life implanted
by God in the renewed soul: the uniform operation of that life in every child
of God, individually considered. For, however various the experience of re
newed souls may be, there are particulars, and they fundamental, in which their
experience is necessarily identical : and this Book attempts to disclose the matter
of the vital operation of the individual soul renewed by God, in. the way of all
Christian Offices considered with direct reference to our personal Union and
Communion with Christ. All Christian Offices which result indirectly from our
Union and Communion with Christ, namely, all such as depend upon the Com
munion of Saints with each other, in consequence of their mutual Communion
with Christ, are omitted here, and will be fully considered afterwards. And the
word Offices is used because it is not only the most comprehensive of all, but
because no other single word adequately expresses the nature of these opera
tions of the New Life of Christian souls, resulting from their communion with
Christ. For these are services — duties, so high, that practical Christianity con
sists in their performance ; so peculiar, that their habitual omission is the distinct
evidence that we are not Christians at all : and though they are duties — services
so decisive — yet they spring up spontaneously in the renewed soul, as if they
were only its delights, and that exactly in proportion to the power of its own
New Life : and still, it is only through divine grace that they can be performed
at all, or that the desire to perform them exists. They are the effects produced
by the action of that New Life, which is itself produced and perfected in the
manner pointed out in the immediately preceding Book, and the ground and
method for the production of which were explained in the First Book of this
Treatise. First, Divine Grace redeeming us — secondly, Divine Grace in its
saving work upon our souls — and now, thirdly, Divine Grace manifesting itself
through us, in the immediate and necessary operation of this New Life. Faith
towards the Lord Jesus Christ, and Repentance towards God, are, therefore,
first discussed, they being the two fundamental and universal Offices of all re-

248 ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD BOOK.
newed souls — and of Christianity itself. To the first of these two, Saving Faith,
the Thirteenth Chapter, which is the First of this Third Book, is devoted : and
its threelbld aspect as a condition of the Covenant of Redemption — as a special
grace of the Divine Spirit — and as a peculiar and permanent habit of the re
newed soul— is considered — and its whole nature, use, and effect attempted to
be explained: incidentally, various topics of great importance, amongst, them
the spiritual helplessness and moral bondage of man, and the futility of all
attempts to rob this great distinctive mark of the New Creature of its super
natural character — are discussed ; the object of all being to exhibit the New Life
in its chief aspect, as one of Faith in the Divine Redeemer. The Fourteenth
Chapter, which is the Second of this Book, is occupied in discussing the second
great Christian Office, namely, Repentance unto Life — which is indissolubly
connected with Saving Faith — being competent, indeed, only to a believing
soul, as Faith is competent only to a renewed soul : the relations between which
two fundamental graces and the New Obedience are pointed out — as well as
those mutually subsisting between Spiritual Life — Righteousness — and Repent
ance : the whole doctrine of our moral nature, and moral judgments, and moral
sense, is attempted to be unfolded — in its relations to the spiritual system dis
closed in the Scriptures — and to the spiritual system involved in every form of
unbelief : the nature of true Repentance, in its origin, progress, and results, is
explained, together with the acts and states of the penitent soul, with reference
to God, to sin, to duty, to holiness, and to salvation through Jesus Christ : and
the characteristic peculiarity of this perpetual habit of the believing soul, together
with the wide connection, the simplicity, the certainty, and the amazing efficacy
of the whole doctrine herein asserted, is attempted to be demonstrated. The
three following Chapters, namely, the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth,
are devoted to those great and universal Christian Offices, which are expressed
by the terms New Obedience, Good Works, and Spiritual Warfare — one Chap
ter to each : Offices which are as inseparable from the exercise of Repentance
toward God and Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, as the exercise of these
fundamental graces is from Union and Communion of the New Creature with
the Divine Redeemer. The Fifteenth Chapter, which is the Third of this Book,
is occupied with an enquiry into the Nature, Fruits, and End of the New Obe
dience of the New Creature : — wherein those Offices which it owes and renders
immediately to God, are distinguished from those it owes and renders more par
ticularly to its fellow-creatures, and the nature, exercise, and influence of the
former, are disclosed : amongst the Offices of the New Obedience, due and ren
dered especially to God by the New Creature — Prayer, Fasting and Watching,
Thanksgiving, Vows and Lawful Oaths, are considered : and the gracious and
the natural aspect of these distinguishing peculiarities of the Christian life — and
the condition of human nature when thoroughly influenced by them, is exhib
ited. In the Sixteenth Chapter, which is the Fourth of this Book, the Doctrine
and Nature of Good Works is attempted to be developed : wherein it is shown
that they embrace all duty due by us as followers of Christ, to our fellow-men,
that they are the fruits of our New Obedience rendered to God through
Christ, that they are regulated absolutely by the will of God, are incompetent
in then- scriptural sense to any but a child of God, and are diligently and joyfully

ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD BOOK. 249
performed by us, in proportion to the power of the life of God in us : some of
those chiefly insisted on in the Scriptures, such as Charity and Almsgiving, are
particularly set forth, in themselves, in their relations to Christ and to all Chris
tian Offices, and in their effects: the connection of Good Works with our holi
ness, our happiness, and our usefulness — their bearing upon our endeavours to
glorify God and adorn the doctrine we profess, and their special relation to our
judgment in the great day are disclosed : the bearing of the whole doctrine and
practice upon the Kingdom of Christ,- and upon Christian hfe, and upon many
incidental questions, such as Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience, im
plicit Faith and tender Consciences, the power of the Civil Magistrate in things
Sacred, and the Spiritual Authority of Councils and Synods, is explicated : and,
in the end, a brief and thorough analysis and summary of the whole matter is
attempted. The Seventeenth Chapter, which is the Fifth of this Book, is devo
ted to the consideration of that Spiritual Warfare which every penitent and
beheving follower of the Son of God must wage through a life of New Obe
dience and Good Works, that is, of conformity to God, and beneficence towards
man — with the Flesh, the World and the Devil, up to the very gate of heaven ;
wherein the nature, necessity, grounds, progress, and result of this Warfare are
explained: its absolute connection with our witness-bearing for Christ, our
working together with God, and our suffering together with Jesus, is disclosed :
its immediate connection with the means of Grace, with the progress of the life
of God in our soul, and with our endeavours to bless our fellow-men and to
glorify God, is pointed out : and the certainty and glory of our final victory,
through Christ Jesus, is demonstrated. Having thus explained in successive
Chapters, the aspects of the divine hfe as it manifests itself in those in whom it
is begotten and established ; namely, that our hves are lives of Faith toward
the Lord Jesus Christ, and of Repentance toward God, that these result neces
sarily in lives of New Obedience toward God, of which all Good Works toward
our fellow-men are the necessary fruits, and that the whole of this Christian
Life involves and produces in us a perpetual Spiritual Warfare against all the
enemies of the Captain of our Salvation and of our own souls : what remains is,
to point out with clearness and certainty an Infallible Rule whereby such a life
may be directed and sustained in all things. The Eighteenth Chapter, there
fore, which is the Sixth and last of this Book, is devoted to the demonstration
of the necessity of such a Rule of Faith and Obedience, and of its actual exist
ence in the sacred Scriptures, inspired and revealed by the Holy Ghost, wherein
the nature, origin, restoration, and universal obligation of the Moral Law is set
forth — the infallible Knowledge of God unto the salvation of sinners is shown
to be revealed to our Faith — the relation of Faith and true Righteousness to each
other — that of both to the Saviour — that of all three to the sacred Scriptures —
and that of the whole to our Salvation by Grace, is disclosed : and the reahty,
completeness, and efficacy of the written word of God as the only and Infallible
Rule of aU that man ought to believe concerning God, and all that God requires
of man is established ; and so it is shown that man possesses in them, and in
them alone, the perfect Knowledge of the chief end of his existence, in glorify
ing God and enjoying him for ever. In a field of discussion so vast, and in the
midst of such sublime chains of thought disclosed by God himself, if it may be

250 ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD BOOK.
allowed to suggest and define for each of the six Chapters, one truth which may
he considered Supreme, and then to connect these fundamental truths into one
general and compact statement, having the force of a great argument, while
containing themes for multiplied discussions : perhaps it may be thought that
these demands are, in some degree, met in the statement of the truths which
follow, as being the capital truths explicated in this Third Book. Namely —
That by a direct act of the renewed soul, convinced of its sin, misery, and im
potence, and believing and trusting God, it habitually accepts and rests on
Christ crucified for Salvation ; the nature of this great act and habit of the soul
being, that it is the fundamental and perpetual manifestation of the New Crea
ture ; its use being to establish the Union and to perpetuate the Communion
between the crucified Saviour and the renewed sinner ; and its effect being to
advance the soul continually in all fitness for salvation and to secure that salva
tion ; this being Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, considered as the first of
all Christian Offices : — That in the exercise of the second great Office of true
rehgion, which is Repentance toward God, the renewed soul habitually appre
hends the evil of all sin and of its own sins in particular, and also apprehends the
mercy of God in Christ to believing sinners ; and so with grief and hatred for
sin and for itself on account of sin it turns penitently to God from all sin, with
set purpose after New Obedience ; this vital manifestation of the hfe of God in
all believers, this habit of the renewed soul, being, like the preceding grace,
wrought in God's children by his Word and Spirit, for the merits' sake of Jesus
Christ, and being constantly exercised by them in endeavours to overcome all
sin, and to obey the perfect law of God : — That the habitual condition of the
Believing and Penitent Soul toward God, is one of true, willing, and joyful
Obedience to his Will, exactly in proportion to its own full and stedfast Com
munion with Christ, and the completeness of its own restoration to the image
of God ; and that this New Obedience considered as rendered immediately to
God, is especially manifested and nourished in the diligent keeping of the heart,
the earnest exercise and growth of grace, and the careful and habitual use and
enjoyment of those offices and means divinely appointed for the mortification of
sin, for the comfort and edification of the soul, and for the promotion of the
glory of God in the sanctification of his saints: — That the heart which is right
in the sight of God manifests its Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, in
strong and habitual desire and endeavour to perform all Good Works; which
are the fruits of its New Obedience exhibited in sincere and continual endea
vours after the comfort and edification of every human being, according to their
several relations and necessities, and to our opportunities and obligations, as
followers of the Lord Jesus, according to his word and for the promotion of his
glory and our own salvation ; we being prompted thereto by love for him and
for our fellowt-men, and sustained therein by the grace of God: — That the
Christian Life of Faith, Repentance, New Obedience, and Good Works, neces
sarily involves and produces a Spiritual Warfare in us as followers of Christ the
Captain of our Salvation, against the Flesh, the World, and the Devil, who are
implacable enemies of our Lord and of our souls ; wherein by perpetual fidelity to
him through divine grace, the true soldiers of his cross have constant experience
of his infinite sufficiency and of their own vileness and nothingness; and

ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD BOOK. 251
whereby they are at last brought off more than conqueror through him that
loved them : — That the Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments, is the InfaUible Rule of Faith, Repentance, New
Obedience, Good Works, and Spiritual Warfare ; God having revealed therein
all that man ought to beheve concerning God, and all that God requires of
man, in order to eternal life ; whereby the chief end of our existence in glorify
ing God and enjoying him for ever, is made known to us with divine certainty
and divine authority ; and the Saviour and the Spirit which they reveal, make
the means of grace instituted in them, effectual towards us, by the power of
God.

CHAPTER XIII.
FAITH TOWARD THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
I. 1. Third Step in the Subjective Disclosure of Salvation: The two great Offices of
Christianity. — 2. The Act of the Soul which we call Faith, and the State of the
soul exercising it, peculiar to the New Creature. — 3. The Work of Divine Grace in
Man: neither properly Miraculous, nor properly Natural — but Supernatural. —
4. Every Exercise of Faith an Act and Manifestation of the New Life in Man. —
IL 1. Divine Definition and Illustration of Faith. — 2. Faith is the Substance of
Things hoped for. — 3. Faith is the Evidence of Things not seen. — 4. Faith is a
Grace of the Spirit : With the Heart Man believeth unto Righteousness. — 5. To
be Effectual, Faith must be what the Scriptures make it out. — III. 1. The three
fold Aspect of Saving Faith — as a Condition of the Covenant of Redemption — as
a special Grace of the Spirit — as a peculiar Habit of the Renewed Soul. — 2. Na
ture, Use, and Effect of Faith.— 3. The Divine Saviour and the Revelation of
him, the exclusive Objects of Faith. — 4. Faith is neither an Efficient, nor a Meri
torious Cause. — IV. 1. Relation of Faith to the Word of God, and to the Means
of Grace : Results thereof — 2. Assurance of Faith real : but not of the Essence
of Faith. — 3. The Spiritual Helplessness of the Natural Man. — 4. The Moral
Bondage of the Natural Man. — 5. Boundless Compass of Faith.
I. — 1. The great thought of God which I have traced through
two stages of its manifestation in the two preceding Books, now
requires us to advance another step in our attempt to follow the
Way of Life. In the First Book of this Treatise I have en
deavoured to determine the exact circumstances and manner in
which the knowledge of God is subjectively applied to the salva
tion of men : that knowledge of God to the demonstration of
which as mere knowledge, the First Part of Theology was de
voted. The Second Book of this Treatise I have devoted to the
actual application of that knowledge of God, practically and per
sonally to man in his salvation ; and in its successive chapters I
have traced and laid open the work of God toward man, and the
progress of man under that divine working, from the moment of
our first awakening, to the completion of grace and the commence
ment of glory in this life. In both the preceding Books, fol
lowing the method of the inspired writers, I have kept strictly

254 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
to the pursuit of the main subject, as from point to point it
opened itself alike to human thought and in human experience,
under the method disclosed by God. One necessary effect of
this simple and strict way of treatment, was the exclusion of
whatever was not directly involved in the divine conception I
was striving to trace : and even the exclusion of whatever was
incidentally involved in it, from any further treatment than was
demanded by the great and immediate enquiry. In salvation
every thing depends on our union with Christ. Out of that
springs our communion with him both in grace and in glory.
Out of that also springs our communion with each other in Love.
And so all social as well as individual idea of God's saving work
amongst men — every conception of the individual Christian—
every conception of the Church of God — is grounded there. This
communion with each other resulting from our mutual union
with Christ, we are not yet prepared to discuss : for as yet the
individual aspect of the matter is not complete, till we shall have
disclosed the individual working of this new life wrought in man,
under the power of this subjective knowledge of God unto salva
tion. It has been carefully shown how this new life is begotten,
sustained, and advanced ; and how it will finally result. We
must now observe more particularly how it acts, how it manifests
itself, what are its duties, its endeavours, its offices, its fruits, its
trials, and its triumphs. This is that third step which I have
just said we must now take, in disclosing our salvation considered
as strictly practical and individual : disclosing it in the persona]
offices more immediately relevant to God, which are inseparable
from the existence of that new life which all who are united to
Christ share with him. This is the subject-matter of this Third
Book. And I commence it with a more complete development
than it has yet been proper to attempt, of the two great offices
of Christianity — the two fundamental, characteristic, and uni
versal graces, duties, and manifestations of the New Creature.
Saving Faith will be discussed in this Chapter, Bepentance unto
Life in the next.
2. Faith is frequently spoken of as mere belief on testimony.
An act of the mind not different, in itself, when applied to spir
itual and divine things, from similar acts of the mind when ap
plied to other things : the difference being exclusively in the
nature of the things believed, and in the nature of the testimony

CHAP. XIII. J SAVING FAITH. 255
on which they are believed. The term saving added to Faith is,
according to this mode of viewing the subject, merely intended
to signify that the particular Faith thus designated, has the
word of God for the testimony on which it rests, and those things
which immediately concern salvation as its object. If this is the
whole account of the matter, it is not easy to see how Faith can
be truly called a grace of the Spirit : nor how the state of mind
out of which it proceeds, is in the least degree different from its
natural and ordinary state : nor how any quality or condition of
the soul beyond such as all men naturally possess, can be neces
sary in order to the exercise of Saving Faith. If, on the other
hand, this account of Faith is intended to apply, exclusively, to
acts of the renewed mind, and to belief of the testimony of God
concerning spiritual things : then, in the first place, the whole
object of this method of explaining the matter is defeated, as
soon as any one demands an explanation of that supernatural
renewal of the mind, which enabled it to believe thus : and, in
the second place, even on the supposition of the renewal of the
mind, the explanation is neither true nor sufficient — since the
gracious acts of Faith of the renewed mind are essentially differ
ent from its natural acts of belief. The gracious act of Saving
Faith by which the New Creature rests on the divine Bedeemer
crucified for him, and whereby he receives peace a.nd grows in
holiness ; is not identical with, nor even similar to, the natural
act of belief by which the same person in his unrenewed state,
gave credit to the story of Christ, on the divine testimony of its
truth, and thereby merely increased in knowledge. And all
glosses which tend to show that such acts of the renewed and
the unrenewed mind, result either from the same state or the
same exercise of that mind, are founded in a denial of the regene
ration of man.
3. It is as idle as it is irreverent in us to handle the mystery
of God's grace deceitfully, in the vain expectation of reconciling
the Spirit and the flesh, and satisfying cavils whose foundation
lies in that very pollution which that grace proposes to cleanse.
The Scriptures teach us in the plainest manner, the ruin of man
and the absolute necessity of his new creation. They do not
permit us to doubt that the means provided in the plan of sal
vation, are precisely adapted to the work of our complete resto
ration to God. That work in us is not properly miraculous ;

256 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
because it proceeds continually by the intervention between God
and the result, of means which are appropriate to that result.
Neither is the work properly natural ; because the means used
are not, of themselves, efficacious in the production of the result,
after the manner in which means are naturally efficacious — but
are made efficacious only in a supernatural manner. The whole
work of God's grace in man has a distinct character of its own,
neither properly miraculous nor properly natural ; but combining
elements, some of which are divine and some of which are human
— the work itself is properly supernatural, and the effects are
supernatural. When this work is finally complete in us, though
our nature, and our self-conscious, identical existence have been
preserved throughout ; we are as utterly changed from what we
were in our natural estate, as we were different in that estate
from the perfect condition of our original creation. That man
could fall by natural means, and yet cannot recover himself by
natural means, is an ultimate necessity of dependent existence
itself: because in one case, infallible dependent existence is im
possible — being self-contradictious : and because in the other,
spontaneous good out of evil, or truth out of falsehood, is impos
sible, being self-contradictious. Now at every stage of the pro
gress of this wonderful trapsformation of man, from darkness to
light, and from the powei of Satan unto God ; means exist of
ascertaining the reality of the progress, and of distinguishing the
stage reached. Vital manifestations continually occur : evidence
of the existence and growth of the new life, perpetually disclose
themselves. The earliest, the most constant, and the most deci
sive of them all, is Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.1
4. Every act of Faith by us, is an act of the New Creature.
Let the act be performed as it may, if it be gracious it is an act
of the New Creature. All these acts are, no doubt, our acts ; as
much as any other acts we perform. But if that expressed the
whole, or even the chief part of the matter, these acts of Faith
could have no more effect upon our spiritual condition, and could
afford no more evidence of our spiritual state, than any other
mental act of ours. Indeed, less, by far, than most others ;
since what a man will do or forbear to do, depends directly on
his will — -while what he will believe or disbelieve, what he will
love or hate, depends upon his will only very indirectly. To see
1 Heb., xf. passim.

CHAP. XIII.] SAVING FAITH. 257
the distinction between truth and falsehood, between good and
evil — to be real — is simply our own act : an act natural to man —
and the whole of that matter is uttered in saying that. But to
realize the untruth of our own nature, and to abhor ourselves on
account of our pollution : to realize the infinite mercy of God in
Christ, and to embrace him and his salvation as the supreme
good ; while they are also our acts — are acts very far from being
natural to man — and very far from being explained by simply
calling them our acts. Throughout God's universe, as far as we
have knowledge, every created thing, animate and inanimate,
physical and spiritual, is endowed with qualities peculiar to its
own nature, and acts by laws impressed upon that particular na
ture, by the creative power of God. Now he who is born again — ¦
who is renewed by the Holy Ghost — in one word the New Creature,
is as really a creature of God as any thing else in the universe is:
and upon a most obvious scale of classification it is as exact to
say that Faith is the characteristic mark of the New Creature,
as that reason is of the natural man, or that instinct is of the
brute creation, or that the inanimate creation throughout its
multiplied divisions has characteristic marks distinguishing its
several classes. Nor is any one of all these characteristic marks
of all these multiplied classes of the inanimate creation : nor is
instinct in the brute, nor is reason in the natural man ; more
absolutely a part of these existences respectively, more completely
a quality bestowed by God in their creation, more infallibly a
proof that the creature exists and that God is its author : than
Faith, in the New Creature is, that he has been born again, and
that of God. We have been created anew in Christ Jesus :
therefore Saving Faith manifests itself in us.1 We have been
renewed in the spirit of our mind : therefore we embrace Jesus
Christ offered to us in the Gospel.2
II. — 1. God, by the mouth of his Apostle, has given to his
people a precise definition of this great grace :3 a thing very un
usual in the sacred writings. This definition is immediately fol
lowed by the statement of numerous personal examples of the
eminent exercise of Faith, extending from Abel to David : and
to these are added numerous classes of persons, and descriptions
of numerous acts and events illustrative of their Faith. So that
the definition itself is completely and variously illustrated by a
1 Eph., ii. 4-10. 2 gph^ iV- 20-24. " Heb., xi. 1.

258 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
divine treatise concerning Faith, covering the whole career of the
Church from the foundation of the world to the coming of
Christ.1 Let it be remembered that all these illustrious examples
are intentionally selected by the Apostle from amongst saints, of
whom he twice remarks that they had not actually received the
promises, but only saw them afar off ; God having provided some
better thing for us, that they without us should not be made
perfect.2 Thus contemplated, defined, and illustrated, there
fore, this is the Faith by which the just live, and by which they
believe to the saving of their soul." In its absolute nature, Faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen.* As if to put the matter wholly at rest, the same Apostle
has declared, in another place, that as there is but one God and
Father of all, but one Lord, one Spirit, one Church, one hope of
our calling, one baptism ; so also there is but one Faith, whereby
we can walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, or
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.6
2. This one and only Faith through which the soul can be
saved, and by which the just live ; is, in the first place, The
substance of things hoped for ; and is, in the second place, The
evidence of things not seen.® It is that grace which concerns
itself especially with realities which are unseen — that is, which
are spiritual and eternal :" and amongst these unseen things,
those with which it concerns itself are those for which the re
newed soul earnestly longs. With reference to these things,
considered as hoped for, Faith is the substance of them to the
renewed soul : with reference to them considered as unseen,
Faith is the evidence of them, to the renewed soul. Such is the
divine exposition of this great grace of the Spirit — this decisive
vital manifestation of the life of God in the soul that is born from
above. We may indeed confuse and perplex ourselves by putting
curious significations upon the words substance and evidence; or
rather, perhaps, upon the words thus rendered into English.
But, unless we do so, the matter is perfectly clear. The nature
of the New Creature is such, the state of the renewed soul is
such, that it can realize as actual every thing to which it has
title by the promise of God ; and can realize as actually possessed
i Heb., xL passim. 2 Heb., xi. 13, 39, 40. 3 Heb., x. 38, 39.
' Heb., xl 1. ' Eph., iv. 1-5.
* E?-.m£o/ievav vnoaraaic, wpayfiaruv eteyxoc ov Steitouevuv. e 2 Cor., iv. 18.

CHAP. XIII.] SAVING FAITH. 259
and enjoyed by it, so much of its promised inheritance as is be
stowed upon it in this life. Substantially, its state and nature
now in its begun restoration to God, are what they will be when
the full fruition of these great and precious promises is reached :
and the things promised and now partially possessed, and the
things to be fully possessed hereafter are substantially the same.
That act of the renewed nature which realizes and appropriates
the promises of God, is Saving Faith. It is the things promised
by God to his children which are the specific objects of the hopes
of the renewed soul : these are the very things hoped for — of
which the divine definition asserts that Faith is the substance.
For, says the same Apostle, the mystery which hath been hid
from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints, if they continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the Gospel ; this mystery of
God among the Gentiles, the riches of the glory of which he
would make known to his saints ; what is it, but Christ in you
the hope of glory ?' This is the hope by which the same Apos
tle says we are saved.2 United to Christ by Faith, resting on
Christ by Faith, receiving every thing from Christ and receiving
Christ himself by Faith : it is through Faith that every thing
gracious is realized by the renewed soul. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for.
3. But there is more. Faith is the evidence of things not seen.
Of the existence and nature of the outward world — sense is the evi
dence provided by God. We see, and feel, and touch, and taste,
and smell : and we — not the senses — but we, by them, realize all
things of which they take cognizance. Of the things which pass
within us, our consciousness is the evidence : we realize things of
which consciousness is the evidence. Of unseen — of spiritual— of
eternal things — of God's purpose of saving sinners — of God's way
of saving sinners — of the infinite and endless salvation itself: what
evidence have we or can we have ? Twofold : first, their revela
tion by God to us ; secondly, their revelation by God in us — that
is, the occurrence in us of a supernatural regeneration, by which,
being born again of the Spirit, we have become personally cogni
zant of these revealed things, are made capable of apprehending
them, and have actually realized them. That vital act of the New
Creature, in which it apprehends and realizes these unseen things
1 Col, 1 21-27. " Rom., viii. 24.

260 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
— these infinite, spiritual, eternal realities — is Saving Faith.
And so Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Upon the data,
it is an evidence perfectly overwhelming : to gainsay which is
wholly impossible, except we deny the revelation of God to us —
or the revelation of God in us. Christian people ought to see
that the true representation of this vital subject, is also the im
pregnable representation of it : and that all paltering with it,
casts doubt over the whole revelation of God both to us and in
it. They ought also to understand that the evidence of sense
and of consciousness concerning the outward and inward things
to which they respectively relate, is neither more clear in itself,
more decisive in its nature, nor more secure from unbelieving
cavils, than the evidence of Faith is concerning the unseen things
to which it relates. They ought to know that the same scepti
cism which, under the abused name of Philosophy, assails the
trustworthiness of their Faith, assails alike the trustworthiness
of their consciousness and of their senses. So far, at least, such
unbelievers are right, that judging God unworthy to be trusted,
we can have little reason, afterwards, to trust any thing else.
4. Thus defined, the intimate nature of this perpetual mani
festation of the new life of the soul, is still further opened to us
by the Scriptures. In order to be saved, the belief which we
must exercise concerning Jesus Christ, is a belief in the heart.
The word, said Moses, is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, aDd
in thy heart.1 Paul quotes this, and adds, That is, the word of
faith which we preach : that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
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.2 This is the same decisive
truth which Philip announced to the Ethiopian eunuch when he
baptized him on the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto
Gaza : If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.3 Nor
is the statement of the case more distinct, than the reason of it
is. That which is decisive of our moral condition, cannot pos
sibly restrict itself to our mental condition : the presence or the
absence of Faith in Christ, is decisive of our moral state : it is
therefore idle to speak of a Saving Faith which relates only to
the understanding. On the contrary, that Faith, the end of
1 Deut., xxx. 14. 2 Rom., x 8-10. 3 Acts, viii 3T.

CHAP. XIII.] SAVING FAITH. 261
which is the salvation of the soul,1 and the effect of which is vic
tory over the world :2 is a Faith which works by love,3 and which
so working purifies the heart.4 And thus we see that without
Faith it is impossible to please God.5 On the other hand, it is
not only impossible for the world by wisdom to know God, but
this impossibility is directly connected with the wisdom of God:"
for it is of the very essence of salvation that it must be by grace;
and if by grace, not only that it should be through Faith, but
that Faith should stand, not in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God.7 Saving Faith, therefore, cannot be any mere ex
ercise of the human understanding — any mere act of the mind
of man, in which it believes any testimony, even that of God,
about every thing — even salvation. But it is a grace of the
divine Spirit, whereby the New Creature receives and rests upon
Christ crucified, as he is offered to us in the Gospel, for salva
tion.8 5. In effect, the relation in which we stand to God considered
as our Creator, still more considered as our Saviour, makes it in
conceivable how Faith could be any thing else than what the
Scriptures represent it to be ; or how it could be effectual in our
salvation, if it were any thing but what it is. His absolute do
minion over us as Creator and Saviour, and our absolute depen
dence on him as creatures and sinners, beget, as the unavoidable
result, a condition on our part in which a believing, loving,
hoping, confiding, rejoicing trust in him, is our very highest con
ceivable estate here below. And, perhaps, that very order is
not far from the exact progress of our increasing Faith. In like
manner, the nature even of our intellectual powers is such, that
knowledge itself takes its rise, not from any process of the reason,
but from an unshaken belief— trust — in the ultimate truths—
the fundamental data of consciousness. So that, considering
human nature in whatever light, the more thoroughly we under
stand ourselves, the more grand and simple does that sublime
truth of God appear, which in its glorious proportion involves all
other truth, and which — if Philosophy were worthy of such an
association — I would call a divine Philosophy. How futile then,
must those pretensions be, which attribute to the mere will of
man, things which sotransc end the, soul itself to which the will
1 1 Peter, i. 9. 2 1 John, v. 4. ' Gal, v. 6. « Acts, xv. 9.
6 Heb., xi. 6. a 1 Cor., i 21. '1 Cor., ii. 5. 8 Phil., hi. 9, 10.

262 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
is subject, that they demand the power of God ! No one pre
tends that man has more than one soul. All his powers, mental
and moral, are but faculties of that one soul — manifestations of
its life and qualities. When it was pure, so were they : when it
is depraved, so are they : when it is restored, so are they. The
powers of life all combined, cannot exceed life itself. To allege
that any particular power exceeds the force of the whole soul, is
self-contradictious. The will and the understanding can effect
nothing which transcends the force of the other faculties with
which, under which, or over which they can be supposed to ope
rate : much less which transcends the whole force of them all
united, and of the soul itself. Nay, if the will and understanding
are faculties of the soul, and if the soul is depraved ; it is simply
a contradiction in terms to say, the will or understanding could,
even if it would, or that it would even if it could, do any thing
whatever, so long as the soul continued depraved, which was in
consistent with that depravity. The barrier of nature cannot be
surmounted except under a force which transcends nature. We
cannot extricate ourselves from the pollution of sin, and from
the impotence which that pollution begets, except by the grace
of God. The sacrifice of Christ, the work of the Spirit, the
word of God, the means of grace : these are the remedy. And
Faith in Jesus Christ, is the proof that they are effectual.1
III. — 1. In a preceding chapter (chap, iv., Book I.,) when
explaining the special conditions of the Covenant of Bedemp
tion, considered as special obligations binding upon sinners for
whom God has provided a Saviour, it became necessary to dis
cuss generally, and to exhibit summarily, the nature of Saving
Faith and of Bepentance unto life, with the Scripture proofs of
both. I shall not repeat here what I have advanced in that
chapter. In general, Faith has immediate relevancy, first, to
Christ who is the author and finisher of it, and, secondly, to
divine truth as the remedy for the diseased soul : while Bepent
ance has immediate relevancy, first, to the disease of the soul
itself, and, secondly, to our Creator who is outraged by it, and
to our Saviour who heals it. The two graces cover the whole
case, in its ruin, in its remedy, and in its actual cure. Consid
ered subjectively, that is, as wrought in us, and considered sav
ingly, that is, as having Christ crucified for its object, Faith is
1 2 Cor., x. 4, 5.

CHAP. XIII.] SAVING FAITH. 263
to be viewed under several distinct aspects, if we would escape
confusion in our conception of its whole scope, (a) It is a con
dition of the Covenant of Bedemption, without which salvation
through grace is not only impossible, but inconceivable : and, in
like manner, is not only a duty, but the first and constant duty
of every sinner of the human race, to whom the knowledge of
the divine Saviour comes. (6) It is the particular grace of the
divine Spirit, by the exercise of which the renewed soul is united
to Christ in its Effectual Calling ; by the exercise of which it
receives, in its Justification, the righteousness of Christ imputed
to it ; and by the exercise of which the virtue of Christ as Medi
ator, flows to all those thus united to him, and having this com
munion with him. (c) It is a gracious habit of the renewed soul,
produced in all penitent and believing sinners, by the Spirit and
word of God : a habit of soul peculiar to them — being a vital
manifestation of their New Creation: a habit of which the whole
soul is the seat — by means whereof every Christian grace is
strengthened — and the work of God within us carried on to per
fection. It is the first of these three aspects which has been
particularly considered, in the chapter before referred to : the
second aspect has been particularly treated several times : (chap
ters vi., vii., viii., ix., Book II. :) and the third aspect of it has
been constantly involved in all the subjects discussed in the sec
ond Book, and is more especially fundamental in the enquiries
pursued in the last three chapters of it, (chapters x., xi., xii.,
Book II.)
2. This gracious habit of the renewed soul, and this bearing
of Faith towards all other Christian graces, and towards the
whole work of God within us, and all the acts of God toward
us : all combine to point out to us with great clearness, the na
ture, use, and effects of this grace itself. The same thing is
true, if extending the enquiry we consider its relation to each
person of the Godhead, its dependence upon the word of God,
its connection with the means of grace, and its relevancy to the
New Creature. The result of a survey of that description — the
details of which make up so large a part of all evangelical preach
ing — maybe summarily and briefly stated — for the present neces
sity, (a) The nature of Saving Faith is, that it is the primeval,
continual, and characteristic manifestation of the New Creature:
the fundamental evidence of the commencement and continuance

264 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
of the life of God in the soul of a regenerated sinner. (6) Its
use is, to unite the renewed soul to the divine Bedeemer, who
was crucified for it ; — to enable the soul thus united to him to
have communion with him in this life, both in grace and in glory,
and communion through him with the saints of God in love; and
to enable it, in this communion with Christ in this life, to receive
from him and through him, every blessing and every benefit of
the Covenant of Bedemption. (c) Its effect is, that we receive
the salvation of our soul — which is the very end of our Faith :
being completely prepared thereto by continual growth in grace,
through the use and increase of Faith in our communion with
Christ : the saving light in our understanding, the knowledge
and apprehension of saving mysteries, the inclining of our will
to God, and the conforming of it unto him, the purification of
our desires, the sanctification of our conscience, and the mov
ing of our heart and soul unto God, being all advanced and per
fected more and more : God, who wrought Faith at first in our
heart, working by it in the heart afterwards, and causing the
renewed heart itself to work by it towards God.1 Can any
thing be more simple, more complete, more effectual, more
gracious ?
3. The object of God's revelation to sinful men is, that we
may know the infinite evil of our condition — may be shown the
way of deliverance — and may be actually delivered. Christ
Jesus, the sole and perfect cause of the salvation revealed to us,
is therefore the sum of the revelation of God : and Faith in his
name is the only way whereby we can obtain the salvation re
vealed in him. It is perfectly manifest, therefore, that this Sa
viour and this revelation of him, are the exclusive objects with
which this Faith is concerned; and that with both these its con
cern is incessant. We objectify the substance of this blessed
revelation, and call it, the Faith ; but in doing so it is at our
peril, that we add nothing, and that we take nothing away. We
also subjectify that great system of divine truth, and apply the
word Faith to the whole inward condition of the soul, answer
ing to that whole revealed salvation; but again, it is at our peril,
that herein we must so act as to have the answer of a good con
science toward God. The knowledge and conviction of the reality
of our sins, and of the truth, goodness and faithfulness of God
- Eph., i. 19— ii. 8; Phil, L 29; Ezek., xxxvi. 26; Rom., x. 10 ; John, vi. 44

CHAP. XIII.] SAVING FAITH. 265
in his proposals of deliverance to us, are manifestly at the foun
dation of our Faith in Christ as our Saviour. Upon this the
Scriptures continually insist.1 Nor are that knowledge and that
conviction, however indispensable they may be and however real,
sufficient of themselves. To be saved, we must actually embrace
the salvation, which we know we need, and which we know to
be attainable.2 Nay, we must embrace it and him who bestows
it on us, as the only salvation and the only Saviour : resting on
him alone, believing in him alone ; confidently, joyfully risking
our souls upon him. We may, if it pleases us, call the knowledge
and conviction of which I have spoken, the first act of Faith ;
the embracing the offered salvation the second ; and the unre
served and exclusive resting on Christ, the third. Many do so.
That last, however, is true Faith ; the direct act of the renewed
soul, which convinced of its sin, misery, and impotence — believ
ing and trusting God — receives and rests upon Christ alone for
salvation.3 Did Christ ever cast out any who came thus to
him ? He said he would in no wise do it! *
4. Intimate as the connection is between Faith and the exis
tence and growth of other Christian graces ; and between Faith
and righteousness, both imputed and inherent ; it is far from
being true that Faith is the efficient cause of the existence or the
growth of any other grace — or of the growth of the soul in grace ;
far from being true that Faith itself is the righteousness we need,
or that it is imparted to us as if it were that righteousness, or
that it produces that righteousness. None of these things are
true : nor is it possible to accept either of them as true, without
subverting Faith itself, and rendering the whole work of divine
grace in man inexplicable. The soul of man is renewed by the
Holy Ghost : the cause of the renewal of that particular soul, is
that Christ has redeemed it by his most precious blood : the
manner of the renewal is, the application to it by the Spirit of
the virtue of Christ's Mediation. Being renewed, its new life
manifests itself in Faith towards Jesus Christ, and in all other
Christian graces : and the threefold aspect of Faith, and the na
ture, use, and effect of Faith, have all been carefully explained.
All Christian graces are fruits of the Spirit — all are vital mani
festations of the New Creature — all are results of our communion
1 Is., liii. 11 ; Jno., xvii 13 ; 1 Pet, iii 15. " Jno., iii 33 ; Matt., xi. 28 ; Col, ii. 6.
3 Gal, ii 20 ; Heb., iv. 16; Eph., iii 12. * John, vi 31.

266 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
with Christ — all are products of the virtue of his Mediation.
Their existence and their growth, and the growth of the soul in
grace, depend upon Christ as the cause, and upon the Spirit as
the agent, and upon the word of God and the instituted means
of grace as instruments, so far as any instruments are used :
Faith as it is a grace itself, ranking with the rest — and as it is a
grace having peculiar functions, which have been explained, acting
according to them. With regard to righteousness, the right
eousness we need, whether imputed or inherent, is the righteous
ness of Christ, not the pretended righteousness of our Faith:
the righteousness of Christ's person as Immanuel — the righteous
ness of the Mediator's obedience and that of his sacrifice as Im
manuel. And the relevancy of our Faith thereto is, that being
related by it to Christ, as repeatedly explained, by means of it
that righteousness is both imputed to us and wrought in us by
God. In some important respects Good Works may indeed be
said to be the product of our Faith. But Good Works are really
such, only when performed by those already regenerated and jus
tified ; that is, of those who have participated in the righteous
ness of Christ, both imputed and inherent. And even then these
Good Works, even with the help of the Faith which prompted
them, so far from supplying the place of the divine righteousness
we need, do themselves need to be considered as performed by us in
Christ, before God can accept them at all. If the New Birth
taught throughout the Scriptures, and declared by Christ to be
the foundation of eternal life, is accepted as a divine reality ;
then every thing is clear concerning Faith, as well as every other
Christian grace. If that divine regeneration is denied, then all
gracious exercises of the soul, in the sense of the Scriptures, are
impossible ; and all imaginations that would supply their place,
whether by outward rites, or mental acts, or any combination of
both, are wholly futile.
IV. — 1. The relation of Faith to the word of God and to the
means of grace, is as distinct as its relation to Christ, to the Holy
Ghost, and to the New Creature. The Lord Jesus as Mediator, is
no less really our Prophet, than he is our Priest, and our King :
and however indispensable it may be that he should redeem us,
and that he should subdue us unto himself, it is no less so that
he should cause us to know God, and to know him with a divine
and infallible knowledge unto salvation. Under every dispensa-

CHAP. XIII.] SAVING FAITH. 267
tion the great principle has always been, that whosoever will
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.1 But to call on him,
men must believe in him ; and to believe in him, they must be
taught concerning him ; and that teaching must be divinely
competent and divinely authorized. And such is the exposition
given by God ; and so Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by
the word of God, is the divine conclusion drawn.2 And with this
all Scripture accords. It is in this aspect of the matter, that we
readily see the cause of the differences in the degree of Faith in
different persons, and in the same person at different times ; the
explanation of the growth and decay of Faith, and of the im
mense variety of emotions and of acts resulting from the exercise
of Faith, as one or other divine truth is its special object. In a
word, as soon as we accept the idea that Faith is every way af
fected by means — and as soon as we know exaclly what those
means are : then — as in every other part of our salvation — these
conditions must he estimated, if we would know the whole truth.
Thus, while Faith is a grace universal in all believers, and so
fundamental that the sinner cannot be saved without it, nor the
New Creature exist without manifesting it ; yet it exists in very
different degrees, it is liable to be many ways assailed, it may be
greatly obscured, and it may be exceedingly strengthened.3 The
whole movement and action of it is supernatural, through special
means : not miraculous, nor yet merely natural. Yet in the
midst of all vicissitudes and perils, the true believer has an anchor
of the soul, both sure and stedfast, which entereth into that
within the veil.1 And he has the shield of Faith, wherewith he
shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.6 And
so whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world : and this is
the victory that overcometh the world, even our Faith.6
2. I have several times had occasion to point out, that full
assurance of Faith and hope was the privilege of every true be
liever, in this life ; after which every one ought to hunger and
thirst, and in the habitual enjoyment of which, every one should
strive to live. To this end, the Apostle expresses the strong
desire that every one, leaving the principles of the doctrine of
Christ, should go on to perfection ; showing all diligence to the
1 Joel, ii. 32 ; Acts, ii. 21 ; Rom., x. 13. a Rom., x. U-11.
8 Heb., v. 13, 14; Rom., iv. 19, 20 ; Matt., vi 30 ; viii 10 ; Luke, xxii. 31, 32.
4 Heb., vi 19. 5 Eph., vi. 16. "1 John, v. 4.

268 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
full assurance of hope unto the end.1 The just ought not only
to live by Faith ; but they ought to draw near to God with a
true heart in full assurance of Faith.2 For the true way to be
made partakers of Christ, is to hold fast the beginning of our
confidence stedfast unto the end : and then it is that Christ
dwells in us, when we thus hold fast the confidence and rejoicing
of the hope unto the end.3 We ought to be fully persuaded that
what God has promised, he is able also to perform : which is pre
cisely the state of soul in which Abraham received the promise,
through the righteousness of Faith, and was strong in Faith,
giving glory to God.4 And thus the hearts of God's saints
would be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all
riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledge
ment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ ;
in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.6
The Scriptures, however, do not teach that this full assurance
of grace and salvation so belongs to the essence of Faith, as that
true believers must immediately receive it, or always enjoy it.
What justifies us is not Faith in justification, but Faith in Christ.
The object of Faith is Christ himself— not any separate work of
his, much less any act or quality in us. We must, assuredly, be
really justified, before we can have any gracious assurance that
we are justified; we must, undoubtedly, have Faith, before we
can have any divine assurance that we have it. It is manifest,
therefore, that assurance cannot be of the very essence of Faith.
Moreover, it is impossible to assert, that God cannot perform for
us, any act outward as to us— as for example the acts justifying
us and adopting us — -without our having an infallible inward
conviction that he has done so. What is not so obvious, but
what seems equally true, is that it is impossible to say God can
not perform inward works upon the soul — as for example, Be
generation, and progressive Sanctification — without begetting in
the soul, at the same time, an infallible and permanent assurance
that he has done so. The believer shall be saved : I am a be
liever : I shall be saved : I have full assurance of Faith : I have
full assurance of salvation. Now it is very obvious that the sec
ond and fourth statements are not identical, and that the third
and fifth are not identical. The Scriptures everywhere recognize
1 Heb., vi. 1-11. 2 Heb., x. 22, 38. 3 Heb., hi 6, 14.
* Rom., iv. 13, 20, 21. 5 Col, ii. 2, 3.

CHAP. XIII.] SAVING FAITH. 269
the difference, and urge us to press forward to the highest attain
ments, to covet earnestly the best gifts, to labour diligently for
crowning tokens of God's love. Nevertheless, our Master, who
gently leads the feeble members of his flock, and bears the lambs
of it in his own bosom, is far from rejecting the weary and heavy
laden who struggle after him, even far off !
3. There is no aspect of true religion which exposes it more
distinctly to the great and all prevailing cavil, against the do
minion of God and the dependence of man, than any just pre
sentation of the nature of Saving Faith necessarily must. The
moral and psychological and ethical systems of unbelief, are
irreconcilable with those revealed in the Scriptures. This view
of Faith, it is alleged, puts man, in his natural state, in a con
dition of utter spiritual helplessness, and in doing so assails also
his moral freedom. We encounter these cavils everywhere, as
soon as salvation by grace is clearly exhibited. Let us answer
them once more. If natural men are able to save themselves, let
them do it : and then, besides the great advantage they will se
cure, they will more effectually confute the religion of Jesus than
they can ever do it by reasoning. In that case, the word of God
is a mighty imposture; and the sacrifice of Christ is either a pure
fiction, or an act of atrocious folly. If, however, they mean that
they can save themselves only under the plan of salvation, and
by virtue of the Mediation of Christ, so explained as to respect
human nature ; it is very obvious that what this means is, the
denial of the Holy Ghost, and his regenerating work : and if
they can save themselves that way, let them do it. Or, if what
is meant is, not wholly to deny the divine Spirit, but to allege
that through him, God for Christ's sake gives some grace to all
men, and that they who use it aright receive more, and so are
saved : it is obvious that in this way the sinner, at the crisis,
saves himself by his right use of grace given equally to all but
only improved by the saved ; and so God, and Christ, and the
Spirit, do not save sinners, but do only help them to save them
selves. But the Scriptures teach in the clearest manner, and
human experience and reason confirm their teachings, that we
need divine grace to enable and incline us to improve grace
already given to us, as really as we needed the grace first given ;
and that at whatever point, and whatever moment, we are left
to ourselves, there we fail, and there, if no more help comes, we

270 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
perish. To say the help will come, is simply to retract the cavil,
and admit the efficacy of sovereign grace. We must save our
selves : or God must save us. There is no middle way, by doing
part ourselves, and letting God do part : because the part we do,
if of any avail is gracious, and if not gracious is no part of sal
vation. If God saves sinners, it must be by grace through Faith.
If sinners save themselves, it must be by works. The whole
question is, by which covenant is salvation for sinners attaina
ble — and under which are we ? If we need infinite, efficacious,
sovereign, free grace to save us, then we are helpless sinners,
and must cry to God for mercy. If we do not need either divine
mercy or divine grace, neither have we any need of Faith ; be
cause Faith is simply the middle term between a gracious God
and helpless sinners. To object, therefore, that sinners should
be accounted helpless in the matter of salvation, is simply to
deny that they need salvation, or to deny that they are sinners,
or both. 4. As to the moral freedom of man, and the efficacy of that
freedom unto salvation, I repeat what I have said above. Let
the sinner save himself by means of his moral freedom ; and his
blessedness and the triumph of his cavil will be complete. Ac
cording to the word of God, and the consent of all penitent
sinners, the renewal of the will, as well as the sanctification of
the conscience, the change of the heart, and the enlightening of
the understanding of the sinner, are indispensable to his salva
tion : nor is it possible to conceive how it could be otherwise, if
his nature is depraved, and if his will is any part of his nature.
But if the renewal of the will is indispensable, then the sinner
must renew his own will — or God must renew it. But every one
knows, and God -lainly teaches us, that we cannot renew our
will : and, moreover, it cannot be renewed at all without renew
ing our nature, and we cannot do that. But if the renewal of
the will by God is incompatible with the moral freedom of man,
then obviously the freedom of the will is incompatible with sal
vation ; because its renewal by God is indispensable to salvation,
and its renewal by God is incompatible with its freedom. The
cavil, therefore, is absurd in the form of it; it is still more ab
surd in the matter of it. For it holds for freedom, aversion to
God and bondage to sin ; and it holds for bondage, likeness to
God and freedom from sin; which, in both cases, and in the very

CHAP. XIII.] SAVING FAITH. 271
nature of things, is self-contradictious. It follows, necessarily,
that the renewal of the will of man by the Spirit of God is not
inconsistent with human freedom ; but, on the contrary, is the
deliverance of the will of man from fatal bondage, and the resto
ration of it to the freedom wherein it was created. It follows,
moreover, that from the natural state of bondage of the will of
fallen man, nothing can flow that is spiritually good ; and by
consequence, that every system built on the contrary supposi
tion, must be contrary to truth and holiness. And, finally, it is
manifest that the view of Faith and the manner of its produc
tion and action, which requires us to contemplate the will of
man as already in bondage to sin, and which proposes its re
newal in holiness by God's Spirit, is in precise accordance with
the only idea of the moral freedom of man, which is consistent
with itself, with the nature of things, or with the word of
God. This cavil, therefore, as well as the one before consid
ered, is directed, in fact, against the entire spiritual system of
God, of man, of sin, and of salvation disclosed in the Scriptures ;
and is founded on views wholly erroneous, as to all of them.
5. How high this great grace, the gift of God wrought in
the soul by the Holy Ghost, may rise — what glorious evidences
may attend it — what inestimable fruits it may produce — what
mighty acts it may perform : these are topics which require the
meditations of God's people, and the practical enforcement of
God's ministers continually, rather than the condensed and
systematic statement of a Treatise like this. On the other
hand, how low and how limited may be the state of divine
knowledge, with which it may be found powerfully associ
ated, in simple and earnest hearts ; and how fervently it
may work in them, with a very few of the great truths of
God, unto a mighty height of grace : this is neither the place
nor the way to determine. So much at least may be asserted,
that any just exhibition of the true nature, and use, and effect
of Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, must disclose sufficient
reason for the great place it occupies in the sacred Scriptures,
and the perpetual urgency of all Christian people concerning
it. There is no marvel that in the judgment of God, and by the
consent of all who have sought his favour in a way acceptable
to him, it should be ranked as the first of the two chief offices
of true religion.

CHAPTEE XIV.
REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD.
I. 1. Connection between Repentance and Faith. — 2. Faith competent only to restored
sinners. — 3. Repentance competent only to believing sinners. — 4. New Obe
dience : Relation of Faith and Repentance thereto. — 5. Life, Righteousness, Re
pentance: Relations between them. — II. 1. The Knowledge of Good and Evil in
Man : Relation thereof to his Fall and Recovery. — 2. Moral Judgments and Feel
ing: Effect of Regeneration. — 3. Indissoluble connection between our Moral
Judgments and Feeling: Effects of Divine Grace. — 4. Relation of the Moral Na
ture of Man to the Spiritual System of the Scriptures ; and to that of Atheism. —
5. Self-condemnation of the Natural Conscience : Sense of Blameworthiness of the
Renewed Conscience : Standard of each. — 6. Healthfulness of Conscience — Divine
Grace — Repentance. — III. 1. The Law of God: Relation of the Natural Man
thereto. — 2. The Satisfaction of Christ : His Relation therein to Sinners : theirs to
him through Faith and Repentance. — 3. Acts of the Penitent Soul: Grief and
Hatred for Sin: Turning from it unto God: Purpose of New Obedience. —
4. States of the Penitent Soul : Sense of the true Nature of Sin : Apprehension
of the Mercy of God in Christ. — 5. Intimate Nature of Repentance : Definition
of it. — IV. 1. Perpetual Necessity of Repentance. — 2. Great Peculiarity of Re
pentance. — 3. Love and Faithfulness of Christ. — 4. Wide Connection, Simplicity,
and Certainty of the Doctrine taught.
I. — 1. The sacred Scriptures continually unite Bepentance
toward God and Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And in
one of the most affecting incidents of his wonderful ministry, the
great Apostle of the Gentiles told the Elders of the Church at
Ephesus, that they had personal knowledge from his first coming
into Asia, that he had kept back nothing that was profitable,
because he had testified continually these two truths, which in a
manner sum up the Gospel.1 Saving Faith — Bepentance unto
Life : the very terms that qualify them, show their indissoluble
union. 2. In his perfect state man was perfectly bound to believe
God, and was far more capable of doing so than in his fallen
state. Nevertheless, no idea can be formed of man in his perfect
state, which presents him to us as capable of exercising what the
1 Acts, xx. 18-21.

CHAP. XIV.] REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE. 273
Scriptures intend by Saving Faith. Because this is a state of
soul peculiar to man, both after he has fallen and been restored :
and in it, the cause, the nature, and the manner both of that
fall and that restoration, are involved. The Saviour of believing
sinners is the very cause, and the quickener and comforter of
penitent sinners is the very agent, and the divine word by which
believing and penitent sinners are begotten again is the very in
strument, which make the whole matter at once intelligible and
real : and without the whole of which it is neither possible nor
intelligible. 3. All this is equally true of Bepentance, as of Faith. That
also, in its very nature and in every complete view which it is
possible to take of it, is a state of soul peculiar to a sinner who
has both fallen and been restored. As Faith is concerned chiefly
with the cause and the manner of the recovery, so Bepentance is
concerned chiefly with the malady itself and the means and pro
gress of the recovery. Christ and salvation are the great objects
of the believing soul : God and our sins are the great objects of
the penitent soul. It is perfectly obvious that a soul which was
never lost and therefore never had need of a Saviour, never coul«l
exercise Saving Faith in Christ ; and equally so, that a soul
never dead in trespasses and sins could never turn from sin or unto
God, with Bepentance unto Life. And so the Lord plainly said,
I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.1
And, so also, Bepentance unto Life is everyway impossible under
the Covenant of Works. Impossible if that covenant were per
fectly fulfilled by us ; because, in that case, we already had life
by obedience, and had no sin to repent of. Impossible after we
have broken that covenant, because its condition was not repent
ance but obedience, which condition being broken, the covenant
was at an end as a means of life ; and, moreover, even if it could
have remained as a covenant of life after its breach, it contained
no remedy for transgression but punishment, and in its very na
ture could contain no other.
4. The Covenants of Works and Grace are the most impres
sive form in which God gives expression to the counsel of his
will concerning man. It is through them especially that he
makes manifest his infinite goodness, under all the forms in which
it is most distinctly exhibited towards man. The will of God, in
1 Matt, ix. 13.
VOL. II. 18

274 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK HI.
whatever manner it may be made known, must give expression
to his infinite nature. When made known in the form of law,
that law is a middle term which necessarily embraces, on one
side the infinite author of it, and on the other those subject to
it : and in its own nature it necessarily embraces such sanctions
as are appropriate to itself, to its author, and to those subject to
it. Otherwise we might call it instruction, advice, or persuasion;
but not law. But when the will of God is propounded to us in
the form of covenant — and the idea of a reward arises, there is
superadded to the majesty, wisdom, power, and goodness of the
Infinite Buler of the universe, the expression of his love, his
truth, and his faithfulness. So that not only by the whole glory
of God's being, but by all else that is immutable added thereto,
his covenants must have way in all they command, in all they
threaten, and in all they promise ; immutable and irresistible
alike in their stipulations and in their sanctions. Wherefore
God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath : that by
two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie,
we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to
lay hold upon the hope set before us : which hope we have as an
anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth
into that within the veil: whither the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus, made a high priest for ever after the order of Mel-
chizedek.1 Now the Covenant of Grace stipulates for righteous
ness on condition of Faith and Bepentance, and has for its sanc
tion on that side, the promise of eternal life : whence it follows
that believing and penitent sinners must be saved, or the highest
expression of God's will must fail.2 On the other hand, the
Covenant of Works stipulated for righteousness on condition of
obedience at once perfect and personal, and had for its sanction
on that side, the threat of eternal death : whence it follows that
the disobedient under that covenant can have no refuge in Faith
or Bepentance, and no hope of escaping perdition." But in every
possible relation of a dependent creature to its Creator, right
eousness is inconceivable except in connection with obedience :
and salvation in sin is the concealed poison which lurks in every
system of false religion. In the nature of the case, therefore, a
New Obedience is as directly involved in Faith and Bepentance,
Helx, vi 17-20. 2 John, iii. 16 ; Luke, xiii 3-5. 3 Gen., ii. 16-11.

CHAP. XIV.] REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE. 275
as a New Covenant and a New Creature are. It is through
Faith toward Christ that the New Creature is concerned with
the cause and manner of this New Obedience : it is through Be
pentance toward God that the process of perfecting the New
Creature therein, is actually carried on in the soul.1
5. I have explained in another place the great truth, that the
life which any righteousness can secure can only be as full and
as enduring as the righteousness by which it is obtained ; so that
we must have an everlasting righteousness if we would have
eternal life ; and as this everlasting righteousness can be obtained
only through the Lord Jesus Christ, so eternal life is attainable
only through him.2 Nay the very name whereby he was pre
dicted from of old was, The Lord our Righteousness.*3 What I
then taught was only a corollary from a broader and deeper
truth — to which we now come. In every spiritual sense Bight
eousness is the very expression of life — precisely as sin is the very
expression of death. Spiritual death — death in sin, is not only
a terrible reality, but it is the cause both of the death of the body,
and of the eternal death of the soul and body. Spiritual life is
not only a glorious reality, but to fallen man the very expression
of it both in its nature and its power, is the participation with
our Saviour Jesus Christ, in grace and in glory, of the life and
the immortality he has brought to light through the Gospel.1
Salvation by grace, which expresses the peculiar form of the spir
itual and eternal life bestowed on men by Christ, is, therefore, in
the nature of the case, impossible; unless by grace, through Faith
and Bepentance, we are put in actual, personal, and eternal pos
session of a righteousness commensurate with the salvation be=-
stowed on us. The very term salvation not only involves the
idea of a life which is spiritual and eternal ; but also that the
holiness of that life is commensurate with its spirituality and its
eternity. Hundreds of times the Scriptures use merely the word
life, to express all this ; as if no other form of human existence
was worthy of being called life.6 So far are the Scriptures from
countenancing any idea that salvation and holiness may be sepa
rated — that even after they have revealed and opened unto us
an infinite Bighteousness through the Son of God ; they dis-
: Psalm cxix. Ill, 112. a Dan., ix. 24; Heb., ix. 12.
* ;5p"iS nl.rp — Jehovah cw Righteousness. 3 Jer., xxiii. 6; xxxiii 16; 1 Cor., 1 30.
< 2 Tim., i. 9, 10. 5 joh^ vi. 53 ; xi. 25 ; xx. 31.

276 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
tine tly warn us that if our Faith were to make the law void —
nay, if it did not establish the law — it would be a fatal objection
to our Faith.1 And yet even that righteousness of the law, thus
scrupulously respected, is not the righteousness which is through
the faith of Christ ; the righteousness which is of God by Faith,
which they possess who know Christ and the power of his resur
rection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conform
able unto his death.2 In all the Scriptures it is the merit of
Works and the righteousness of Faith which are contrasted : true
righteousness and saving grace are never set in opposition, nor
can they be ; since the former is always the product of the
latter — and to fallen men can be the product of nothing else.
The difference is immeasurable between saying that no right
eousness of the law or of works can save a sinner — and sayiDg
that a sinner can be saved without any righteousness at all : and
no pest of Christianity has been more insidious than that, which
would substitute any thing — -no matter what — -for holiness of
heart and life. Except your righteousness shall exceed the right
eousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, said our Lord, ye shall in
no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.3 Blessed, said he, are
the pure in heart : for they shall see God.4 From which it is a
fearful and necessary inference, that without holiness no man
shall see the Lord.6 It is in Christ Jesus the Saviour of the
world that everlasting righteousness is provided for lost men. It
is through divine grace that this infinite Righteousness is be
stowed on penitent sinners. The very highway of the upright is
to depart from evil : and Bepentance, of a truth, is the King's
highway of holiness.6 This gate, though it be strait — this way,
though it be narrow — leadeth unto life. Alas ! that there
should be few that find it.'
II. — 1. The shock which the fall of man, and the loss of the
image of God, produced upon our nature, is not capable of being
completely appreciated by us. We have much certain knowledge
on the subject revealed to us by God : we have also the means,
in our knowledge of ourselves, both in our natural state and in
our begun recovery here on earth — of many reasonable conjec
tures, perhaps some positive certainty — concerning the original
sondition of our nature. It is precisely in the spot where the
Rom., iii. 31. 2 Phil, iii. 9, 10. 3 Matt., v. 20. < Matt., v. 8.
5 Heb., xii. 14. e Prov., xvi 17. i Matt., vii. 13, 14.

CHAP. XIV.] REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE. 277
present enquiry finds us, that complete knowledge would be the
most satisfying — and complete ignorance the most fatal. The
only prohibition to Adam under the Covenant of Works was,
that he should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. The penalty annexed by God to sustain this prohibition,
was the most immense that could be: forfeiture, on the one side,
of all the blessings promised to obedience, and, on the other side,
the certainty of death.1 In the degree that we are now able,
with the word of God in our hands, and the experience of the
whole life of the human race, to appreciate the fatal effects of
the fall of Adam, we are able in the like degree to appreciate the
unsuitableness of the knowledge of good and evil, to the nature
of man in his original state of innocence and conformity to God.
How immeasurable is the difference, then, between his state and
ours — and how inadequately do we appreciate what man has lost
of good, and incurred of evil, by the fall ? For this knowledge
of good and evil which was -wholly incompatible with our prim
eval estate — and in the attainment of which we become unfit for
the service and enjoyment of God : is, for us, the very point
within us upon which all the processes of salvation practically
turn. If to know good and evil be, in man, inseparable from his
being depraved in the sight of God, it is also inseparable from
his possible salvation. For salvation is only for sinners, only for
believing and penitent sinners. But Repentance and Faith are
both inconceivable, except as acts of a fallen and restored sinner
who has the knowledge of good and evil. How wonderful, even
in the most rigidly scientific aspects, are those divine harmo
nies at which weak Christians sometimes tremble — and shal
low infidels habitually cavil ? We have the knowledge of good
and evil — a fatal inheritance — and yet by the infinite grace and
wisdom of God, this mark of ruin may be turned into a method
of restoration to God. If it were not that we have this sense of
good and evil, all idea of sin and of holiness would appear to be
impossible, in such beings as we now are ; and all increase in
either would appear to be inconceivable. To a perfect nature,
fallen — this sense of good and evil — real, but obscure and de
praved — is an absolute part of its moral constitution. God so
declares — our nature so testifies. But let us not forget the limi
tations with which God and our nature alike testify, that this
' Gen., ii 17.

278 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK in.
sense of good and evil is surrounded. It is the sense of a fallen
being ; it is of the nature — neither higher nor lower — better nor
worse : it is impotent to surmount the barrier of that nature —
impotent, like all the rest of that depraved nature, to perform its
part otherwise than as depraved. We know that the distinction
between good and evil is real and ineffaceable, just as certainly
as we know that the distinction between true and false is real
and ineffaceable. But we do not know with certainty which
things are good and which are evil, any more than which are true
and which are false. We are depraved, and have lost the image
of God in knowledge, in righteousness, and in holiness. But
though depraved, we are still both rational and moral — and,
blessed be God, capable, through divine grace, of a glorious
restoration. 2. Connected with this sense of good and evil, in all our
practical exercises of it, there is a feeling of approbation and
satisfaction towards that which we perceive and recognize as
good, whether it is manifested in ourself, or in others ; a feeling
of aversion and condemnation towards whatever appears to us
to be evil, whether in ourself or others. If our moral judgments
were infallible, our approval and our aversion would necessarily
be directed always to the proper objects ; that is, if our sense of
right and wrong never erred, our feeling responsive to that sense
could never be directed amiss. On the other hand, if our moral
judgments always erred, our approval and our disapprobation
would always be directed amiss. In temporal and common
things, neither of these states of our moral nature exists : as to
them, our moral judgments are sometimes right and sometimes
wrong, and by consequence, our feeling of satisfaction and of
aversion is sometimes just and sometimes misdirected. With
regard to spiritual things connected with grace and salvation, the
second of the two states above defined is universal in the natural
man, considered as depraved ; that is, the moral judgments and
the consequent feeling of the natural man, are always different
from those of God — always wrong on those subjects. The nature
of man is extricated from this terrible condition by a divine Be
generation, and in the degree it is sanctified through divine grace
it approximates the first of the two conditions defined above :
but as it never attains perfect deliverance from the remains of
indwelling sin in this life, it never arrives at a condition in which

OHAP. XIV.] REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE. 279
its moral sense and moral feeling are absolutely just with regard
to spiritual things. Whatever may have been the precise state
of the moral nature of man before his fall, and therefore before
he had the knowledge of good and evil as we have it in the de
praved condition of our nature : this much we know with cer
tainty, namely, that the mere fallibility of his perfect nature was
sufficient to lead him fatally astray in his moral judgment, and
by consequence in the feeling connected with it. It may help to
guide our enquiries into the cause of that catastrophe, and into
the principle upon which it rests, to bear in mind that the sin
of Adam was not spontaneous, but was the result of most subtle
temptation and deceit ; and, moreover, that his particular trans
gression had reference to a positive command concerning that
which, independently of the command, had no moral quality.
Situated as we are, naturally polluted and also destitute of
grace, it is wholly impossible for us either to judge, or feel, or
act, in a manner perfectly consonant with any rule of rectitude:
while it is equally impossible to estimate the greatness of the
departures which we might finally make from every such rule.
3. The connection between our moral approbation and our
sense of the goodness of that which we approve, and between
our moral disapprobation and our sense of the evil of that which
we condemn, is so deeply seated in our nature ; that it is impossi
ble for these feelings to arise independently of the moral judg
ments which precede them — and impossible for them to be
contrary to those judgments. Our passions may carry us away —
and the violence of temptation may overcome us — and the heart
may be utterly hardened and the understanding wholly darkened
— and the conscience completely seared. Nevertheless, so long
as we perceive that there is a difference between right and wrong
— and determine any thing in particular to be right — we are to
tally incapable of disapproving it as right, while we consider it
right. We may err in our moral judgment — call good evil and
evil good : the real, question as to the feeling which will be be
gotten in us is, not whether we judge correctly, but how do the
things of which we judge appear to our moral sense ? The
phenomena will follow in every case. We may hate good, but
this is because it appears to us to be evil : we may love evil, but
this is because evil appears to us good. We often do what we
judge to be wrong : but never without a sense of self-condemna-

280 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
tion : and that sense of condemnation may be most acute, when
our moral judgment is utterly mistaken. Whatever the con
science declares the thing to be, that it must necessarily be to
us, so far as our approval or disapproval is concerned, and so far
as a feeling of satisfaction or aversion is begotten in us thereby.
A depraved moral sense is as real and as comprehensible, as any
other depraved faculty or power in human nature : and the phe
nomena it exhibits give us clear views of the manner in which
divine truth is made instrumental in the sanctification of the
conscience. Nor can there be any more doubt that the dictates
of conscience should be followed, than that the dictates of reason
should be, each in its own sphere. Even our sinful nature revolts
at our doing what appears to it to be wrong : and never ceases
to chide us for so doing, until the conscience is deadened by this
very process of disobeying its admonitions. It is equally idle to
assert that the moral judgment is right merely because it seems
to us to be right : and to assert that we are to disregard its deci
sions, because others know them to be erroneous. This is our
fatal condition as fallen creatures.1 Of ourselves, we may mitigate
it to a certain degree : but the grace of God and the work of the
Holy Ghost is the only cure : and the prime end of the Know
ledge of God and of all the means of grace whereby that know
ledge is made effectual, is the sanctification of the conscience,
the healing of the moral nature of man. Nor is there any poison
of all false religion more deadly, nor any impotence of it all more
fatal, than its uniform tendency to misdirect our moral sense, its
total inability to rectify our moral judgments. The scriptural
method of dealing with this transcendently important aspect of
our fallen nature, is expressed by the phrase, Repentance toward
God. 4. Upon the supposition that the scriptural account of the
being and perfections of God — of the work of creation and grace
— of the nature, fall, and present condition of man — is true; then
all these characteristics of our being are completely accounted
for — and the effects of sin and of grace upon us are perfectly
comprehensible. For an infinite standard of all good is erected
in the universe — the ineffaceable distinction between good and
evil exterior to us is firmly established — the capacity of a fallen
soul created in the image of God to perceive and to be affected
1 Prov., xiv. 12 — xv. 25.

OHAP. XIV.] REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE. 281
by that eternal distinction, without being able to apply it truly
and justly, ceases to be a marvel, — and its capacity to be restored
by divine grace, becomes obvious in the very statement of the
case. The moral nature of man is an immense truth whose
existence cannot be denied — because it is more certain to man
than any thing can be which can be brought forward to disprove
it. But considered apart from the idea of the existence of an
infinite Creator and moral Buler of the universe, that moral na
ture of man is the grossest of all absurdities. It is the perpetual
testimony of the only being capable of discerning truth, to the
greatest of all imaginable falsehoods, namely, that right and
wrong are eternal realities — when no such things exist. What
is still more monstrous, it is the invincible assertion of nature
in her highest form — the human soul — that the highest satisfac
tion and the acutest misery are the product of that, namely,
moral good and evil, which nature knows perfectly well has no
existence. And to crown the whole, if the soul itself does not
exist — which manifestly it cannot do if there is no God — then a
fortuitous organization of matter, which we call man — being
without a soul and without a Creator — is endowed with the very
attributes with which God — if there was a God- — -would endow a
soul, if he could create one : and all to no end but the demon
stration that effects exceed their proper cause, which is axiorn-
atically impossible.
5. There is no state of the human soul which more uniformly
attends every part of our progress, from our state of ruin to a
state of endless blessedness, than the sense of our own blame
worthiness. I have shown how a sense of disapprobation arises
in the natural heart, when we do what appears to our moral
sense to be wrong. The very earliest gracious operations of God's
Spirit in our hearts, awaken us to a sense of our guilt and danger
in his sight. This is one of the multiplied instances in which
there is a certain resemblance, between the operations of the soul
when naturally and when graciously affected. That men should
habitually do what the natural heart condemns,' — and that even
they who are born again should be in constant peril of back
sliding ; are proofs of the impotence of our moral nature— not
less signal than our inability to distinguish clearly what particu
lar things are good and what evil. Nor is there, in our whole
being, any thing more decisive and remarkable than this natural

282 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
sense of self-condemnation — and this gracious sense of blame
worthiness. In the former case, nature herself furnishes the
standard of our moral judgment — that law written by God upon
the heart of man at his creation, and summed up by him twenty-
five centuries afterwards upon tables of stone at Sinai. It is
thus that we are a law unto ourselves, our conscience also bear
ing witness, and our thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else
excusing one another.1 But this gracious sense of blameworthi
ness in us, must have a better standard than our fallen nature,
by which its judgment must be regulated. The higher and
purer that standard is, the deeper and keener will our sense of
our shortcomings be. So that in the penitent sinner, this sense
of his blameworthiness is in proportion to the sum of three forces;
namely, his knowledge of God, the perfect rule of Bighteousness ;
his knowledge of himself, concerning whom the judgment of
self-condemnation is to be passed ; and the healthful state of the
conscience, whose disapprobation is the very judgment which is
passed. That judgment is, that our heart is not right in the
sight of God : and if our heart condemns us, God is greater than
our heart, and knoweth all things.2 It is manifest that all three
of the elements just enumerated, which enter into the sense of
blameworthiness of a penitent sinner, ought to increase continu
ally; and, therefore, our sense of blameworthiness would itself
increase continually, unless we ourselves increased continually in
holiness, that is, in conformity to God. If our conscience bear
us witness in the Holy Ghost, that we do thus increase in holi
ness,5 then, indeed, having the answer of a good conscience toward
God,4 we may well and truly rejoice in this testimony of our con
science.5 But inasmuch as we can never attain to perfect holiness
in this life, we can never cease to feel a sense of blameworthiness
at every just survey of our actual condition. To which it must
be added, that upon every survey of our past life, the renewed
soul will deplore its past offences more and more deeply, at every
step of its progressive sanctification.
6. The root of the matter is the healthful state of the con
science itself. And to every spiritual intent touching grace and
salvation, there is no state of the conscience which can be called
healthful, except that state of it which exists in the New Crea-
1 Rom., ii. 14, 15. a 1 John, iii. 20. s Rom., ix. 1.
* 1 Pet, iii. 21. ¦ 2 Cor., i. 12.

CHAP. XIV.] REPENTANCE UNTO. LIFE. 283
ture. This we express with reference to the matter now under
consideration, by the phrase — Repentance unto Life : it is a grace
of God's Spirit — an act of the renewed soul. It is only when the
soul has been quickened by the Holy Ghost, that its spiritual
judgments concerning good and evil are trustworthy. It is only
in such a quickened soul that divine truth is so perceived, that it
can be made an infallibly just standard of approbation or con
demnation. It is only as that quickened soul advances in holi
ness, by means of this life-giving Spirit and this divine truth,
that it is wrought more and more perfectly into a condition of
complete healthfulness. Then it is that its judgment concerning
good and evil, its sense of approbation or condemnation, its feel
ing of peace or shame under its own sentence, become more and
more analogous to the mind of God. The extraordinary fact, to
which I have already alluded, that the habitual judgment of the
natural conscience is one of condemnation of our own habitual
moral state — or at the least of doubt concerning it — or of most
hesitating approval ; obliges us to admit not only that sinfulness
may be predicated of nature, in contradistinction to acts, but
that our own nature is sinful ; or else we must show that our
moral judgments, and therefore our sense of disapprobation, are
always wrong — in which case the only use of the ¦ conscience
would be to lead us into sin. Under the influence of divine grace,
the pungency of our convictions must necessarily be in propor
tion to the heinousness of our offences and the depth of our de
pravity. And here is opened before us the whole of that immense
department of practical religion connected with the direction of
the conscience ; in which the doctrines of grace are so conspicu
ously blessed, and all other systems are fatal, each in proportion
to its departure from them. I content myself with making two
remarks, both relating immediately to the doctrine of Repent
ance. The first is, that in proportion as our convictions of sin
are inadequate, is the peril of backsliding, on one hand — and
the certainty on the other, of low attainments in the divine life.
The second is, that it is a double and woful mistake, for those
who cannot charge themselves with outbreaking enormities, to
distrust the Spirit of God, because he does not enable them to
abhor themselves as if they had been stained with the greatest
crimes ; and for such as might justly rank themselves with the
chief of sinners, to be content with such convictions of sin as

284 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
would become them, if they had only heart hatred against God
to charge themselves withal. God's Spirit is the Spirit of truth:
and the exercises of soul which he begets, are always true exer
cises — never exaggerated — never fallacious.
III. — 1. God has provided for man a perfect rule of duty, and
therefore a perfect standard for the conscience — in the Moral
Law — which he wrote in the heart of man when he created him
— which he delivered in writing to Moses to be laid at the foun
dation of the sacred Scriptures — and which is divinely expounded
and enforced throughout the inspired volume.1 Although every
violation of that unalterable law is not equally heinous, yet every
violation of it deserves the wrath of God.2 In our fallen state we
neither desire nor are able to keep this perfect law of God.s We
are by nature, therefore, children of wrath,4 not only dead in sins,
but sold under sin.5 Even after we have come to the knowledge
of this perfect rule of duty, there is no possibility that depraved
sinners should be purified thereby, or through it escape per
dition ; unless they are first divinely enabled and inclined there
unto. A rule of duty, of judgment, of conviction, of condemna
tion, of punishment — it abides and will abide for ever. But by no
possibility can it be a way of Life, through the keeping of it,
unto depraved creatures who lie under its curse, who have already
incurred its wrath, and who are only the more sure to be con
demned, by how much it is proved to be holy, just, and good. It
may be, under such circumstances, our schoolmaster to bring us
to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.6 But this is the
utmost it can do for sinners ; and this only through divine grace.
2. The perfect obedience to the law of God both in heart and
life, by which complete conformity to the will of God is mani
fested — has been rendered by the Lord Jesus, in his office of
Mediator between God and man. He has, in addition, en
dured the penalty and curse of the law, and the wrath of God
due to sinners — as though he were himself the chief of sinners :
whereby he has made complete satisfaction to divine justice,
and redeemed his brethren who were under the law, and un
der sin, -and under the sentence of death, and under the power
of Satan. All this has occurred in execution of the Cove
nant of Bedemption — whose blessings and benefits are all pro-
1 Exod., xx. ; Matt., xxii. 37-40. a Gal, iii. 10. 8 Gal, ii 16.
« Eph., ii 3. 5 Eph., ii 1 ; Rom., vii 14. 6 Gal, hi. 21

CHAP. XIV.] REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE. 285
vided by divine grace, for fallen men, through the Son of Man.
If we can become so identified with this crucified and exalted
Saviour as to be partakers of his destiny ; and if we are willing
to share his sufferings that we may also share his resurrection ;
then, obviously, our whole case is put in a totally new aspect.
Upon supposition of such a union between him and us as will
put him in our place as sinners, that he may work out for us an
everlasting righteousness — and put us in his place as possessors
of this divine righteousness ; manifestly, sin, and the law, and
death, and hell — must hold him responsible for all they have to
allege against us ; and his person, and work, and glory must all
be overborne before we can be hurt. We must, to this end, be
united to Christ ; concerning which, and the manner of it, I
have said so much. The incontestable manifestations of this
union between us and the Saviour of the world — are declared to
be Repentance toward God and Faith toward the Lord Jesus
Christ.1 These are the immediate and universal obligations laid
upon sinners by the manifestation of a Saviour to them ; they
are the special conditions of salvation through that Saviour, and
under the eternal covenant sealed with his blood. With reference
to God, to sin, and to itself — the precise state of the believing soul
is — Repentance ; just as the precise state of the peniten t soul, with
reference to Christ, to divine truth, and to salvation, is — Faith.
But the ideas of God, and sin, and the soul, in the first of these
statements, and those of Christ, and divine truth, and salvation
in the second ; unitedly present a complete idea of the whole mat
ter. Bepentance and Faith unitedly involving the whole of those
ideas — unitedly express the whole way of life. They are, there
fore, peculiar to those who are united to Christ — universal, in all
who are born of the Spirit— and inseparable from each other.2
3. The acts of the renewed soul which unitedly make up the
idea which we use the word Bepentance to express, are very
clearly disclosed in the word of God, are very obvious in them
selves, and are familiar to all Christians. In the first place, the
penitent soul grieves for its sins and at the same time sincerely
hates them. For, saith the Scriptures, Then shall ye remember
your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and
shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and
for your abominations.3 And this is just what the Lord requires
1 Acts, xx. 20, 21. ' Mark, i 15 ; John, iii. 18 ; Luke, xiii 3, 5. s Ezek., xxxvi. 31,

286 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK HI.
of us. For not only is repentance and remission of sins to be
preached in the name of the Lord Jesus among all nations ;' and
not only does God command all men every where to repent ;2 but
the clearest statements are made as to what occurs when this
blessed Gospel and this divine command work together effectually
in our hearts. Thus it is said, Bepent and turn from all your
transgressions : and so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast
away all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed ; and
make you a new heart and a new spirit : for why will ye die, 0
house of Israel ?s The sorrow of the world worketh death : but
godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented
of. And this the Apostle applies personally to us, for he saith,
Behold this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort,
what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of your
selves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement
desire, yea, what zeal, yea what revenge. In all things ye have
proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.4 In the second
place, the penitent soul, grieving for and hating its sins, turns
from all sin unto God. For, saith God, Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him re
turn unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him ; and to
our God for he will abundantly pardon.5 And to this God him
self persuades us : for it is written, Wash ye, make ye clean ;
put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to
do evil ; learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed;
judge the fatherless ; plead for the widow. Come now and let
us reason together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as scar
let, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crim
son, they shall be as wool.6 So we are divinely assured that there
is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.7 And so the very pur
pose for which Saul of Tarsus was sent of God unto the Gentiles
was, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might
receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance amongst those that
are sanctified.8 And thus all who sin against God — for there is
no man that sinneth not — and at whom God is angry ; yet if
* Luke, xxiv. 47. a Acts, xvii. 30. 4 Ezek., xviii. 30, 31.
5 2 Cor., vii. 10, 11 ; Jer., xxxi 18, 19. « Isa., Iv. 7. 7 Isa., i 16-20.
8 Rom., viii 1. s Acts, xxvi 14-18.

CHAP. XIV.] REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE. 287
they bethink themselves, and repent, and make supplication unto
God, saying, we have sinned, and have done perversely, we have
committed wickedness ; and so return unto God -with all their
heart, and with all their soul : then will God hear their prayer
and their supplication, in heaven his dwelling-place, and will for
give all their sins against him, and all their transgressions wherein
they have transgressed against him.1 In the third place, the
penitent soul, grieving for its sins, hating them, and turning from
them unto God, does this with full purpose of heart, and earnest
endeavour after New Obedience. I thought upon my ways, says
the Psalmist, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. For, he
adds, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right ;
and I hate every false way.2 It is they who walk in all the com
mandments and ordinances of the law blameless, whom the Scrip
tures pronounce to be righteous :3 and he through whose grace
they are both inclined and enabled thereunto,. is not only chiefest
among ten thousand, but is altogether lovely.4 Follow me, is
the incessant command of the Saviour of men.6 The very char
acteristic of the sheep of the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls,
is that they hear his voice and follow him : and the end is, not
only that he gives unto them eternal life — but that the peace of
God, which passeth all understanding, keeps their hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.6 Now we easily unite in one con
ception the several acts of the soul with regard to sin, to God,
and to itself: and the result is that which is called sometimes
Bepentance toward God, sometimes Bepentance unto Life, most
generally simply Bepentance. The Scriptures, both of the Old
and New Testaments, use two different words to express this
great grace of the Spirit.* They are used, especially in the New
Testament, so nearly interchangeably,7 that nothing farther need
be said here concerning them, than that one of them, perhaps,
has more special relation to the understanding, and the other to
the will of man : as the careful student will probably observe in
noting their use by the sacred writers. What God requires in
sinful man is a thorough change of soul ; and touching the sub
ject of our inquiry — a thorough change both of purpose and de
sire, from the evil which God hates to the good which God loves."
> 1 Kings, viii. 46-50. 2 Psalm cxix. 59, 128. 3 Luke, i 6. 4 Song of Sol, v. 10, 16.
5 Matt., xvi, 24; Luke, ix. 50. c John, x. 27, 28; Phil, iv. 7.
* Dfib — iieTujieTitia — mutatio voluntatis: nans — /teratoid — mutatio mentis. — Re-
' Matt., xi 21 ; xxi. 29, 32. 8 Rom., xii 1, 2 ; Ps. i passim.

288 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
4. The states of the soul whose acts have just been explained,
or, if a different manner of stating the case is preferred — the ex
ercises of the soul in Bepentance — are distinctly twofold. In the
first place it has obtained and it manifests, both a sight and a
sense, both of the danger and the odiousness of sin, as contrary
to the holy nature, and righteous law of God. And in the second
place it has apprehended the mercy of God in Christ to penitent
sinners. It is by the word and Spirit of God that it has been
brought to see and to feel thus :l and seeing and feeling thus, it
hates and grieves for its sins, and turns from them unto God, as
I have pointed out in the preceding paragraph. In the parable
of the Prodigal Son, the Saviour has shown us in the most affect
ing manner, the nature of these states and exercises of the soul —
the acts to which they prompt us, and the reception which the re
turning penitent meets with from God.2 His dogmatic statement
is more wonderful, if possible, than his overpowering illustration ;
for he says with emphasis, There is joy in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.3 With this decla
ration and exposition of the Saviour, the whole Scriptures agree.4
5. The intimate nature of all these states, exercises, and acts
of the soul, and of the cause and manner of their occurrence,
may be briefly and distinctly stated. 1. Bepentance unto life is
a special obligation of sinful men, and a special condition of
God's favour under the Covenant of Bedemption, precisely as
perfect obedience was under the Covenant of Works. 2. It is a
saving grace which God bestows on men — wrought in the heart
of the sinner by the Holy Ghost as the agent, and the word of
God as the instrument thereof. 3. It is an act of the New Crea
ture, unto the right performance of which all the outward ordi
nances of the Church of God enable us ; in the due exercise of
which all other Christian graces are nourished ; and in the absence
of which we can have no just hope of eternal life, nor any true
fitness for it.6 Bepentance unto life, therefore, as taught in the
word of God, and as experienced in the hearts of all believers, is
a vital manifestation of the New Creature, being a permanent
habit of the renewed soul, wrought by the Holy Ghost in the
elect of God, for the merits' sake of Jesus Christ, whereby it
i Zech., xii. 10; Acts, ii. 37 ; xi. 18-21. 2 Luke, xv. 11-32. 3 Luke, xv. 10.
i Ezekiel, xvi. 60-63; xviii 30-32; Psalm cxxx. passim ; Joel, ii. 12-14.
5 Acts, ii. 37-43 ; 2 Tim., ii 25, 26 ; Zech., xii. 9-11 ; Matt., xxviii. 18-20 ; 1 Tim.,
iv. 14-16.

CHAP. XIV.] REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE. 289
hates and overcomes sin, in the way of a new obedience unto the
holy law of God : the fruits whereof are, through divine grace,
pardon, all good works, and a portion in eternal life.1
IV. — 1. I abhor myself, said Job, and repent in dust and
ashes.2 And such is the continual necessity of fallen men return
ing to God — the perpetual doctrine of godliness. John the Bap
tist, the messenger sent to prepare the way of the Lord, came
preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Bepent ye :
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.3 And as soon as John's
ministry was accomplished, Jesus began to preach the Gospel of
the kingdom of God, saying, The time is fulfilled, and the king
dom of God is at hand : repent ye, and believe the Gospel.4 And
when he called the twelve Apostles and began to send them forth
by two and two, with power over unclean spirits ; they went out
and preached that men should repent.6 The very object of the
coming of Jesus, as declared by himself, was, to call sinners to
Repentance:6 and after his resurrection — opening the understand
ing of his Apostles that they might understand the Scriptures,
he said unto them, 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.' In the same
sense, precisely, did the Apostles commence their divine mission,
and accomplish it to the end. On the day of Pentecost, when
the promise of the Father had been accomplished, and they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost, and the thousands who were
pricked in their heart under the preaching of Peter demanded
what they were to do : the answer was, Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.6 And a
few days afterwards, to hke multitudes, in the same place, the
first miracle wrought directly by the Apostles was followed by
the same doctrine and the same effects as had attended the great
miracle of tongues wrought on them at Pentecost. Bepent ye,
therefore, said Peter to the multitudes as they ran together, filled
with wonder and amazement, and be converted, that your sins
may be blotted out." So that nothing is more certain than that
i Rom., xii passim; 1 Pet., i. passim; Acts, xi 18; Matt, hi 8.
2 Job, xiii. 6. » Matt., hi 1, 2. * Matt., iv. 17 ; Mark, i 14, 15.
s Mark, vi. 12. " Matt., ix. 13 ; Mark, ii. 17 ; Luke, v. 32.
T Luke, xxiv. 45, 46. s Acts, ii 38. * Acts, iii 19.
VOL. II. 19

290 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
God commandeth all men everywhere to repent: and that except
we do repent we shall all likewise perish.1 Nor are true believ
ers to suppose that they are exempt from this great duty — this
universal necessity. Even if we have well grounded confidence
that the sins of which we should be so much ashamed have been
pardoned by God, still we ought to feel the deepest sorrow that
we have committed them. We ought, indeed, to be the more
earnest in our desires and endeavours after holiness, as we thus
apprehend more clearly God's mercy in our pardon. Moreover,
we know little of ourselves, if we do not know that we have
daily need to repent of our daily offences against the holy law
of God : and that but for the infinite sufficiency of Christ, we
are, at our best estate, unworthy and unfit to appear before God,
and would either sink down into total indifference to divine
things, or fall into despair. Nor without Bepentance is it possi
ble for us to grow in holiness. For in order to obtain the victory
over temptation, we must have some adequate sight and sense
of the danger and hatefuluess of sin : and in order to increase in
conformity to God, we must see the excellence of the grace we
long for, and mourning for the lack of it, must strive for its at
tainment in higher measure.
2. Of all Christian graces, this alone is attended with anguish
of heart, and deep spiritual suffering. Being a gift of the Holy
Spirit, and an exercise of the new life of God's children, we
might suppose that we could have been delivered in some way
from these sharp pangs of the soul, in the very exercise, and
manifestation, and increase of the life which we share with the
Lord from heaven. Doubtless this would have been the case, if
man, instead of God, had provided the way of life. It is the
case in every human way of deliverance from sin : all, without
exception, seeking to allay our sense of guilt : all, without ex
ception, misdirecting that just self-condemnation which refuses
to be allayed. We ought to consider how great is the difference
between the object with which this grace immediately concerns
itself, and the objects with which all other graces are immedi
ately concerned. It is our sins in all their danger and hateful-
ness — ourselves in all our blameworthiness on account of sin-
that the soul contemplates when it repents. In the nature of
the case, its self-condemnation and its anguish must go together.
1 Acts, xviii 30 ; Luke, xiii 3.

CHAP. XIV.] REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE. 291
It is the disease which makes the remedy so sharp. These pangs
of the renewed soul on account of its sins, which Christ has
borne in his own body on the cross, and then pardoned, are in
evitable effects of those sins upon the soul, as it struggles to
extricate itself from their pollution and bondage. Left to them
selves, first stupor, and then horror and despair, are what they
inflict upon the soul. Booted out by divine grace, grief and
shame attend their destruction. The soul is of that nature, and
sin affects it in that manner, that one way or other every soul
which sin enters must suffer : suffer eternally under its dominion,
or suffer — what is not worthy to be compared with the fire that
shall never be quenched, and the worm that shall never die — as
the balm that is in Gilead is applied by the great Physician of
souls J;o heal their fearful maladies. In the nature of the case,
in the nature both of the disease and the remedy, in the nature
both of God and man, it could not be otherwise. It is a neces
sity which belongs to our fearful condition as sinful creatures.
And the perfect recognition of it, and the effectual treatment of
it, by the sacred Scriptures, is one of those innumerable proofs
of their divine wisdom, which come silently into the thoughtful
soul, along with the truth itself.
3. It is, however, very far from true, to suppose there is
nothing to sweeten these deep sorrows, and to assuage these bit
ter pangs. For a sense of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, is
as real a part of true Bepentance, as hatred, and shame, and sor
row for sin are. Let the conviction of sin go to the very depths
of the soul, for the malady goes there — and the remedy must go
too, if the cure is perfect. Still every sigh and every tear wrung
from the penitent child of God, is poured out on the bosom of the
Saviour of sinners. The balm which he pours into the wounded
soul does heal it — does comfort it : it is the pollution which it
expels, that tears it. The deep waters as they roll over us, and
the fiery trials as they almost consume in refining us — do not
weaken, but do confirm the assurance that his everlasting arms
are underneath us and round about us. The cry of the suffering
soul is, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.1 The answer
of t he Lord is— I will not leave thee— I will not forsake thee — I
will not cast thee off.2
4. How much concerning God, concerning man, and concern-
1 Job, xiii. 16. 2 Gen-i xxviii. 15; 1 Sam., xii 22 ; Ps. xciv. 14.

292 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
ing the relations between them, is involved in what must be
accepted as true in order to exhibit clearly this great Scripture
doctrine ! How completely must the whole proportion of divine
faith lie open before us, in order to appreciate fully the revealed
method of our pardon, and the grounds and effects thereof ! And
yet, of itself, how simple and obvious is the truth, that in order to
be pardoned we must forsake our sins and turn to God, and that
if we will not do this we must perish ! And yet, once more,
with what light and triumph do the doctrines of grace, so simple
in themselves, so deep and wide in their connections, come forth
always from the most thorough and severe trial of them ! Thus
what we have sought to explain and establish in this chapter,
involves the absolute nature of God as revealed — the absolute
truth of the revelation of him — the reality and efficacy of the
plan of salvation therein disclosed — and the mode of the divine
existence revealed in accordance with that method of saving sin
ners. On the other hand, it involves the absolute truth of all
that relates to the creation, fall, nature, present condition, and
endless destiny of man : the absolute truth, also, of the spiritual
system disclosed unto salvation, and the divine authority of the
means of its enforcement — sin — holiness — the covenants — grace
— knowledge — ordinances. All is true — all is real : or else all is
worthless, and the whole scriptural conception of Repentance is
inexplicable — absurd — unreal. In all such cases two immoveable
supports remain to the Christian heart. It has, in its own inner
life, that which attests the certainty of these great truths of God.
It has in the universal experience of the human race, and in the
surest conclusions of the human understanding, that which at
tests the futility of all other methods ever suggested to men,
whereby sinners might escape the wrath to come.

CHAPTER XV.
THE NEW OBEDIENCE.
I. 1. What God purposes concerning his Children. — 2. What he requires of them. —
3. What he is preparing them for — and how. — 4. The New Obedience : with the
Relation of Good Works and the Christian Warfare thereto. — II. 1. The New
Obedience, in its Inward Nature : whole Work of the Divine Spirit, as related to
all Gracious Exercises of the Renewed Soul. — 2. Duty toward God — specially
embraced in the Internal Aspect of our New Obedience : Influence of this on our
duty to our Neighbour. — 3. New Obedience as rendered to God, distinguished
from those Exercises of it called Good Works: Summary of ah Duty. — 4. Special
Fruits of our New Obedience — rendered unto God. — 5. Prayer. — 6. Fasting:
Watching. — 7. Thanksgiving. — 8. Vows: Lawful Oaths. — III. 1. The Heart
kept : the Heart hardened. — 2. Natural Aspect of these things : Gracious Aspect
of them. — 3. Human Nature, when under their Complete Influence.
I. — 1. If we desire to have grace and peace multiplied unto
us, we ought to know, assuredly, that this is possible only through
the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Nothing
was ever uttered by the Saviour directly to God who sent him,
with more emphasis and solemnity, than that the eternal life
which he bestowed on as many as the Father had given to him,
was accomplished in this, That they might know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.1 It is only through
the knowledge of him who has called us unto glory and virtue,
that all things which pertain to life and godliness are bestowed
upon us with divine power. In this manner exceeding great and
precious promises are given to us : and through these promises,
having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust,
we are made partakers of the divine nature.2
2. Well does it become us, having such a course as this set
before us, to run in it patiently. Giving all diligence, we ought
to add to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge ; and to
knowledge temperance ; and to temperance patience ; and to
patience godliness ; and to godliness brotherly kindness ; and to
brotherly kindness charity. For it is only as these things are in
1 John, xvii 3. a 2 Peter, i 2-4.

294 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
us and abound, that we are neither barren nor unfruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nay, it is by giving dili
gence to make our calling and election sure, that we are kept
from falling ; and that an entrance shall be administered unto us
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. On the other hand, when we lack these things we
are blind, and cannot see afar off, and have forgotten that we
were purged from our old sins.1
3. That we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a peculiar people ; is exactly to the intent that we should
show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness
into his marvellous light.2 The saving grace of God has taught
us nothing more distinctly, than that they who look for that
blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Saviour Jesus Christ ; must not only deny ungodliness and
worldly lusts, and live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this
present world ; but must realize that the Saviour gave himself
for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify
unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These
are the very things which the ambassadors of Christ have in
charge to speak, and exhort, and rebuke, with all authority.6 The
great thing for us to do, is to address ourselves earnestly to this
vast concern of working out our salvation : and considering the
awful majesty of God, to do it trembling, with his awe and his
dread upon us : and considering the immensity of the work and
its issues, to do it with all anxiety and pungent fear. Through
it all we have this unspeakable comfort and encouragement, that
it is God himself who works in us both to will and to do — both
the purpose and the ability ; and that he does this of his good
pleasure. Infinite mercy, in infinite complacency, is working out
its fruits in us.*
4. It is obvious, therefore, alike from what God purposes con
cerning us, and what he requires of us, and what he is preparing
us for ; that a New Obedience, widely different from any thing
that could be rendered to him by any creature, except a penitent
and believing sinner ; is the very substance of that Repentance
by which we turn from sin unto God, and of that Faith by which
the heart is purified and the world overcome, and is the very ex
pression of that Sanctification through which we are perfected in
1 2 Pet., i 5-11. 2 1 Pet., ii 9. 3 Titus, h. 11-15. 4 Phil, ii. 12, 13.

CHAP. XV.] NEW OBEDIENCE. 295
holiness. In like manner, Good Works are the necessary result
of this New Obedience — the very manifestation of it. And to
complete the case, the Christian Warfare is that ceaseless conflict
with all the enemies of God and of our souls, through which
every follower of Christ must exhibit his New Obedience, and
make his Good Works manifest. Lovest thou me ? is the con
stant and searching question of our divine Lord. Follow me, is
his perpetual command.1
II. — 1. The Scriptures plainly teach that they who are born
of the Spirit, are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus,
unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we
should walk in them.2 To explain and to enforce this divine
workmanship in the human soul, is one of the chief ends of the
divine word. Renovated in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit,
after the image of God, we become new creatures : and while
innumerable blessings and benefits are thus conferred upon us,
new duties also arise, and a new ability to perform all duty is
given to us by God. Every exercise of every Christian grace is
a putting forth of this new ability — a manifestation of our New
Obedience : no matter whether that exercise be purely internal,
as, for example, simple Faith in the Lord Jesus, or whether it is
connected with the most striking external circumstances, or lies
in the performance of some great outward act. The great end
of our existence is to glorify and to enjoy God : to do this, his
written word is our infallible rule : and the chief things taught
us therein are, what we ought to believe concerning God, and
what duty God requires of us. When God works in us, there
fore, both to will and to do, he enables us unto all that he re
quires of us : for these two things taken fully, embrace all the
power, all the capacity of our nature. To grow in grace and in
the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord, is to grow up unto the
fruition of eternal life ; for eternal life is, to know God, and
Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. And this is not only required
of us by God as the continual exercise of our New Obedience,
but is of the very nature of the New Creature, and of its New
Obedience. The root of the whole matter lies here; for with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness — and out of it are the
issues of life. It would, therefore, be altogether appropriate in
this place to take up, in succession, all the exercises of the re-
1 John, xxi 15, 16, 17 ; Matt. xvi. 24 ; xix. 21. * Eph., ii 10.

296 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK in.
newed soul, and the work of the Spirit on which they are founded,
in order to explain, in that way, the inward nature of our New
Obedience. This, however, in all its fulness, is the work of the
ministers of the Gospel : nor is it necessary to go over that as
pect of the subject here, in a general manner, after devoting the
whole of the preceding Book to the careful discussion of those
great benefits of the Covenant of Bedemption, by the applica
tion of which to us we are borne forward to the consummation
of grace and the commencement of glory.
2. It is the duty which we owe to God, which is especially
embraced in that aspect of our New Obedience, which is inter
nal. But the duty which we owe to God is transcendently
great, when compared with any other obligation binding on us ;
so much so that all other duties which bind us have their origin
in this, and take their rise from truths and relations, the whole
of which involve God and our duty to him. Independently of
the true and the good, there is no such idea as duty in the human
soul. But God is the very sum and source of all truth and all
goodness. Our denial of the being and perfections of God, does
not obliterate God or change his attributes ; if it could, the
sense of duty would cease the moment we embraced atheism.
As our denial of God, of truth, and of goodness, affects only
ourselves, it does not extinguish, but only pollutes and degrades
our nature. It is manifest, therefore, why our offences against
each other are accounted by a righteous God offences against
himself; and why our charities to each other are reckoned by a
gracious God as done to him. Thus David, bewailing his terrible
sin in the matter of Uriah, said to God, Against thee, thee only
have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.1 And in the
great day, the cruel omission of our duties to each other, will be
charged and punished as offences against the blessed Saviour ;
while not even a cup of cold water, given to his disciples in his
name, will be forgotten by him then.2 And this is the very rule
of. eternal judgment : and the sentence following that rule will
be, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom ; depart
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire !
3. There is, however, a very plain sense in which the exercise
of our New Obedience directly to God, is distinguishable from
those exercises of it which we call Good Works. There is a
1 Psalm li 4. ' Matt , xxv. 31-46.

CHAP. XV.] NEW OBEDIENCE. 297
corresponding distinction in our duties, of which we say some are
more particularly due to God, some to our neighbour, and some
to ourself. And thus on account of the immediate connection be
tween the New Obedience and Good Works, we say some of both
are performed immediately to God, and some immediately to our
neighbour. In this sense Christ contemplates and expounds the
Moral Law in his Sermon on the Mount.1 The First Table, con
taining the first four commandments, which sum up our duty to
God,2 the Lord Jesus reduced to the single statement, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind ; and called it the first and great com
mandment.3 The Second Table, which contains the last six
commandments, summing up our duty to man,4 Christ reduced
to the single statement, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy
self, which he called the second great commandment.6 And he
immediately added, On these two commandments hang all the
Law and the Prophets.' And we may add, the whole Gospel also,
no part of which was written when Christ made these state
ments. For the Holy Ghost has reduced this sum of the Ten
Commandments, which are the sum of the Moral Law, to its
sum, which is declared to be — Love to God and to our neighbour.6
It is impossible to conceive of any thing more difficult, or more
complete, than these successive triumphs of divine wisdom, re
ducing the whole duty of man to ten propositions, and those ten
to two, and those two to a single word — Love — as the fulfilling of
the whole law of God !7 During thirty-three centuries, since the
first of those summaries was made, no human heart has probably
felt that any one of the three was in any respect imperfect ;
while no human intellect, before or since, has been able to reduce
the vast and intractable subject to any summary at all, that any
other human intellect fully approved !
4. Amongst the fruits of our New Obedience, in which the
graces of the Spirit whereunto we are called enable us to abound
in the way of Good Works, considered whether toward God or
men ; some are so conspicuous that they demand a special re
cognition. Such, with reference to God, are Prayer, Fasting,
Thanksgiving, and Vows, and with reference to man, Alms ; of
i Matt., v., vi, vii » Deut., iv. 13 ; x. 1-4. 3 Matt., xxii. 37, 38.
* Exod., xx. s Matt., xxii. 38.
s Luke, x. 27, 28 ; 1 John, v. 3 ; 1 Tim., i 5. ' Rom., xiii 10.

298 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
which all but the last will be briefly considered here — and the
last afterwards, as falling more particularly under the strict idea
of Good Works. It is because Christ dwells in us that our spirit
lives,1 and that we are enabled to present our bodies a living sac
rifice to God, and that he accepts the sacrifice.2 This is true in
every thing that concerns our New Obedience — -and every Good
Work must be related to the glory of God.6 We are not, there
fore, to imagine that these fruits of our New Obedience which
are specially considered, differ in their essential cause and end,
from every other fruit thereof. I will put my Spirit within you,
saith God, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall
keep my judgments and do them.4
5. Of all the acts of the New Creature which can be consid
ered as immediate exercises of his New Obedience, Prayer to God
is the most constant : just as of all Good Works which flow from
the exercise of that New Obedience— it is the most indispensa
ble. It is well defined to be the offering up of our desires unto
God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, by
the help of the Spirit, with confession of our sins, and thankful
acknowledgment of his mercies.6 It is religious worship in a
sense so complete, that in its absence such worship cannot strictly
be said to exist. What is true, therefore, of every part of reli
gious worship, is most emphatically true of this chief part of it—
namely, that it is to be rendered to no being except God the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The foundation of all acceptable
worship of God, lies in the absolute rejection of every thing as
God, but the living and true God : and immediately following is
the absolute rejection of all manner of worship of the true God,
except in spirit and in truth.6 As there is but one God, so there
is but one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus :' and except by him, there is no access to God, for he is
the way, the truth, and the life :8 nor is there under heaven,
among men, any name but his, whereby we must be saved.9 As
it is to God only, through Christ only, so it is by the help of the
divine Spirit only, that acceptable prayer can be made to God.
For we know not what we should pray for as we ought : it is the
Spirit which helpeth our infirmities.10 In every thing, by prayer
i Rom., viii. 10. 2 Rom., xii. 1. 3 1 Cor., x. 30. < Ezekiel, xxxvi. 27.
6 John, xvi. 23, 24 ; Rom., viii. 26 ; Ps. xxxii. 5, 6 ; Phil, iv. 6.
« Ex., xx. ; John, iv. 24. t 1 Tim., ii 5. 6 John, xiv. 6.
9 Acts, iv. 12. " Rom, viii. 26.

CHAP. XV.] NEW OBEDIENCE. 299
and supplication, with thanksgiving, our requests ought to be made
known unto God.1 God is the hearer and the answerer of prayer:3
and it is not only the duty, but the high privilege of all men,
everywhere, to offer up true worship to the Father, who seeketh
such worship of men.3 For he accepts the confessions of broken
and contrite hearts : and he receives the thanksgivings of grate
ful hearts for mercies bestowed : and answers the petitions of
longing hearts, for needed things. But Confession — Thanksgiv
ing — and Petition — with Praise, are the chief acts of prayer. The
effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.4 Even
such as have neither part nor lot in the Son of God, and whose
heart is not right in the sight of God, and who are in the gall of
bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity ; are explicitly directed to
repent of their wickedness, and pray God if perhaps they may be
forgiven.5 In the space of two successive verses, the blessed Lord
reiterated six times, that God will be found of them that seek
him ; and that he will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask
him.6 If it were possible to add any thing to the force of such
statements by the Bedeemer ; that would be found in the fact
that they were made while he was expressly teaching the nature
and efficacy of prayer ; in the same discourse in which he de
livered that model and summary of prayer for all men, and for
all time, which bears to the life of the human soul, the same
relation which his summary of the law of God bears to the
morality of human actions. If our life before God was regula
ted by perfect love to him and to our neighbour : and our life
with God was responsive to the Lord's Prayer : what higher bles
sedness could a pure heart conceive of on earth — what greater
fitness for heaven ?
6. Connected immediately with Prayer, and having direct
reference to immediate duty and to ourselves, is Fasting ; and
with this, Watching may be associated as standing in a similar
relation to prayer, and as nearly related to Fasting. While of
itself mere fasting has no value, and may be associated with ha
bitual hypocrisy, as it was by the Pharisees — and with fatal heresy
and abounding wickedness, as it is in the Papal superstition :
nevertheless, religious abstinence from food and drink, and other
usual or necessary comforts, wholly for a short time, or partially
1 Phil, iv. 6. a Ps. lxv. 2; Heb., iv. 14-16. 3 John, iv. 23.
* James, v, 16 6 Acts, viii 21-23. s Matt., vii. 7, 8 ; Luke, xi. 13

300 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
for a longer time, is clearly warranted, if not indeed commanded,
both in the Old Testament and the New.1 Its use is to aid us in
the duty of repentance and in cultivating an humble and prayer
ful spirit ; afflicting our souls in the due consideration of our
sins, or of chastisement inflicted on us on account of them ; and
crying unto God, with faith in his promises to such as are peni
tent, for deliverance from judgments hanging over us, or already
come upon us,. or for the obtaining of special benefits, mercies, or
favours. The Lord Jesus, who allowed his disciples to lack
nothing while he was with them ; plainly notified them that
when he was taken from them the time to fast would come.2 It
is, therefore — as the conduct of Christ and the whole treatment
of the subject throughout the Scriptures show — a permanent ob
ligation of that kind whose performance is occasional. And being
in its nature wholly religious, it belongs to the church of God
only, by its divine authority to order its observance when occasion
demands ; and to each individual to practise it in addition, ac
cording to his own spiritual necessities ; and to the civil power,
as itself an ordinance of God, to recommend it on occasions of
public and general necessity. The Lord Jesus preceded his pub-
he ministry with a miraculous fast of forty days and forty nights'
continuance : which was immediately followed by the temptation
of the Devil, and the subsequent ministry of the angels unto
him.3 It is striking to observe how many of the most remarkable
incidents recorded in the Scriptures were connected with solemn
religious fasting. Such was the case in the great deliverance of
Israel by the hands of Samuel,4 as well as that through the instru
mentality of Esther,5 and the leading back of the captivity by
Nehemiah,6 and the call of the Gentiles into the Gospel Church
in the person of Cornelius.' I have already stated that religious
Watching, is closely connected in the Scriptures both with Spe
cial Prayer, and with Beligious Fasting. It is the voluntary
and religious abstinence from sleep, in order to the higher ad
vancement of our spiritual meditations, and the more perfect and
earnest use of special prayer. The Passover was celebrated at
night ; a feast with bitter herbs, without leven, and after pro-
' Joel i 13, 14; ii 12-14; Levit., xxiii 27; Matt., vi 16-18; Acts, xiv. 23; xiii
3 ; 1 Cor., vii 5. ' Matt., ix. 14, 15 ; Luke, v. 35 ; Matt, vi. 16-18.
3 Matt., iv. 1-11. 4 1 Sam., vii 6. 5 Esther, iv. 16.
' Nehem., i 4. * Acts, x. 10-30.

CHAP. XV.] NEW OBEDIENCE. 301
tracted fastings :] and the Sacrament of the body and blood of
Christ was instituted at night, and eaten as the Lord's Supper —
which name it still bears.2 And during the same night, after
the Lord had gone out with his Apostles to the Garden of Geth-
semane where he endured his supernatural agony: he desired
them — especially Peter and the two sons of Zebedee — to watch
with him ; and during his conflict with the powers of darkness
he came three times to them.3 Nothing is more affecting than
his two brief chidings of them : What, could you not watch with
me one hour ? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temp
tation. And at last : Sleep on now, and take your rest : behold
the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the
hands of sinners.4 Having, therefore, the request, the command,
and the practice of our divine Master :5 his people have full war
rant for the special use of religious abstinence from sleep, as well
as religious humiliation in the whole matter expressed by the
word Fasting. Have they not, also, abundant evidence around
them, and in them, of what they may expect when they live far
below their privileges, and in the habitual neglect of any of the
divinely authorized means, whether of nourishing, or of mani
festing, their New Obedience ?
7. In speaking of Prayer, I have said that Confession, Suppli
cation, and Thanksgiving, with Praise, were its chief parts ; and
in speaking of Fasting with Watching, I have pointed out how
Confession and Supplication were intimately related to them.
Thanksgiving remains to be briefly considered, in connection
with the special Praise of God ; and both of them, in their
double aspect, as being manifestations of pur New Obedience,
and that specially in relation to the worship of God, and to
Prayer as the most constant act thereof. In general, it is our
duty to bless and praise the Lord for all he is, and for all he
does : to magnify his great name, and thankfully acknowledge
his being, his dominion, his grace, his love, his mercy, nay, even
his fatherly chastisements. And so we are expressly commanded,
In every thing give thanks : for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you.6 It was the habit of Christ to render
thanks publicly and emphatically to the Lord of heaven and
: Exod., xii. passim. 2 Matt., xxvi 17-35. 3 Matt., xxvl 36-46.
4 Matt., xxvi. 40, 41, 45. 6 Matt., xiv. 23, 25 ; Mark, vi. 46-48.
6 1 Thess., v. 18.

302 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
earth ; and to state to the Father the things for which he thus
rejoiced in him.1 And many examples are recorded for our in
struction, touching the special thanksgiving of the saints of God,
whether for the abundance and faithfulness of his grace and
mercy commonly bestowed on them, or for special tokens of his
favour and love vouchsafed unto them. Thus David blessed and
worshipped God before all the congregation, for having stirred
up the hearts of the people to a wonderful eagerness and lib
erality towards building the house of the Lord.2 Amongst all
the inspired writings, there is scarce any thing more glorious than
the song which Moses and the children of Israel sang unto the
Lord, upon the deliverance of the people of God, and the de
struction of Pharaoh and his host in the Bed Sea.3 They who
get the victory over the Beast will sing the song of Moses and
of the Lamb, even a song of praise to the Lord God Almighty —
the King of Saints — for his great and marvellous works, and for
his just and true ways.4 In effect, our confessions spring from a
sense of God's grace to the guilty — our petitions from a sense of
his mercy to the miserable — and our thankfulness from a sense
of his abounding goodness and faithfulness to us, notwithstand
ing our sin and misery. Thank-offerings belonged to the Jewish
dispensation as really as sin-offerings — and the cultivation and
expression of a sense of love and gratitude to God for his special
mercies, is amongst the most distinct manifestations of our New
Obedience. And so, besides the perpetual cultivation of a thank
ful and loving spirit, and the perpetual exhibition of our thank
fulness to God in all our ways, and especially in all his stated
worship : we are obliged, on special occasions, to be designated
by the Church of God, or recommended by the civil magistrate,
when the duty is general — and to be undertaken by ourselves
when it is private — to set apart particular seasons for special
Thanksgiving to God, as the author and giver of all good.
Thanksgiving is the complement of Fasting. The two united
cover the immense department of true Beligion, appertaining to
that portion of our New Obedience to which they relate.
8. It remains to explain briefly the relation of Vows to our
New Obedience. They are properly defined to be religious
promises made to God, that, for the promotion of his glory and
' Luke, x. 21; Matt, x. 25. 2 1 Chron., xxix. 1-19.
' Exod., xv. 1-19. 4 Rev., xv. 2, 3.

CHAP. XV.] NEW OBEDIENCE. 303
our salvation, we will do, or forbear to do, that which being
neither evil, nor impossible, nor rash, may be acceptable to him.
Being a direct and voluntary act of the New Creature in the way
of the worship of God, it is manifest that any trifling with him,
much less any thing insulting to him in such a matter, is only
proof of extreme folly and wickedness. There is a very signal
example of a rash vow, and of its terrible consequences, in the
case of Jephtha, recorded for everlasting instruction.1 And one
not less striking, of the effects of sinful remissness in performing
a lawful one. For Jacob had made a solemn vow at Bethel, as
he fled from his brother Esau into Padan Aram : and years
afterwards, when God had brought him back full of blessings,
he forgot his vow : but God did not. In the midst of his sor
rows, he heard the voice of God, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell
there : and he understood at once.2 In saying that religious vows
are voluntary, I mean that they are not of stated obligation on any
one ; but that it lies in the heart of each particular child of God
to determine for himself in what circumstances, and by what
particular means, he will thus magnify the Lord. They seem,
undoubtedly, to be of permanent use to men, and to have a per
manent divine authority. David couples them immediately with
Thanksgiving and Prayer : Offer unto God thanksgiving : and
pay thy vows unto the Most High : and call upon me in the day
of trouble : and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.3
In the New Testament, two instances are recorded of the exist
ence of Vows — once in immediate connection with the Apostle
Paul,4 and once involving with him, the Apostle James and all
the elders at Jerusalem, in the recognition thereof as usual and
proper.5 It is remarkable, however, that by the concession of
Paul in this latter case he ultimately lost his life : a concession
not approved of God, apparently, not because of the nature of
Beligious Vows, but because under the peculiar circumstances, it
was a concession designed to put undue honour, both upon a false
prejudice, and upon the legal dispensation.6 We are not to im
agine that our Vows, or their performance, have any such merit
that they can be the proper ground of any mercy of God to us.
Their use is to confirm and strengthen our own faith under heavy
» Judges, xi. passim. ! Gea, xxviii. 19-22; xxxiv. passim ; xxxv. 1-15.
3 Psalm 1. 14, 15. i Acts, xviii. 18.
6 Acts, xxi. 19-26. 6 Acts, xxi 11-40.

304 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
trials ; and to manifest our thankfulness under special mercies.
They have, therefore, a very close relation to Fasting and adver
sity on one side, and to Thanksgiving and prosperity on the other
— and to special Prayer always : and thus, everyhow, to glorify
God and promote our salvation. I ought to add a few words
concerning Lawful Oaths, which so far have the nature of Vows
that they are to be made only to the Living God, and are a direct
appeal to him to note our sincerity and to judge us accordingly.
I have sworn, says the Psalmist, and I will perform it, that I will
keep thy righteous judgments :: connecting the Oaths and the
Vows with each other. An Oath, therefore, in its nature, apper
tains to the worship of God.2 The violation of it is contrary alike
to the Moral Law and to all idea of holiness ; and is not only
most sinful and degrading in us, but most insulting to the ma
jesty of God.3 In like manner, all trifling and irreverent and
profane use of oaths, is expressly forbidden by God, and is wholly
inconsistent with that state of heart out of which our New Obe
dience springs.4 Truth, which is justice in our words : justice,
which is truth in our conduct : this is the fundamental concep
tion of natural rectitude. Evangelical holiness — true holiness —
is the product of divine truth and divine righteousness. Fidelity
to Oaths, therefore, is one of the clearest forms of duty, result
ing both from nature and from grace : fundamentally obligatory
by our relation to God, both as our Creator and as our Saviour.
III. — -1. Keep thy heart, says Solomon, with all diligence ; for
out of it are the issues of life.5 And the corresponding caution
of David, so urgently pressed on us by Paul, is not less express :
To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart.6 So I
sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest : so we see
that they could not enter in because of unbelief: there remain-
eth therefore a rest for the people of God.7 These are three
forms in which Paul deduces from the warning of David, consid
ered in three different lights, the great conclusions to which that
warning points. There are issues of life from the heart of man,
and there is a way whereby they may be secured ; there is, also,
a way to harden the heart of man, and be deaf to the voice of
God himself. If we may trust our souls to the guidance of in-
1 Psalm cxix. 106. 2 Deut, x. 20. 3 Exod., xx. 7.
« James, v. 12. 6 Prov., iv. 23.
6 Psalm xcv. 7, 8 ; Heb., hi. 7, 15 ; iv. 7. i Hob., iii 11, 19 ; iv. 9.

CHAP. XV.] NEW OBEDIENCE. 305
finite wisdom and goodness, the things which are herein laid open
to us are the very things which, if we give diligent heed, we will
find causing the waters of eternal life to flow into our hearts,
and from them to flow over upon our whole way of life : the very
things which, if we neglect, we will find our hearts become bard
and barren, like Gilboa, where the beauty of Israel was slain —
where the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away — where no
dew fell, neither was any rain there !
2. It is these things which, of themselves or in their indisso
luble connection with spiritual religion, are so offensive to the
carnal heart. The end they look to — unlimited obedience to God,
and that of a kind new and strange to our depraved nature — is
thoroughly repugnant to us : and all the means proposed — means
involving humiliating supplications and confessions, painful self-
denials and inward conflicts — are all inconsistent with our natural
impulses. More than that, the light in which God represents
himself to us in the whole matter of salvation responsive to our
New Obedience, is one in which we naturally see no beauty that
we should desire him. And so far is the carnal mind from being
subject to the law of God, that it neither is, nor can be ; and that
law is foolishness unto it. When we turn to the penitent and
believing follower of Christ, all this is changed, utterly changed !
This spiritual insight into God, this humble seeking unto God,
this abhorring of all that separates him from God, this joyful
obedience unto God, this strange manner of the service and frui
tion of God, this peculiar way of growing into higher conformity
to God as he grows into surer knowledge of him, and love of his
service : all — all is accepted by him — not only as true and right
altogether, but as pregnant with a superhuman excellence and
efficacy. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new crea
ture : old things are passed away, behold all things are become
new.1 3. All that is capable of being purified, and exalted, and en
nobled in man, springs up and is perfected under the influence
of this immediate intercourse with our Creator and Redeemer.
The highest conceptions of which the spirit of man is capable, are
those which he habitually cherishes. The noblest thoughts dwell
habitually in his understanding : those emotions which are at
once the most just, the most tender, and the most enduring, oc-
1 2 Cor., v. 17.

306 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III
cupy his heart : and the motives which actuate his conduct, and
the ends which he proposes to himself, are the purest and the
highest which his nature can entertain. He walks with God ;
and his whole being receives the influence of that infinite pres
ence. The Saviour of the world is his brother and his familiar
friend ; and men take knowledge of him that he has been with
Jesus. I do not say that all manifest alike, the divine effects of
this true conformity to God. All who profess the name of Christ
do not walk diligently — if at all — in the ways of this New Obe
dience. I do not say that any come fully up to the perfect stature
of men, in Christ Jesus. But I do say, that the nearer we live
to God the more are we like God ; and that the more perfect our
obedience is to Jesus Christ, the more complete is the exhibition
in us of the very highest form of human excellence, and the pos
session by us of the very purest form of human blessedness. No
folly of mankind was ever greater, than their light esteem of that
type of human perfection, which reflects the image of the Son of
God. No shame of the followers of the Son of God was ever
more cruel, than that their conduct should justify this reproach
of men, to them and to their divine Master I

CHAPTER XVI.
GOOD WORKS.
I. 1. Good Works Denned and Classified. — 2. Considered with Reference to our Nat
ural Man. — 3. The Universal Brotherhood of Man : the Universal Fellowship of
the Saints. — 4. Love — Charity. — 5. The greatest of all Christian Graces. — 6. Re
lation of all Christian Offices thereto. — 7. Almsgiving. — II. 1. Manifold Probation
of Man : Relation of Good Works thereto. — 2. Their influence upon the Happi
ness and Holiness of him who performs them. — 3. Considered as a Means of Use
fulness. — 4. Considered with Reference to the General Judgment. — 5. Our Works,
the Measure of final Reward and Punishment. — 6. The idea of Reward, wholly
appurtenant to Grace. — 7. Other grounds for the necessity of Good Works : to
adorn the Doctrine — and glorify the Name of God. — in. 1. The Will of God the
sole Rule of all Good Works: Consequences of this Great Truth. — 2. Great Topics
associated with this, and determined by it : — (a) Christian Liberty, and Liberty
of Conscience : — (6) Implicit Faith : Tender Consciences : — (c) Power of the Civil
Magistrate, in things sacred : — (d) Spiritual authority of Synods and Councils. —
3. Cause, absolute and instrumental : — End, chief and subordinate : — Intimate Na
ture of Good Works ; — (a) Motive : — (6) Rule : — (c) Grace : — (d) End — Means —
Manner :-^-(e) A Heart right in the sight of God.
I. — 1. Good Works, as I have shown in the previous chap
ter, flow immediately from our New Obedience, and are always
manifestations of it. Those manifestations of that New Obe
dience which have an immediate relation to God, and which im
mediately concern the maintenance of its power in our own
hearts ; have been considered in that chapter. Those manifes
tations of our New Obedience which more immediately relate to
our neighbour, and whose exercise presumes that its power is
maintained in our hearts ; are more especially called Good Works,
and will be discussed now. Considered with reference to the
Moral Law, they fall particularly under the Second Table,
containing the last six commandments. In this sense Good
Works are all those duties which we owe to all men, according
to their necessities, and to our obligations as followers of Jesus
Christ. These may be summarily included under two general
heads : First, such as are due to the souls of men, because their
performance by us may promote the comfort, edification, and

308 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK HI.
salvation thereof: Secondly, such as are due to the bodies of
men, because their performance by us may promote their com
fort, competence and health.
2. Nor ought it to be thought that these statements are, on
the one side, too strict in defining all Good Works to be fruits of
our New Obedience ; or too broad, on the other side, in binding
us without reserve, to every Good Work. For it is by purging
ourselves and becoming vessels unto honour, sanctified, and meet
for the Master's use, that we are prepared unto every Good
Work ;' and because we are the workmanship of God created in
Christ Jesus, that we have inclination and ability unto Good
Works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them.2 As to our natural ability to perform Good Works, taking
the ordinary sense of the Scriptures, that we are by nature the
children of wrath,3 and that the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God ;4 assuredly, we are so far from having
any such ability, that our carnal mind is enmity to God, not sub
ject to his law, nor capable of being so." If by natural ability we
mean the created faculties of the soul and the body, and the de
faced image of God still in us, whereby, in the absence of the
knowledge of God, we are a law unto ourselves ;" then, assuredly,
this is the nature, which, by being renewed by the Holy Ghost,
becomes competent, being moved by the grace of God to all
Good Works.7 Whatever may be the excellence of virtue con
sidered in itself, and considered as the opposite of vice ; it is a
mere delusion — wholly subversive of Christianity — to represent
any act, or exercise, or habit of the unregenerate soul as posi
tively good in the sight of God. Nay, more, the Good Works
even of the regenerate soul, performed under the. promptings of
divine grace, and regulated by the divine word, are so far from
meriting any thing for us, when considered merely of themselves,
that it is in Christ alone they can be accepted of God, as well as
performed by us.8
3. Amongst the duties which we owe to men, there is one so
emphatically urged throughout the Scriptures, and so distinctly
made prominent in the teachings of Christ, as to deserve a spe
cial notice in every discussion of the general subject of Good
1 2 Tim., h. 21. 2 Eph., ii. 10. a Eph., ii. 3.
4 1 Cor., ii. 14. 5 Rom., viii. 7. 2 Rom., ii. 14, 15 ; John, xv. 5, 6.
7 Matt., xvi. 17 ; 1 Thess., v. 23. 3 j^ ixiT>) 6 . Eph>i ;_ 6

CHAP. XVI.] GOOD WORKS. 309
Works. Indeed in its widest sense it embraces, in some sort,
under the name of Charity the very sum and essence of our New
Obedience, as manifested towards each other : while in its nar
rowest sense, as Alms, it is a recognition at once of the common
brotherhood of mankind, the common salvation through Christ,
and the common Fatherhood of God : and in all its manifesta
tions, it is the expression of that communion with each other in
Love, which results from our mutual communion with Christ
through Faith. Behold, said the angel of the Lord to the shep
herds of Bethlehem, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city
of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And then a mul
titude of the heavenly host burst forth in praise : Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.1 And
this is the sum of the mission of the Saviour of the world — su
preme glory to God — boundless peace between God and men and
between man and man — supreme complacency from God to men
and from man to his brother man. The sublime principle which
underlies the performance of our duties to each other, as a, remedy
against the sin and suffering and sorrow of this life ; is the divine
restoration in Christ and the powerful working through the Spirit,
of the brotherhood of man. A glorious truth — defaced in man's
soul by the fall — unspeakably weakened and perverted by the
degradation into which actual sins sink the soul — never utterly
lost as an original element of our being, and completely restored
as a living power, in the life and doctrine of Christ, and made
effectual in us by the work of the divine Spirit.
4. The same word* which is used to express the love of God
for us, and our love for him, is used to express both the state of
our soul and our outward act, both in our endeavours to glorify
God, and in our endeavours to do good, both to the souls and
the bodies of our fellow-men. Our English words love and char
ity, are both used to translate the one Greek word. It is this
wide meaning of the Greek term, and the very near resemblance
between the meaning of the two English words in their evangeli
cal use ; which throws some occasional obscurity over them, with
regard to matters so distinct as God's feeling toward us, our feel
ings toward him, and our feelings toward our fellow-creatures.
Love to us, by God, is the very foundation of his eternal purpose
1 Luke, ii 8-14. * kyann.

310 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
to save us, for the glory of his own great name : and that same
love to us, is the moving principle throughout the whole process
of our salvation : and its fruition by us is the measure in which
grace is accomplished in us, and glory is bestowed upon us. Our
love to God— taking our whole being together — is the one deci
sive mark — the one unmistakable distinction between his servants
and his enemies. It is this deep, practical fact — them who love
God — upon which the whole theory and practice of salvation is
divinely explained to men. For it is for them that all things
work together for good — it is they who are eternally known of
God — they who were eternally predestinated to be conformed to
the image of the Son of God— they who are in time called of God
and justified— they who are glorified for evermore : and they are
they whom nothing shall ever be able to separate from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.1 In like manner, the
love of man, naturally, for his fellow-men ; parent, child, hus
band, wife, friend, brother, kinsman, neighbour, countryman,
fellow-creature ; this is the very testimony of our nature to our
unity as a race — and to our common Father, Benefactor, Creator.
And Christian love in the renewed soul, is precisely that wherein
they who are united to Jesus Christ by Faith, and so have com
munion with him ; have also communion with all others thus
united to him. Our English word charity expresses a peculiar
type of Christian grace ; that, namely, in the exercise of which
our love for God and man, prompts us to promote the glory of
God, by promoting the good, both temporal and spiritual, of our
fellow-creatures. 5. It is not surprising, therefore, that our divine Master, in
his office of Teacher of men, and his inspired Apostles following
him, should have explained and enforced this greatest of all
graces, with so much fulness. In his Sermon on the Mount, which
embraced every thing, every leading aspect of this grace is pre
sented.2 The same great Apostle who has written a treatise on
Faith, already considered, has also written one on Charity.6 Hav
ing taught us immediately before it,4 the excellence of all the
special gifts of the Spirit, and yet that all the graces of the Spirit
are more excellent even than miraculous gifts : and teaching us
immediately after it, that the grace whereby we may be of benefit,
1 Rom., viii. 28-39. 2 Matt., v. 21-26, 27-32, 38-42, 43-48 ; vi. 1-4.
3 1 Cor., xii. passim. 4 1 Cor., xiii

CHAP, XVI.] GOOD WORKS. 311
to others in the knowledge of the Lord, is that which charity
leads us to desire most of all -,1 between these two conceptions he
enforces, in detail, the nature and the preeminence of this crown
ing grace. The conclusion he reaches is thus stated : And now
abideth faith, hope, charity, these three : but the greatest of
these is charity.2 Greater than faith, by which the just live, and
without which it is impossible to please God : greater than hope
— by which we are saved : greatest of all is charity — charity that
never faileth ! The life of God in the soul of man, nourished by
that faith which is the evidence of things not seen — the substance
of things hoped for — rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God —
is habitually manifested in, this life, by that love of God which
prompts us to seek his glory and the good of our fellow-men.
Still more exclusively in the life to come, is this abounding love
the very substance of our eternal life. For the time will come
when all that is now realized to us only through faith, will be
immediately realized in the presence of God ; and when every
pure and earnest hope will be fulfilled in the endless fruition of
God. But to all eternity — our love for God and for each other — -
and our rejoicing, through this love, in the glory of God and the
blessedness of each other — can know no change, unless to be eter
nally increased.
6. It is this exalted and imperishable Christian love, which
in a peculiar form of it receives the name of charity — that re
ceives in a lower form of it the name of Almsgiving. Between
these two forms of it, or blending with one or other of these,
there is nothing in the way of personal offort, or sacrifice, for the
glory of God or the good of our fellow-beings, that could be called
a Good Work, that does not find its place. The exposition and en-
forcemen t of this immense and blessed department of the Christian
Offices, belong especially tothe ministry of the word : to teach all
nations to observe whatever Jesus has commanded — being the very
duty he has laid upon them.3 The practice of these Christian Of
fices, in all simplicity, all strictness, all fulness, is, so far as this
life is concerned, the very thing for which we are fitted by that
workmanship of God, wherein we are created in Christ Jesus unto
Good Works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them." And the blessed hope which we cherish of the
glorious appearing of the great God and! our Saviour Jesus Christ,
1 1 Cor., xiv. a 1 Cor., xiii 13. 3 Matt., xxviii 20. " Eph,, ii 10.

312 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
can never be separated from the conviction that he gave himself
for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify
unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of Good Works.1 It will
not do for us to say — Thou hast faith, and I have works ; the
Gospel of God admits of no such dislocation ; for, on the one
hand, faith without works is dead ; and on the other, by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.2 That which espe
cially wearies God with the wickedness of those who profess to
obey him, is that they should call such as do evil, good in the
sight of the Lord — and say that he delighteth in them.3 That
which peculiarly provokes him with all false teachers, he ex
presses by saying, Because ye have made the heart of the right
eous sad, whom I have not made sad, and strengthened the hands
of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by
promising him life.4 Many, said the blessed Saviour, will say
unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name
have done many wonderful works ? And then will I profess
unto them — I never knew you : depart from me, ye that work
iniquity.5 7. I have already said that every leading aspect of this great
grace was presented in the wonderful Sermon on the Mount.
Blessed are the merciful, said Christ ; for they shall obtain
mercy : and teaching us how to perform the duty, every where
commanded in the Scriptures, he bids us perform our alms in
secret ; and our Father which seeth in secret shall reward us
openly.6 The very word we translate Alms, means mercy :* and
the act intended — that act of Christian love wherein they who
have this world's goods bestow thereof on those who are in want
— is constantly recognized as a Good Work. It is both a duty
and a grace. God loveth a cheerful giver : and his children with
a free purpose of heart — not grudgingly, or of necessity, but
abounding in every Good Work, perform this act of their New
Obedience through the grace of God.7 Considered as a duty,
none is more strictly commanded. From of old God has said,
The poor shall never cease out of the land : therefore I command
thee, saying, thou shalt open thy hand wide to thy brother, to
1 Titus, ii 13, 14. ' Rom., iii. 20 ; James, h. 17, 18. 3 Mai, ii. 17.
* Ezek., xiii 22. 5 Matt., vii 22, 23. s Matt., v. 7; vi. 1-4
* HXenjioavvn— nhsericordia. 7 2 Cor., ix. 6-15.

CHAP. XVI.] GOOD WORKS. 313
thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.1 To do good and to
communicate are sacrifices, under the Gospel Dispensation, and
with such God is well pleased.2 At our highest estate we are but
stewards of the manifold grace of God ; and as good stewards we
ought to minister one to another, according as every man has
received from God. Above all things, therefore, we are exhorted
to have fervent charity among ourselves : for charity shall cover
a multitude of sins. And in stewards the first thing required is,
that a man be found faithful.6 Nay, of him who dispenseth to
the poor, it is written, that his righteousness endureth for ever,
and that his horn shall be exalted with honour.4 And so strongly
does Christ enforce almsgiving as a Christian duty, that in his
caution to us to take heed that we do not our alms* before men
to be seen of them, and thereby lose our reward with our Father
which is in Heaven f the word he uses means righteousness : and
then follows his special direction touching alms,f as one depart
ment of the righteousness required of us. The Mosaic institu
tions provided for nothing more carefully, than to alleviate all the
ills of poverty : and in the Gospel Church, a class of perpetual
office bearers was ordained of God — whose functions relate di
rectly to the temporal sorrows, afflictions, and necessities of
men." The great declaration of the Lord, descriptive of his
kingdom — The poor have the Gospel preached to them- — is not
more precise than his great command to all his followers, Give to
him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee
turn not thou away.7
II. — 1. Considering the mixed and confused state of things
which this life exhibits to us, we are able to reduce its fearful
chaos of events, and actions, and motives, and vicissitudes, to
any comprehensible order ; only when the light of the past history
of our race, and the light from a future world, are thrown upon
a scene of things otherwise so full of contradictions and enig
mas. If we accept the evil as the result upon a glorious exist
ence, of the shock which it incurred in the loss of the image and
favour of God by the Fall ; and the good, as the result of that
divine grace which has brought to light salvation through a Be-
1 Deut, xx. 11. 2 Heb., xiii 16. 3 1 Pet, iv. 8-10 ; 1 Cor., iv. 2.
< Ps. cxil 9. * LUaoovvT) — aequitas — justitia — pietas.
5 Matt., vi. 1. f 'EXeri/ioavvn — misericordia. 6 Deut, xv. passim ; Acts, vi. 1-7.
i Matt, v. 42 ; xi. 5.

314 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
deemer : then the key of the frightful paradox is placed in our
hands, and a principle of order passes with irresistible force
through the whole life of the world, and through the boundless
and confused mass of human actions. What we behold is a
preparation for a future state of existence — a probation, cease
less and manifold — with reference to an endless state of being,
widely different from this. Who are on the Lord's side ? And
who are on the side of Satan ? Of the former, what mansion
will they inhabit in that world of light — what crown will they
wear there ? Of the latter, how near will they approach the
gate of Heaven before they turn downward to the pit ? How
much wrath will they heap up for themselves against the day of
wrath ? Concerning all, how long and how far will the grace of
God endure towards each one of them ? To what height of
perfection will he carry some before he takes them to himself?
After what fatal grieving of his Spirit, will he leave others to
make their bed in hell ? A manifold probation — a perpetual
preparation — not only of the whole race, but of each individual
of it : from the distant past and from the distant future, a light
divinely shed upon the mighty struggle which makes its nature
clear : the result, as to our personal knowledge of it, adjourned
to the judgment of the great day. This is what we behold : of
this we are, each one, a part. Into this chaos thus expounded to
us of God, his infinite grace, which has done so much besides,
casts this divine element of Good Works, such as I have tried to
describe it. The nature, the use, the efficacy, the result of such
a remedy, in such a world : all this is peculiar to Messiah. It is
his conception, his work : his glory is staked upon the result :
and having sealed his purpose, and his conviction with his blood,
he will not shrink from the perfect execution of his plan.
2. Do men desire to be happy ? Do they desire to be holy ?
Weary and heavy laden with the burden of sin, do they sigh
for rest, and yearn for deliverance from the bondage under which
they groan ? There is one way — and there never was any other
— whereliy we may get peace unto our souls. God has said there
is no peace to the wicked. Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly
before God. Fear God, and keep his commandments. This is
the whole duty of man : and therein is his whole blessedness. It
is the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanseth from all sin : it is his
Spirit that leadeth into all truth : it is his precepts, in the keep-

CHAP. XVI.J GOOD WORKS. 315
ing of which there is great reward, even a hundredfold in this
life of all we have forsaken to follow him, and in the world to
come eternal life. The evil propensities of our natures languish
and die, as we walk by the side of the Son of Man : and all pure
desires, and all right emotions, and all good thoughts, spring up
in the soul in which his image dwells. If we will obey his com
mandments, we shall know his doctrine, whether it be of God.
If men did but understand that it is more blessed to give than
to receive : that to confer happiness is itself the noblest form of
happiness : that to be good, we must do good ! It is Jesus who
has conceived the sublime idea, that instruction and persuasion,
in opposition to violence and force, are the real foundations of
universal dominion. It is he alone who has taught us, that good
ness, and love, and mercy, cherished in our hearts, and mani
fested towards our sinning and perishing fellow-creatures, are
the true sources of what felicity is attainable on earth. Vengeance
is mine, saith God ; I will repay. For us, not vengeance, but
Good Works, is what he requires us to pursue, if we would glo
rify him, or have peace in our own soul.
3. Would men be useful, as well as happy ? Indeed, can we
conceive of happiness on any other condition ? Then let us
rather say, are men willing to be happy on condition of being
useful to their fellow-creatures, and therein accepted of God, the
fountain of all blessedness ? Then let them look abroad upon a
world lying in sin — upon a countless race of one blood with them
selves, sunk in misery : and then let them consider what the Sa
viour of this ruined world and this suffering race means by Good
Works, and by all his loving appeals to us to practise them. He
means edification to every living soul : he means comfort alike to
the soul and body of every one whose nature the Son of Man has
taken, every one whose nature we ourselves share. Our own
household first : then our kindred, friends, neighbours : then our
countrymen : then all the world. Above the rest, but not to the
exclusion of them, the household of faith. To save them from
hell, to lead them in the way of eternal life, to alleviate the evils
of their present estate, and to promote their edification and com
fort with reference to this life as well as to the next : such is the
conception our Lord has of what our duty both to him and to
each other requires ; of what our own hearts will prompt us to do,
in proportion as his Spirit dwells in us. The whole is the fruit

316 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK in.
of our New Obedience : the whole is expressed when we say,
Good Works. There is a wisdom which descendeth not from
above : but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good
fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.1
4. That which so intimately concerns our happiness, our holi
ness, and our usefulness in this life — which so conclusively deter
mines the reality and the extent of our consecration to Christ ;
will, in the life to come, and in the eternal judgment which
stands between this life and that, reappear in all its overpower
ing force. In this mixed, probationary, preparatory state of
things, the righteous and the wicked dwell and struggle to
gether : and God's sun shines upon the good and the evil, and
he sendeth his rain upon the just and the unjust, and he openeth
his hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing. Never
theless, it is appointed unto men once to die, and afterwards to
be judged : and that God hath appointed a day in the which he
will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath
ordained, he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead.2 Behold, I come quickly, is the solemn
warning ; and my reward is with me, to give to every man accord
ing as his work shall be.3 And I saw the dead, says the Apostle
John, small and great, stand before God : and the books were
opened : and another book was opened which is the book of life :
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written
in the books, according to their works.4 Then has fully come the
time for the unjust to be shown to be unjust, and the filthy to
be filthy ; and for the righteous to be shown to be righteous, and
the holy to be holy : and for each one to receive a just recom
pense of reward.5 The wheat and the tares shall no longer grow
together : the end of the world will have come, and the Son of
Man shall send forth his angels to reap the harvest of this world,
and the good seed are the children of the Kingdom : the tares
are the children of the wicked one, and the enemy who sowed
them the Devil : they shall be cast into a furnace of fire, and
there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth : then shall the
righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.6
i James, iii 15-17. " Acts, xvii 31.
8 Rev., xxii 12. 4 Rev., xx. 12.
s Rev., xxii 10, 11. s Matt, xiii 36-43.

CHAP. XVI.] GOOD WORKS. 317
This is the exposition made by Christ of one of the most remark
able of his parables.
5. The Scriptures do not teach that the question whether we
are brethren of Christ or children of the Devil, will be decided
by the nature of our works in the day of judgment ; in any other
sense than as making judicially manifest that which had been
accepted of God on widely different grounds, and acted on by
him, as already determined, in every preceding part of our exist
ence. Nor, indeed, is the general judgment itself in order to de
termine who are the followers of Christ, and who are the children
of the Devil : for that is already determined before the judgment
is set, in the very nature of the resurrection which precedes it, as
well as in every act of God towards man since the Fall. But in
the great day, and in the general judgment of all men, according
to their works ; the special relation of our works to our eternal
destiny, is the settlement of the exact reward to each child of
God, and his exact position in the glorified kingdom, and the
settlement of the precise condemnation, and the grounds thereof,
of each child of the Devil : and on both sides, and in every indi
vidual case, the illustration to the universe of the infinite per
fections and glory of God. Therefore, say the Scriptures, other
foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus Christ.1
Christ — not our own works — is the sole cause of our salvation.
.But touching our works and our reward, the Apostle immedi
ately adds, Now if any man build on this foundation gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, stubble : every man's work shall be
made manifest : for the day shall declare it, because it shall be
revealed by fire ; and the fire shall try every man's work of what
sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built there
upon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be
burned, he shall suffer loss : but he himself shall be saved, yet
so as by fire.2 Christ has taught us in one of his parables, the
utter exclusion of all who rest on any other foundation : and in
another he has explained to us how perfectly our own mistakes
concerning ourselves will be rectified when he passes judgment
on our Good Works. To one the King said, Friend, how camest
thou in hither not having a wedding garment ? Bind him hand
and foot and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness :
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.6 To another, when
» 1 Cor., iii. 11. 2 1 Cor., iii. 12-15. 3 Matt., xxii. 11-13.

318 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
a man more honourable than he had come, he said, Give this
man place. And to a third he said, Friend, go up higher.1 The
Saviour's conclusion of both of these parables is remarkable. To
the former, he adds, For many are called, but few chosen : and
to the latter, For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased ;
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.2 It is, therefore,
the doctrine of Christ, that the reward of the righteous and the
punishment of the wicked, will be according to their works. He
that gained ten talents, will be rewarded above him that gained
five ; while he that gained nothing, but hid his Lord's money in
the earth, will see the one talent committed to him, taken from
him and given to him who had ten, while the slothful and dis
obedient servant will be cast into outer darkness. For, adds
Christ, Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall
have abundance : but from him that hath not, shall be taken
away even that which he hath.3
6. The moment we couple the idea of reward with the idea of
Good Works, which the Scriptures do continually ; we pass at
once out of the domain of law, into that of grace. Law knows
nothing about reward to those who keep it. It gives protection,
it offers redress, it approves, it punishes. He who has gained
ten talents is protected in their possession and enjoyment, or is
made to account to him whose steward he was. But the law
says nothing about making him ruler over ten cities. That is.
favour — reward — grace. That is the act — not of the law — but
of the Lawgiver : nor is it his act as lawgiver, but as sovereign
and bountiful ruler — patron — friend. But this case, obvious and
naked as it is, is far stronger than any we can ever present : since
the conduct of him who gained the ten talents was blameless,
as under the law — whereas all our Good Works are of themselves
imperfect, and become doubly imperfect as soon as their charac
ter is determined by our nature as sinners. When we say, there
fore, that our Good Works will be the measure of the reward
graciously bestowed on us by God — we must go farther even
than we have already gone, when it was shown that they must be
built upon Christ as the only foundation that is, or can be laid.
Our persons and our works must not only be accepted in him—
and our ability to perform such as will be accepted, derived from
him ; but our particular imperfection in every work we attempt.
i Luke, xiv. 8-10. * Matt, xxi. 14; Luke, xiv. 11. 3 Matt, xxv. 29.

CHAP. XVI.] GOOD WORKS. 319
and the particular imperfection of every work of itself, when we
and it are judged by an infinitely holy God, according to an in
finitely holy law ; make it impossible for us or our works to be
approved, much less rewarded, except as Christ covers them and"
us with his infinite righteousness. As under grace, our Good
Works are the measure of our reward : and so they find a place
under the Covenant of Bedemption — and so our imperfect obe
dience is accepted as if it were perfect, on account of the perfect
obedience of the Saviour with whom we are united, and who pre
sents us and our works faultless before God. And in this sense
it is written, God is not unrighteous to forget your work and la
bour of love, which ye have showed towards his name, in that ye
have ministered to the saints and do minister.1 And so the sub
lime exhortation of him that hath the key of David is, Behold I
come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take
thy crown.2
7. Seeing the relation of our Good Works to our own comfort
and usefulness in this life, and to our eternal state in the life to
come ; we see therein abundant reason for the prominence given
to them by the word of God. But there are other aspects of the
subject, to which I can only allude, which present other grounds,
not less decisive, concerning the nature and necessity of these
fruits of our New Obedience. I will suggest but two : namely,
that it is by them alone we can adorn the doctrine we profess —
and it is through them alone we can glorify God upon earth, with
our bodies and our spirits which are his. The end of our faith
is, indeed, the salvation of our own soul : and the good of others,
whose salvation and comfort we have the means of promoting, is
the obvious matter to which our efforts should be directed. But
this is not the whole of our vocation — the sum of our mission as
children of the King Eternal. God permits us — desires us — fits
us, to love him. Our love is the return he asks for all he has
done for us. To be very jealous for the glory of his great name,
well becomes those whom he has made heirs of the glory of the
work of creation, of providence, and of grace ; to whom, having
given all else, he gives himself, to be enjoyed by them for ever.
The Saviour Christ — has given himself for us. Above all that
he does for us — there is himself — the God-man : the perfection
of all the glory of the Godhead — the perfection of all human ex-
i Heb., vi. 30. * Rev., hi 11.

320 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK HI.
cellence — united in one being — and presented to us as the object
of supreme desire. If it were not for the stupidity which sin be
gets, what should prevent our joyful, rapturous consecration to the
• Son of Man ? And then, if any doctrine can be conceived to be
capable of filling the souls of men with boundless confidence and
admiration : if any system can be supposed to fasten itself with
all power upon the understanding and heart of men : if there is
any thing which can be taught, apprehended, and made effica
cious, so as to lead captive the intellectual and moral nature we
possess : surely all these transcendent conditions will be allowed
by every renewed soul, to unite supremely in the way of life re
vealed to men. Now this glorious God, this loving Saviour, this
divine doctrine, are to be glorified, illustrated, adorned by us. The
one way of doing this they all express alike ; it is by those fruits
of a New Obedience which they call Good Works. Who shall
wonder that true, loving, and heroic spirits, full of the power of
divine grace, comprehend this voice from heaven ! Who shall
wonder that they who are sold under sin, believe them to be mad !
III. — 1. I have shown in another place, that the will of the
Creator, and not his own will, is the rule by which every crea
ture is obliged to regulate his conduct : and that the will of the
Saviour, and not his own will, is the rule by which every sinner
is obliged to regulate his conduct. The only living and true God,
is both the Creator and Saviour of the sinful creature man : and
therefifre, his revealed will is the absolute and infallible rule, ac
cording to which all that he can accept as a Good Work, must
be performed by us. This revealed will of God is the highest,
and the only perfect expression to us, of that eternal and inef
faceable distinction in things which we intend by the words Good
and Evil : and the faculty which he gave us, in creation, to dis
cern and to be influenced by what was good, and the Moral Law
which he wrote on our hearts, afforded us the means of discern
ing his will and the rule of obedience to it. The difficulty which
now exists, is produced by the shock our nature received in the
fall of man : whereby, both our ability to discern good, and the
law within our hearts prompting us to pursue it, are so deeply
and fatally deranged by the entrance of evil into the essence of
our being. What we need, therefore, to enable us unto perfect
Good Works, is to recover a perfect knowledge of the will of God,
and a perfect ability to regulate our conduct by it. Neither of

CHAP. XVI.] GOOD WORKS. 321
these is possible in this life : so that perfect Good Works are
impossible to us. But through Jesus Christ revealed to us, and
revealed in us, the knowledge of the will of God, and our ability
to discern and keep it, are so far restored to us, that our imper
fect endeavours to regulate our conduct by it, are accepted of
God, as Good Works, for Christ's sake. All idea of a sinner
gaining salvation, wholly or in part by Good Works, is, there
fore, utterly absurd. It is true that what remaining knowledge
we have of the will of God, by nature — as just explained — is so
far good : and what we can gain further by meditation, and
through the diligent use of our rational and moral faculties,
turned upon ourselves, is also good : and what we can gain fur
ther still, by the careful observation of the conduct of God,
whether in creation or providence, is also good. I do not exclude
any source of the knowledge of the will of God : and I have en
deavoured, in the previous Treatise, to demonstrate every source
of this knowledge. It is, however, the word of God, revealed to
us in the sacred Scriptures, which is the complete expression of
his will to us, as the rule of all Good Works, and as the way of
life unto us. And passing by the insurmountable difficulties
which beset every other rule of conduct, by which we hope to
please God ; the perfection and simplicity of the one afforded in
his blessed word, leave us without excuse for any shortcoming.
The majesty of him who gave it — the blessedness of those who
keep it — and the glory and felicity to which it conducts us —
make the sin, the folly, and the ruin of all who reject it, alike
sure and just. It is Jesus Christ who has abolished death, and
hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.1
2. There are many questions of the highest practical impor
tance, and of the most pregnant force in all scientific enquiry
into systematic truth touching divine things ; which connect
themselves in a decisive manner with the foregoing statements.
Some of them may be mentioned and briefly disclosed, but not
discussed here.
(a) At the head of these we may place Christian Liberty, and
Liberty of Conscience. The Church of the living God is the
Bride of the Lamb, and her freedom from the bondage of Satan,
of sin, of the law itself, much more of the commandments, tra
ditions and devices of men ; has been purchased by the blood of
1 2 Tim., i 10.
VOL. II. 21

322 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
her divine Husband and Lord. That freedom, in its very essence,
consists in her deliverance from all her enemies, that she might
consecrate herself to the service and love of her Lord without
fear, in holiness and righteousness throughout all generations,
The God she serves and loves, is the only Lord of the conscience
of her children : he alone can penetrate its depths, he alone can
cleanse and sanctify it, he alone can give it peace : and every at
tempt, even when made in his own blessed name, to bind it or to
loose it otherwise than by his word and Spirit, is an atrocious
usurpation of his prerogatives.
(b) Nearly related to these great topics is all that belongs to
what is called Implicit Faith, and to the just claims of tender
consciences. Whatever hath for it the explicit authority of God,
and whatever flows by necessary consequence from that which
hath the explicit authority of God; all this is of explicit faith, be
cause it is clearly the Will of God. But nothing else is of faith
at all : and to imply the Will of God without warrant from him,
is in effect to substitute our own will, or the will of those to
whom we render a blind obedience, for the Will of God : by either
method dishonouring God, and putting our own soul in peril,
The folly of doing this ourselves is no greater than the cruel
impiety of forcing upon the consciences of others, what nothing
but bigotry, fanaticism, or superstition, could make endurable to
our own. The right of private judgment is not only sacred in its
own nature ; but the idea of Good Works is wholly absurd, unless
they be performed with the full and free approval of the soul.
To disregard the scruples of our own conscience, is to assail the
very citadel of our spiritual life : while to contemn that of others,
is to violate the very life of Christian charity.
(c) The power of the civil magistrate in things sacred, and
the authority of synods and councils with regard to faith and
morals, are the last of these great associated topics which seem
to demand a certain recognition here. Of human affairs, some
are wholly spiritual, some are wholly temporal, and some are
mixed, participating of both. There ought to be no question, and
in all societies that are free and Christian there is no question,
that things purely temporal appertain, by the Will of God, ex
clusively to the civil power. There is just as little, that things
purely spiritual do not appertain to the civil power, but to the
kingdom of God, now under the form of the Gospel Church. All

CHAP. XVI.] GOOD WORKS. 323
real difficulties concern things that in their nature are mixed.
Concerning these, the most obvious general solution is, that the
civil and the spiritual powers being both ordained by God, each
in its own sphere and for its own ends, it follows, that of things
mixed, that part which is temporal appertains to the civil power,
and that part which is spiritual appertains to the kingdom of
God. What remains subject to both jurisdictions, after such
principles are applied to them, must be accepted as remaining so
by the Will of God : and in what cases the decision of one juris
diction shall draw after it consequences that may appertain to
the other, must be determined by the prevailing nature of each
particular case ; respect being had to. the liberty of the Church
on one side, and the authority of the State on the other.
(d) The authority of synods and councils, like the authority
of the State concerning things spiritual, has been a most fruit
ful source of evil to the kingdom of God ; and yet the former
topic, like the latter, is singularly clear in the general principles
on which it rests. Supposing a government, no matter of what
kind, to be divinely established in the bosom of the kingdom of
God on earth ; it follows that the authority of this government
is precisely as extensive as God has declared, neither more nor
less. But God has made no declaration on the subject, except in
the sacred Scriptures. The question, therefore, is one of pure
revelation. Meeting it in this incidental manner, I will only
state its great foundations. It is obvious that revelation being
admitted, they who presume to add any thing to it, or take any
thing from it, must be themselves inspired, and must prove this
in the first instance. It follows, that all uninspired synods and
councils are absolutely limited to the exposition of what is already
revealed : and that all ecclesiastical power is absolutely limited
to the explication, enforcement, defence, and extension of revealed
truth. But I have already shown that it is only of things purely
spiritual, and of things mixed, so far as they are spiritual, that
spiritual authority can be predicated at all. Whence it follows,
in the first place, that the sanctions of spiritual authority must
be exclusively spiritual : and in the second place, that they must
have outward force exclusively upon those who voluntarily sub
mit themselves to them. Their validity depends absolutely upon
their ratification by Jesus Christ, the only Lawgiver, Buler, and
Judge of his Church : and that ratification ^ ill, except in cases

324 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
of miraculous interposition by him, be openly declared in the
day of judgment. The result, therefore, is this : synods and
councils, lawfully constituted in the name and by the authority
of the glorified Bedeemer, may, with divine authority, and at the
peril of their souls, expound, declare, and teach the revealed Will
of God unto salvation : every human being lawfully related to
them, who comes to the knowledge of their deliverances and acts,
must obey them if they are true, or refuse to obey them if they
are false, on the peril of his soul : and whether they be true or
false, must be determined according to the word and Spirit of God,
by each child of God for himself, at his own proper peril. There
is a government in the kingdom of God : but the kingdom itself
is made up of those, all of whom are both kings and priests ; and
the government over them is under Christ their Lord, and its acts
are valid only with the Word and through the Spirit of God.
3. After what has been said, a few general statements may
suffice. Absolutely considered, the cause of our New Obedience,
and of all Good Works flowing from it, is the grace of God dwell
ing in us, by reason of our New Creation by the Holy Ghost.1
Considered instrumentally, it is through Saving Faith and Be
pentance unto Life that all Good Works are wrought. For it is
through Bepentance that we turn from all evil which God hates,
unto all good which God commends : and it is through Faith,
which works by love and purifies the heart, that the just live and
overcome the world. The great end of all Good Works is the
glory of God.2 To which are to be added, as the very manner
of glorifying God through our own Good Works, two ends sub
ordinate only to the great end ; namely, our own salvation, and
the comfort and edification of all around us.3 The intimate na
ture, therefore, of the New Obedience and Good Works may be
summarily stated, thus :
(a) It is the motive with which all these acts are performed,
which is the first element in determining their real nature. The
same outward act might, according to the motive which prompts
it, be a heinous sin, or an exalted proof of holiness. The offering
up of Isaac is a just illustration.
(6) No work can, therefore, be Good, in the sense here in
tended, unless it be in accordance with the known will of God.
1 Gal., v. 19-25; Heb., xiii 20, 21. a 1 0OTi ^ 19j 2o; x. 31.
8 Matt., v. 13-16 ; Plhl, & 12-16 ; 2 Pet, i 10, 11.

CHAP. XVI.] GOOD WORKS. 325
For Good Works are the exercise of our New Obedience — and
where there is no will of God there can be no motive to obey it —
and, therefore, no New Obedience. This puts an end to all works
of supererogation — of voluntary humility — of will-worship — and
of obedience to the commandments of men. It also shows why
the virtues of men, naturally considered, being wholly discon
nected with the New Obedience, have no adequate motive in us,
and no adequate relation to the will of God.
(c) None who are out of Christ can perform Good Works, in
the scriptural sense. Neither the persons, nor the services of
sinful men, can ever be accepted of God on their own account,
because of their manifold imperfections : and for these imperfec
tions there is no remedy but the righteousness of Christ. Out
of Christ, there can be no love of God in the heart of a sinner —
no saving light in his understanding — no holiness of conscience
or will. In default of these things New Obedience and its fruits
are impossible.
(d) Good Works must be directed to an end approved of
God ; by means right in themselves, and suitable to the end ;
and in a manner proper in itself, and answerable both to the end
and the means. For if the end is not lawful, it is sinful even to
desire it, much less to seek it. If the means are unrighteous, it
is an attempt to serve God with the wages of iniquity, and to
make him a partner in our guilt. And if the manner is contrary
to the end and the means, it is seeking to make God the author
of confusion and disorder, and tempting his miraculous power in
support of our folly.
(e) These multiplied limitations unite in a single point : the
heart must be right in the sight of God. Then the children of
God need have no slavish fears of going astray. For the New
Covenant which God makes with their souls, and under which
all their New Obedience is rendered, is a covenant wherein his
laws are written on their hearts, and put into their minds by
God himself; and wherein, from the least unto the greatest,
they all know the Lord ; and in the light and power of that
knowledge strive after the things commanded in that law.1
1 Heb., viii 8-12; Jer., -rnri 31-34

OHAPTEK XVII.
THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE.
I. 1. The conflict involved in our New Obedience and Good Works. — 2. Its Nature
and Necessity. — 3. Its Existence necessarily imphes the Truth of the Spiritual
System Revealed to us, and in us. — 4. Our perpetual Witness-bearing for Christ
— 5. Our incessant Working together with God. — 6. Our continual Suffering to
gether with Jesus : Outward FeUowship — inward Participation thereof. — 7. Sub
lime Efficacy of this Warfare — with the Cause and Manner thereof — 8. Intimate
Relation between the divinely appointed Means of Grace, and our Spiritual War
fare. — 9. The Chastenings of the Lord : his Fatherly Discipline : the Hidings of
his Face. — II. 1. Our Spiritual Enemies : Nature of their Enmity to . us : Im
placable Hostility between them and Christ. — 2. AU of them resolved into three :
Their Union with each other : Vanquished by Christ — vanquished through Christ
by us. — 3. Our Warfare with the Flesh. — 4. Our Warfare with the World. —
5. Our Warfare with the DevU. — 6. The Armour of Light. — 7. The Victory.
I. — 1. The existence of each human being is, indeed, iden
tical and uninterrupted from the moment of its personal com
mencement, onward through time and eternity. But what vast
changes does it incur at death, and at the resurrection ! Not
inferior in its importance to either of them — and perfectly de
cisive of the character of both of them— is that wonderful
spiritual change which our Saviour calls the New Birth — and
which he plainly tells us must occur before we can realize or
enter the kingdom of heaven.1 Each one of these immense
changes — regeneration — death — resurrection — while it leaves our
personal existence identical, self-conscious, and continuous, pro
duces on us results the most profound, and is followed by conse
quences to us which are absolutely eternal. The results and
consequences of death and the resurrection can be realized, in
this life, only through faith, even by the regenerate ; they can
be known in their absolute nature, only after we shall have died
— after we shall have risen. Those which follow the New Birth
are not only realized by us in the same way as the others—
namely, through faith ; but to the whole extent that we are
1 John, hi 3-5.

CHAP. XVII.] THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE. 327
actually made partakers of them in this life, their absolute nature
is made known to us, just as the others will be when we shall
have personally incurred them. For it is in this life only, that
men are born again, and it is between our New Birth and our
death that the change produced on us by that New Birth alone,
manifests itself simply and in its peculiar manner. I have en
deavoured, with the greatest care, to explain in the two prece
ding Books, the nature — the reality — the cause — the author—
the manner— the instrument — the results — the consequences, of
this great change — under the continual exhibition of the work in
us : and in the preceding chapters of this Book, I have endea
voured to point out distinctly, the chief offices, both towards God
and towards our fellow-creatures, which are relevant to it, and
which are imposed by it. But in the manifestation of all these
offices of Christianity by us — in every part of our New Obedience
— in all our Good Works — in all our endeavours to lead lives of
Faith and Penitence — we find ourselves constantly exposed to
perils, surrounded by temptations, and beset by difficulties. We
are not. so to speak, left free to follow the Lord, whom we love :
we are hindered in the course in which, for his sake and at his
command, we have resolved to walk : we are compelled to let go
our hold on eternal life, or to take up arms and do battle for our
crown. This is a new phase in our Christian life : one we had,
perhaps, never anticipated : one, as we soon find, universal, un
avoidable, full of peril on one side and blessedness on the other.
It is this which Christians call The Spiritual Warfare,1 and
which I am now to explain as briefly as I can.
2. The one great condition of the offer of salvation is, that he
to whom it is offered should be a sinner of the human race. The
one great motive presented to that sinner is, on the one side that
he may escape the wrath to come — on the other that he may ob
tain eternal life ; the sum of all being salvation— which is the
very end of his faith. Having won Christ — that is being found
in him ; then the perpetual exhortation of the Gospel to us is,
that forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching forth
unto those things which are before, we should press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.2
The object set before the child of God is manifold. He is to
guard, as he would guard the life of his soul, that which God has
1 1 Tim., i 18 ; vi 12; 2 Tim., iv. 7 ; 1 Cor., ix. 25-27. 2 Phil, iii, 3-14

328 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
already given to him — an interest, namely, in the blood of Christ.
He is to strive, also, with all his might, to increase the treasure
which the Lord has committed to him. And he is to labour, in
season and out of season with all diligence, to make sure the eter
nal possession of this boundless riches of grace. In the whole
process of this great work of salvation it must necessarily occur
— nay, it is the very manner of the work itself — that the children
of the kingdom glorify God, and bless their fellow-creatures, as
step by step they advance in their own career. In like manner
and in like degree — to vanquish Satan — to overcome the world —
and to crucify the flesh — are as real necessities of their victorious
progress, through grace, as the treasures of wisdom and love which
they defend, accumulate, and secure, are proofs of the bounty of
the Lord. And the personal result is, that fighting the good
fight of faith — warring a good warfare 1 — striving for an incor
ruptible crown, they are more than conquerors, through him that
loved them.2
3. It is indeed a warfare : yet the Holy Ghost declares it to
be good. It is a fight we cannot escape : yet a good fight, even
that of faith. And how much does its necessity, its nature, its
existence, involve and explain ? How could an estate of this
kind exist for us, except upon the precise conditions of our being,
revealed byGod? Once innocent, then fallen, now regenerate, and
struggling upward toward our original perfection, the necessary
phenomena are the very incidents of this warfare. How could
such a conflict occur, except amidst a confused, probationary
state of things, where good and evil are inextricably involved,
each striving for the mastery ? What would it signify, if the
state in which it reigns were final : if it did not lead immediately
to another state, and if the relation of this state to that, and the
relation of this warfare to the coming retribution, were not ab
solute and decisive ? On the other hand, with the word of God
revealing to us endless glory and perdition, a divine Saviour, and
an eternal judgment ; what is there that this Spiritual Warfare
may not signify, may not involve and explain ?
4. We are witnesses for Christ through all ages, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth :3 and we are compassed about
with that great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, and
1 1 Tim., i 18 ; vi 12. 2 1 Cor., ix. 25 ; Rom., viii 37.
8 Acts, i 8.

CHAP. XVII.] THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE. 329
who testify around us.1 He for whom we testify, for the joy that
was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He is the
finisher, as well as the author of our faith : he who endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself. Constant in our testi
mony, as well as in faith and godliness, we have only to consider
him, and then lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and run with patience the race that is set before
us.2 Christ himself condescends to be called the faithful witness.6
And the more prompt the children of the wicked one are to cry
out against every faithful witness for Christ, Away with such a
fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live ;4 the
more solemn and emphatic is the response from heaven, The
world was not worthy of them !' Whether men will hear or
whether they will forbear, it is equally the duty of the followers
of Christ to testify unto them the will of God.6 Adding nothing
to the testimony of God, unless they would have added to them
selves every curse written therein ; taking nothing from that
testimony, unless they would have their part in every promise
written therein taken from them :7 they who name the name of
Jesus are set forth as living epistles, known and read of all men,
wherein Christ has manifestly declared his Gospel, written with
the Spirit of the living God in the tables of their heart, even as
God wrote his law on tables of stone.8 The way of the wicked
is as darkness, and they know not at what they stumble : but the
path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and
more unto the perfect day !9 This whole witness-bearing is a
spiritual martyrdom for Christ — a perpetual confession of him —
the daily warfare of our good fight of faith.
5. In like manner, as it is the will of God concerning us, that
having had our eyes opened, and having recived the Holy Ghost
from him, we should be his witnesses unto all men of all that we
have seen and heard ;16 so, also, every one, according to the grace
of God which is given unto him, becomes a labourer together
with God, a worker together with him, both in planting .and in
watering every part of God's husbandry amongst men.11 Or, as
1 Heb., xii. 1. a Heb., xii. 1-3. 3 Rev., i 5.
* Acts, xx. 22. ¦ Heb., xi. 38. 6 Ezek., hi. 11-27.
i Rev., xxii 18, 19. s 2 Cor., iii 2, 3. » Prov., iv. 18, 19.
10 Acts, ix. 17 ; xxii. 13-15. » 1 Cor., hi. 9 ; 2 Cor., vi. 1.

330 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
it is sometimes expressed, we become soldiers of Jesus Christ,
whose fidelity is tested by the manner in which we bear hard
ness, and do valiantly for the Captain of our salvation, who was
himself made perfect through sufferings.1 One of the most heroic
of our fellow-soldiers, when the time of his departure was at hand,
and he was ready to be offered, at the close of a life that has no
parallel, calmly and trustfully said, I have fought a good fight, I
have finished my course, I have kept the faith : henceforth there
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, shall give me at that day : and not to me only,
but unto all them also that love his appearings.2 But all these
services, glorious as they are, and infinite as is the reward which
attends them, are of that nature that no novice, no sluggard,
none who are self-indulgent or self-seeking, can perform them at
all : of that nature, that in a world like this, the most enlight
ened and the most devoted cannot discharge them, except as he
roes do battle, where all is risked upon every conflict. And we
ourselves are of that nature, that the severest toils of all, are
those which fit us for our great labour of love ; the most perilous
conflicts of all, those which are waged within our own souls. See
what that heroic soldier of Jesus Christ, that sublime labourer
together with God, to whom I have alluded, says concerning the
matter and the manner, wherein he approved himself a servant
of God in this Spiritual Warfare : In much patience, in afflic
tions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in
tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings ; by pureness, by
knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by
love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by
the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report ; as
deceivers, and yet true ; as unknown, and yet well known ; as
dying, and behold, we live ; as chastened, and not killed ; as
sorrowful, yet always rejoicing ; as poor, yet making many rich ;
as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.6 Here are
thirty-six categories of our Spiritual Warfare fought through by
one soldier of the Cross, under the single and all-engrossing pro
position of the Lord, If any man will come after me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.4 And he
i Heb., ii 10 ; 2 Tim., ii. 3 ; Psalm lx. 12. 2 2 Tim., iv. 6-8.
3 2 Cor., vi. 4-10. « Matt, xvi 24.

CHAP. XVI1.J THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE. 331
has said to us, under inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Be ye fol
lowers of me, even as I also am of Christ : followers of them
who through faith and patience inherit the promises.1
6. One more great and unavoidable necessity is laid upon
every child of God ; one more aspect of our Spiritual Warfare,
in addition to our witness-bearing for him, and our participation
as fellow-labourers with him. We must be sufferers together
with Jesus. I will show him, said the Lord to Ananias when he
told him Saul was praying, and bade him go to him, how great
things he must suffer for my name's sake.2 Many years after
wards, as Paul went bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, after
bearing the name of the Lord before the Gentiles, and kings,
and the children of Israel ; he said to his brethren whom he had
collected at Miletus, that he knew not what would befall him,
save that the Holy Ghost witnessed in every city that bonds and
afflictions waited for him.3 Yea, said he, in one of his last testi
monies, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer perse
cution.4 And the Lord had plainly said to his Apostles, Te shall
be hated of all men for my name's sake.5 When we reflect on
the contents of "the Christian Scriptures, and on the nature and
design of the Gospel Church ; the history of the human race fur
nishes nothing more decisive concerning the moral nature of man,
than his cruel hatred of Jesus and his disciples, and his ferocious
prostitution of the name and doctrine of Jesus to ends the most
opposite from those he commanded. There is no form of human so
ciety, no stage of human civilization, no aspect of human thought,
which has not, within the past eighteen centuries, polluted itself
with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Jew and Pagan, infidel
and heretic, Mohammedan and Papist and Hindoo — all alike —
hate the only Saviour who pities them, the only Bedeemer who
can deliver them. To pass by every form of persecution, except
the very highest, there can be no doubt that all the governments
in the world united have not executed capitally the hundredth
part as many malefactors, as Papal Borne alone has caused to be
murdered of true followers of Jesus, merely because they were
his true followers ! Drunken with the blood of the saints, and
with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, is the fearful description
which God gives of her, The mother of harlots and abominations
' 1 Cor., xi 1 ; Heb., vi. 12. a Acts, ix. 16. 3 Acts, xx. 22, 23.
' 2 Tim., iii 12. s Matt., x. 22.

332 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
of the earth.1 But besides this liability to outward sufferings,
even unto blood, for Christ's sake, which enters so conspicuously
into the warfare of his followers : there is a sense, altogether spir
itual, in which their participation in all his Humiliation, is an
indispensable preparation for their participation in all his Exalta
tion. Those outward sufferings with him, Christ will compensate
a hundredfold even in this life, when that is good for us ; and in
the world to come, will repay them with eternal life.2 But our
inward participation of his sufferings, is the very method of pre
paring us for the inward participation of his triumph ; and the
very heat and fury of the great war lie precisely there ; there the
victory is won or lost ! To know Christ, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, we must be
made conformable unto his death.3 Wherefore, the exhortation
is, Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end
for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ ; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.4
7. It is mere folly to go to Christ, if our desire and purpose
are to live in sin. On the other hand, if through grace we are
resolved to crucify sin, we need not dread the warfare which must
follow. The Holy Ghost, as we have seen, declares the fight of
faith to be good — the Spiritual Warfare to be good. That being
so, it matters not if the battle be fought to-day on our faithful
testimony for Christ — >and to-morrow on our earnest labours for
his cause — and the third day on our patient suffering for his
name : or whether it be joined, fierce and decisive, on all at
once — and won like those great victories which decide the fate of
nations and of races. It matters not : for, either way, the Lord
is strength in the day of trouble— yea, in the Lord Jehovah is
everlasting strength.6 And every one in Zion that appears be
fore God, goes from strength to strength ; and every one that
with open face beholds the glory of the Lord, is changed into the
same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord.6 Every grace— every truth— every gift, has a power pecu
liar to itself: and the more it is cherished the more powerful it is.
See how sublime even the gift of preternatural strength to Sam
son was — and how terrible it made him as long as God was with
him ! Then every grace will unite with every other grace : every
"Rev., x.v±passim. 2 Mark, x. 28-31. 3 Phil, hi. 10. * 1 Pet, i 13-16.
b Nahum, i. 7 ; Isa,, xxvi. 4 « Ps. lxxxiv. 7 ; 2 Cor., hi. 18.

CHAP. XVII.] THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE. 333
truth with every other truth : every gift with every other gift :
and we see how one can put a thousand to flight ! And then all
grace will unite with all truth : and all truth will unite with
all duty : and all duty will unite with all grace : and how can
ten thousand stand before two ! And then when all are united in
one — as they are in the man of God thoroughly furnished for
every good work ; what can we say less, than that this is accord
ing to the working of the mighty power of God in them that be
lieve — and that among all gods there is none like unto Jehovah,
glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders I1
8. Nowhere, more than in this aspect of our relation to divine
things, does the importance to us of all the means of grace ap
pear. Nothing is more distinctly urged upon us in the Word of
God, than that we should grow in grace, and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ :2 nor is any thing taught
more clearly,, than that this growth is the product of the true
knowledge of God through his Word and Spirit — and the result
of our union and communion with Christ.3 It is of the very na
ture of man, and of all his faculties, that he cannot be absolutely
stationary in any thing. With him, it is always progress or de
cay. The finest emotions vanish — the noblest attainments be
come obscure — the most exalted powers lose both their temper
and their grasp, under habitual neglect and disuse : while im
proper indulgence can end only in distortion. On the other
hand, nothing but the finiteness of our being, can be imagined
as capable of setting bounds to the healthful growth of a re
newed soul, which, by the grace of God, addresses itself with
all diligence and fidelity to him. In doing this, the whole
instrumentality which God himself has provided is embraced
under the phrase — the Means of Grace ; and I have had re
peated occasion to mention, in their order, and to explain the
use of the chief of these. In every part of our Spiritual War
fare, it is through their use that we are fitted for the discharge
of the duties that devolve on us, and it is in their use that we
may expect to be victorious through grace. It is not true that
any of them — not even the inspired word — have any more than
an instrumental efficacy with reference to salvation — that is an
efficacy when used by God for our spiritual good : but neither is
it true that any of them appointed of God, are destitute of this
1 Eph., i 19 ; Ex., xv. 11. * 2 Peter, iii. 18. 3 1 Peter, ii. 1-12 ; Eph., iv. 1-24

334 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
instrumental efficacy — nor that any thing else not thus appointed
of him, has any efficacy at all towards our growth in grace. To
neglect them, is to tempt God : to rest in them, is superstition :
to use them prayerfully, diligently, and trustfully, is the heavenly
discipline of the soldier of the Cross. Nothing holy, nothing
lovely, nothing gentle, nothing tender, nothing heroic, can be
conceived of him to whom the ordinances of God are not delight
some : while he to whom they are, has found the way to be
strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
9. Immediately connected with our growth in grace, and with
the peculiar method of that growth which attends our Spiritual
Warfare ; there is a mode of God's dealing with his people, which
is utterly remote from all human thinking. Sometimes for the
trial of our faith — sometimes to reveal to us more clearly what is
in our hearts — sometimes as a means of more complete deliverance
of us — sometimes as a preparation for some special work for which
he is fitting us — sometimes to recover us from backsliding, to wean
us from besetting sin, or to deliver us from besetting temptation
— and very generally as a way of advancing us to higher spiritual
attainments, or bestowing upon us very special mercies : God
himself seems to enter into conflict with his children. The
arrows of the Almighty — said Job — are within me, the poison
whereof drinketh up my spirit : the terrors of God do set them
selves in array against me.1 And David, in his anguish, cried
out, 0 Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath : neither chasten me in
thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy
hand presseth me sore.2 Will the Lord cast off for ever, and will
he be favourable no more ? Is his mercy clean gone for ever,
and doth his promise fail for evermore ? Hath God forgotten to
be gracious ? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ?'
Lord why castest thou off my soul, why hidest thou thy face
from me ? Thy fierce wrath goeth over me ; thy terrors have
cut me off.4 And besides thus hiding his face from us, and with
drawing his presence from us, and striking our souls with his ter
rors ; he habitually exercises his children under the cross and
yoke of outward trials. Ye have forgotten, says the Apostle
Paul, the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children,
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint
when thou art rebuked of him : for whom the Lord loveth he
1 Job, vi. 4. 2 Ps. xxxviii. 1, 2. a Ps. lxxvii. 7-9. 4 ps. lxxxviii. 14, 16.

CHAP. XVII.] THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE. 335
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.1 So
universal is this that it is immediately added, If ye be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and
not sons. And no indication of God's indifference to a sinner
can be greater, than that he allows him 'to prosper in his iniquity ;
unless it be, that having commenced to chastise him, he lifts his
hand off him, while he continues impenitent. And so in imme
diate connection with the declaration, As many as I love, I re
buke and chasten : he adds, Be zealous therefore, and repent."
The wisest of mortals, therefore, had divine authority when he
said, He that refuseth correction despiseth his own soul : but he
that heareth reproof getteth understanding.6 Though he slay
me, yet will I trust him : yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for thou art with me ;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.4 Such is the cry of faith
— even under the sorest outward trials. And the answer of the
Lord is, Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown
of life.6 It is by humility, and obedience, and patient waiting
on the Lord, and fervent prayer to him, that the penitent and
believing soul prevails with God in all these extremities. Yea,
God shall bring forth the righteousness of his children as the
light, and their judgment as the noonday.6 He who gave to
Jacob, after his great wrestling with him, his rich blessing and
a new name, will not only give to every one that overcometh, a
new name — but will write upon him the new name of him that
sitteth upon the throne F
II. — 1. Having explained the nature of our Spiritual War
fare, and pointed out the special duties toward the Captain of
our salvation which it involves, together with the influence of
the whole upon ourselves : it remains to speak briefly of the en
emies with whom this warfare is waged by all who follow Jesus
Christ in the Begeneration. They are enemies who resist us in
all our attempts to turn to God at first, and in all our endeavours
to lead lives of New Obedience afterwards : enemies to our de
liverance from sin, and to our growth in holiness : enemies to our
very highest and to all our eternal interests. They are still more
the enemies of him who loved us and gave himself for us — between
•- Heb., xii. 6, 6. s Rev., iii. 19. 3 Prov., xv. 32.
4 Job, xiii. 15 ; Ps. xxiii. 24. ' Rev., ii. 10. « Ps. xxxvii 6.
i Gen., xxxii. 24-29 ; Rev., ii. 17 ; hi. 12.

336 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
whom and the whole of them the antagonism is so complete, that
they require of us, as a condition of their friendship, that we
shall renounce his service — and that he considers our friendship
with them enmity to him. The very warfare itself is based on
our identification with the Son of God : it is fought by us as
soldiers of the Cross : and the victory won, however blessed for
us, is for the glory of his grace ! The possibility of such a state
of case in the universe of God, grounds itself on the twofold fact
of the existence of sin in that universe, and of the purpose of God
to retrieve the universe from its pollution. Sin is that accursed
thing which God hates, and upon which he cannot look with the
least allowance. It was that which made us his enemies : it is
because we turn from it to him, through Christ by grace, that
every enemy of his assails us : it is because our recovery from sin
is only begun, not perfected in this life, that this warfare involves
the salvation of our souls, as well as the glory of God. And thus
the actual state of all things, in every part of the existence of
every human being, considered as it actually is, and considered
as the word of God declares it to be, presents us with a perpetual
demonstration of that Gospel whereby life and immortality are
brought to light.
2. As I have intimated before, the Spiritual Warfare of which
I speak here is predicated only of the followers of Christ. It is
the means whereby they vindicate their New Obedience : the
means whereby they win from their enemies the freedom to per
form every Good Work : rights — all of them — as I have before
shown, for which countless multitudes have suffered the loss of
all things, and counted that loss gain. Doubtless there is a war
fare between these same enemies and every human soul that is
not given over to believe a lie, that it may be damned : for
though they be transcendently enemies of Christ and his disci
ples, they are also enemies of whatever Christ, or the natural
conscience, or reason itself will approve as true or good unto
salvation. But it is the high, fierce, decisive warfare between the
children of God and the flesh, the world, and the Devil, of which
I speak continually in this chapter. These are the great enemies
of our souls. Under the banner of one or other of them, every
foe to divine grace assails us : nay, it is one or other of these, no
matter how cunningly disguised, that we • find discomfited after
every victory we win, that we find mocking us every time we

CHAP. XVII.] THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE. 337
are overcome. And such is their fidelity to each other, and so
inseparable is their union with each other, that every triumph
either of them wins, is shared by all, and every decisive blow in
flicted upon one wounds them all. These are the enemies whom
our Lord has conquered, led captive, and openly triumphed over.
And now, in the way of the complete deliverance of the children
of the Kingdom, and the perfect fitting of them for the right
service and enjoyment of God in this life, and the eternal service
and enjoyment of him in the life to come ; he leads forth every
one of them, fighting by their side, and wins for them victories
analogous to his own.
3. I will add a few words concerning each of these implaca
ble enemies of all Gospel holiness, and concerning our warfare
with each of them. Considering our race one, with a common
nature, and of one blood, which the Scriptures continually
assert, each individual of that race is, nevertheless, a separate
person ; and, since the fall of the first parents of the race, and
by reason of it, the common nature is depraved, and every indi
vidual participating of that nature by ordinary generation, neces
sarily participates in its depravity. The New Birth, which is
wrought by the Holy Ghost in the soul of the elect of God, who
have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, is a new creation of
the individual soul, and its restoration to the image of God, lost
by the fall of man. Bestored, in that Begeneration, to the image
of God in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, every ad
vance of the soul in this divine life is an advance in its conformity
to God : and every endeavour to maintain the posture any soul
may have reached, or to advance from one degree of grace and
strength to another, is contrary to the desires, devices, lusts, and
impulses of its depraved nature, that is, of the flesh ; and sub
jects it, on one side, to the necessity of a new victory over the
flesh, and, on the other, to the peril of a victory by the flesh over
it. I am aware that the reality and the nature of the dealings
of God with man in creation, providence, and grace, are involved
in these brief statements ; but I insist that these statements ac
cord precisely with all those dealings, as revealed by God to man,
and in man. Seeing that the carnal mind is enmity against
God, not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be ;' and
that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
1 Rom, viii. 7.
vol. II. 22

338 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
God, which are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned :' it follows, not only that
the flesh cannot be amended, but that, if we are Christ's, we
must crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts ;2 and that
our old man must be crucified with Christ, if the body of sin is
to be destroyed, or we are to be delivered from the service of sin.6
To walk in the Spirit, and to fulfil the lust of the flesh, are so
completely opposites, one of the other, that the Scriptures declare
the Spirit and the flesh to be contrary the one to the other, and
utterly antagonistic to each other. As our English version has
it, the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh.4 And the Apostle proceeds to illustrate that universal
truth, by declaring to us the works of the flesh, and the fruit of
the Spirit, in contrast with each other. Now the works of the flesh
are manifest, which are these : Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revellings, and such like. But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance.' Touching all these things, on one side and the
other, this profound distinction is to be always borne in mind,
namely, that no fruit of the Spirit is possible in the unrenewed
soul, whereas the renewed soul, still dwelling in sinful flesh, is
liable to be assailed through every work of the flesh, and is liable
to fall under every assault. Beceiving the first fruits of the
Spirit at our Begeneration, and growing afterwards through the
continual increase of them ; the divine power which dwells in us,
and increases through grace, may indeed continually subdue every
work that lusts against it ; and the final triumph is sure, through
him who loved us and gave himself for us. But who ever saw a
soldier of the cross, who marched from victory to victory, never
overcome, and bearing no scars from this life and death struggle,
with that native depravity of which sinners make so light ? On
the contrary, how innumerable are the triumphs of the flesh over
the followers of Christ ; and how certain is it, that but for his
grace these triumphs of the flesh over his followers would be uni
versal and final !
4. In a peculiar sense the Flesh is our inward enemy. The
1 1 Cor., ii 14. 2 Gal, v. 24. 3 Rom, vi 6.
4 GaL, v. 16, 17. « Gal v. 19-23.

CHAP. XVII.] THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE. 339
other two, and especially the World, are more particularly out
ward enemies. If we had crucified the Flesh, the sorest part of
our warfare would be accomplished. As things are, with our own
hearts but imperfectly sanctified, and surrounded by fellow-crea
tures the great mass of whom are such as we were when we were
servants of sin, and all the remainder are nearly as imperfectly
sanctified as we are ourselves ; the advantages we derive from
our fellow-soldiers who cannot protect themselves, can offer to us
no adequate security — while the perils with which our fellow-
sinners threaten us, are instant, fatal, and innumerable. By the
allurements of vice — by the pollution of evil example — by the
seduction of all sinful indulgences — by the perversion of all false
teaching — by flattering every unruly passion — by opposing and
discouraging us in all duty — by threats, by violence, by robbery,
by persecution, by death itself; alas ! by how many countless
and nameless ways, are God's children put in jeopardy by the
enmity of the World ! Be ye not conformed to this world — is
the express command of God — but be transformed by the renew
ing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and ac
ceptable, and perfect will of God.1 If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.2 The friendship of the
world is enmity with God : whosoever therefore will be a friend
of the world is the enemy of God.3 And our Saviour explains
the reason of statements which seem so remarkable to the chil
dren of the world. I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you ; ye know that it hated me before it hated
you.1 The actual posture of the world is, that it is in universal
revolt against God — that it lies under his wrath and curse — tha.t
it has crucified his Son whom he sent to redeem it, and murdered
his saints of whom it was not worthy — and that it is kept in
store by God, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men.5 The actual relation of God's children
to it is, that they constitute a Kingdom under Messiah the
Prince, which, though in the world, is not of it ; a kingdom
which, through grace, they are appointed to maintain and to ad
vance through all ages, while God shall remove every diadem,
and take off every crown, and exalt him that is low, and abase
him that is high, and overturn till nothing that can be shaken
i Rom, xii 2. 2 1 John, ii. 15. 3 James, iv. 4.
4 John, xv. 18, 19; xvii. 19. s 2 Peter, hi 7.

340 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
is left, and shake heaven and earth : and then he whose right it
is shall come — and God will give it him.1 Wherefore our very
faith is the victory that overcometh the world :2 which, by the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, is crucified unto us, and we unto
it.2 Considered in this light, our Spiritual Warfare with this
great enemy of our salvation, has two aspects, both of which are
eminently peculiar to us as soldiers of the cross. The first is,
that our duty to Christ obliges us to discharge with perfect
simplicity and fidelity, every obligation binding upon us with
reference to our relations in this ruined world ; thereby at once
acquitting our own souls, and adorning the doctrine we profess.
The other is, that the same duty obliges us to acquit ourselves as
good soldiers, in our endeavours to recover the dominion of our
Lord over our rebellious fellow-creatures, to their unspeakable
blessedness, and to the glory of his great name. So that, through
the unsearchable riches of the grace, knowledge, and wisdom of
God, the salvation of our own soul is grounded in our Spiritual
Warfare with the Flesh ; and in like manner the salvation of
others, through our endeavours, is grounded in our Spiritual War
fare with the World.
5. It is under the banner of Satan, that the Flesh and the
World both assail the followers of Christ. He is called the god
of this world, and is declared to be the author of that blindness of
mind of those who believe not the glorious Gospel of Christ,
through which they are lost.4 The Lord Jesus, speaking of the
effects of his crucifixion, declared that one of them would be the
casting out of the prince of this world :6 and we are told it was
he who put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him ;"
he whom Jesus led captive when he ascended up on high, openly
triumphing over him.7 This great and wicked Spirit, the leader
of the revolt in heaven — the seducer of our first parents — the im
placable enemy of the Saviour of men — is represented through
out the Scriptures as having thrown off all allegiance to God, and
as being actuated by relentless hate against the whole family of
man, and most especially against God's Elect from amongst
our fallen race. By the fall of man — of which his temptation
was the procuring cause — he acquired dominion over the world
1 Ezek, xxi. 26, 27 ; Heb, xii 26-28. a 1 John, v. 4. a Gal, vi. 14.
4 2 Cor., iv. 3, 4. B John, xii 31.
' John, xiii 2. ' Eph, iv. 8 ; Col, ii 15.

CHAP. XVII.] THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE. 341
and over the human race : a dominion defeated and absolutely
annulled by the sentence of God, so far as his Elect were con
cerned — and limited by the same sentence so far as the world
was concerned — but left untouched so far as related to all the
obstinately impenitent.1 No portion of this wonderful sentence
of God, rendered after the breach of the Covenant of Works —
and to be reviewed at the day of judgment — was more precise,
than the decree of eternal enmity between Christ and his follow
ers on one part, and the Devil and his children on the other.2
Quenchless hate and deadly warfare between this primeval mur
derer, liar, and seducer, and every soldier of the cross of Christ,
is as much a part of that soldier's divine vocation, as it is a part
of it to follow the Captain of his salvation. And he may as con
fidently expect the Devil to torment him with temptations, to
assail him with accusations, to overwhelm him with terrors and
alarms, and to stir up the flesh and the world against him ; as
he sincerely endeavours to follow Jesus in the regeneration. Nor
is there any security for us, but in open, manful, and universal
combat. To have peace with the flesh, it must be crucified : to
have safety with the world, it must be overcome : the Devil flies
from us only when we resist him, stedfast in the faith.6 In all
these things it is through him that loved us, that we are more
than conquerors.4 And they who lift up the song of triumph,
when Michael and his angels finally cast out the great dragon
and his angels ; are they who overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony ; and they loved not
their lives unto the death.5
6. In this warfare for our souls, Bepentance toward God, and
Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, are as conspicuous as they
are in every other part of our salvation. Here, as everywhere,
these great graces of the Spirit, these fundamental Offices of the
Christian life — decide our destiny. With a living Faith in
Christ, the Flesh, the World, and the Devil can do no more than
hurry us to our Father's house, or secure for us there a brighter
crown. For such ends, the loss of all things may well be counted
gain. Or if they cleave us down — our courage and our strength
return with the first pang of true Bepentance : and then our
armour of light blazes again in the thick of the fight. Where-
1 Gen, iii 15-19; Rom, viii 19-23. 2 Gen, hi. 15.
3 1 Pet, v. 9; James, iv. 7. * Rom., viii 37. 5 Rev, xii. 11.

342 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK EI.
fore, let us take unto us the whole armour of God, that we
may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all
to stand. Having our loins girt about with truth, and having
on the breastplate of righteousness, and our feet shod with the
preparation of the Gospel of peace ; above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts
of the wicked : taking, also, the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God : praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching
thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
For we wrestle not in a Warfare that is carnal — but against
principalities, agaiust powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places : and so
the weapons of our Warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds.1
7. It is the universal principle of our Christian life, that in
proportion as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also our
consolation aboundeth by Christ.2 It is not surprising, therefore,
that we should even glory in tribulations, since we know that
tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and expe
rience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed ; because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is
given unto us.6 My grace, said our Lord, is sufficient for thee :
for my strength is made perfect in weakness.* The first response
of his servant was, I glory in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me :5 his habitual response was, I can do
all things through Christ which strengthened me :s and his ma
tured and final testimony was, Thanks be to God, who giveth us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.7 This is the career
of a true soldier of the cross : the path of the just, like the shin
ing light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Though there be few who even approach very near to this sublime
standard, none apparently, who are not many times discomfited
by their spiritual enemies, many needing from mere weakness to
be borne in the bosom of the good Shepherd of our souls, and
nearly all to be led gently along by his hand : nevertheless there
is not one of the innumerable multitude, who will be finally van
quished and destroyed by God's enemies and theirs. It is not
1 Eph, vi. 13-18; 2- Cor, x. 4. ' 2 Cor, i 5. 3 Rom, v. 3-5.
« 2 Cor, xii 9. » 2 Cor, xii. 9. • Phil, iv. 13. ' 1 Cor, xv. 57.

CHAP. XVII.] THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE. 343
possible for us to understand how, as the result of such a career,
such a probation as I have attempted to trace, any should escape
destruction, except upon the conditions which actually exist, and
by means of the forces which are actually applied ; nor yet, upon
those conditions, and under the application of those forces, how
any could perish. Without the divine support continually given
to believers and accepted by them, even they must be destroyed.
When judgment begins at the house of God, what shall the end
of them be that obey not the Gospel of God ? And if the right
eous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner
appear P1 And yet, how can the righteous perish, when they
have a throne of divine grace to which they may always come
boldly, and at which they may obtain mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need ?2 Nay> when God himself is their refuge
and strength — a very present help in trouble ?3 To him that
overcometh, is the glorious promise of the exalted Saviour, I will
give to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and
am set down with my Father in his throne.4
' 1 Pet, iv. 17, 18. " Heb, iv. 16. ¦ Psalm xlvi 1. 4 Rev, iii 21.

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE INFALLIBLE RULE OF FAITH AND DUTY.
I. 1. Relation of the divine Word to the divine Life in the human Soul. — 2. All Law
implies the Existence both of the Author of it, and the Subject of it — 3. Infinite
Lawgiver : Discovery, Comprehension, and Use of any and whatever Law of God.
— 4. Regulative Principles of Universal Morality : their Nature, Certainty, Origin,
and Obligation. — 5. Supremacy of the Moral Sense in Fallen Man : Supremacy of
the Moral Law in the Universe : The Saviour. — 6. Relation of the Moral Law to
the Matter and the Form of Salvation : Infinite Grace. — 7. Indispensable Neces
sity to Fallen Man of divine Guidance and Support in the Way of Life. — 8. Su
preme Relation of the Revealed WiU of God to Salvation : Infallible Rule of Faith
and Obedience. — II. 1. The true End of our Existence, and the Mode of attain
ing it, taught only and taught fully in the Sacred Scriptures. — 2. What we ought
to beheve concerning God, considered as the Saviour of Sinners, is matter of pure
Revelation. — 3. That Revelation the Infallible Rule of Faith : Its Completeness
and Efficacy. — 4. Relation of Righteousness to Faith — Truth to Duty: the Word
of God the Infallible Rule of the New Obedience.- — 5. Divine Restatement of the
Moral Law, and divine Regeneration of the human Soul : The Power of God unto
Salvation. — 6. All the Work and aU the Institutions of God, have Relevancy to
the Faith and Righteousness revealed by him, and to the Rule thereof — 7. The
Saviour of the World the central Object of all Truth revealed to our Faith, and
of ail Duty required by the Moral Law. — 8. The Sum and Scope of the Moral Law,
considered with direct Reference to Christ, and to those who beheve on him. —
9. Mediatorial Work of Christ — Universal and Unalterable Law of God — InfaUible
Rule of Faith and Practice — Infinite Righteousness and Grace of God. — 10. Posi
tion of the Sacred Scriptures as thus ascertained.
I. — 1. It has been proved, and repeatedly stated, that man
created in the image of God, and abiding in that condition,
would have perceived habitually what was true, and chosen what
was good, and thus would have found the habitual service and
enjoyment of God, his natural and his blessed condition in a
universe free from sin. It has also been proved, and repeatedly
stated, that even in that condition of sinless purity, unclouded
reason, and abounding felicity, man, being fallible, and dependent
on God in every sense, could not, of himself, and if strictly tried,
have perpetually maintained his condition, much less risen to a
higher state of being. God, who was the fountain of his being,

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 345
must also have been the fountain to him of light and strength.
We cannot conceive of a created being who is not dependent
upon God, and, as compared with him, imperfect and fallible ;
nor can we conceive that an imperfect and fallible creature, can
dispense with the perpetual presence and fruition of God in the
pursuit of what is true and good, any more than a created and
dependent being can dispense with him and live. How much
more obvious is this necessity for divine light and strength when,
instead of being merely fallible, we are actually fallen and de
praved ! Dependent, in our first estate, upon those communi
cations of God's grace whereby his image should be maintained
in a fallible soul which had been created in his likeness, and had
not yet lost it ; how much more are we dependent on him now, in
order that we may know with certainty what is true and what is
good, and may embrace them both with fervour and constancy !
Creatures of an infinite God, we cannot, if we would, extricate
ourselves from his infinite dominion. Objects of the love of an
infinite Saviour, why should we consummate our ruin, by reject
ing him who provides for us an ability in itself divine ? It is in
him alone that lost men are furnished at once with the ability
and the way of eternal life. And the immediate object of this
chapter is to point out the supreme relation which his blessed
word bears to the support and guidance of that life of God in our
souls, which manifests itself in nothing more decisively, than in
accepting that word as the only Infallible Eule of all Faith and
all Duty; that is, of all Truth and all Good unto salvation. Verily,
verily, I say unto you — these are the words of Jesus — he that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath ever
lasting life, and shall not come into condemnation ; but is passed
from death unto life.1
2. Independently of those permanent and regulative principles
which we call laws, which the human mind, by its very constitu
tion, is constantly impelled to search for and to accept in all things ;
there could exist no permanent relation between one thing and
another— nothing which could be called science ; knowledge could
never have increased, if indeed it could have existed in any proper
sense — and the very idea of duty would disappear. They belong
so decisively to the very essence of the whole order of the uni
verse, and enter so fundamentally into the constitution of our
1 John, v. 24.

346 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
own nature, that they are manifested in every thing that ex
ists, and in every act of our lives their existenee is imphed,
and thought itself is regulated by their irresistible control.
These permanent and regulative principles, in one form or
other pervading all things, are in the strictest sense — laios : nor
does it alter the case at all to call them laws of nature— laws of
thought — laws of morals — laws of this or that particular science.
They are laws whose existence implies, on one side, the existence
of him who gave them, and, on the other side, the existence of
the subject of them, the object upon which they operate. Our
ability to discern, to classify, and to use them, implies the exis
tence of our own rational nature : and our total inability to
create, to produce, or to impress a new one upon any subject, or
with reference to any existing thing, implies the complete de
pendence of our own being. In themselves, and in their relations
to us as rational and dependent beings, they demonstrate a Cre
ator and Buler of the universe, distinct from the universe itself.
They do this in the most general and absolute manner, altogether
beside any question of their own special nature. For, while it is
true that the special object and mode of operation of the law,
may be a conclusive evidence of the character of him who gave
the law ; it is the existence of the law itself, that puts beyond
dispute the existence of him who gave it. These laws are the
product of an intellect, a will, and a power competent to produce
them, and the universe, from whose essence and operation they
are inseparable. And operating under an unchangeable purpose,
for definite, unalterable, and illimitable ends, through all time,
upon all existence, throughout a boundless universe : we are not
only warranted, but forced, to attribute them to a lawgiver and
ruler who is infinite and eternal. The whole universe, all exis
tence upon which these laws operate, is shown by the fact of that
operation, to be dependent and created : it is all regulated by
those laws — but produced and sustained, not by the laws, but by
him who gave them. The moment we conceive of independent
and uncreated existence, the idea of law, in the strict sense,
regulative of it — disappears : because, otherwise, something is
before and above independent and uncreated existence — which is
absurd, since whatever is independent and uncreated, is eternal.
In like manner, if we could think either the author of law, or the
subject of law, out of existence, the idea of law itself neces-

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 347
sarily vanishes. If we can be certain that any thing exists in the
universe, which we can properly call law, and which we know
exists as a permanent, regulative principle in the universe ; then
it involves a direct contradiction to deny the existence of the
maker of that law — and another contradiction to deny the de
pendent and, therefore, created existence of the subject of that
law. In effect, we cannot construe to ourselves the existence of
the universe of which we form a part, or the action of any thing
we behold in it, without an infinite lawgiver and Creator result
ing on one side, and our own dependence and accountability re
sulting, on the other side.1 Such considerations are completely
decisive with reference to our own relations to God, whether
considered with regard to what we ought to believe concerning
him, or to what duty he requires of us. Nor does it affect their
conclusiveness in the smallest degree, whether we regard them
from the point of view of Natural Beligion or that of Bevealed
Beligion — from our stand-point as creatures, or from our stand
point as sinners. It is impossible to deny the existence of per
manent and regulative principles, pervading the universe with
an intimate, uniform, and irresistible force : but the moment we
admit their existence, what follows concerning ourselves is, the
absolute certainty that we must seek in the author of those laws
for the rule of our own conduct, and find in him the portion of
our own souls.
3. The discovery and full understanding by us, of these great
laws imposed upon all things by the Infinite Creator and Buler
of them all, is a matter altogether different from the nature and
significance of the laws themselves. Their existence and opera
tion, in most things, are completely independent of us — and in
all things the utmost extent of our ability, in our highest state
of knowledge, is a certain conformity, either instinctive or vol
untary, unto them — and thereby a certain use and application
of them. The discovery, the comprehension, and the voluntary
use of them, are amongst the highest distinctions of our spiritual
and rational nature : and yet the slow and irregular progress of
these conquests of our highest intelligence, is one of the most de
cisive proofs of our utter insignificance, when compared with the
great lawgiver. There is not a single department of knowledge
in which our discoveries can be said, with confidence, to have
1 Rom, i 18-24 ; ii. 13-16.

348 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
reached the end ; while in most, our course of discovery and use
is only fairly begun, nor has our total progress carried us far
enough to enable us to say we are even aware of the existence of
all. Moreover, how small is the proportion of our race that keeps
pace with this slow and irregular progress of the race in know
ledge ; bow marvellously limited has been the number of those
who have either permanently advanced the boundaries of know
ledge, or maintained it in the position it had reached ; and how
constantly has this small number been indebted for the glory of
being benefactors of mankind, to the special providence of God,
or the peculiar endowments with which he has distinguished
them ! Let it be borne in mind that this whole progress is a
progress in truth, and towards truth, and by means of truth; a
progress conducting us farther and farther from ignorance and
error — and nearer and nearer to the fountain of all truth. No
matter how various may be the methods resorted to — or how di
verse the subjects to which our enquiries are directed — truth is
the one great object of discovery in all — truth is the one great
rule of belief in all — truth is the one great relation in all, be
tween us as knowing, and all things as capable of being known.
Upon our ability to perceive the true, to comprehend it as mani
fested, and to use it according to its own glorious nature, every
issue of our rational and moral nature depends. Knowledge,
culture, power, advancement — each according to its kind, and
after its manner — ought to follow the reception of its natural ali
ment by the soul, as health, and beauty, and strength follow the
proper nourishment of the body. And these triumphs of feeble
man, as he discovers, and comprehends, and accords with the
lawgiver of the universe, ought to increase his dominion over na
ture — ought to advance his power in all that is good, and great,
and useful, and beautiful— ought to secure his high personal de
velopment and public freedom and civilization — ought to fit and
incite him to higher endeavours for the good of his fellow-men
and the glory of God— ought to bless, and purify, and exalt him,
both in this life and in the life to come. It is not by denying
God and casting him off — that progress is possible : it is by dis
covering him and being conformed unto him. To be lawless, is,
to us, not freedom, but perdition — and to the universe it is an
nihilation. 4. It is when we extricate ourselves from every thing but the

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 349
consideration of the moral aspect of our being, that these uni
versal truths apply with the most intense emphasis. It is in the
moral relations of truth, that the true becomes the good, and
reaches the highest elevation attainable in such a condition as
ours. And in what respect do those great regulative principles
of universal morality, which the Creator aud lawgiver of the uni
verse has established, differ, as to their origin, their perpetuity,
and their unalterable nature, from all other laws according to
which he has created the universe, and under which he sustains
and governs it ? That there are such laws of universal morality,
we have all the evidence we have that any other laws exist in the
universe ; and that they are of perpetual force, we have all the
evidence we have concerning all other laws of God, which enter
fundamentally into the essence of things ; and that man as the
peculiar subject of these laws is unavoidably obliged to recognize
and obey them, we have all the evidence we have that the pecu
liar subjects of all other laws of God are absolutely bound and
controlled by them. But in this case, besides having all the evi
dence that exists with respect to every other universal law of
God — and all the means of ascertaining what these laws are, that
exist with reference to the rest ; there are other sources of evi
dence concerning the existence, the nature, and the obligation
of these, altogether peculiar to them, and altogether overwhelm
ing. In the first place, God in the very creation of man, wrote
these laws in his nature so ineffaceably, that the ruin of the race
by the fall did not wholly efface them. In the second place, the
very object of the Covenant of Works was to exalt man into a
condition in which the whole race, by a covenanted right, should
live in the perpetual security, felicity, and purity of a perfect
conformity to these laws. In the third place, the existence of
these laws is a fact of positive and repeated revelation by God to
man — a summary of them, as written in man's nature when he
was created, was afterwards spoken by God, and written on tables
of stone, by his own finger, and made the basis of his written
revelation of his will — and the whole way of life whereby it was
ever possible for man to have peace with God always involved
them as the rule of it. In the fourth place, God has endowed
man with a conscience accusing or else excusing him, with refer
ence exclusively to his moral conduct and nature — and in con
nection with the state and operations of this moral faculty, the

350 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
relations of every human being towards God are determined —
and are felt by every one to be so both really and righteously. In
the fifth place, the work of New Creation in man by the Spirit
of God, has direct relation to the Moral Law — and the renewed
soul has no characteristic more decisive of its increased conformity
to God, than the restoration to it, through divine grace, of con
formity to his moral image.1 If then, upon the evidences which
are common to all the laws of God, and under which no one is
capable of disallowing any of the rest — we are forced to allow the
existence of his Moral Law, which is his transcendent law — and
to admit our unavoidable subjection to it : how incalculable, may
I not add how sublime, does the certainty of it and the glory of
it become, when we consider those proofs and manifestations of
it, which are peculiarly its own ! Thou hast magnified thy word
—says David — above all thy name !2 Surely such renown was
never put on any thing besides — that the Son of God should die
upon the cross, to magnify it and make it honourable !3
5. The supremacy of the moral sense in fallen man, and the
supremacy of the moral law in the universe, constitute that fear
ful problem of a guilty race hastening to deserved perdition — ¦
manifesting its sense of its guilt by every invention through
which it seeks to propitiate God, and yet continually heaping up
for itself wrath against the day of wrath. It is God who has
found a way to solve this problem, in such a manner as to secure
at once the highest glory of his name, and the highest blessed
ness of his fallen creatures. Not by changing, in the slightest
degree, the nature of his righteous law, or reducing in the small
est particular its claims upon us, and its dominion over us. Not,
on the other hand, by mitigating in the least the enormity of
our guilt, or reversing the just judgment of our conscience against
ourselves. But by bringing in and working out for us, through
the incarnation, obedience, and sacrifice of his only begotten Son,
an infinite and everlasting righteousness — transcending all that
his law demanded of us ; and by restoring us through his Spirit,
by a new and heavenly birth, to a higher participation of him than
we possessed before our fall. It is we that are changed in our
nature and in our estate : God has not changed — the supremacy
of conscience abides, the supremacy of the moral law abides ; but
) Gen, i. 27; ii 8-17; Exod, xx.; Rom, ii. 11-16; Eph, iv. 17-32.
2 Psalm cxxxviii. 2. s Isaiah, xiii. 21.

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 351
it is conscience enlightened and purified by the Spirit and word
0f Q-od — it is the law satisfied by the obedience and sacrifice of
Christ, whose righteousness is both imputed to us and wrought
in Us — it is the supreme triumph of infinite rectitude and grace
combined. 6. In all this, two things are pre-eminent : our restoration to
the moral image of God as the matter of our salvation, and the
work of redemption by Jesus Christ as the method of it. In
both, the existence, the perfection, the supremacy of the moral
law are fundamentally involved, and the moral perfections of
God are those which are conspicuously exhibited. The form,
therefore, in which universal morality has been always binding
upon our fallen race, had direct relation to the Son of God as the
Saviour of the world ; the supremacy of that law, independently
of him, necessarily involved the destruction of the transgressor,
and the supremacy of conscience availed only as the testimony
of our soul to the righteousness of our condemnation. In like
manner, the only form in which conformity to the moral law was
ever possible to fallen man, and the purity and felicity which
attend upon obedience to it were ever attainable by any trans
gressor, was through our union with him who was delivered for
our offences, and was raised again for our justification.1 The
keeping of the commandments of God, the New Creature, and
that faith which works by love, have always been inseparable :2
and the righteousness which is of God, by faith in Jesus Christ,
is the only righteousness attainable by fallen man, which is com
patible with wisdom, sanctification, and redemption.3 If, there
fore, the knowledge of what is at once unchangeably true and
unalterably good, and the practice of what is at once universally
right, obligatory, and blessed, be any part, much less the sum, of
that universal morality of which God is at once the fountain and
the lawgiver ; then it is inconceivable that dependent creatures,
who are also fallen and depraved sinners, can adequately know
or adequately do what is required in order to their acceptance
with God ; unless they be furnished by God himself with an in
fallible rule of all truth and all duty needful for their salvation,
and unless they be provided by God himself with light and power
adequate to the discovery, the comprehension, and the use of
' Rom, iv. 25. ¦> 1 Cor, vii. 19 ; Gal, v. 6 ; vi. 15.
3 Phil, hi 9 ; 1 Cor, i 30 ; 2 Cor, v. 21.

352 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
that divine rule of truth and duty. And from the first promise
of the Saviour of the world, through the whole life of the human
race, this has been the need of man, and the supply of that need
the course of divine grace. Instead of obscuring these simple
and august truths, it magnifies and exalts them, that the cost at
which they have been practically wrought out has been so amaz
ing — that the divine perfections have been so illustrated, and the
divine glory so augmented by the display of those perfections to
the universe — and that the redemption, the purification, and the
everlasting glory and blessedness of lost sinners have been the
fruits of God's sovereign grace !
7. In the treatise on the Knowledge of God, Objectively
Considered, I have devoted one Book to the consideration of the
sources of our Knowledge of God, and to what was designed
to be an exhaustive statement of the manifestations which he
makes of himself to man. Except as God manifests himself to
man, he is not a subject of human knowledge : in whatever
manner he does manifest himself to man, we are under the high
est obligations to use all diligence that we may apprehend
him, and become conformable unto him as known. Supposing
him to be known — and I think I have proved that he may be
known with infallible certainty unto salvation — then, as I have
also proved, his will made known to us considered simply as he
is our God and we are his creatures, and still more his will con
cerning us considered as he is our Saviour and we are his sinful
creatures — becomes an absolute and infallible rule of all duty to
us, as the knowledge derived from him, through the manifesta
tions he makes of himself to us, is supreme and infallible truth.
In God himself, therefore, the sum of all truth and all goodness,
and the fountain of both to all creatures, we his sinful creatures
are to seek, and may find, an infallible rule concerning all. that
man ought to believe concerning him, and also concerning all
duty required by him of man. It is easy to be understood that
the very multiplicity of the ways in which the Knowledge of God
is attainable by man, may be abused by us in our blindness, our
ignorance, our inattention, and our depravity, to our own confu
sion and perplexity — setting one manifestation of God against
another, confronting one exhibition of his nature and will against
another, arraying one record of eternal truth against another. It
is easy to understand how this should be done with design, through

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 353
the wickedness of man, and how it should be done through igno
rance and mistake even with the design of honouring God ; and
the history of all human conduct, behef, and speculation, is
crowded with examples in both kinds. That we may go astray
even when we profess to take God for our teacher, need not be
denied ; but that we need not do so in the matter of salvation,
seeing how God has taught us, is equally sure. What we practi
cally need is the reduction into a form — divinely certain and
divinely authoritative — of this knowledge of God concerning the
true and the good, unto our own salvation ; a rule in this sense,
whereby we may assuredly believe according to the infallible
teaching of God, assuredly live according to the infinitely right
eous and omnipotent will of God ; and so believing and living,
may have peace with our own conscience and with God, and may
obtain everlasting life. Thanks to the infinite faithfulness and
condescension of God, we have such a form, such a rule, of truth
and duty !
8. Supposing the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments
to be what they purport to be — they contain a divine revelation,
and are themselves a divine revelation, of all that man needs to
know, and all that man needs to be and do, in order to escape
punishment for his sins, obtain the favour of God, and inherit
everlasting blessedness.1 That these divine records are what they
claim to be, has been accepted as unquestionable by every right
eous man who ever came to the knowledge of them, from the first
uttering of them to the present moment. That they are so, I
have incidentally advanced, throughout this Treatise and the
one preceding it, many considerations which seemed to me con
clusive — and I purpose, in another place, to condense the proof
into a- formal statement. In them, therefore, is that absolute
truth unto salvation, besides which no truth unto salvation exists
— and that absolute and unchangeable morality, besides which
God requires of man no moral act. In them, the will of God
concerning fallen men in the matter of salvation, is revealed to
our faith with absolute certainty, infallible truth, and divine au
thority. Whatever knowledge of God is attainable by man
through all other manifestations of himself to man, so far as any
of it is indispensable to salvation, is reiterated in these inspired
writings : and creation, and providence, and the human soul,
1 Isaiah, viii 20 ; 2 Tim, hi, 15, 16 ; 2 Pet, i 19, 20.
VOL. II. 23

354 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. |B°0K m-
nay, even the Word made Flesh, and the author of the New
Creation— which I have proved are, besides the inspired word,
the remaining manifestations of God, are therein fully explicated
by God, with reference to the matter of our faith, our duty, and
our salvation. This is the aspect in which the question of a per
fect rule of faith and obedience — in other words the question of
truth and goodness— of knowledge and of moral duty— presents
itself, under the Gospel Church State, to a race of fallen men, of
whom the grand necessities are declared to be, Bepentance toward
God, and Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.1 This is the as
pect in which that same supreme question is presented to peni
tent and believing sinners, followers of the Son of God, to whom
the constant exhortation is, Grow in grace, and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.2 It seems to me impos
sible to doubt, that under the principles discussed and the facts
proved, the result is demonstrated. There are laws pervading
the universe — amongst the rest moral laws : these laws imply
God the lawgiver and man the self-conscious subject of them :
these laws are the infallible and unalterable rule of all moral con
duct — and all transgressors must perish under them : but if all
men — being fallen — are transgressors, and God in infinite mercy
reveals a Saviour to them — and therewith restates his Moral Law,
and makes plain its relation to the great salvation, and to Faith
in the divine Saviour : then that permanent revelation becomes
the perfect rule, at once of Faith and of Obedience to fallen men:
it is the exclusive and infallible guide in all divine truth and all
morality, unto salvation. What makes the point demonstrated
as efficacious as it is clear and precise, is that these same Scrip
tures reveal to us a divine interpreter of their sense, a divine
enforcer of their power, a divine agent in their effectual and
saving application to our souls, a divine witness to their truth
and to the blessedness they not only reveal, but convey. Im
pregnable in their outward evidences, irresistible in their inward
evidences — we pass to a still higher domain of certainty and con
viction, when through the Spirit of God abiding in the renewed
soul, the truth of God becomes the very life of it, through the
unction, the demonstration and the power of the Holy Ghost.5
II. — 1. These blessed Scriptures, thus shown to be the Infal-
i Acts, xx. 21. s 1 Peter, iii 18,
3 Ezek, xxxvi 26, 27 ; Rom., -viii. 9-17 ; John, xiv. 15-27.

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 355
lible Bule of our Faith and Obedience, teach us with great clear
ness that being the dependent and fallen creatures of an infi
nitely good, wise, powerful, holy, just and true God — our Cre
ator, benefactor, lawgiver, redeemer, and judge, the chief end of
our existence is, to glorify him and to enjoy him for ever.1 That
he will glorify himself, one how or other, by us and by all the
works of his hands, he has told us plainly — nor can any one
imagine any other result to be possible.2 But there is an amazing
difference between being made through our sins monuments of
the infinite justice of God, to the praise of his glory ; and, on
the other hand, illustrating the riches of his glory as vessels of
mercy, by such lives as become penitent and believing followers
of his only begotten Son.3 Nor is it a light thing to note, that
the enjoyment of God by us is indissolubly united with that ser
vice of him and that conformity to him, whereby his glory is il
lustrated and promoted. The knowledge, therefore, which we
need in order to accomplish the chief end of our existence by glo
rifying and enjoying God ; is summarily comprehended in know
ing what is true concerning God, and in knowing what his will is
concerning us. It is this which the Scriptures principally teach
— their very sum being, what man ought to believe concerning
God, and what duty God requires of man.4 That we have all
sinned and come short of the glory of God, and are sunk into
blindness and ignorance of divine things, and are naturally de
praved and averse to what is spiritually true and good, and are
under the dominion of divers lusts and many evil passions ; are
but terrible facts, making more clearly manifest our need of such
a light and such a power, as God has provided for us in his blessed
word. However miserable our estate and our way may be — here
is a lamp unto our feet, a light upon our path, the man of our
secret counsel : and it is a true saying, and worthy of all accep
tation, that Jesus Christ, whom those Scriptures reveal, came
into the world to save sinners — even the chief. Nor does the
helpless guilt into which we are plunged — disabling us in our
own strength, either to accept the divine teachings which would
make us wise unto salvation, or to reap that great reward which
attends the keeping of the divine commandments ; shut us out
from the hope of glorifying and enjoying God, except as we reject
•- Rom, xi. 36 ; 1 Cor, x. 31 ; Ps. lxxiii. 20-26; John, xvii. 22-24.
3 Prov, xvi 4. a Rom, ix. 22, 23. < John, xx. 31 ; 2 Tim, i. 13 ; Pa. cxix. 105.

356 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III,
him who is the end of the law itself for righteousness, and who
is the way, the truth, and the life.1 It is he alone who has glo
rified God by a perfect obedience : it is he alone who is the truth :
it is in him alone that the true and the good are made available
to us. As long as his words remain, All that the Father giveth
me, shall come to me ; and him that cometh to me, I will in no
wise cast out ;2 every true disciple of his should be ashamed of
his unworthy doubts and fears, and every humble seeker of him
should blush at his unbelief.
2. Considering the Scriptures as the perpetual and infallible
rule, in general, of what all men ought to believe concerning
God, and in particular, as a similar rule of the faith of all Chris
tians ; the light in which they present themselves would seem to
be too clear to allow the possibility of doubt — if the world had
not been filled with dishonouring allegations of their insufficiency
for such a purpose. I omit to say any thing here, of the ability
of God to make himself intelligible to man : I omit all proof
that he himself exhorts and commands us to accept and believe
his word, as a way of life perfectly clear and sure : I omit any
use of the overwhelming demonstration, that from the beginning
of time this way of life has been accepted and understood in ex
actly the same sense, as to every thing these Scriptures declare
to be essential to salvation, by every human being who, there is
any reason to believe, was ever saved.6 What supersedes, in
this place, the necessity of urging any other consideration — is
the subject-matter itself, viewed as an object of human know
ledge. The teachings of the Scriptures, touching faith and touch
ing morals, are widely distinct in their essential nature. The
Moral Law, as has been shown, was written on the soul of man
at his creation : the sacred writings, as has been shown, do not
change this law — they restate it, enforce its obligation by adding
the express to the natural authority of God, and explain its rela
tions to the plan of salvation — the relations of morality to grace.
But the grace — the faith — the salvation with which the word of
God is replenished— every thing that makes it a Gospel — the
power of God unto salvation : none of them were written on the
soul of man at his creation — none of them were embraced even
in the Covenant of Woeks. All — absolutely all— are matters of
pure Bevelation. Touching the whole Plan of Salvation by Jesus
i Rom, x. 10 , John xiv. 6. 2 John, vi 37. s 2 Tim., hi 14-17.

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 357
Christ — touching all that is known concerning God by means of
the Bevelation of this plan — -touching the entire relations of sal
vation by grace to the moral law, as well as to every thing else
in the universe ; all the knowledge that man ever possessed, is
revealed knowledge — and is contained in the sacred Scriptures.
It is all knowledge which transcends human knowledge ; God
alone possessed it — he alone could reveal it. Of two things,
therefore, one is unavoidable. Either the whole of what purports
to be a divine Bevelation of a new and living way, whereby life
and immortality are brought to light through the word of God,
and all the pretended knowledge of God and of salvation con
nected therewith, is one vast and absolute imposture ; or, being
true, real, and divine, it is itself the absolute and infallible rule
of belief in all that it reveals, and all men, in general, must ac
cept it as such, and Christians, in particular, must receive it as
the sole ground and rule of Faith unto salvation. It is true
there is an infallible interpreter of it : but he is the Holy Ghost,
who is the author of it all. It is true, each rational being, using
his best endeavours, and seeking the promised divine assistance,
must determine, for himself, the sense of the word. But this he
would have to do, if God spoke to him face to face ; this, he will
be obliged to do concerning the final sentence which will be
passed on him ; this, he cannot avoid, without abnegating his
rational and moral nature — and staking eternal life on a creature
like himself, rather than on the God who created him, the Sa
viour who redeemed him, and the Spirit who sanctifies him.
3. When we reflect that the very possibility of religion de
pends on the existence of our personal intelligence and accounta
bility, and consider that truth is the natural aliment of the human
understanding, and that the pursuit, the acquisition, and the en
joyment of it, are the fittest occupation and chief glory of our
nature ; how greatly should we magnify the name of God, for
that he has opened to us the very fountain of eternal truth, and
revealed it to us in himself, so that there — precisely where we
were most in darkness, and where it most behooved us to get
knowledge, the soul is delivered from its bondage, and God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. That we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, only makes it the more evident that the excellency of the

358 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK HI.
power is of God, and not of us. This manifestation of the truth
ought to commend itself to every man's conscience, in the sight
of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost :
in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine into them.1 To believe
any thing that is not true upon any subject whatever, is always
a manifold evil to us, and is always a proof of the weakness of
our fallen nature. But to believe what is false concerning God
himself, who is the sum of all truth, is an evil the whole extent
of which we do not state, when we say that in this way the
very end of our being, in glorifying and enjoying him, is most
thoroughly frustrated.2 On the other hand, This, says the Be
deemer, is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.3 These Scriptures,
therefore, the repository of that saving knowledge, and the record
of that eternal life to which it conducts us, are the power of God
unto salvation to every one that believeth." And concerning their
efficacy in making us wise unto salvation, he who judged himself
to have been the chief of sinners, and whom God has made one
of the most illustrious channels of conveying divine knowledge
to man, declares that the word of God is quick and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and mar
row, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.5
They who, in the greatness of their gifts and their attainments,
perceive the most clearly those boundaries within which human
knowledge is circumscribed, are the readiest to acknowledge our
need of the revelation which God has given us concerning divine
things : and they who have searched the deepest into this ex-
haustless store of divine knowledge and wisdom, are the. last to
claim that without it they could have found the way of life, or
that without it they can now walk in the way it has disclosed.
What marvel is there that the Christian loves his Bible with a
fervour, which not even an enthusiast in his devotion to any other
truth can comprehend ? Has it not made God, of whom he had
some dim conceptions before, perfectly known to him, as the
fountain of all truth, all goodness, all glory, all blessedness, and
J 2 Cor, iv. 2-7. 2 Psalm L. 21, 22; Prov, xiv. 12 ; xvi. 25.
3 John, xvii. 3. 4 John, v. 39; Rom, i 16. 5 Heb, iv. 12.

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 359
as such his God in Christ ? Has it not made Christ, of whom.
independently of revelation, he knew nothing, and in whom at
first he saw no beauty that he should desire him, perfectly known
to him as the Saviour of his soul, and his satisfying and eternal
portion ? Has it not taught him truths so high, so precious, so
full, so certain, so wonderful, that all things are become new, and
that in their mighty working in him by the power of the Holy
Ghost, he also himself has become a new creature ? Has it not
been unto him as the sword of the Spirit, by which mighty victo
ries have been won in him, and won through him, and by which
mighty victories are still to be won — conquering and to conquer?
Surely there is no marvel in such confidence and love : but there
is wondrous proof therein. Whether this divine word be the in
fallible teacher as to what we ought to believe and do, let the
countless millions of redeemed souls attest, whose faith and new
obedience it was the instrument to beget, the means to nourish,
and the rule to direct. And then let the universe be searched for
a single soul, that knows the true God and Jesus Christ whom he
has sent, irrespective of the divine truth herein revealed ; or whose
faith and life, guided by any other rule, availed to save him from
the wrath to come.
4. It is not possible to conceive of any thing as good, irre
spective of its nature as true also ; so that evangelical righteous
ness has its root in revealed truth, no less really than universal
morality has its root in truth cognizable to man as he was cre
ated. The performance of duty cannot precede knowledge —
knowledge cannot precede truth — obedience cannot exist inde
pendently of belief. Without holiness no man shall see God :J
but yet it is after God that the new man is created in the holi
ness of truth :2 and, therefore, it is through the righteousness of
faith that sinners are saved, and become heirs of all the promises :3
and that is a righteousness which is itself revealed, from faith to
faith.4 Not only, therefore, are the Scriptures the rule of all
belief touching divine things, as has been proved ; but, explicitly,
both from the nature of the case and from their own express
statements, the truth they reveal, and the faith they require, un
derlie the whole of that New Obedience they exact, and are the
foundation of it. In the perfect state of man, to say, do and
1 Heb, xii. 14. 2 Eph, iv. 24; ii 10.
' Rom, iii 22; iv. 13. 4 Rom., i. 17.

360 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
live, might bring eternal life within reach of him who already knew
God. But to man, fallen and ignorant of God, no other way of
life is possible, except that the just shall live by faith.1 The dis
tinction involves the whole difference between the Covenant of
Grace, on one side, and the Covenant of Works and the primeval
state of man, on the other. To the sinner, obedience to God
neither is, nor can be, the ground of his interest in God : it is
the fruit and evidence of that interest.2 I am the Lord thy God,3
are the words with which God prefaces the Moral Law, which is
the rule of all obedience : it is because God is the Lord, and our
God and Bedeemer, that we are bound to keep all his command
ments. The part of sinners is to accept the Saviour sent of God,
and the eternal life revealed in him ; and then the obedience
which is of faith — embracing every commandment of God, is to
be accomplished throughout their whole life of faith, repentance,
the new obedience, good works, and the spiritual warfare. Faith,
so far from making the law void, establishes it.4 For it is Christ
Jesus our Saviour, who alone has perfectly kept the law — it is
the Holy Ghost our Comforter and Sanctifier, who inspired it
all, and it is the new creature alone who is conformed to it. The
connection between the true Knowledge of God and true obedi
ence to his holy law, between the faith and the duty, of both of
which the Scriptures are the perfect rule — is in its very nature
such as to make the true obedience — the duty — wholly impossi
ble irrespective of the true knowledge — the faith. Greatly, there
fore, as we err if we imagine true religion to be possible, independ
ently of the strict observance of all morality ; the error is not
less grievous, to suppose that any obedience to the moral law,
which will avail in the sight of God, is possible to us, independ
ently of that knowledge of him which is revealed in Christ
Jesus. In effect, it is the Scriptures alone which teach us this —
and through them, both ways, we are complete in him who is
the head of all principality and power.5 By union and commu
nion with him, we are made partakers of the riches of the re
vealed grace of God, in the knowledge of his adorable name, and
the holiness of his blessed law. It is thus that the riches of
Christ are indeed unsearchable.6
i Gal, iii 8-14. * Rom, iii 31.
2 1 John, ii 3-5. * Col, ii 10.
3 Exod., xx. 2. « Eph, ii 8-12 ; i 3-12 ; Col, i 24-28.

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 361
5. Manifestly, where no law is, there is no transgression.1
Manifestly again, whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also
the law : for sin is the transgression of the law.2 And yet once
more, manifestly, all unrighteousness is sin.6 These propositions,
each one of which is precisely asserted by God, and clear to hu
man reason and conscience, are decisive of the whole subject.
Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.4 But whether we
be considered as the creatures of God, or as sinners redeemed by
the blood of Christ, it is mockery of God to suppose we can enjoy
his favour while we lie under the curse of his law ; and it is
mockery of us to say we can have any fruition of him while our
nature revolts at that which he requires of us, and is prone only
to that which is forbidden by him. Always, therefore, and under
all possible estates, the law of God is the rule of life and death,
the rule of sin and holiness, the rule of happiness and misery
unto us. It avails nothing to say we are fallen and cannot keep
the law : that only renders more obvious our necessity for union
with Christ, who did perfectly keep it on our behalf. It avails
nothing to urge that being united to Christ, it is the righteous
ness of faith whereby we are saved : for the New Creature, who
alone can exercise faith in Christ, has the law of God written
anew on his heart, and loves that law and abhors himself for every
transgression of it, and every want of conformity unto it, exactly
in proportion to his growth in grace. The restoration by revela
tion from heaven of the knowledge of that law effaced in man by
the fall, was an act of God, with reference to the law, responsive
to his act restoring man to the lost image of himself. Both acts
appertain to the Covenant of Grace — both have direct relation to
true religion and the salvation of the soul — and the impiety is
no greater to deny the new birth, than to assert that the new
birth is irrespective of our moral nature and obligations. Now it
is in the divine word that all these truths are made known unto us
— this divine restoration of man, this divine restatement of the
moral law, these divine relations between the one and the other
wonderful work of God : and in it they are so made known, that,
in their glorious fulness, they become the Gospel of Christ— -
which is the power of God unto salvation. There only is a divine
Saviour made known to us, in whose incarnation, obedience, and
sacrifice, a divine righteousness is attainable by us, through which
1 Rom, iv. 15. 2 1 John, iii 4. 3 1 John, v. 17. 4 Heb, xii 14.

362 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK in.
our imperfect obedience is acceptable to God ; there only is a
divine agent revealed to us, by whom a righteousness fitting us
for the service and enjoyment of God is wrought in us, these very
Scriptures being, as has been proved, the instrument of the sanc
tifying work of the Holy Ghost. If, therefore, any reliance is to
be placed on the express declarations of these sacred writings —
or on the knowledge they impart to us concerning God, and man,
and the relations between them ; then there is no room to doubt
that the invariable judgment and experience of all souls truly
enlightened in divine things are just, and that herein is delivered
to us infallibly, the sum as well as the rule both of obedience and
faith. It may be added with confidence, that the clear accep
tation of the divine truths revealed to our faith, and the living
conformity to the duties divinely required of us, are the very
measure of the power of the divine life within us.
6. I have spoken with particular reference to the moral law
— and more generally of the whole will of God no matter how we
may come to the knowledge of it — and very specially of the
written revelation of the divine will, as containing all that God
requires man to believe concerning him, and the whole duty that
God requires of man. Those positive commands and ordinations
of God which he has at any time made known to man, and those
intimations of his will through his infinite providence, which con
tinually attend the progress of our whole race and that of every
individual of it, and that working of his divine Spirit in the souls
of men, which is so specially the life of all God's children and so
universally the scoff of every form of unbelief : all these will he
found to have the most intimate relations with each other, and a
perpetual relevancy to that unalterable faith and morality, the
claims of which and the rule of which I have been urging. This
renders it needless, at this time, to enter upon the discussion of
topics so numerous and so great, whose special exposition belongs
to the regular ministrations of the pulpit, and to treatises whose
form and object are different from the present one. I have
shown in a previous Treatise, that the institution of the Sabbath
day was coeval with the creation of man ; and that the consecra
tion by God of man, to his special service and enjoyment, and the
consecration of the seventh day with special reference thereto,
were the primeval acts of God's sovereign goodness in the way
of dominion over the exalted being he had just created in his own

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 363
image.1 When, so many ages afterwards, God spoke and re
corded with his own finger on tables of stone, the law which he
had first written on man's heart ; it is not strange that he placed
in the midst thereof that law of a blessed Sabbath, which was
from the beginning of time and of human existence, indepen
dently of which in some form man had never known any moral
law, nor had any idea of his own consecration to his Creator.
Nor is there the least cause of surprise, when we consider these
things, that the Lord Jesus should have made his exercise of
lordship over the Sabbath day, one of the crushing proofs of his
own divine authority; and that he should have taught with so
much emphasis that in its very nature and existence it had, like
the law written on the heart, relation to the very being and
blessedness of man.2 With that restoration of the moral law by
God, moreover, commenced the written revelation of his will —
and every word he has caused to be revealed and written since,
stands in indissoluble connection with it. It lay at the basis of
the ceremonial, political, and Levitical, as well as religious system
erected by Moses at the command of God : and the Gospel
Church founded on the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ him
self being the chief corner stone, is so far from being independent
of this unalterable rule of right, that every member of it is cre
ated in Christ Jesus unto Good Works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them.6 Nor is the New Birth
itself more inscrutable to us, than is the power of God in creation
by which the law written in man's heart should be reproduced
in us through endless generations, just as it stood in the first
fallen man ; nay, reproduced with the record also of its primeval
violation, in the same terror of God's presence in every child of
Adam, which Adam himself felt as soon as he had fallen ;4 a
terror from which nothing can deliver us but faith on the Son of
God.6 In every direction all these sublime truths illustrate and
fortify each other : and each one of these great topics may be
taken in succession, and made the centre from which all the rest
may be displayed. In itself, not one is more distinct than this
of God's unalterable moral law ; and however the exact nature
of particular duties may sometimes perplex us, nothing can be
more certain than the nature of duty itself — nothing more assured
1 Gen, i. 28 ; ii. 3. 2 Matt, xii. 1-8 ; Mark, ii 23-28. ' Eph, ii. 10-22.
4 Gen, hi 10; 1 John, iii 20, 21. 5 Rom, v. 1, 2.

364 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK HI.
than its infallible sum and rule. A law emanating from God
himself — written on every human heart by nature — restored by
the finger of God — incorporated with all revealed religion — illus
trated throughout the whole sacred Scriptures— perfectly fulfilled
and complete satisfaction made to it by the divine Bedeemer
in our room and stead : we are born again by his Word and
Spirit into the lost image of God and a new conformity to his
holy law — the love of that blessed law the very fruit of our new
life as we increase in conformity to God, and in fitness for his
service and enjoyment ! Well may God's prophet declare, He
hath showed thee 0 man what is good ; and what doth the Lord
require of thee, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God ? 1 Well may the inspired preacher pro
claim the conclusion of the whole matter to be, that we should,
Fear God and keep his commandments : for this is the whole
duty of man.2 It is Jesus who crowns all : I am the way, the
truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father but by me :
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me : and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.3
7. Thus connecting all duty with all faith — thus uniting all
the good with all the true — thus laying in the very nature of
man an original ability, and in his fallen state a susceptibility of
restoration, to the service and enjoyment of God — thus founding
in God himself, the author and first cause of all things, the root,
and course, and end of all the mysteries of nature and of grace
— thus accepting the Son of God as the Saviour of the world,
in whom all these mysteries are solved, and all things are reca
pitulated and redressed : we turn to the written word of God, the
repository of all these sublime truths, and confessing it to be the
infallible source of knowledge, whereby we may be enabled to
glorify God and enjoy him for ever, which is the chief end of our
existence — we seek in these Scriptures, in order to that end, spe
cifically what we ought to believe concerning God, and what duty
God requires of us. They give us, specifically, that knowledge-
line upon line, precept upon precept : they give it with divine
authority as to the matter, and with divine certainty as to the
form : through them, we receive, by the Spirit of God, a divine
illumination wherein a true insight of them is attainable — a
divine regeneration and sanctification wherein a continually in-
1 Micah, vi 8. ' Eccles, xii 13. 3 John xiv. 6; vi. 37.

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 365
creasing conformity unto them is attainable : and as the founda
tion, at once, and consummation of all, we receive the Saviour
of our souls, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteous
ness, and sanctification, and redemption.1 Touching all duty, he
has himself laid down the universal and unalterable rule, Observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you.2 And thus all that
has been written of him, was in order that we might believe that
Jesus is the Christ the Son of God : and that believing we might
have life through his name.6 And thus repentance and remission
of sins have been preached in his name among all nations, begin
ning at Jerusalem.4 So that beyond all doubt, if there be no
other name under heaven, given amongst men, whereby we must
be saved, but the name of Jesus ; there can be no other rule of
salvation given under heaven amongst men, but that which Jesus
gives us ; and there can be no other infallible assurance that we
possess either the Saviour, the salvation, or the rule, except that
which is grounded in the word inspired, and the work wrought in
us, by the Spirit of Jesus.
8. If we would know with certainty that the things com
manded by Jesus touching all duty, are the very things embraced
in that unalterable law of God which he himself perfectly ful
filled, and under which he shed his most precious blood to redeem
us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zeal
ous of good works ; we have but to hearken to his own emphatic
words, Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the
prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I
say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle
shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.5 As re
stated by God, the first four commandments, composing the first
table of the law, comprise a summary of man's duty to God, and
the last six commandments, composing the second table of the
law, comprise a summary of man's duty to his fellow-man.6 That
we shall accept the true God and renounce every other God : that
we shall avoid all idolatry even in the worship of the true God :
that we shall avoid all irreverence towards God : that we shall
devote six days to the diligent pursuit of our lawful business,
and keep the seventh day as a Sabbath consecrated to God :
this, a human interpreter would give as the general sense of that
1 1 Cor, 1 30. 2 Matt, xxviii. 20. 3 John, xx. 31.
4 Luke, xxiv. 47. 5 Matt, v. 17, 18. " Exod, xx.

366 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK III.
first table, which our Lord sums up in the one sentence, Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.1 That
we shall honour our parents, that we shall not kill, that we shall
respect the property of others, that we shall preserve our own
and their chastity, that we shall adhere to the truth, and that
we shall be content with our lot : this is what, according to
human thinking, would be the general sum of the second table,
whose sum our Lord teaches us is, That we should love our
neighbour as ourselves, and that All things whatsoever we would
that men should do unto us, we should do even so to them.2 The
republication of this universal law was in the form of a cove
nant, entered into at Mount Sinai, between God and his peo
ple ;3 wherein was recognized the Covenant of Bedemption, and
the moral law as the law of Christ, and a rule of life to his
seed ;4 and wherein was recognized, also, the binding obligation
of the penalty of the Covenant of Works, to be inflicted on the
wicked in the great day, and to be borne by Christ for his peo
ple.5 Let us remember, also, that God has declared this law to
be perfect, to be spiritual, and to be exceeding broad :" and then
we shall easily realize the propriety of those perpetual exposi
tions of its irresistible penetration and force, its illimitable
depth and completeness, its all-pervading compass and energy,
its divine rectitude and majesty, which pervade the sacred
Scriptures. And when we consider the relations of this law to
God, to the nature of man, to the Covenant of Grace, to the
Mediator of that Covenant, and to salvation as wrought out by
Christ, and explained in the Scriptures, and actually and trium
phantly applied to fallen man ; the exposition of its sum as being
love to God and love to our fellow-men — the love of a renewed
soul- — -the love by which faith works — so far from being an ex
aggeration, is perceived as soon as Christ utters it, to be the
unavoidable consummation of the sublime argument involved in
the sublime data.'
9. It is impossible to address ourselves to any particular man-
1 Luke, x. 27; Deut, vi. 5. ' Matt, xxii. 39; vii. 12.
3 Deut, v. 2 ; Exod, xxxiv. 28 ; Deut, ix. 9. 4 Rom _ v^. 4 . Q^ iii. 16, 17.
B Psalm lxix. 4; Deut, v. 22, 26; Heb, xii. 21.
6 Psalm xix. 7 ; Rom., vii. 14 ; Psalm cxix. 96.
1 Rom, xiii. 10; Gal, v. 6; Deut, xxx. 6 ; Rom, xh. 9 ; Isa, xxvi. 8, 9; Matt,
X. 37, 38 ; Psalm lxxiii 24-26.

CHAP. XVIII.] THE INFALLIBLE RULE. 367
ner of analysing the law of God, considered in itself and in the
great relations of it which have been suggested, and to accom
plish this in a manner as exhaustive as our faculties allow ;
without continually arriving, by one process after another, at
those clear and grand results, which Christ has declared to us,
and which I have endeavoured to state and estimate. Thus, if
we consider the law under its successive aspects of preceptive on
the one side, and penal on the other ; it is only as Christ, in our
nature and in our stead, has perfectly kept every precept of it,
that we in bim can be considered and treated as if we had kept
those precepts ; and only as he, in our nature and in our stead,
has paid its penalty and endured its curse, that we in him can
escape the wrath to come. While all this involves the whole
mediatorial office and work of Christ, and our union and com
munion with him ; it involves, at the same time, the complete
recognition of the law as being the holy, just, and unalterable
law of God ; it involves the complete recognition of the sacred
Scriptures as the repository of that law and as the infallible rule
both of our faith in Christ and our obedience to the law ; and it
involves the complete recognition of the infinite righteousness
and grace of God, as the giver both of the law and the Saviour.
The result is still the same if we endeavour so to analyze the
law, as to consider separately, what duty it requires of us to
wards God, what towards ourselves, and what towards others ;
and then, passing farther, consider under the last of these three
divisions, the multiplied subdivisions which the order and pro
gress of nature and society beget — the relative duties of parents
and children, husbands and wives, masters and servants, chil
dren of the same family, citizens of the same commonwealth —
nay even members of the same fallen race. Passing by all but
the last and most universal relation — how immeasurable in its
influence upon that, is the idea of a divine Bedeemer for lost
men, when added to the idea of a divine law for them, which
he comes, in their common nature, to obey, to satisfy, and mag
nify for them ! Taken as a race, under the law, with and with
out the idea of their brotherhood in Christ Jesus, with and
without a common Saviour and a common salvation — how im
measurably different in the two cases, is their condition and their
destiny ! We must never permit ourselves to forget that law
lessness, everywhere and in every estate, signifies ruin, to every

368 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK HI.
dependent creature : and that law means death as well as life —
life and death being the only alternatives that are possible, when
God, and man, and a moral law, are the elements from which a
conclusion must flow. Under the law, we are already lost sin
ners. To alter, to abolish, to evade, or to keep the law — are all
impossible. A Saviour is the sole remedy — the sole alternative
against perdition. Therefore it is, that Faith, Bepentance, New
Obedience, Good Works, Spiritual Warfare — have such immense
significance — and the Infallible Bule of them all such boundless
importance. 10. Such is the relation of the sacred Scriptures to the
human race, and more especially to the Messianic Kingdom, from
the point of view occupied in the present inquiry. The truth
contained in them is the only truth whereby we can be made
wise unto salvation — the duties revealed in them are the only
duties which a soul thus made wise admits — the Saviour who is
their centre and sum is the only Mediator between God and
man, the only Bedeemer of God's Elect. They are, therefore,
the revealed, the unalterable, and the universal Bule of Faith,
and of Morality ; and in them, being divinely taught what we
ought to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires
of us, we are plainly, powerfully, and completely guided by the
Holy Ghost to the chief end of our existence, in glorifying God
and enjoying him for ever.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD,
SUBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED.

ARGUMENT OF THE FOURTH BOOK.
What may be called the purely individual and personal aspect of the Religion
of God, in its influence upon the soul and life of each particular Christian, was
concluded in the preceding Book. The fundamental conditions of what may be
called the purely social and organic effects of that Religion, with regard to those
whose separate experience has been traced to the end, are disclosed in this Fourth
Book. Our relations are direct with the Lord Jesus, in our Union and Commu
nion with him ; they are also direct with all our brethren in Christ, in the sense
that all of them have communion with each other, by reason of their mutual
union with Christ. That union with Christ, is the immediate basis of grace and
salvation, personaUy considered : communion with each other, -the immediate
basis of organized Christianity — the Church. — Christ is equally the head, supreme
and exclusive, of every particular Christian having communion with him ; and
of every organic union of Christians, having communion with each other, in
consequence of the previous union of all of them with him ; and this is equally
true, in every conceivable state of the developement of this Christian brotherhood.
The extent to which these truths are used in producing an organism, is different
under different dispensations. The Kingdom of God is exhibited to us in the
Scriptures in such a manner as to involve perpetually a threefold aspect ; namely,
from its head Christ, it is exhibited as the Kingdom of Messiah — from its author
the Holy Spirit, as the New Creation — and from its members the Children of
God, as the Body, the Bride, the Fulness, the Church of Christ. It is this last
aspect of the Kingdom of God. now militant in its gospel state, which is the
direct effect of those dealings of God with men in the matter of salvation, which
is now to be discussed, in tracing the Subjective Knowledge of God into, and
afterwards through, that divine organism. In the Nineteenth Chapter, there
fore, which is the First of this Fourth Book, it is shown that the fundamental
conception ot the Church of Christ, considered as the Kingdom of God, is that
it is the body organized of those, whom the Mediator redeems as their Priest,
teaches as their Prophet, and rules over as their King ; and that the supreme
and exclusive Headship of Christ, and the Communion of Saints, are the two
elemental principles of the divine Organization thus conceived; this being a
24

370 ARGUMENT OP THE FOURTH BOOK.
Peculiar Kingdom, not commensurate with the human race, but created by the
Holy Ghost out of those chosen out of all kingdoms, by God's free and sover
eign Grace : and the divine procedure, in the gradual and permanent organiza
tion of the Visible Church, is traced through all past Dispensations — the effects
of every successive act of God are stated — the result reached and the principles
yielded to us in the Gospel Church are demonstrated — and the great conception
and elemental principles pervading all, are shown to be unchangeable, in all
future, as in all past dispensations. The Twentieth Chapter, which is the Second
of this Book, is devoted to the disclosure of the Nature and Ends of this King
dom of God, and the exposition of the means of estimating the one and the
other : these means being supremely, the word of God, in its historical, its pro
phetical, and its ethical teachings, with direct reference to the special matter;
in illustration of which, is the actual Church, since the Canon of Scripture closed,
historic and present : the nature of this Kingdom being, that it is spiritual, ever
lasting, and universal — witnessing for God in time, and through eternity : the
immediate object of its divine organization being its own Perfection and Exten
sion — therein saving sinners, perfecting saints, illustrating its own nature and
end — and the nature of God's Being and Grace : the obligatory force of its
divine organism — its own relation to Faith and Duty — and the resources given
to it by God, being all complete. The Twenty-first Chapter, which is the Third of
this Book, is occupied with an attempt to deduce and to explicate this Kingdom
of God, in its intimate Nature and fundamental Principles, considered as the
Visible Church of the Lord Jesus Christ : wherein the gracious Interposition of
God, and the Probation of the human race, are considered in their actual, their
theoretical, and their revealed results; and God's manifold dealings with the
human race — responsive to these manifold results, and the concatenation of his
Providence and his Grace, are traced to the separate and visible organization of
his Kingdom, and the simultaneous visible rejection of the world : the relation
between the Nature of Man, the Nature of Society, and the Nature of the
Church Visible of Christ, is carefully traced — the fundamental principles com
mon to all are disclosed — the relevancy of all to God, and to each other, is
pointed out — the peculiar and divine distinction between the Church and the
Body Pohtic is explicated — :and the strict definition of the Church, thus demon
strated, is given. The Twenty-second Chapter, which is the Fourth of this Book,
is devoted to the Demonstration of the Freedom of the Church of the living God;
which is shown to consist outwardly, in its total separation from the Civil State,
and inwardly in its absolute consecration to Christ : to the establishment of the
first element of this Freedom, it is shown that the Household, the State, and
the Church, are all equaUy ordained of God — that they alone are ordained of
him — that unitedly they exhaust the social susceptibilities of man — that the
sphere of each, where aU exist, is both naturally and divinely incompatible with
that of both the others — that aU tendency to the union of the Civil State and
the Church, is destructive alike of the freedom of Nations and of the Nature of
the Church — and contrary to the Will of God ; most especially in that any such
union obscures the Visibility of the True Church, by confounding it with the
world whose rejection by God, is an elemental part of that Visibility : to the

ARGUMENT OF THE FOURTH BOOK. 371
establishment of the second element of the Freedom of the Church, the relation
of the Glorified Redeemer to his Church and that of his Church to him, and her
Blessedness in his infinite Dominion over her, are disclosed; and her true inward
Freedom, without which she can have no outward Freedom, nor be his Church
at aH, is shown to result from her union and communion with him, and to be ex
pressed and exercised in her absolute consecration to him, as the true and high
est expression of her Spiritual Freedom. The Twenty-Third Chapter, which is
the Fifth of this Book, starts from an advanced point in the enquiry ; the funda
mental Idea of the Church and its elemental Principles — the Nature and End of
it — the deduction and solution of its great Problem — and the Spiritual Freedom
of it in Christ, having been disclosed, and a fixed and complete conception of it
obtained. This Chapter, therefore, proceeds to settle the principles upon which,
at the end of so many centuries and vicissitudes, we may practicaUy and infalli
bly determine the True Church Visible of the Lord Jesus Christ, amongst innu
merable rehgions and sects. It discusses the elements of the Question of the
Church, showing that there are three of them, to wit, the Historical, the Logi
cal, the Supernatural — explicating all three, demonstrating their use and relative
importance, and the supremacy of the Supernatural element over both the others
— and that of the Logical element over the Historical : all possible forms of re
ligion are then reduced to three, which are stated, discussed, and the only true
one demonstrated; and then the principles upon which the infallible Marks of
the True Church are to be settled, are demonstrated with reference to the only
true form that is possible to Religion. The three remaining Chapters are devoted
to the discussion of the three divine Marks by which the true, visible, universal
Church of God is infallibly determined — one Chapter to each infallible Mark.
The Twenty-Fourth Chapter, which is the Sixth of this Book, is occupied with
the demonstration that Purity of Faith is the first of those infallible Marks. The
causes of the aUeged difficulties in ascertaining the True Church, are designated
— and the nature and design of the impostures resorted to are disclosed : — the
state of the renewed soul — the nature of revealed salvation — and the rehgion of
the True Church, are shown to be absolutely correlates of each other — the fun
damental characteristic of the whole being Faith in the divine Mediator, through
whom is all Grace : the divine word which reveals the Saviour, the Faith, and
the Church — is shown to be the infallible Rule of Faith in that Saviour; and the
infallible Arbiter of every Church that can be his — and the question of salvation
being settled, no matter how, the questions of the Church — of the Rule of Faith
— and of the Judge of Controversies follow, as necessary CoroUaries, the nature
of the salvation — the whole of which are discussed : the relation of true Faith
to all Christian graces is explained — and the saving work of the Holy Ghost is
shown to be the vital fact with reference to Faith, and by consequence to the
life of God in every believer, and in the Church — which is the Body of Christ :
and in the end, the nature and ground of our judgments concerning true Faith
and the True Church — the nature and force of the symbolical statements of the
True Church — and the hatred of God towards corrupt and apostate churches —
are pointed out. The Twenty-Fifth Chapter, which is the Seventh of this Book,
is devoted to the explication of the Idea of the true and spiritual Worship of

372 ARGUMENT OF THE FOURTH BOOK.
God, as revealed in the sacred Scriptures ; showing that it is elemental and al]
pervading, in the rehgion therein revealed to man ; the recognition, service, wor
ship of the true God, through the only Mediator, by the divine Spirit, being the
very method of the fruition of him — and of the manifestation of his glory, both
by his children individually, and by his organized Visible Church, of which it is
an InfaUible Mark : in the demonstration of which, the relation of the word of
God, and the life of God in the soul, to each other, and to the worship of God ;
the relation of the Plan of Salvation, the work of the Spirit, and the divine Idea
and organism of the Church, to each other, and to the Worship of God ; the re
lation of Worship, to Religion, and to God ; the relation of the Priesthood, and
Sacrifice of Christ, and of his Ascension Gifts, to the Idea of true Worship in the
Church of God ; the Royal Priesthood of the Peculiar People ; and the special,
revealed Worship of the Christian Church ; are aU briefly considered — and closed
with a summary demonstration of the infaUible certainty of this Mark. The
Twenty-Sixth Chapter, which is the Eighth and last of this Book, is devoted to
the exposition of Holy Living, as the third Infallible Mark of the True Church:
the relation of aU righteousness in man to the law of God — and of aU gospel holi
ness to Christ, to Faith, and to the spiritual Worship of God, is disclosed : the
reality of Moral Distinctions, and the demonstration they afford of God, and of
his nature as the fountain of all Goodness, is pointed out : the neglect and the
perversion of these as fatal — the indissoluble connection between Blessedness
and Hohness — and the nature of the Holiness which distinguishes the True
Church — are explicated, and the unity of that Holiness, with each of the pre
ceding Marks of that Church is proved : then the unity of the Mystery of God
liness is pointed out, and the perfection of Knowledge, of Duty, and of Grace,
is shown to coincide with Goodness : the Chapter and the Book close, with an
exhibition of the true life of the Church, as the power of the Holy Ghost — of
the conclusive effect of the supremacy of the Supernatural Element in the Ques
tion of the Church — and of the Majesty and Glory of that Church. This brief
synopsis of a somewhat extended attempt to demonstrate, upon the divine word,
the precise nature of the Gospel Church, independently of the great Gifts of God
to his Church, which wiU be discussed in the next Book, and which make every
thing more specific ; is itself capable, perhaps, of being reduced to a more con
densed, and still intelligible statement of the leading truths. Thus — God has a
Visible Church in this World, which is held forth in his regenerate children, or
ganized by him upon the twofold basis, of the Union and Communion of Christ,
its only Head, with every member of it — and the communion, through Christ,
of aU the members with each other : The Means, divine and human, of appre
ciating the Nature and End of this Visible Church, are complete; and they
clearly demonstrate that it is the manifestation, in time, of a Spiritual, Universal
and Eternal Kingdom, whose End is the illustration of the Glory of God, in the
salvation of fallen men : This Church, visible, universal, of the Lord Jesus Christ,
now mihtant in its Gospel state as shaped by his inspired Apostles — is deduced
through all God's Acts of Providence and Grace touching the salvation of man,
from the beginning of time and the creation of man ; and is unchangeable in
form and substance, until the second Coming of the Son of Man : It possesses

ARGUMENT OP THE FOURTH BOOK. 373
a pecuhar divine organization, separate from the world, and not commensurate
with the human race ; — whose functions, based on principles inherent in human
nature, and common to aU forms of society; are, in their exercise, limited,
bounded, and directed, by the WUl of God revealed in the sacred Scriptures —
which are its infaUible Rule, in all things :. By the Will of God, this Church is
Free ; made Free, inwardly, by the Holy Ghost, its inward Freedom depends
upon and is manifested by its consecration to Christ, its only Head ; made Free,
outwardly, by the command of God, its outward Freedom depends upon its com
plete organic separation from the world ; thus Free, the subject-matter of its mis
sion is — aU things whatsoever Christ has commanded — aU things that are to be
addressed to the Faith of men : This Church is perfectly manifest to all men who
come in contact with it, and is incapable of being mistaken, when duly consid
ered, by God's children ; there being but one possible form of true Religion,
namely, that which is the sum and result of God's Revealed Truth ; there being
but few Elements in the Question of the True Church, and they simple and de
cisive, and the supreme one being Supernatural ; so that the Marks which the
Church of the hving God has, are few, clear, and infallible : These InfaUible Marks
of this True Church of Christ, are the constant and inevitable product of the
Grace of God in every renewed soul, and of the life of God in his Church ; they
are responsive to the whole nature, end, and power, of Revealed Rehgion ; they
are correlates of the fundamental divisions of the scienee of the Knowledge of
God, namely, God, man, Godman ; they are expository of the mode of God's
existence, and of the way of man's salvation ; and finally, they are distinctly and
verbaUy revealed to be, Faith in Christ Jesus, the Worship of God in Spirit and
in Truth, and Hohness of heart and life; which being absent — there is no
Christian — no Church.

CHAPTER XIX.
THE CHILDREN OF GOD UNITED INTO A VISIBLE KINGDOM FOR
CHRIST. FUNDAMENTAL IDEA AND ELEMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF
THE CHURCH OF GOD.
L 1. Communion of the Saints with Christ through Faith, and their Communion with
each other in Love. — 2. The Idea of the Church based on the Headship of Christ
and the Communion of Saints. — 3. Nature of the Bonds which are involved in
this Divine Institute. — 4. Absolute and Supreme Relation of Christ to each Saint,
and to the great Brotherhood of Saints. — 5. The Church of Christ and the Human
Race are not commensurate with each other. — II. 1. The Divine Procedure in the
gradual and permanent Organization of the Visible Church. — 2. The Saints desti
tute of a Visible Organization before the Call of Abraham : Effects of the Sacra
ment of Circumcision. — 3. Giving of the Sacrament of the Passover : Its Relation
to Christ, to the Organization of his Kingdom, and to the World. — 4. The Institu
tions of Moses ; Complete Rejection of the World, and Organization of a Kingdom
for Messiah out of God's Covenant People. — 5. Appreciation of the Church under
its Mosaic Form, in itself, and in comparison with preceding and succeeding Forms.
—6. The Advent of Christ: New Form of the Church : Call of the Gentiles : The
Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper: Authority and organizing Work
of the Apostles. — 1. The Gospel Church State : Brief Appreciation of it. — 8. The
Future of the Church : The same Principles under more glorious Forms. — 9. Re
statement of elemental Truths.
I. — 1. The Knowledge of God Subjectively Considered, may
be divided into two great portions, the first of which would em
brace what has gone before, and the second would begin here.
For, considering everything to result from our union with Christ,
the distinction would be between such things as are personal and
individual, and such as require a general and aggregate treat
ment : that is to say, such things as result to the individual be
liever united to Christ, by reason of his communion with Christ ;
and such as result to all believers by reason of their communion
with each other, resulting from their mutual union and commu
nion with Christ. What has been done thus far being, that I
have endeavoured, in the First Book, to disclose that eternal
Covenant of Grace through which all mercy comes to us as sin
ners ; in the Second. Book, to explain the chief blessings and

376 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
benefits which, by this means, we individually receive ; and in
the Third Book, to point out the great offices which every fol
lower of Christ is individually obliged and enabled to discharge :
what remains, would belong more especially to the aggregate
consideration of these followers of the Lord, contemplated in the
various aspects they present as composing the Kingdom of Mes
siah — the people and Church of the living God. It is, first, the
nature of the covenant itself, together with the method of its
application to individual persons, and the personal results which
uniformly follow : and then, it is the social and public results,
which follow with the same uniformity, together with their me
thod and effects. Throughout, it is the absolute and unlimited
Headship of the divine Bedeemer ; throughout, it is the union
of the behever with him ; the difference is between personal
effects and results, flowing to us individually from our commu
nion with him by Faith ; and the social, general, organic ef
fects and results, flowing to believers in common, by reason of
their communion with each other in Love. It is, first, the indi-
vidual Christian ; then, itjsjthe Church of Christ. And though
it is impossible to treat either aspect of the subject wholly dis
regarded of the other — still there is an obvious distinction be
tween the two ; a distinction which I have hitherto constantly
regarded, in treating the question of religion in its eminently
personal aspect ; and which I shall henceforth equally regard, in
treating the more corporate and public aspect of it. It is as re
ally true that Christ has a Kingdom, as that he has disciples ;
but the former is composed out of the latter ; and while the
outward form of the one has changed and will change again,
the terms of true disoipleship never did, and never can change.
Christ's kingly office, in its strict sense, has relation to those
only to whom his priestly sacrifice and intercession, and his pro
phetic teaching have relation ; and. in the order of thought, as
well as in that of practical development, he is first our Priest
to redeem each one of us, and then our Prophet to teach each
one of us, and then our King to rule over us, not only indi
vidually, but unitedly as constituting his Church — his King
dom. 2. God's dealings with us as individual persons, our duties
and relations to him as distinct and separate beings — each one
acting for himself, and with God ; this is the manner in which

CHAP. XIX.] COMMUNION OP SAINTS. 377
God knoweth from eternity them that are his,1 the manner in
which the work of Grace is begun in our souls, the manner in
which we shall give account to God in the last day. Created in
the image of God, restored by Grace to that lost image, each
separate, self-conscious, ever-living personality, is a shadow of
the infinite personality of God ; just as the wonderful method
of the unity of the whole race, is a shadow of the infinite unity
of God ; and as the reproduction of the race upon itself, in an
endless unity, of endless fathers and sons, is a shadow of the
infinite relations between the unity and the personality of the
incomprehensible God.2 So God does not deal with men ex
clusively as individual, separate personalities : but he deals with
the whole race as one — and he deals with the great subdivisions
of that race, which his own providence has created and sustained :
and he has by divine ordination, organized those permanent and
universal institutions which we call households, and common
wealths, which touch us so nearly, and affect our destiny so
deeply. Above all, there is that divine fellowship, and the divine
institute erected upon it, springing immediately and universally
from our mutual fellowship with our common Lord ; that com
munion with each other,;of all who are united to him, and the
Kingdom of Messiah as the result, instantly dependent upon our
common union with Messiah himself. Thus new relations and
duties, other blessings and benefits, further manifestations of
Faith and Obedience, additional developments of the life of God
in the renewed soul, open widely before our advancing footsteps
and urge us forward to higher efforts and wider attainments.
The fellow-citizens of the saints are builded together for a habi
tation of God through the Spirit-;3 and every one of them as a
spiritual stone is built up in that spiritual house.4
3. As all our relations to God, as sinners saved by Grace, are
through the Lora^JesusTJErist by whom alone we have access to
the Father ;B so all our relations to each other as the children of
God, are through his only begotten Son our Saviour.8"' We be
come "heirs of God by becoming brothers of the Lord Jesus :7 and
we become brethren to each other, in the bonds of the Spirit, by
1 2 Tim., ii. 19 ; Rom., viii. 29 ; Rev., xiii. 8.
¦' Gen., i. 26-28; ii. 1. » Eph, ii. 19-22.
* 1 Pet, ii. 5. s John, xiv. 6 ; Col., i. 18.
* Matt., xxiii. 8-10; Eph., iv. 15, 16. 7 GaL, iv. 4, 6 ; Heb., ii. 11, 12.

378 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
becoming brethren of the Saviour of sinners.1 In neither case is
this spiritual bond the exclusive bond which binds us to God and
to each other ; for God is our Creator, Lawgiver, and Buler, as
well as our God in covenant ; and we are brethren by nature as
well as through grace. Butjdfis.. spiritual bond unites, us to^God
and to each other by a common salvation, whereby a new, spirit
ual, and eternal life common to us all, is added to all other bonds
which unite us to God and to each other ; — this bond depending
for its efficacy — nay for its existence — upon the truth as it is in
Jesus, taken in its fullest sense. We may, in our ignorance, deny
— or in our spiritual pride, reject the claims of Christ's brethren
upon us, as our brethren ; or we may, in our folly and unfaithful
ness, admit the claims of those who deny Christ. But in neither
case, can our conduct change the eternal nature of things. If we
are the children of God, every true follower of Christ is our bro
ther ; and in the sense of divine things, no one else can be. We
may make schism in the Church, which is the body of Christ, by
rejecting our brethren ; but they are our brethren still. We may
waste and defile our inheritance, by acknowledging as joint heirs
such as have no title ; but this does not make them sons of God.
It is God who made them his sons by adoption, through their
brotherhood with Jesus Christ ; it is not we, who by calling them
our brethren, can constitute them brethren of Christ and sons of
God. 4. This is that great brotherhood_which i_s. described so vari
ously in the Sacred Scriptures. Unitedly, they are the Church of
thehying God — the Bride of the Lamb — the General Assembly
of the First Born— the Innumerable Host whose names are writ
ten in the Book of Life. They are the objects of the eternal love
of the Father, of the redeeming love of the Son, of the renewing
and sanctifying love of the Spirit. It is in Christ their Head and
Lord — their Priest and Prophet and King — their Bedeemer —
their Saviour, that they must always be considered ; whether in
dividually as he was given for them and as they were chosen in
him ; or' as gathered into one body and so sustaining new rela
tions to each other, to the universe, and to God. They are Christ's
people, given to him from eternity, and purchased with his blood ;
and from that grand truth all their fitness to be a people arises,
and all their relations as such are controlled by it. The portion
1 Eph., ii. passim ; iv. 1-1.

CHAP. XIX.] COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 379
of them at any time on earth, constitutes Christ's Kingdom at
that time in the world ; and in that conception all their fitness
to be members of a spiritual Kingdom is grounded, and all their
duties as such find both their form and their foundation. Upon
any other basis, the whole subject is liable to be involved in end
less difficulties : upon this clear, divine, and eternal foundation,
it is susceptible of a simple and complete exposition.1
5. The Kingdom of God on jarth^under the Covenant of
Grace, is not commensurate with the whole of mankind, as it
proposed to be under~ffre'~C6vehant of Works ; and this great
distinction lying at the foundation of the subject, is felt in every
subsequent part of it. The first Adam being the natural head
of his race, was constituted the federal head of all that race de
scending from him by natural generation : the second Adam is
the head of those supernaturally united to him — they being, as
the Scriptures plainly teach and as universal experience shows,
only a part of the human race. The Church of Christ is a King
dom, taken out of all other kingdoms, and existing in the midst
of them all. It is a Kingdom creating itself by divine means,
out of the members of all kingdoms in whose bosom it exists,
maintaining with the whole of them a perpetual conflict of life
and death. These great truths modify every other part of the
subject ; and it is idle for us to evade the most distinct recogni
tion of them. However free the Gospel offer may be — however
infinite the riches of the Grace of God — however boundless the
merits of Christ ; nothing in the history of the world is so pal
pable, as that the whole race of mankind has not followed Christ,
or constituted his Church ; and the Scriptures teach us nothino-
more plainly, than that this great fact was as fully recognized in
the eternal Covenant of Grace, and the eternal purpose and de
cree of God connected therewith, as it is in the all-pervading
course of his providence, and the practical manifestation of his
grace.2 II. — 1. Having thus obtained a precise and elemental concep
tion of the Church of the hving God, as regards the members of
it — the fundamental principles of its existence — and the absolute
relation of Christ to it ; we turn from this analysis to behold the
1 Eph., i. 10, 21-23 ; 1 Cor., xii. 12, 13.
2 Matt, xi. 25; xiii. 15; John, hi. 19; vi.44; Acts, vi. 44; xiv. 18; Rom., ix.
22, 23 ; 1 Cor., ii. 8.

380 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
universal brotherhood itself, realized in successive ages, and strug
gling under all outward conditions, through a world from which
they were inwardly separated by their divine calling, and out
wardly by their divine organization. We have in the divine record,
every step taken by God — slowly, distinctly taken, through long
ages, whereby his individual children were visibly separated to
himself, and visibly united with each other — and the world itself
by the same slow and reiterated process, more and more visibly
rejected by God, as forming no part of the Kingdom of Messiah.
We have the consummation of the whole in the Gospel Church
State, founded and ordered by the Apostles of the Lord. God
has declared to us the principles on which he acted, and the end
he had in view ; he has narrated to us the successive steps he
took ; he has set before us the result reached, when the volume
of inspiration closed ; and his people have had in their hands for
eighteen centuries, his word to guide them, as they compared what
he had caused to be so plainly written for their guidance, with all
the vicissitudes which the Christian Church has endured. Situ
ated as the present generation is, we are as completely without
excuse when we pervert the ordinances of God, touching our du
ties and our blessings considered as members of the Church of
God, as when we do the like considered merely as personal fol
lowers of Christ.
2. For a long course of ages, it does not appear that there
was any visible mark of separation by which the people of God
were distinguished from his enemies round about them ; further
than their more reverent observance of the Sabbath-day, their
more godly lives, and their more habitual and sincere offering of
sacrifice to God, may be considered as having thus distinguished
them. The Church, as such, seems to have had no outward or
ganization ; further than those immense households, which sup
plied for so many ages the place of the civil State, may have
supplied also the place of the spiritual commonwealth, during
the patriarchal times. This ancient state of society, both as it
regarded the civil and religious state of man, was extremely re
markable when compared with what we behold now ; and yet it
lasted largely more than a third part of the past life of the hu
man race. For about twenty-two centuries after the Fall, God
appears to have forborne to organize his Visible Church in any
special outward manner ; allowing his people to occupy such a

CHAP. XIX.] COMMUNION OP SAINTS. 381
relation towards the human race, as if, by any means, through
his great mercy, the whole race would accept him for their God
and Saviour, and thus avoid the necessity of any special organiza
tion of his Church, distinct from society itself. It is striking to
note that this long forbearance of God to reject the race, and
organize his kingdom as one separate and distinct, was attended
by two apostacies of mankind, both almost universal. For it
was not till the old world, except the family of Noah, had for
saken God and perished in the deluge — nor until the new world,
four centuries after the flood, had forsaken him again ; that he
called Abraham to be the father of the faithful, and placed in
his flesh the mark which typically, visibly, and sacramentally
divided between God's people and his enemies.1 Thenceforward
an outward and perpetual separation of the people of God from
all people besides, was openly ordained of God. God has visibly
begun to reject the world — by the same act of sovereign grace
and love whereby he signalizes all the mercy yet in store, not only
for his elect, but for the world itself, through the seed of Abra
ham, and whereby he commences the new condition of the King
dom of Messiah, as a visible Kingdom which is to subvert all
kingdoms. And yet, after how many ages of sin was it, on the
part of the world, and of long-suffering on the part of God, that
he thus rejected it ! How little did the world, thus permanently
rejected of God, take heed of what was done ? How small a
part of the elect of God were privy to this act — and how small.
a part of all it signified and sealed was then comprehended ?
3. For more than four hundred years longer, God bore with
the sins of man, and with their oppression of his Chosen people,
upon whom he had placed his name and his love, and to whom
he had bound himself afresh by covenant. Then he interfered
again, organizing still further the Kingdom of Messiah,, and by
a new and visible mark of separation between his people and all
other people, sealed unto himself afresh the seed of Abraham at
the darkest hour of their long bondage in Egypt. Amidst the
universal lamentation of their oppressors, wailing for their first
born in every house, he bestowed on Israel the second Sacra
ment of his ancient Church, setting forth their true deliverer
and the manner of the deliverance itself.2 By Circumcision they
had been organized as a distinct people, rejecting all other peo-
' Gen., xii. 1-3 ; xvii. passim. ! Exod., xii. ,

382 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV
pie, and cut off from them : and in the light of this great trutl
they walked four hundred years. By the Passover they were still
further separated and organized, and sealed over to the Saviour
crucified for them — •Christ their Passover1 — the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world :2 and in the light of this
still more glorious truth, they walked as a people for fifteen cen
turies, till the fulness of the time had come, that Christ should
be offered up. This sovereign act of God in Egypt, full of mercy
to his people, and the forerunner of overwhelming ruin to his
enemies, was pregnant with intimations of his eternal purpose
concerning his Church, on which it rested — and of the wonderful
manifestations thereof which succeeding ages have witnessed.
But we must bear in mind that the long-suffering of God had
waited more than twenty-five centuries, before his people were
brought, in this miraculous Exodus from Egypt, into complete,
visible, organic consecration to him ; and before the world, as
such, was utterly, and finally, and sacramentally rejected, from
all hope of participation in the Messianic Kingdom. And the
amazing event was signalized upon the Seed of the Serpent, by
the ruin of the greatest nation then existing, and followed by the
slaughter of many inferior but still powerful communities ; and
then it was confirmed and illustrated by the miraculous pilgrim
age of Israel, passing through forty years of wonders, from cen
turies of bondage on the Nile, to longer centuries of glory beyond
the Jordan.
4. Until Israel pitched their tents in the wilderness of Sinai,
the people of God on earth had no written revelation of his will,
unless the Book of Job may be supposed to be of earlier origin
than the writings of Moses ; neither had they any separate, and
visible organization, as such, earlier than that produced by the
sacrament of Circumcision given to Abraham, and the sacrament
of the Passover given to his Seed according to the promise, in
\ Isaac ; nor any settled Church State, nor any outward bond dis
tinct from that of the household, nor any ordered spiritual com
monwealth cognizable by the world. What, precisely, may be
inferred from the extremely ancient existence of Elders amongst
the people, and from the tribal form to which all ancient society
had a necessary tendency, and which entered so early and so per
manently into all the societies formed amongst the descendants
1 1 Cor., v. 1. 2 John, i. 29.

CHAP. XIX.] COMMUNION OP SAINTS. 383
of Abraham ; is too remote in its nature, and too indistinct in its
immediate bearing upon the present statement, to need particular
enquiry. Everything shows thajjiiiew dispensation of the Church
of God commencjidjvith the calling of Abraham. And whether we
consider the state of the ancient Church before his call, and after
it as long as any traces of it remain amongst peoples not de
scended from him, or even among those actually descended from
him except through Isaac : or consider the covenants made with
him by God ; or the providence of God towards him and his seed
by promise ; or the history of the Church in his family down to the
complete establishment of the Jewish commonwealth : nothing is
more distinct than the gradual organization of a visible Church,
by means of outward divine ordinances, in their nature sacramen
tal, and out wjjdly_preclusive_of' 'all .who_were not God's people in
covenant. It was in the wilderness of Sinai, and by the hands of
Moses the servant of God, that this great conception of a visible
Church outwardly distinct from the world, and of the rejection of
the world, had its perfect realization. It is of no consequence to
the present matter, that the yisjble Church of jGjd and the Hebrew
commonwealft^wejeJdeMified in so many respects, by the insti
tutions of M°ses- Indeed the thorough organization and visibility
of the Kingdom of God, and its complete rejection of the world,
became only the more distinct in this manner. It is Jesus Christ
who completes the realization of this conception, as he does of all
divine conceptions ; and when he opened again the Kingdom of
Heaven to the Gentiles, and opened up to the brotherhood of the
saints the natural and universal brotherhood of man — it was by
presenting the unqualified rejection of the world in every aspect
it could bear, and the absolute completeness of his own Kingdom,
as perfectly distinct from it. The more the Headship of Christ,
and the communion of his saints with each other through their
universal union with him, are realized in outward forms, the more
completely do we find the Church organized, and the world re
jected. Nor is it from human reason or human authority, much
less from the accidents of time and events, that these things take
their rise, and make their progress : they spring from the imme
diate command of God, and proceed under his immediate guid
ance. Whether by Abraham, or by Moses, it is by God himself
that his Kingdom passes into new forms, and assumes more per
fect outward states. It is this which is everywhere uppermost,

\

384 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
in the writings and the institutions of the great Jewish Lawgiver.
And what he really did was, in obedience to the divine command
to erect under a peculiar form, a visible Kingdom for God, founded
on the total visible rejection of the world, and the complete visi
ble organization of a people in covenant with God ; the two ele
mental ideas of it being, the absolute Headship of Messiah, and
the communion of all the members with each other, through their
union and communion with him.
5. That wonderful dispensation continued for fifteen centu
ries, as the o.utward form of the Church ; and eighteen subse
quent centuries of persecution, dispersion, and the hidings of
God's countenance, have not sufficed to obliterate from the minds
of the ancient people of God, the fixed idea that Messiah has a
distinct people, and that their organizatioji_spjjhgsjrom their mu
tual oneness in him ; which I have shown was the elemx^ntalfoun-
datiofl, in this aspect,, of the organizing work both, of Abraham
and Moses" It was a dispensation perfect of its kind : and if
any dispensation of its peculiar type could have achieved the
whole purpose of the grace of God, this would have done it.1
Under it, the canon of the Old Testament Scriptures was com
pleted, and the system of divine truth unto salvation, thus per
manently embodied and held forth, was advanced to the highest
point short of the personal teaching of the Son of God, and the
perpetual indwelling of the Holy Ghost with the new power which
began at Pentecost. By means of it, the Church of God, how
ever peculiar and temporary in its general aspect, had developed
in its bosom those great constitutions concerning her rule, her in
struction, and her worship — the Elder, the Prophet, and the Syn
agogue, which survived the civil, and ceremonial, and sacrificial
systems, and became the basis of the form of the Gospel Church.
And I venture to add, that whenever it was administered in its
purity, the most perfect form of the administration of the tem
poral interests of society ever known on earth, was exhibited
through all the vicissitudes to which a great people can be ex
posed, during the longest national career. Yet the great Apos
tle of the Gentiles, while he lauds that dispensation, considered
of itself and considered with reference to its real design, as worthy
of all reverence f allows himself to call its elements weak and
beggarly, and its service a bondage,3 when compared with the dis-
1 Gal, hi. 21. ' Gal., iii 19, 24. 3 Gal., iv. 9.

CHAP. XIX.] COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 385
pensation of Christ himself, and with the efficacy and glory which
attended it. It was as if God would show that no legal, no sacri
ficial, no typical, no ritual dispensation can suffice. He had al
ready shown, before he rejected the world and separated his people
visibly from it, that no long-suffering would.move it to serve him ;
and now he would show, that even those consecrated to himself
must have that which is more effectual than laws, and sacrifices,
and rites, and types, in order to their due service and adequate
enjoyment of him. However long the delay may be, the Son of
God must come in the flesh. It had been seen from eternity that
there was no other remedy ; and everything else was in order to
this. 6. At length the Saviour came. Emptying himself of his
glory, made of a woman, made under the law — he who, being in
the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God —
being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.1 He gave him
self for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify
unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.2 For him
self, he was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God ;
for which the two reasons assigned are, to confirm the promises
made unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God
for his mercy.3 But his Kingdom, neither limited by the call of
Abraham, nor by the institutions of Moses, both of which had
been 6hl"y~sTages of its development ; was to embrace, henceforth,
those who loved him, whether Jews or Greeks, circumcision or
uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free." And so he
expressly directed, that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusa
lem :6 the very mission of his Apostles being, to teach and to bap
tize all nations.6 Thus he said directly to Peter, that he gave
unto him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and that what
soever he should bind on earth should be bound in heaven, and
whatsoever he loosed on earth should be loosed in heaven ;7 and
he said as expressly to all his Apostles, whatever ye bind or loose
on earth, shall be bound or loosed in heaven.8 And there is re
corded in detail, the opening of the Kingdom so long closed to
• Phil., ii. 8-11. 3 Titus, ii. 14. 3 Rom., xv. 8-12.
4 Col, iii. 10, 11. B Luke, xxiv. 47. < Matt, xxviii. 19.
' Matt., xvi. 19. 8 Matt, xviii. 18; John, xx. 23; 1 Cor., v. 4.
vol. n. 25

386 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
all except the descendants of Abraham, by the hands of Peter,
in the case of the Gentile Cornelius :' concerning which matter,
we have Peter's own repeated assurance, that he acted by the
express call of God ;* and concerning the grand truth then real
ized, we have the general judgment of the Apostles and Elders.3
Touching the general power to bind and loose, vested in the
Apostles — the power to take down all that was temporary in the
ancient institutions — to transfer all that was permanent, even
from the creation of man, into the new dispensation — and to erect
that form of the Kingdom which we have in the Gospel Church
State ; it is one chief design of one entire Book of the Scriptures
(the Acts of the Apostles) to teach us what was done, and in
what manner : and throughout all the subsequent portions of
the New Testament, this is one of the great matters in which the
will of God is continually revealed to us. Amongst the, last acts
of Christ before his crucifixion, was the institution of that sacra
ment which commemorates his sacrifice in our stead :4 and amongst
his last commands after his resurrection, was that in all nations
all his disciples should receive that other sacrament of Baptism,
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost." That the Kingdom erected in this form, was to be a
visible Kingdom, no.t_Qf.this world but wholly separatej'rom it: —
that the glorified Bedeemer was the only Head, King, andTLord
of it — that membership in this Kingdom depended on union and
communion with the Head and Bedeemer of the Kingdom — -and
that all the.members of it are members, one of another, byvirtue
of their being all members of Christ : these are the common and
constant doctrines of the Scriptures, which it is needless to prove
again in this place. The whole work of Christ discloses, every
where, the ideas I have been stating. The world so far from re
ceiving him, crucified him. His own knew and accepted him.
And what events attended and followed this new and glorious
development of God's purpose concerning his Church ! What is
the silent rejection of the nations in the gift of circumcision to
Abraham, or the fearful catastrophe of Egypt at the institution
of the Passover, or the slaughter of many nations which signal-
' Acts. x. passim. 2 Acts, xi. 1-18 ; xv. 1. 3- Acts, xv. 23-31.
* Matt, xxvi 26-30; Mark, xiv. 22-26' Luke, xxii. 19, 20; John, xiii. 1, 2;
1 Cor., xi. 23-29.
5 Matt., xxviii. 19; Mark, xvi. 15, 16.

C SAP. XIX.] COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 387
ized the establishment of the Jewish dispensation ; what are
such things, to the crucifixion of the Son of God, and to all that
followed it of mercy and of wrath— and to all of both, that is yet
to come !
7. It is this Gospel Church which we now behold, with its
Sabbath, its Sacraments, its divine Scriptures, its pure faith, its
spiritual worship, its holy life, its Elders, its Teachers, its Con
gregations, its assemblies, its divine Lord ! Upon us, after so
many centuries, has come this dispensation of the Kingdom of
God with power, which succeeded the Ascension of the Lord.
The followers of Jesus are gathered out of all nations. The
promised Comforter abides with us.1 The last days still con
tinue ; the last manifestation, and the most complete, of God's
grace in saving sinners.2 And they shall all continue until he
whose right it is, shall come and shall take the Kingdom. And
while they continue, whosoever will call on the name of the Lord,
shall be saved. Here, as in each preceding case, it is a new de
velopment of the same Kingdom, as distinct from all that went
before, as they were from each other ; and here, as always before,
the same fundamental characteristics are not only preserved, but
are more and more distinct. Assuredly it is more obvious now,
than it could have been under any former dispensation, that it is
the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ ; that this Church is not
coincident with the world, but is taken out of it ; that each suc
cessive dispensation as it gives new grace, new duties, and new
powers, at the same time makes the Church more distinctly sep
arate, and consecrates it more completely to Christ. Nor does the
history of mankind since the establishment of the Gospel Church,,
permit us to doubt, that the steadfast power with which the
providence of God conducts all things, has made the career of
his Church the most distinct element in the career of man, and
has made the destiny of all things dependent on hers. In the
fate of Egypt, in the fate of the nations cut off by Israel, and
in the fate of apostate Israel herself, all men may read the fate
of all the nations that forget God, and of every power that exalts
itself against Christ.
8. We need not be in doubt concerning that sublime future
of the Church of God, which is hastening upon us — for which
1 John, xiv. 16, 26; xv. 26; xvi. 1.
2 Joel, ii. 28-32 ; Zech., xii. 9-12 ; Acts, ii. 16-21.

388 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
the world is so little prepared, and of which it takes so little
thought. It will come in its appointed time — it will not tarry.
The whole analogy of all the past dealings of God, and the con
stant declarations of his word, teach us sufficiently that while
the great principles which underlie the whole scheme of his grace
and providence, will be preserved in all their fulness, and applied
with increased distinctness and force ; it might — and since he
has said so it will — be under new and still more glorious forms,
that these sublime principles will be exhibited and applied.
They who sit calmly and silently by, listening to that wonderful
discourse in which Jehovah disclosed to Abraham the nature and
extent of his covenant with him, and sealed all his promises with
the sacrament of circumcision : must needs make an almost in
finite progression, before they can hear and realize those loud
hallelujahs, which will fill the universe, when the Kingdom is
delivered up on the Lamb's Book of Life. Still it is the very
same Kingdom ; and the grand principles which distinguished
its feeblest beginnings, are the same which will be illustrated in
its supreme consummation, and its eternal glory. Forevermore
it will be Christ, and his saints, and a Kingdom composed of
them. 9. What I have attempted is, to appreciate the fundamental
idea of the Church of the living God, and to that end to disclose
its elemental principles, and then to trace in an unbroken course,
the divine procedure whereby these principles have yielded to us,
the Gospel Church as it this day stands before us. The people
of God, considered in their union with Christ, arid in their com
munion with each other through their mutual communion with
him, on one side ; and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bedeemer of
God's Elect, the only Head, Lawgiver, and King in Zion, on the
other ; these are the two terms upon which the great problem
rests. Between them are the will, and power, and providence of
God, developing these two elements through a long course of ages,
and a succession of dispensations ; and the result is the Gospel
Church State, a distinct, divine institute. Of this, Messiah is the
Prince, and all his brethren, brethren to each other, are the mem
bers. Separate from the world, its mission is the reconquest of
the world. Its end is the illustration of the perfections of God,
to his own infinite glory, in the everlasting blessedness of the re
deemed.

CHAPTEE XX.
THE NATURE AND END OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD: WITH THE
MEANS OF ESTIMATING BOTH.
I. 1. The Perpetuity of the fundamental Ordinances of the Church of God. — 2. His
torical Means of appreciating the Nature and End of the Kingdom of Christ. — 3.
Practical Means. — 4. Prophetical Means. — 5. Ethical Means. — II. 1. The Church
of Christ is a Kingdom whose Nature is exclusively Spiritual. — 2. The pecuhar
Form of that Spirituality : Sinners saved by Grace. — 3. It is an Everlasting King
dom. — 4. It is to be a Universal Kingdom. — 5. Witness Bearing for Christ, the
special Mission of the Gospel Church. — 6. The immediate Object of this is, the
Extension and Perfection of the Kingdom itself. — 1. Infinite Freedom and Fitness
of the Gospel Offer. — 8. The Form and Action of the Church in extending and
perfecting itself, illustrates its own Nature and End, as well as the Nature of
-God's Being and Grace. — 9. The obligatory Force of the divine Organization of
the Church thus developed : Its Relation to Faith and to Morals. — 10. Resources
of the Church in perfecting and extending herself: These are Marks of her Na
ture and End. — 11. The Position of false Professors and Sects, with reference to
the Visible Church. — 12. The Relation of the Infant Seed of Believers to the
Visible Church.
I. 1. — I have shown that the entire organization of the Church
of God is produced from withinjmtwardly, and has been obtained
under the successive and special ordinations of God, by the direc
tion which he gave, from time to time, to the elemental principles
which constituted his own idea of his Kingdom. I have also
pointed out more incidentally how the Church, under each suc
cessive form of it, casting off whatever was peculiar only to the
preceding dispensation, has preserved through all dispensations
every outward mark responsive to its own absolute nature, which
was ever bestowed on it by God. The Sabbath ordained by God
at the creation, and ordained afresh as part of the Moral Law at
Sinai, endures in its divine force. The worship of God by bloody
sacrifices statedly practised from the fall of man, observed by all
the patriarchs, erected into the form of a sacrament in the Pass
over, and thoroughly incorporated with the daily life of the Church
under the Mosaic dispensation ; so found its consummation in the

390 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV
sacrifice of the Son of God, that the one offering of himself by
which he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, is the
living way whereby alone we can enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus.1 The sacraments, though their form be changed,
are even more distinctly signs and seals of the Covenant of Grace
than they were when first given to the Church. The will of God
made known to us by his most holy word, is just the same infal
lible rule of our faith and our obedience, as when it was person
ally addressed by God to the ancient saints, or when it was com
municated in visions, made known by heavenly messengers, or
spoken by inspired Prophets and Apostles. Divine ordinances of
worship, of instruction, and of rule, however their form may vary
under successive dispensations, have always been of the very es
sence of the visible Church — have always sprung from God him
self — have always been grounded in the exclusive headship of
Christ in the Church, in the union and communion of his saints
with him, in their communion with each other, and in his rejec
tion of the world and their separation from it. I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil, were the emphatic words of the Lord Jesus ;
Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise
pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.2
2. We possess in the sacred Scriptures a plain account of the
progress of this divine Kingdom on earth, from the fall -of man
till about the close of the first century of the Christian era, cov
ering a period of forty-one centuries. The subsequent progress
of this Kingdom for seventeen centuries and a half, to our own
day, is preserved in its own annals, in the records of those who
have hated and sought to destroy it, and in the testimonies of
those nations which have lived side by side with it through all
generations ; some of which also precede the advent of Christ by
many centuries, and some were coincident with his life, and with
the first ages of the Gospel Church. We have its history from
the origin of time and of man to the present moment : and of
all that has existed on earth this is true concerning it alone. In
the age of the Apostles themselves it seems to have penetrated
the mass of all human society, and to have found its way to the
ends of the earth ; and through innumerable vicissitudes, in de
fiance of perpetual persecution, and notwithstanding its own ter
rible corruptions and apostacies, it finds itself recognized, after
i Heb., x. 10-20. a Matt, v. 11-20.

CHAP. XX.] THE KINGDOM OP GOD. 391
eighteen centuries, by the predominant nations and races of man
kind, as a divine Kingdom upon which are staked the highest
interests of man and the greatest glory of God. We have
means thoroughly complete of estimating its nature and its
progress. 3. Invested with such a history, it is living before our faces,
the most important and the most wide-spread of all existing in
stitutions. Bent, indeed, in many ways, when casually observed ;
manifested under various forms, more or less inconsistent with
each other ; exhibiting in its separate parts an extreme variety
of condition, from one of fierce persecution by the world up to
one of pampered luxury — from one of earnest struggling for the
truth down to one of hopeless indifference concerning Christ.
But this diversified state of things affords us the more ample
materials for an enlightened judgment, concerning that true and
wonderful commonwealth of the saints, which has survived the
endless convulsions in which all other institutions have perished,
and which seems not only to be established in the heart of all
existing civilization, but to be the very parent and nurse of
it all. 4. Moreover, to enlarge and rectify our appreciation, alike of
this vast history both divine and human, and of this boundless
existing manifestation, we are furnished in the Scriptures with
the prophetic history of this city of God to the end of time. If
we choose to allege that the prophecies which constitute so large
a part of the divine word, are wrested and misapplied by the most
of those who have expounded them ; this only leaves to us a
greater mass of history yet to be enacted, the whole of which we
must take some account of, in forming our judgment of the abso
lute nature, the total progress, and the ultimate destiny of the
Messianic Kingdom. In every such attempt we have this immense
advantage, that besides knowing what is past, and seeing what
exists, we are instructed also concerning what is to come.1
5. There are, however, means still surer than those already
pointed out — complete as they appear to be — of estimating the
nature and end of that Kingdom of God whose divine idea and
elemental principles I have endeavoured to trace in the prece
ding chapter. God has himself defined everything for us. He
has not only caused the detailed history of his Church for four
1 2 Peter, L 19-21.

392 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
thousand years, to be written by inspired men, and the prophetic
history of it to the end of time to be added in like manner —
causing also the whole history and the whole prophecy to be a
perpetual and mutual commentary upon each other ; but he has
explained clearly the motive and end of that Kingdom whose de
sign, progress, and final triumph, all this history and prophecy
concerned. To what end he set up such a Kingdom, and under
what inducements ; the precise nature of the Kingdom itself—
what objects exactly it was designed to accomplish — and by what
means ; these are the very things which invest the progress of
the Kingdom with such importance, and lend so much glory to
the prophecies, which foretell, and to the histories which record
its career. The Lord God said unto the serpent, I will put en
mity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.1
How widely separated in knowledge as well as in centuries, is this
earliest form in which the nature and design of the Kingdom of
Messiah is expressed, from the form in which its triumph is ex
pressed — Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world : Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels !2 But that vast interval of time is not more com
pletely filled up with the progress of the Church, than that vast
interval in knowledge is filled up with divine instruction concern
ing her nature and end.3
II. — 1. In attempting to disclose, briefly, that which I have
just shown we have such abounding materials for appreciating
justly ; the whole current of thought which distinguishes this
Treatise, and the special care which has been taken in explain
ing the doctrines of grace and salvation, render it unnecessary to
jlprove afresh that the Kingdom of Christ is exclusively a spirit-
[ ual Kingdom. Separated unto God by an eternal election,4 sep
arated unto Christ by the effectual calling of his word and Spirit
during their earthly pilgrimage,6 separated unto eternal glory
and blessedness in the world to come ;" whatever Kingdom these
children of God may constitute — to the exclusion of all others —
is as necessarily a Kingdom created and held united by the Spirit
> Gen., hi. 14, 15. 2 Matt., xxv. 34, 41.
= Eph., v. 25-32 ; Matt., xvi. 18 ; 1 Cor., xii. 12, 13 ; Rom., xv. 8-17.
4 John, xi. 51, 52. « 1 Cor., i. 9. e Rev., vii. 9, 10.

CHAP. XX.] THE KINGDOM OP GOD. 393
of God, as it is one whose Lord is the Lord of glory. And so
the Saviour said plainly to Pilate, My Kingdom is not of this
world.1 Nor in all his wondrous teaching is anything made more
clear, than that in order to see his Kingdom we must be born
again — in order to enter into it we must be born of water and of
the Spirit.2 That which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that
which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.3 Flesh and blood cannot
inherit the Kingdom of God : neither doth corruption inherit in
corruption.'1 But the Church of Christ is his body, the fulness
of him that filleth all in all ; and God, in giving him to be its
head, hath put all things under his feet, and given him to be the
head over all things to the Church.s
2. This spirituality thus disclosed is, however, of an exceed
ingly pecuhar kind. For what is demanded is, not only fitness
for a Kingdom altogether spiritual, but a spiritual fitness created /
by a new and divine generation of a human soul dead in tres-/
passes and sins.6 This Kingdom is composed exclusively of peni
tent and believing sinners, who are saved by divine grace. Christ
loved the Church, and gave himself for it :r but it is sinners, and
not the righteous, whom Jesus calls to repentance.8 They that
be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.9 Utterly
different from any Kingdom which could be formed of fallen men,
who are unregenerate, the Kingdom of Messiah is also wholly dif
ferent from any which could have been formed of men who had
never fallen. At the foundation of this latter difference lies the
sublime reality, that saved sinners share a common nature with
the Son of God, in a twofold manner ; namely, by his assumption
of their nature in his incarnation, and by their participation of
his nature through their regeneration.10
3. This is also an everlasting Kingdom. For Immanuel's
throne and dominion are forevermore, and the increase of his
government and peace shall have no end :" and the Kingdom of
the saints of the Most High is an everlasting Kingdom.12 How
ever the world and Satan may have appeared to prevail against
the Kingdom of God, under the antecedent forms of it ; as soon
as there was written upon its immovable foundation — Christ, the
1 John, xviii. 36, 37. a John, iii. 1-13. 3 John, iii. 6.
4 1 Cor., xv. 50. 5 Eph., i. 22, 23. 6 Eph., ii. passim.
7 Eph., v. 25. e Matt, ix. 13. • Matt, ix. 12.
10 John, i. 14 ; 2 Peter, i. 4. " Isaiah, vii. 14 ; is. 6, 1.
12 Daniel, ii. 44; vii. 27.

394 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
Son of the living God ; — from that moment the gates of hell lost
all power to prevail.1 However it may have repented God when
he saw the exceeding wickedness of man, that he had made him
on the earth ;2 the gifts of God to his Church and his saints, and
his calling of his saints into his Kingdom, are without repent
ance." If God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for
us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things ?3 And
if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his
life." Always, everywhere, even unto the end of the world, Christ
is with us :' and when time, and earth, and sin, are done with
forever, infinite glory and blessedness await the Kingdom and
the saints of him who hath on his vesture and on his thigh a
name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords T
4. This Kingdom is to be universal, even upon this earth. So
far is it from being possible that it should fail, the assured end
of the conflict which so many ages have already witnessed will
be, that the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms
of our Lord and of his Christ ; and he shall reign forever and
ever.8 The followers of Christ differ widely, as to the times and
the seasons of bringing to pass this great purpose of God : they
differ also as to the form and as to the substance of the event
itself: nor is it under such circumstances the part of wisdom to
assert, as of faith, peculiar dogmas concerning this glorious hope
common to us all, which is admitted to be not yet realized. As
to the general truth involved, no one may call himself a Christian
and deny that God manifest in the flesh is to be believed on in
the world, any more than he may deny either of the other incon
trovertible elements of the mystery of godliness.9 It is no more
certain that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now ;10 than it is that the creature itself also shall
be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious
liberty of the children of God j11 than that there shall be new
heavens and a new earth wherein shall dwell nothing but right
eousness, and none but they whose names are written in the
Lamb's Book of Life ;12 and that the saints shall live and reign
1 Matt, xvi. 13-18. 2 Gen., vi. 6. 3 Rom., xi. 29.
« Rom., viii 32. s Rom., v. 10. 6 Matt, xxviii.20.
' Rev., xix. 16; xxii. 1-5. 8 Rev., xi. 17. • 1 Tim., iii 16.
a Rom., viii. 22. " Rom., viii. 21.
u 2 Peter, iii 13 ; Rev., xxi 1, 27.

CHAP. XX.] THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 395
with Christ upon earth.1 The stone that was cut out without
hands shall not only break in pieces and consume every earthly
Kingdom, but it shall become a great mountain, and fill the
whole earth.2 Behold, saith God, all souls are mine ;a as I live,
every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue confess to God."
5. The children of this Kingdom have an unspeakable mis
sion. Nor is this more remarkable in anything, than in their re
lation to the method by which the Kingdom itself is perfected
and extended. Almost at the moment of Christ's final ascension
to heaven, his Apostles, encouraged by the condescension and
distinctness of his parting instructions to them, ventured to in
quire particularly concerning the very subjects I have been dis
cussing. They asked him, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore
again the Kingdom to Israel ?" His answer was clear and deci
sive. It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which
the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive
power, after the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and ye shall be
witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.6 To be wit
nesses for Jesus, both in the testimony they bear, and in the war
fare they carry on, is the especial mission of every member of his
Kingdom in its present form, involved in the very nature and
end of the Kingdom itself. Each one, no doubt, in his place and
according to his lot and the grace given to him ;7 but every one
of the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation,
the peculiar people, showing forth the praises of him who hath
called them out of darkness into his marvellous light.8 The
Gospel Church, in the form given to it by the Apostles, is the
fruit of their divine vocation and authority received from the
Lord, and of their anointing with the Spirit on the day of Pen
tecost ; and the dispensation of the Spirit with power and the
militant state of the Gospel Church, both lie between the anoint
ing and the fit time and exact season reserved by the Father ex
clusively to himself.9 Our fitness to bear the testimony required
of us as members of Christ and members one of another,10 de-
1 Rev., xx. 4-10 ; 2 Tim., ii, 11, 12. ! Daniel, ii. 35, 44.
3 Ezekiel, xviii 4. 4 Rom., xiv. 11; Phil., ii. 10, 11.
6 Acts, i. 6. 6 Acts, i. 7, 8.
' Eph., iv. 1-16. 6 1 Peter, ii. 9.
9 Matt., xxiv. 30 ; Mark, xiii. 32 ; 1 Thess., v. 1, 2.
10 Eph., v. 30 ; iv. 25 ; Rom., xii. 5.

396 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
pends upon our own communion with Christ through faith, and
with each other in love : and both of these depend immediately,
as I have shown, upon the power and the illumination of the Holy
Ghost shed abroad within us. The promise of the Father, the
crowning proof of the glorification of the risen Saviour, and the
final unction of the Apostles of the Lord, all agree in one, and
all have direct relevancy to the infinite Spirit whose peculiar
presence is our great heritage in these last days, by whose power
all our witness-bearing is accomplished, and all who call on the
name of the Lord are saved.1
6. This glorious witness-bearing for Christ, under the support
and guidance of his own Spirit, brings us in the special dispen
sation allotted to us, face to face with all the powers of this world,
in all our endeavours to extend the Kingdom of God ; and it
brings us face to face with our brethren in Christ in all our en
deavours to perfect the Kingdom in itself. But to extend the
Kingdom of Christ, and to perfect it — by both methods hasten
ing it forward to its glory — are our chief duties, stated in the
most general manner, and considering ourselves as of the House
hold of God, and as fellow-citizens with the saints.2 This is the
form in which the Lord himself has put it : Go ye, therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe
all things, whatsoever I have commanded you.3 And the entire
nature of Christ's Kingdom is involved in this brief statement.
Its mission is to teach : to teach all nations : to teach them all,
everything commanded by the Saviour. Here is the immense
compass of our duty, and the exact limit of our authority, in
winning souls to Christ. And when they have been won, they
must be gathered into his fold, and baptized in the name of the
Triune God, and taught to observe every command of the Lord.
They must be as his children are, and do as his children do. And
thus new conquests are made, and thus the Kingdom is perfected
within, and thus it grows both in the breadth of its reign, and the
power of its life, and thus by both methods our witness-bearing
hastens the glory which is to be revealed in us.4 To keep alive
in our hearts an interest corresponding with the work we are
called to perform, the Lord Jesus has set before us the most
i Joel, il 28-32 ; Acts, ii. 16-21 ; Rom., x. 12-15. a Eph., ii. 19-22.
8 Matt., xwiil 19, 20. * Rom., viii 18.

CHAP. XX.] THE KINGDOM OP GOD. 397
overwhelming motives, derived from his own glory and presence
with us, and from the infinite reward he will bestow on us. All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world. Be thou faithful
unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.1
7. Thus composed and marshalled, this Kingdom proclaims
continually its readiness and its fitness to receive every penitent
sinner of our lost race, and to train him in the exalted and eter
nal service and enjoyment of God. Its banners have no legend
more broadly inscribed on them than that faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation — Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners.2 And so its efforts to extend itself, are made in the
widest sense of the freedom of the Gospel offer ; and against the
ranks of its fiercest enemies, its message of defiance is, Whoso
ever will, let him take the water of life freely !3 Amongst its
highest obligations, it seeks to keep alive in the hearts of all men,
a sense of the infinite perfectness of God's claim upon the whole
universe ; sounding through all lands the edict of Jehovah — All
souls are mine ;4 and warning every creature that God hath ap
pointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteous
ness by that man whom he hath ordained, and therefore he com
mandeth all men everywhere to repent.5 Nor is its duty at all
affected, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear.
The infinite fitness and freedom of the offer of salvation, and the
infinite right and authority of God by which that offer is enforced,
may not, indeed, commend our message to the hearts of men.
Some may receive it after many repetitions, some may reject it
fiercely and contemptuously, some may turn and rend those who
bring it. In general, men will be brought one by one into the
Kingdom ; in times of great awakening they will come like the
countless drops of dew from the womb of the morning : and in
the day of glory, a nation will be born at once. He who made
his soul an offering for sin, shall see of the travail of his soul, and
shall be satisfied.6 And the children of God insufficient as they
may be, yet in all their endeavours are unto God a sweet savour
of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish : to
the one the savour of death unto death ; and to the other the
savour of life unto life.7
i Matt., xxviii. 18-20 ; Rev., ii. 10. 2 1 Tim., I 15. 3 Rev., xxii. 17.
4 EzekieL xviii. 4. 6 Acts, xvii. 30, 31. • Isaiah, Iii. 10, 11. 7 2 Cor., il 15, 16.

398 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
8. Every one of the heirs of this Kingdom, thus gathered into
it, thus perfected in it, and thus in turn extending and perfect
ing it, stands related to God in such a manner that not only the
infinite grace, but the unsearchable being also of God, is mani
fested upon them all. What is more, their former ruin, and the
perfection of their eternal blessedness, are both kept continually
before their hearts, in the whole method of their recovery. It is
the eternal electing love of God the Father, which is the founda
tion of their divine call into this Kingdom. It is their redemp
tion through the infinite sacrifice of God the Son, that is the
ground of their actual participation of this Kingdom. It is by
the work of God the Holy Ghost, that their fitness for this King
dom and their faithfulness in it, are produced. It is through the
influence of the divine Word, and the communion of the saints
with Christ and with each other, in their mutual co-operation for
perfecting and extending this Kingdom, that the love of God
the Father, the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
communion of the Holy Ghost, make themselves practically man
ifest in the Body of Christ. All the heirs of the Kingdom stand
also in such a relation to each other, as is expressive of the nature
and extent of the supernatural change which has been wrought
in them all. Children of God and brethren of each other — not
rebels against God, and aliens from each other — as they were be
fore ; heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, inheritors together of
crowns of glory — not outcasts, and accursed, and hastening to
perdition, as they once were. This immeasurable transformation
is expressed by saying, they are brethren — being all brethren of
Christ and sons of God. In the very, mode, therefore, in which
the Kingdom of God is constituted, in its most elemental aspect,
we find the expression of its very nature and end, and the ex
pression also in a concrete form, of the chief truths which enter
into the plan of salvation.
9. It is this Church of Christ that has received from God a
particular outward organization, suited to its nature and end, by
means of which it may accomplish in the most complete manner,
the immediate object of its existence, namely, the gathering and
perfecting of the saints, in this life, to the end of the world.1 If
God had given to it no outward organization, no sacraments, no
office-bearers, as he appears for many centuries after the fall, not
' Eph., iv. passim.

CHAP. XX.] THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 399
to have done ; the Church has no power to ordain them. If God
has given any to the Church — as indeed he has — her whole duty
and authority in tha"t respect are exhausted, in accepting and
fulfilling his divine ordinations. To presume, in either case, to
depart from the revealed will of God, is as really to set aside his
divine authority, as it would be to change the doctrine, strictly so
called, which he has revealed to our faith, or the precepts of mo
rality which he has made the rule of our obedience. Such at
tempts deliberately made, concerning human sovereignties, are
treason, rebellion, revolution : in the Church, they are direct as
saults upon the majesty of God, upon the headship of Christ
over the Church, and upon the freedom of the Church itself.
How far they may be carried, on either hand, without destroying
the nature and defeating the end of the visible Church, is a ques
tion precisely analogous to similar questions concerning faith and
morals. In all three cases, certain departures from the revealed
will of God, may be treated as endurable ; others must be con
sidered fatal. Assuredly it is one of the most distinct character
istics of the Gospel Church, that it is the Kingdom of Christ
under a visible form, divinely bestowed on it. Its organization
is expressly so created and distributed by God, as on the one
hand, to make full account of the nature and end of a Kingdom
so remarkable ; and on the other, to enable it to move and act,
within itself, with the greatest freedom and perfection, and to
exert its force without, in a manner the most constant and
efficacious. If it were otherwise, both the methods by which
it accomplishes its divine mission would be obstructed, or de
stroyed. 10. It is thus that the Church of the living God, is fitted for
her great work on earth. In her hands are all the words of eter
nal life, which God has revealed in a permanent form for the sal
vation of man. In her bosom are all the instrumentalities, by
which this inspired truth is ordinarily made effectual in the
human soul. In the hearts of her children accompanying her
ordinances in their faithful use, and attending the divine word
committed to her keeping in its circuit through the earth, is that
divine Comforter whose outpouring was the great promise of the
Father, and whose perpetual presence was one of the last and
greatest promises of the Son. Over her and around about her, is
that ceaseless and irresistible providence of God, by means of

400 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
which he brings all events to pass according to the eternal pur
pose of his will, and whose whole course is so ordained that all
things work together for good to them that love God. And
higher than the highest heavens, her glorified Bedeemer sits at
the right hand of the majesty on high, a Prince and a Saviour—
to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins — head
over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of
him that filleth all in all. Surely we need not doubt that God
will make known through his Church, unto principalities and
powers, his own manifold wisdom i1 nor that in the dispensation
of the fulness of times, all things will be gathered in one, in
Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in
him.2 11. There are two topics which may be supposed to require a
few words of explanation under the view I have presented of the
Church of God. One of them concerns the position of such pro
fessed members of the visible Chjirch^as are not the children of
God : the other concerns the infant seed of true believers. Con
cerning the former, whatever difficulty may exist lies in the do
main of Church JDisoipline, which I will treat in another place,
and not in that of the organization of the Church, which is the
subject of immediate consideration. In the nature of the case,
the more perfectly the apparent Church corresponds with the real
Church, the more perfect the former must be ; and the more com
pletely our definitions in a Treatise like this, express what actu
ally is according to the ordination of God, and not what is merely
apparent and delusive, through the wickedness of man" the ttTore
nearTy does our teaching approach the truth of God. As a ques
tion of Ethics and Philosophy, nothing would be more absurd,
than to make our definitions false, in order to give a certain validity
to appearances which are known to be deceptive. Whatever dif
ficulties may be supposed to exist in the just application of the
discipline of the Church, so as to exclude from its communion
those whom God has forbidden to approach it ; nothing in the
Scriptures is more obvious, nothing in the constant faith of the
Church is more settled, nothing is more clear to human reason,
than that all children of the Devil are mere intruders intojhe
visible Church, and ought to be cast QutToFitr They who are not
the true followers of Christ, cannot be members of Christ ; they
i Eph., hi 10. ' Eph., i. 10.

CHAP. XX.] THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 401
who are not members_of_ Christ cannot be members one of an-
'otherJJn_j!nj Christian sense ; but the possibility of making the
body of Christ visible by means of any external organization,
rests upon these two truths, namely, that we are members of
Christ, and of each other. Whatever organization is composed
on opposite principles, is necessarily corrupt : wrhateyer individ
ual, destitute of fellowship witlTChrist and with Christ's people,
intrudes In to a trueUhurch, is merely an intruder. We delude
ourselves by' a word, forgetting that it is not the same thing to
be visibly a member of some organization or denomination of
Christians, and to be a member of Christ visibly by being a true
member of his visible body. It is another question, altogether,
what evidence shall be deemed sufficient, against an individual
or against a sect. Concerning which, in both cases, it is very ob
vious that if iyihjer the evidence itself, or the matters established
by it, be insufficient, it is at once to usurp the prerogative of
CnTrlt, anTrto outrage ourbrethreh'in him, if we reject as false
a profession of discipleship, which, for aught that appears, is
true. 12. The cove_nanted._duty ,of_ Christian parents to dedicate
their infant children to God, and the covejnanted_ right of the
seed of believers to membership in the Church- of God, will be
discussed hereafter. At present, it is sufficient to observe that
if such a duty rests on Christian parents, and such a right is
given by God to their infant seed : then all I have said, so far
from excluding such infant members from the visible Church of
Christ, necessarily embraces them. Their position isdefermined
absoluTely IjyThellecision we arrive at, concerning the effect which
the faith of the parent has, on the relation of his infant seed to
the covenant through which he is himself saved. When the pa
rent is not in covenant with Christ, it cannot be pretended that
he has any covenant duty to his infant seed, or that it has any
covenanted right based on the faith of a parent, who has no faith.
I suppose that nothing concerning God's dealings with man,
; whether in creation, in providence, or in grace, is more remarka
ble, than the use he has made of the parental relation, and the
pains he has taken to explain to us that use, and the ground
of it.
vol. ii. 26

CHAPTER XXI.
DEDUCTION AND EXPOSITION OP THE KINGDOM OF GOD, CONSIDERED
AS THE VISIBLE CHURCH OF CHRIST.
I. 1. The Effect of God's gracious Interposition after the Fall, upon Man's Relation to
God. — 2. The practical Result of that Interposition, generally stated. — 3. Theo
retical Issue of the Probation of the Human Race, upon the Conditions stated. —
4. Revealed Result : Coming of the Son of Man. — II. 1. Divisions of the Human
Race, Spiritually Considered : God's manifold Dealings responsive to those Divi
sions. — 2. Manifold Aspect of the Kingdom of God: Visible Church of Christ. —
3. Separate from the World, and organized for the Special Ends, and by the Spe
cial Means of its Visibility : Concatenation of God's Providence and Grace.-
IH. 1. Nature of Man and of Society — Fundamental Principles of the Church's
Organization — Revealed Ordination of God : Relation between them all. — 2. Ex
haustive Statement of the Functions of Society, in itself considered : — («,) The
aggregate Expression of what is Right: Public Will: Law: — (b) Enforcement
of the Rule of Right — by the aggregate Force: Administrative Authority:—
(c) Exposition and Application of Law, to Duties and Rights : Judicial Authority.
— 3. Dependence of these Functions of Society, on the Moral, Rational, and Spi
ritual Nature of Man : Their Relevancy to God, the universal Lawgiver, Judge,
and Ruler. — 4. Application of these Principles to the Visible Church : Funda
mental Distinction between the Gospel Church and the Civil State. — 5. The Law
of God the sole Law of the Church of Christ : Nature and Ground of this Pecu
liarity. — 6. Her judicial and executive Functions : Their Nature and Extent—
7. Definition of the Visible Church of Christ, now Militant under the Gospel
State thereof
I. — 1. The Fall of Man placed the human race in such an
estate, that its universal perdition couii.bejvr^ygjUjeAjacLQther-
wise, than by the sovereign and gracious interposition of God,
changing the relation of that race to himself. That interposition
occurred : and a clear account of it, in its whole nature and de
sign, has been given to us by God in the sacred Scriptures. Those
inspired writings contain — and they alone contain — the true re
ligion of man considered as a sinner : and that religion embraces
the sum of God's sovereign and gracious interposition to prevent
the universal perdition of the human race, and, therefore, the sum
of what man can need in order to be saved. Yet that interposi
tion of God did not change the relation of our fallen race to him,

CHAP. XXI.] THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 403
by abolishing the true religion natural to man, considered merely
as a creature ; but by graciously adding to it, in a way of divine
revelation, the true religion needful for man, considered as a fallen
and depraved creature. By what is added God becomes the Be
deemer, without ceasing to be the Creator ; and the saved sinner
remains the dependent creature of God.
2. In point of fact, the whole human family has never been
brought under the influence of this new form, in which life and
immortality are brought to light by the Gospel. On the contrary,
besides the original apostacy in Adam, God when he has made
inquest on signal and widely separated occasions, has found our
sinful race alike ignorant of him, and hostile to him. In the days
of Noah he drowned the whole race in the flood of waters, saving
alive only Noah and his family. In the days of Abraham God ¦
chose him out of a rebellious world, and made his covenant with ,
him as the father of the faithful. In the days of the early Gos-<
pel Church, God set aside even his ancient people for their sins,
and has scattered them and hidden his face from them ever since.
And Christ himself hath demanded concerning what is yet be
fore us, When the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the
earth P1 The knowledge of the written word of God has never
been communicated to any one entire generation of men ; and,
even at the present hour, it is probable that the larger part of the
human family are in ignorance of God's designs of mercy to fallen
men. And of those who have obtained knowledge, more or less
complete, on that momentous subject, it is probable that the
greater part do not profess to have received the truth in the love
of it ; and of those who make that profession, neither the Scrip
tures, nor our own most charitable judgments permit us to doubt,
that multitudes are alike ignorant and destitute of the power of
divine love.2
3. Such is the practical result of the sovereign and gracious
interposition of God for the salvation of sinners, as exhibited by its
progress from the beginning of time. And the whole is announced
when two most pregnant statements are added. First, that it is
not given to mortals to foresee how long, how sad, or how variable
the struggle between light and darkness may be, before the final
victory is won- — nor yet how soon that last triumph may come.3
' Luke, xviii 8. » Matt., xxv. passim.
3 Matt, xxiv. 36-42; Acts, I 7; 1 Thess., v. 1-11.

404 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
And secondly, that God's Kingdom has always been, and will
continue immovably established, in this rebellious world ; and
that the heirs of that Kingdom are the salt of the earth — the
light of the world.1 Theoretically, it is not easy to see how this
great problem could have worked itself out in a different man
ner, upon the terms stated ; nor how any result, substantially
different, could ever be reached, or the subject extricate itself
from endless conflict, unless some of the conditions of the prob
lem are radically changed, on one side or the other. For it has
been shown that the actual condition of the universe is this,
namely, that it Hes under the curse of God — with a promise of
deliverance ; but the curse is broader than the promise in this,
that in some sense the curse embraces all, while the promise takes
one and leaves another ; the one fastening and working with in
stant and universal force, while the other, pointing chiefly to the
future and the unseen, works in the midst of our darkness and
pollution. When we speak of the grace of God, the sense is most
true and real, but it is also strict : when we speak of the pollu
tion of sin, the sense is not only true, but absolute and universal.
And the grace itself, rich as it is, is not merely for our deliver
ance, but for deliverance in such a way that a true probation is
made, alike of those who reject it, and of those who are led in
willing captivity to it.
4. The Scriptures, however, leave us in no doubt as to what
the real event will be, and how it will be brought to pass. The
nature and certainty of the change that will occur in the terms
of this problem, so endless and insoluble to human reason, on the
conditions stated, are amongst the clearest and grandest parts
of the revealed scheme of our deliverance. The advent of Christ
was the great promise of the Scriptures of the Old Testament :
his second coming is at once the great promise and the great
threat of the Scriptures of the New Testament.2 However we
may dispute about that coming, as to its exact manner, its set
time, and all its sublime incidents and results ; no one who calls
himself an heir of the Kingdom of God, ought to doubt the great
fact itself, or its decisive and eternal efficacy. He whose right it
is, shall take the Kingdom. The Son of Man shall come in his
glory, and all the holy angels with him, and then shall he sit
1 Matt., v. 13, 14; xxviii. 19, 20.
£ Matt., xxiv. 29-31 ; xvi 26 ; Mark, xiii 24-27 ; Rev., i. 4-8.

CHAP. XXI.] THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 405
upon the throne of his glory : and before him shall be gathered
all nations.1 II. — 1. The consequence of such a state of things must be
the division of the human family, when spiritually considered,
into great classes : and then the subdivision of those classes into
subordinate, but still immense masses of human beings. The
first division would separate those who have been made acquaint
ed with the salvation of God, from the remainder of the human
race ; on the one side nominally believing, and on the other un
believing peoples, races, and nations. Passing by all the latter,
the second division would separate, amongst the former, all who
profess to love and obey the Lord, from all merely speculative
believers, who make no profession of being the people of God.
And again passing by all who fall into this latter class, the third
division would separate amongst the professed followers of Christ,
such as are the true children of God, from all those whose pro
fession is merely a form or a delusion. It is only after these re
peated divisions of our race, that the true heirs of eternal life —
the true members of the Kingdom of God — can be even theo
retically extricated from the mass of our perishing fellow-crea
tures, and contemplated as divinely set apart for the special glory
of God, as his Church. And it is manifest that these various
distinctions amongst men, must be responsive to a manifold me
thod of treatment of them by God. His dealings and his mani
festations of himself, are not the same towards those who are
wholly destitute of all knowledge of bis revealed will — -towards
those who know his will and despise it — towards those whose
professions of love and obedience have no solid foundation — and
towards those penitent and believing followers of the Lamb who
shall inherit all things. These things are not merely casual —
any more than those explained immediately before : nor are these
mere speculations. I am pointing out results logically unavoid
able — attested by the w^ord of God, and by all experience — which
belong to the very system of the universe, under the conditions
now stamped upon it.2
2. In a somewhat analogous manner to these spiritual dis
tinctions which exist amongst the human family, and are re
sponsive to a manifold treatment on the part of God ; there are
i Matt., xxv. 31, 32 ; 1 Thess., iv. 14-18 ; 2 Thess., i. 7-10; Jude, 14, 15.
' Luke, xxiv. 25-27; Matt, xxhi. 34-39; xviii. 7.

406 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
various aspects in which the Kingdom of Christ, and God's deal
ings with it, and its relations to man, are presented to us. We
may consider it with reference to its absolute unity and univer
sality; embracing every one of the elect of God, whether they
be now in glory, or in the flesh, or unborn. Or we may consider
it as divided by the stream of death into the Church triumphant,
embracing only such as have entered into their rest, and the
Church militant, embracing such true followers of Christ as
are passing through their pilgrimage. Or we may consider the
Church universal under the ordhm£y_jln7iswn__rfiiivisible, and
visible ; embracing^ under the former, the universal body of £Ee
Eleqtof God, considered not as they are sinners, but as they are
his children ; and under the latter, according as we speak loosely
or strictly, alljiying men who profess the name of Christ, or more
truly, all living men who are his true followers. In reality, the
visible Church can have no existence, except just so far as it is com
posed of true members of the Church universal ; for wheretnere
are none of these, there can be no Churcli of God. Properly
speaking, the visible Church can be nothing else but that portion
of the true and eternal Kingdom of God, which is apparent on
earth : and we might as truly speak of another head of the King
dom than Christ ; or another Creator of it than the divine Spirit,
as of other members of it than the elect of God. How far the
Church of God is, at any time, visible on earth, can be known
infallibly only to him. Whether it is visible to us, is, both the
oretically and practically, capable of being precisely determined
— as I will show in subsequent chapters ; and the knowledge thus
attainable, is the guide of Christian fellowship between the vari
ous sections, whether national or denominational, into which the
Church is divided. Whether particular individuals are to be ac
cepted as worthy members of the visible Church, is also capable
of being precisely determined ; and the knowledge thus attain
able, is the guide for those entrusted with Government and Dis
cipline in the Church of Christ — concerning both of which I will
treat hereafter.
3. The Kingdom of God, presented to us throughout the
Scriptures in ajight distinctly threefold, is called the Messianic
Kingdom from its head Messiah — is called the New Creation as
being the spiritual creation of the Holy Ghost — and is called the
Church of God, and of Christ, from its members, who are indi-

CHAP. XXI.] THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 407
vidually the members of Christ, and are collectively his Body.
Nor is it possible for us to have a clear apprehension of its na
ture, if we omit either of these great ideas concerning it. As
soon as this Body of Christ becomes visible on earth — that is, ap
parent to the world as an institute of God ; it becomes at the
same time, by the same means, and to the same extent, separate
from the world which lies in sin. And every additional ordinance
of God, by which its visibility is made more distinct, arid its
organization more complete ; is an additional mark of its separa
tion from the world — an additional means also of preventing its
confusion with a world which has rejected God, and even with
every other institute which God has ordained in the world. More- //
over, as I have before shown, whatever ordinance of God makes
the Body of Christ visible and separate, in the same degree or-l
ganizes it for all the ends of that special visibility and separa
tion ; and every additional ordinance of God by which its visi
bility and separation become more complete, becomes a new force
in its own distinct organization, a new means by which the great
ends of its existence as visible, separate, and organized may be
accomplished. But it has been shown that these great ends are
its own perfection and increase ; that is, the gathering and per
fecting of the saints, in this life, to the end of the world.1 So
that, considering the condition of the universe as it lies under the
Covenant of Grace as thus far administered ; we behold the out
working of the sentence and the promise of God uttered after the
fall 'of man — the spiritual result upon the human race, exhibited
in its great divided masses, and the manifold dealings of God
therewith — and the gradual emerging of the organized Kingdom
of God into its present form of the Gospel Church. God him
self has explained the whole to us in his blessed word ; and has
pointed out the amazing concatenation of all the parts. The
sublime order which pervades all his works, and the infinite fruit
fulness of all bis acts, are nowhere manifested in a manner more
august, than in those vast schemes of providence and grace, which
unite in the career and present state of the visible Church of
Christ. III. — 1. Our double relation to God as dependent creatures,
and as sinners saved by grace, runs through every part of his
dealings with us, and is felt in every aspect which his Kingdom
i Eph., iv. 1-16 ; Matt., xvi 15-20 ; xviii. 15-20.

408 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
presents. We are children of Adam — brethren also of Christ.
Our nature is, indeed, depraved by the fall ; and the Covenant
of Works is abolished as a Covenant of Life. But the funda
mental character of our nature as personal, human, spiritual,
and immortal, still exists ; and the eternal principles on which
the Covenant of Works reposed, are still true and operative.
Both that nature and those principles are made full account of
by God, in every part of his dealings with us under the new and
better covenant ; and are taken for granted in every part of that
organization of God's Kingdom, which, I have just shown, is the
unavoidable accompaniment of its separate, visible, existence as
a .divine institute in this world. But that visible, separate ex
istence in the world, though it is the result both as to the fact
of it, and the form of it, of God's sovereign ordination ; has been
shown to have a direct connection with the manner in which
God's sentence and promise work themselves out upon our guilty
race, taken as a whole — and upon the spiritual condition of that
race, considered in its great divided masses. It_remains to -trace
in the fundamental nature of man, and of society, those unal
terable principles upon which the visibility, the separation, and
xhe~"ofgahization of the Church rest ; and which, in the very
manner of their necessary operation, accord with the revealed
ordination of God concerning the visible Church.
2. However large and obscure what is called the science of
Government may be supposed to be, its most elemental princi
ples are as clear as those of any science whatever, and are, per
haps, fewer in number, and more fruitful in operation, than those
of any other science. As soon as men are united permanently in
what we call society, there immediately result certain necessities,
operations, forces, which spring from the organization itself, which
are developed by its formation and action, and without which the
existence of society is impossible. This occurs in the very na
ture of the case ; it results from the nature of man and of
society — and from the relations of both to God. It occurs in
every possible society formed of men, without the smallest regard
to the form society may take, or the object for which it exists, or
the motive of its creation. And so complete is this spontaneous
and unavoidable development, that except the necessities, opera
tions, forces, to which I allude, nothing else results from the or
ganization and existence of society, having any analogy to these ;

CHAP. XXI.] THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 409
nothing else can, by any possibility be made to result f om its
organization — and every exigency of every possible form of soci
ety, capable of control by society in its organized form, must
seek redress from one or other of these functions. Let me explain
this a little.
(ct) In the first place, there results, in some form or other,
the expression of the aggregate will : the manifestation, in some
way or other, of the dominant sense of what ought to be done,
or left undone, in everything of which society chooses to take
cognizance. Law, in some form or other, rules whenever society
exists : and in whatever form law exists in society, it exists by
whatever will — power — is dominant there. Whether it appears
in the shape of immemorial custom, of the decree of an absolute
ruler, of a written constitution and ordinary statutes — or of any
other conceivable public rule ; its abiding nature is, that it must
appear, and must predominate. It is the supreme necessity, op
eration, force, springing out of the existence of society — without
which that existence is impossible. This is the fundamental
principle, which underlies the possibility of organized society :
and its efficacy is so boundless, that no limits can be set in
thought, nor have any been established in practice, to the extent
of its reign, or the variety of its applications. Even the King
dom of God, and in that blessed form of it, where God is our
God and we are his people, will be made effectual by his
putting his law in our inward parts, and writing it in our
hearts.1 (&) In the second place, what occurs, is the practical enforce
ment of this aggregate will, in every expression of it, by the ag
gregate force of society ; the execution, that is, of the law ; so
ciety executing its purposes, and striving to secure its ends.
Here, as in the preceding instance, it is wholly immaterial, in
the nature of the case, in which one of innumerable ways, these
determinations of the aggregate, or predominating will, are ex
ecuted under the aggregate, public force. It may be by an
armed force, directed by a despot, or by the force of opinion
amongst a few people — or by any of the countless methods be
tween these two. The fundamental principle is the same, in
every manifestation : and the manifestation itself is the expres
sion of the second one of these necessities, operations, forces,
1 Jer., xxxl 31-34.

410 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
which are developed by the organization of society, and without
which the very idea of society disappears.
(c) In the third place, the aggregate justice, rectitude, of
society appears in the form of interpreting, applying, and ad
ministering the public will, in the innumerable applications of
it, to all the varied exigencies of individuals and of society.
This is what we call the judicial exposition and enforcement, in
civil society, of all public and private rights and duties, which
are regulated by what we call law ; which it appertains to what
we call the executive power, to take care that it is obeyed.
Here, as in both the previous instances, the method is nothing,
as regards the nature of the case. It is the principle, which is
of unalterable certainty and necessity ; and which is the third
and final necessity, operation- force, which results out of every
possible form of government, and without which none can exist
or act. 3. Now it is wholly indifferent, as matter of mere science,
whether the permanent functions of all government, are divided
and exercised by separate bodies of magistracy — or united and
all exercised by a single person. Such questions are fundamen
tal in determining the particular character of the government ;
but irrelevant to the question of the inherent nature of govern
ment itself. And we might content ourselves with remarking
that these are the ordinary powers, legislative, judicial, and ex
ecutive, with which they are familiar who live under free consti
tutions, but which our oppressed race has been so slow to com
prehend. But what is now insisted on is, that they are all
inherent in the very nature of the social state — and that for all
the purposes of the existence and operation of society, they pre
sent an exhaustive statement of its possible functions. Then
follows the decisive conclusion, as to their use in this place : the
indestructible foundation of them all lies in the very nature of
man. The first function is the result of man's natural sense of
right and wrong — his moral nature developed in union with his
fellow-men, in settling rules of rectitude, which he calls law—
the public will. The last function is the result of man's natural
sense of truth and falsehood — his rational nature developed in
union with his fellow-men, in determining the true and the right,
under established rules ; that is, truly applying in practice what
had been already declared to be right. The middle function is

CHAP. XXI.] THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 411
the result of man's free and active nature, developed in union
with his fellow-men, in enforcing, by the general will, the general
sense of the right and the true. Conscience, Beason, Will : these
are the grand characteristics of man's moral, rational, and spirit
ual nature — itself a faint image and likeness of the living God.
Legislative, judicial, executive : these are the grand functions of
society — which, under whatever form, can be considered in its
fundamental nature, as nothing else than an organized develop
ment of man — ordained by God ; and so, in a certain sense, an
image and likeness, in the second degree, of the nature of God,
as the great Lawgiver, Judge, and Buler of the universe.
4. These principles are just as true and effective with regard
to the visible Church of Christ, as with regard to any other or
ganized society of human beings. All ignorance, abuse, or mis
use of them, as inevitably works spiritual injury to it, as a similar
procedure works temporal injury to civil society : while it may no
more certainly destroy the particular portion of the Church so
misguided or misorganized, than similar conduct may destroy a
State. But in the application of these principles, the Church
of Christ is placed in circumstances altogether peculiar, the just
observance of which does involve her very existence. Nor do I
speak now, particularly, of one form of Church government as
compared with another ; but, as I have done all along, of the
fundamental principles of all authority in the Church of Christ.
In all communities that which is good and true, is obligatory
upon them by the law of nature, as the rule whereby they should
exercise every function of society ; and it is because all commu
nities are constituted of persons who are naturally depraved, that
the law of nature is ever transgressed by authority of the State.
As soon as the God of nature, restates the law of nature by way
of a divine Bevelation, and adds thereto a new and better way
of life for fallen men ; all communities, which come to the knowl
edge of this divine rule of what is good and true, are bound to
observe it in the exercise of every function of the State. I say
all communities are so bound — each in its place and according to
the special ends of its existence ; because I have proved else
where, that they exist by the ordination of God — -and I have just
now explained how, in their very existence and operation, they
demonstrate the creative, the providential, and the gracious do
minion of God. Throughout all ages, the civil State and the

412 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
Church of God have been developed, side by side — not indeed
among all peoples — but among all where God had a people.
From the call of Abraham to the establishment of the Insti
tutions of Moses, there seems to have been little distinction be
tween the two. From the establishment of those Institutions to
the erection of the Gospel Church State, the distinction between
1 the two was made as exact as the union was close. It is under
that Gospel Church State, that the union between them has been
dissevered — and each assigned to its proper sphere ; one as the
ordinance of God, for the temporal benefit of man, the other as
the ordinance of God for the eternal salvation of sinners ; one
fitted to be universal, the other obliged by its very nature to
ground itself, in some degree, on whatever is local, peculiar,
distinctive, personal. Of necessity, and in every way, there
fore, the law of God, and the person of Christ, have a relation
to the functions of the visible Church, different from the rela
tion of both to the civil State. It is this which remains to be
explained. 5. I have proved in a previous chapter, that the word of God
contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is
the only infallible rule of all that God requires of man, and all
that man ought to beheve concerning God. I have also proved
that the gathering and perfecting of the saints of~God, in this
life, to the end of the world, is the great immediate object ofthe
organization and continued existence of the visible Church_on
earth. It follows that the word of God is not only the supreme,
but the exclusive law of his Church ; the whole function of de
termining what is right and what is wrong, what is good and
what is bad — the whole power of making law in its proper sense,
and for the proper ends of her existence — much less for other
ends — being swallowed up and exhausted in her joyful and com
plete acceptance of God as her Lawgiver, and his laws as hers.
There are other lines of argument by which this same conclusion
is very variously established ; I content myself with remarking,
that the express command of God himself crowns and settles all.
The absolute sufficiency of the sacred Scriptures, is the funda
mental principle of the Beformed religion — in other words of
Christianity itself. Every addition to them, and every subtrac
tion from them, which the visible Church, or any portion of it, may
dare to attempt ; is a usurpation of the prerogative of God, an

CHAP. XXI.] THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 413
attack upon the Mediatorial office of Christ, and an outrage at
once upon the freedom and the conscience of the saints.1
6. Accepting, therefore, the law of God — the functions which
remain to the organized Church, considered as a visible, but divine
Institute ; are the true interpretation and application, and the
faithful administration and execution of all that blessed truth,
of which her Lord has made her, the pillar and the ground.
While her whole power is thus limited with relation to the Law of
God, her judicial and executive power, like that of every society,
limited to the exposition and enforcement of such law as is pecu
liar to them, or common to all societies, in her, is limited exclu
sively to the law of God. For the law of God appertains to
her, to her nature, and to her ends ; to expound it, and to en
force it, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints — is her
business on earth. Considered simply as God's Kingdom, there
is no other law which appertains to her ; and, therefore, there is
no other with which she may meddle, either to expound it, or to
enforce it. Acting always in the name and by the authority of
the Lord Jesus Christ — uttering always the mind of God as
made known to her through his word and Spirit — having no end
but the glory of God in the salvation of fallen men ; it is God's
Kingdom in this ruined world, made visible as the Church of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ — and now militant in its Gospel
State. f- Wemay_therefore define that the Church visible of Christ,
is the Kingdom of God in this World, created through the com
munion of saints, developed externally through principles inher-
ehTinTiuTnan^hafure and common to other societies, possessed of
a peculiar and divinely appointed organization, separate from the
woHaT,~and~so a divine institute among men : that all the mem-
bers~'0f~it7"are membe^joj^jJemis^Christ^its Lord and Head,
whose~Body itls^the infallible rule of whose faith and practice
is the reveadecTwill of God — to expound and apply, to adminis
ter a^'lmTorce which, are its sole functions as a government
separate~from the world — the scope of all its powers, being the
scope oT"ifs own end, is exclusively spiritual, and exclusively
directed: to the gathering'jiid.jlej^ are
lost sinners saved by grace.
1 GaL, i. 8, 9 ; 2 Tim., hi. 14-17 ; Deut. iv. 1, 2 ; Rev., xxii. 18, 19.

CHAPTER XXII.
THE FREEDOM OF THE VISIBLE CHURCH, CONSIDERED LN ITS INDE
PENDENCE OF THE STATE, AND ITS CONSECRATION TO CHRIST.
I. 1. The FamUy, the State, and the Church : Theh Relation to Human Natura, and
to God. — 2. The Impossibility of either of them supplying the place of aiiy
other. — 3. Relation of Christian Duty to the Commonwealth. — 4. Tendency of
Society to engulph the Church in the State : Certainty and Nature of the Retri
bution. — 5. Results of the Union of the Church and the State. — 6. Their distinct
Nature and separate Mission : Their mutual Relation and Duty. — 7. Fundamental
Necessity of the Spiritual Independence of the Church. — 8. Absolute Impossibility
of confounding the True Church and the Civil Power: Distinction between the
inward and outward Freedom of the Church — II. 1. Relation of the Glorified
Redeemer to the Visible Church, and her Relation to Him. — 2. Infinite Dominion
of Christ, and unspeakable Freedom and Blessedness of the Church therein : —
(a) The Head of the Church, head over all things : — (J) The Church the Purchase
of his Blood : — (c) She Chosen in Him — chooses Him as her only Lord : — (d) His
Worthiness to possess, and Competency to execute, boundless and everlasting
Authority: — (e) In Him dwelleth all Fulness: — (/) By Him, are all eternal Re
tributions. — 3. The Crown of the Redeemer as exclusively his, as his Cross. —
4. The Root of our inward Freedom. — 5. Consecration of the Church to Christ,
her true Freedom. — 6. Nature of this Freedom. — 7. Condition of the Visible
Church, when possessed of it. — 8. Relation of all States to Christ's Free
Church.
I. — 1. When we have considered man as an individual being,
and theu considered him under the various social aspects in which
he is united with his fellow-creatures ; there remains nothing
which concerns his nature, his development, or his duty, which
may not have been subjected to our scrutiny. For there is no
position in which man can be contemplated, which does not he-
come distinct under one or other of these points of view. I have
attempted in the early part of the previous Treatise to analyze
what may be called the social possibilities of human nature, as a
necessary part of the demonstration of the total and universal
depravity of the race. The result reached was, that all the so
cial relations which have been ordained and regulated by God,
and of which human nature appears to be capable, are embraced

CHAP. XXII.] FREEDOM OF THE CHURCH. 415
under the institutions of the family, the State, and the Church ;
these three institutions, and none besides, appearing to be un
avoidable under the scheme of creation, providence, and grace,
known to us ; and, at the same time, to exhaust the social capa
bilities and satisfy the social necessities of human nature, in its
present condition. In order to the analysis and demonstration
which it was necessary to attempt, neither of these social insti
tutions was required to assume any particular form, out of the
innumerable forms in which all of them have existed, or might
be supposed to exist. What was to be shown was, the social
capabilities and wants of human nature, concurring with the
ordination of God, and uniformly producing the organization
of families, of civil communities, and of religions — -however per
fect or imperfect they might be supposed to be ; by means of the
whole of which, and by no other means, those social capabilities
and wants are completely exhausted and satisfied. This is the
result on the side of Philosophy — illustrating the course of divine
Providence towards man, and confirming the perpetual teaching
of God's word, that these, and only these, are the social institu
tions which belong to human nature in its present condition, and
which have been ordained by the Creator and Buler of the uni
verse. 2. It follows, that neither of these institutions can discharge
the functions which are peculiar to either of the others ; and that
neither of them can encroach upon the proper domain of any
other, without jeoparding the highest interests of man, and at
the same time attempting to disorder the course of divine Provi
dence, and to set at naught the revealed ordinations of God. If
it were possible to obliterate the sense of religion in the human
soul, we should become a race of fiends. If it were possible to
annihilate the irresistible tendency in man to a state of society,
mankind would be exterminated by mutual violence, unless want,
j and pestilence, and beasts of prey, anticipated the savage work.
I If it were possible to extinguish the parental, the filial, the fra
ternal, the marital affections and instincts of our race — its con
tinued existence would be impossible. It is by means of these
profound and enduring elements of our nature, that our race has
been found capable not only of existing, but of making progress,
under conditions which would seem capable of overwhelming it
with ruin and despair.

416 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
3. Civil society, then, is by divine appointment — and the
commonwealth is an ordinance of God. The magistrate is, in
his place, the servant of God.1 Obedience to the laws of the
land in which we dwell, loyalty to the community of which we
are members, zeal for the advancement of the commonwealth to
which we belong, are not only obligations of natural religion, and
high impulses of nature herself ; they are explicit duties of re
vealed religion, enjoined by God. But, like all other relative
duties, they are neither exclusive nor absolute ; but are bounded
and regulated by other duties of equal dignity ; and are liable,
on one hand to be greatly strengthened, and on the other to be
even effaced, by coincidence or by conflict with duties more ex
alted than themselves.
4. Nothing in the history of society, is more remarkable than
the strength of that tendency to confound and identify its civil
and religious institutions, which has manifested itself in all ages.
And yet from the moment that the tribal form of society was
superseded, by what may be properly called the State, and the
Church became visible and separate ; nothing would be more
illogical, and nothing has been more disastrous. When God or
ganized his ancient people under a form of administration imme
diately theocratical, not only did he keep the functions of the
Church and those of the commonwealth distinct ; but he ren
dered their union impossible — and secured the freedom of both
—by making one tribe royal, and another priestly. Yet man
kind, imbued with a deep instinct of the divine origin of society,
while they, apprehended vaguely its true principles ; overlooked
the divine ordination of its separate organization for its special
and limited ends, and engulphed under the one ruling idea of the
State, every interest of man, personal and public, temporal and
eternal. However great may be the error of denying the divine
authority of civil society ; the error is equally great that swal
lows up the individual — the household- — and the Church — and
leaves to man nothing positive but the State — and no distinct
relation but that of citizen, or subject, or slave, as the case may
be. The social instincts of man, not less powerful in their reli
gious than in their civil tendencies, might be expected to seek a
terrible retribution ; and they were taught the way, both by the
spirit and the method to which governments were prone. The
1 Matt., xxii. 15-22 ; Rom., xiii. 1-7.

CHAP. XXII.] FREEDOM OF THE CHURCH. 417
long and bloody career of the Latin or Boman Apostacy in the
bosom of the last of the prophetic universal world-powers ; and
that of the successors of Mohammed in the bosom of the three
preceding universal monarchies ; have exhibited examples of this
tendency to engulph all in the idea of the Church, more tena
cious and more frightful, than were ever exhibited by the oppo
site tendency to engulph all in the idea of the State.
5. Supposing the visible Church to exist in such a union with
the civil power, that the distinctness and freedom of each, with
respect to the other, are lost ; then, one or other out of a few
clearly appreciable results, seems to be theoretically inevitable —
and is historically certain. The civil power enslaves the Church :
or the Church enslaves the State : or there are endless conflicts
between the two, with perpetual alternations of mutual domin
ion. A fourth result may be imagined — but it has never been
attained, and cannot be ; namely, the concurrent action of both
under the condition just stated, with a perfect mutual observance
and freedom of the functions, duties and rights of each. This
cannot be. The two institutions— though both are based in the
very nature of man, and both are manifested through principles
fundamental in that nature, and both enter into that vast con
catenation by which God is manifested in all things ; — yet in
their scope, and end, and means, and sanctions, are utterly dif
ferent from each other. No State has existed in which the true
followers of the Lord, were even numerically coincident with the
members of the civil community. Even in the Jewish common
wealth, when the union between the visible Church and the civil
institutions was in many respects so close, the distinction between
the two was, as I have shown, complete ; while it was one great
part of the mission of the Apostles of the Lord to transform the
visible Church from its close, and ritual, and legal form, into its
open, and free, and Gospel form.1
6. The Church of Christ, though in the world, is not of it.2
The Kingdoms of this world are exclusively, both in it, and of
it.3 The children of the Lord may be citizens, or subjects of the
State ; and the rulers and magistrates of all States may be heirs
of the Kingdom of Heaven ; and the institutions and laws of all
i Matt., xxviii. 18-20; xvi 13-20; xviii 18 ; John, xx. 19-23 ; 1 Cor., v. 4.
2 John, xviii. 36 ; vi. 15 ; Daniel, ii. 44; vii 9-14.
5 Mark, xii. 13-17 ; Rom., xiii 1-7.
vol. ii. 27

418 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
communities ought to be made and administered in the fear of
God. It is, no doubt, the special duty of the Church, to have
in constant remembrance before God, all who are in authority j1
and it is their special duty to be nursing fathers and nursing
mothers to the Israel of God.2 The State is for things temporal,
things local, things visible and transitory ; none of which we
brought with us into this world — none of which shall we take
with us when we leave it — none of which, while they endure are
able to save our souls, or separate them from the love of God.
Great as are the blessings it is capable of bestowing, so far is it
from being possible that the political millennium for which men
look, can be secured by any temporal organization of society ;
that the end of all the Kingdoms of this world is, that they shall
be broken in pieces and consumed, and become the Kingdom of
our Lord and his Christ ; and he shall reign forever and ever.1
In that spiritual Kingdom manifested in the Visible Church, and
whose true seat is within us, neither time, nor place, nor condi
tion, nor race has any vital significance ; nor can flesh and blood
inherit it ; nor does anything avail but the new creature. Its
union with the civil power is the highest aggravation of con
founding it with the world — for the State is the highest form in
which the world appears. So that neither the Visible Church,
nor the civil power, can have any duty either towards God or
itself, or each other, more clear and transcendent, than that each
should confine itself with respect to the other, to its own obvious
sphere — each regarding the other as the ordinance of the com
mon father and God of both. Let the Church so act, that the
State ordained of God, may protect and nourish her as the Bride
of the Lamb : let the State so act, that the Church ordained
of God, may reverence and obey her as the minister of God on
earth. 7. This spiritual independence of the Kingdom of God in
this world, is a necessity so fundamental, that no portion of the
Visible Church has surrendered it, without surrendering in an
equal degree, the spirit of its divine vocation. And all corrupt
Churches which have sought the closest union with the civil
power, have done so, not in order to submit themselves to the
dominion of the State, but rather to subject it to a tyranny as
1 1 Tim., il 1-4. a Isaiah, xlix. 22, 23.
s Rev., xi. 14 ; Daniel, ii. 35, 44.

CHAP. XXII.] FREEDOM OF THE CHURCH. 419
relentless as that, which they made it the instrument of inflict
ing. To plead for the freedom of the Church is, therefore, to
plead, at the same time, for the independence of States, and for
the security of mankind against the cruelties of all false reli
gions. If the Church of God had conferred on mankind no other
boon, than to disseminate throughout the earth, and to settle in
the depths of the human soul the sublime truth, that in Christ
Jesus there is a law, separate from all other laws, and higher far
than they ; that in him there is a power, distinct from and more
enduring than all power besides ; she would have bestowed on
our suffering race, a source of consolation capable of sustaining it
through all its sorrows, an instrument of deliverance competent
to the overthrow of all its oppressors, an assured means of vic
tory — temporal and spiritual — efficacious at last for the destruc
tion of those who have destroyed the earth. In those blessed
lands — where this great truth is the common inheritance, the
Church of God ought to beware how she so walks in the light of
it, that all peoples may see — and live.
8. In point of absolute truth, however the State and the
Church may deprave each other — yet the confusion of the two as
now ordained by God — or the complete subjection of either to
the other — before one or both are wholly perverted — is really,
and in a strict sense, impossible. And the impossibility results
so completely from the absolute nature of both those divine in
stitutions — that the final glory of the Kingdom of God, will
be exhibited towards the Kingdoms of this world — as I have al
ready shown — not in that they will be subjected to it, but in that
their mission being ended, they will pass utterly away. In. the
meantime, innumerable evils are engendered, and countless in-
iuries are inflicted on humanity, and on the cause of Christ — by
the corruption of the professed people of God — by the oppression
of his true children — and by the general demoralization of man
kind ; through perpetual attempts to accomplish that which in
its very nature cannot occur, so as to leave both to the State and
to the Church its true spirit, and its real nature. The fundamen
tal conditions of the visible Kingdom of God being, its separation
from the world and its spiritual freedom — both of which are im
possible as long as it is confounded with the State — no matter
whether the State is subject to it, or it is subject to the State ;
all that remains in that calamitous estate of the Church— is the

420 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
inward freedom which every member of Christ possesses, and must
vindicate in order to be a member of the Kingdom of the First
Born whose names are written in heaven. When the outward
freedom of the visible Church is gone — this true inward freedom
of God's people may still exist in its highest perfection.1 Nay
this condition of the Church — when brought about by the perse
cution of the State, is so far from being impossible or unusual,
that it is that in which it has ordinarily existed : and so far is it
from being helpless, that it has proved to be one of mighty power.
Nevertheless, it is no more the mission of the Church to court
persecution, than to shrink from it. Her normal condition is that,
on the one side, of spiritual freedom, and independence of the
State — which I have thus far attempted to exhibit ; and, on the
other, that of absolute consecration to the Lord Jesus Christ —
which remains to be considered.
II. — 1. Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, said Peter
in the name of all the Apostles, on the day of Pentecost, that
God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both
Lord and Christ.2 We are his witnesses, he and they all added
not long afterward to the council of the Jews, — and so is the
Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him, that
the God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and
hanged on a tree, and hath exalted him with his right hand to
be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and
forgiveness of sins.3 John, in his vision of him whose name is
called the Word of God, and who was clothed in a vesture dip
ped in blood, saw upon that vesture, and upon his thigh, a name
written — King of kings and Lord of lords; and all the armies
which are in heaven followed him.4 And Paul declares that God
has not only raised up Christ from the dead, and set him at his
own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is
named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come;
but that he hath put all things under his feet, and given him to
be the head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the
fulness of him that filleth all in all." And the risen Saviour
proclaimed to his Apostles, in the most emphatic manner, and
1 Gal., v. 1 ; John, viii 32; Rom., vl 18; 1 Peter, ii. 15, 16.
a Acts, ii. 36. sAets, v. 29-32.
« Rev., xix. 13-16. s Eph, i. 20-23.

CHAP. XXII.] FREEDOM OF THE CHURCH. 421
as part of his last charge to them concerning his Kingdom, — All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.1 Him, there
fore, the Church of the living and true God accepts as the one
Lord Jesus Christ,2 her sole Foundation" — Husband4 — Head6 —
and King.6
2. If we would but consider in how many and how decisive
points of view the Scriptures place this absolute right and do
minion of the Lord Jesus over his Church ; and his infinite
fitness to possess them, and his infinite faithfulness in the exe
cution of them, and the unspeakable freedom and blessedness of
his people therein ; we should perceive clearly how deeply our
salvation, and the glory of God in the whole work of his redeem
ing love, are staked on the matter we are now examining. Let
me suggest a few particulars.
(a) As Mediator Christ is invested with all power in heaven
and in earth : as Head of his Church he is Head over all things,
with unlimited dominion and lordship over them all.7
(6) Christ has purchased the Church with his own blood,
that it might be unto him a chosen generation, a royal priest
hood, a holy nation, a peculiar people — showing forth the praises
of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous
light.8 (c) That Church, chosen in him — has with unanimous and
unfaltering voice and consent of every heir of God, chosen and
declared the Lord Jesus to be its Lawgiver, Buler, Judge, and
Saviour ; whose glory as such, is above the heavens, and whose
infinite exaltation as her Lord, every tongue will at last confess.9
(d) Nor is there anything wanting in him, to make him wor
thy to possess and competent to exercise this boundless dominion
— since it is he which searcheth the reins and hearts, and giveth
to everyone according to his works — he by whom God shall judge
the secrets of men, according to the Gospel.10
(e) In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowl
edge ; and the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of
• Matt, xxviii. 18. 2 1 Cor., viii. 6. s 1 Cor., hi. 11.
4 2 Cor., xi. 2. 6 Eph., i. 22. 8 Psalm ii. 6.
' Matt., xxviii. 18; Eph., I 22; PhiL, L 9-11.
8 Acts, xx. 28 ; 1 Pet., ii. 9, 10.
» Isaiah, xxxiii. 22 ; Psalm viii 1, 10 ; Phil., ii. 9-11.
W Rev., h. 23 ; Rom., il 16.

422 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV
knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, rest immeasurably upon
him.1 (/) It is before his judgment bar that we must all appear,
that every one may receive the things done in his body, accord
ing to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad ; whereof
God hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
him from the dead.2
3. What less can we say to these things, than that the crown
and Kingdom of Jesus Christ appertain to him as exclusively as
his cross ? He alone is King in Zion — as really as he alone is
the Bedeemer of Israel. By the eternal purpose of Jehovah —
by the unalterable covenant between the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost — -by the purchase of his own most precious
blood — by the ratification of his work by the Father in the in
finite exaltation of the glorified Bedeemer — by the ratification
of his work by the Holy Ghost in his unbroken testimony to
Christ — by the willing obedience and joyful suffrage of every heir
of eternal life — by his own glorious fitness to rule over and in
the Kingdom of God — by his infinite power, and wisdom, and
justice in the final judgment of the quick and the dead — by the
unsearchable fulness out of which he bestows on his brethren a
weight of glory which no heart can conceive, and upon his ene
mies tribulation and anguish beyond their wildest fears : — by
rights and prerogatives so immense, so accumulated, so over
whelming — he is the King, the Lawgiver, the Judge, the Lord
in Zion !
4. It is precisely in this absolute and exclusive headship of
Christ, and the consecration of his Church to him responsive
thereto, that the root of her inward freedom lies ; just as it is on
her entire separation from the world, that her outward freedom
is grounded, and can be made manifest. Nor is the doctrine of
her inward freedom barren — any more than that of her outward
freedom. Nay, this is before the other : necessarily before it in
the order of her life — immeasurably before it in the power of its
operation. For without this inward freedom there is no Church (
of God, to which that outward freedom can appertain. Where-
ever Christ reigns in the human soul, there the Kingdom of God
is set up, even though men and states recognize it only to reject
and oppress it. The Kingdom cometh not with observation : it
1 Col., ii. 3; Isaiah, xi. 2. a 2 Cor., v. 10; Acts, xvii. 31.

CHAP. XXII.] FREEDOM OF THE CHURCH. 423
is within us — and is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the
Holy Ghost.1
5. The manner in which we are personally made free by
Christ, has been fully and carefully explained, and the whole
process of our deliverance traced. Considering all those who are
delivered by Christ as united in the fellowship of saints, and
conducted into the glorious liberty wherewith Christ makes his
whole people free ; we have before us that great company of the
redeemed, which is the City of God.2 Their individual freedom
is the result of their personal union with Christ ; the aggregate
freedom of the whole is the result of Christ's headship over bis
Church. Their individual consecration to Christ as their Sa
viour, is the clearest manifestation of their personal deliverance
by him : their public and organic consecration to him as their
only King and Head, is the clearest proof of the organic freedom
of the Church.
6. These divine realities are developed in a way, at once dis
tinct and irresistible. The mode of our being and the character
of our nature, alike render it impossible for us to exist, in any
independent and irresponsible condition — which we might choose,
in our folly, to dignify with the name of freedom, and which we
might imagine was attainable and to be desired. We have no
freedom — -and can have none — which can deliver us from God,
and from nature, and make us independent of those ever-living
forces of reason, morality, and providence, which operate within
and around us, and amidst which, as a part of them, and not as
irrespective of them, we are borne onward to our destiny. We
may perish — or we may be saved by Christ : besides which, there
is no alternative. We are already under the law and the bondage
of sin and death : and from this condition nothing but the law
of the Spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, can make us free.3 In this
condition the blood of Christ is efficaciously applied to our souls.
The infinite dominion of the Son of God, which pervades the
universe with absolute completeness and perfection, becomes un
speakably merciful and loving towards us, and supersedes in us
every other dominion. The divine agency by which it acts — even
that of the Holy Ghost— is infinitely pure, gentle, ennobling,
¦Luke, xvii. 20, 21; Rom, xiv. 17, 18.
* Psalm xlviii. passim; Rev., hi. 12 ; xxi passim; Gal., iv. 22-31.
' Rom., viii 2.

424 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
and efficacious ; and the divine truth through which it works,
quick and powerful as a two-edged sword, is also sweet, and
purifying, and healing, as the balm that is in Gilead. And the
company of the Lord's redeemed, who walk in white bearing the
symbols of victory, are round about us, every one a monument
like ourself of divine grace and glory. Now, is this bondage — ¦
— or is it deliverance ?
7. Freedom of the human conscience from all control but that
of God — freedom of the human reason from all authority but that
of truth — freedom of the human will from all dominion but that
of the Buler of the universe — freedom of the human soul from
all subjection but that to its Creator and Bedeemer : add to all
this majestic freedom — -the freedom to use it all — freely for all
good ! This is the feeble expression of that spiritual condition
proposed to the Church of the living God — and for which the
Spirit of God is able to prepare her. This is the true condition,
inadequately expressed, of the visible Church of Christ, which
in its free action separates itself more and more from the world,
and solicits from all States a complete separation from them, in
all her spiritual life and movement. This is the result of the
supreme and exclusive headship of the glorified Bedeemer, to
which the perfect consecration of his Church to him — is her
responsive act. It is a freedom of which none are worthy — to
which none are competent — unto which none can attain — but
the Bride of the Lamb ! As to her, the more perfectly her will
is swallowed up in the will of God, the more complete her free
dom is. The more entirely God's truth obtains possession of her
mind and heart, the more thoroughly does that truth make her
free. The more constant and pervading the power of God's
Spirit within her is, the more assured and enlarged is the liberty
of her service and her love. And as to every dependent creature
— fallen and renewed by grace — this is the only form of spiritual
freedom offered to them by God, or of which their fallen nature is
capable. It is the form in which our Saviour Jesus Christ hath
abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light
through the Gospel.1
8. The present enquiry does not lead us to the particular con
sideration of the duty of the State, as a divine institute, and that
of the civil magistrate, as in his office a servant of God. It may
1 2 Tim., i. 7-10.

CHAP. XXII.] FREEDOM OF THE CHURCH. 425
be observed, however, that the separate ordination of States, is
very far from releasing them from the duty of piety towards God
— from the open recognition of their position, as powers estab
lished by him and responsible to him — or from the obligation to
reBpect and protect every other institute ordained by him.1 The
obligation resting on the State to take note of the Church of
God, is in its nature very similar to that resting on the Church
to take note of the State ; the duty of acting righteously in the
sphere assigned by God, is as clear with respect to one as to the
other ; and the certainty of God's favour, or his displeasure, is
equally absolute and efficacious, with respect to both. The God
of the Christian is the only God. His dominion extends to all
things — his providence directs all things — his will is the rule by
which all things are determined. All peoples, all States, all
rulers — all that exists, in every relation in which it exists, is his :
and so the whole universe is his. For his own glory he created
all things : for that, he sustains and governs all. The humblest
creature is not beneath his regard — and the most exalted is as
nothing before his wrath. Whoever imagines that kindnesses or
injuries done to the least of his children— are forgotten by him,
knows nothing of him. And the kings of the earth who set
themselves, and the rulers who take counsel together, against the
Lord, and against his Anointed ; ought to know that he that sit-
teth in the heavens shall laugh — that the Lord shall have them
in derision.2 1 Prov., viii 15, 16; Psalm txxxii. 3, 4; 2 Sam., xxiii. 3 ; Rom., xiii. 1-8.
a Psalm il 2, 4 ; Matt., xxv. 31-46.

CHAPTER XXIII.
THE HISTORICAL, LOGICAL, AND SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS OF THE
CHURCH: CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO THE MARKS OF THE
TRUE CHURCH.
I. 1. Posture of the General Exposition: Marks of the True Church. — 2. Elements
of the Question of the True Church. — IL 1. The Historical Element: The Sacred
Scriptures excluded from this Element. — 2. Uninspired History of the Church:
Nature and Influence thereof. — 3. General Career of the early Gospel Church : Its
Fate in the East : The Latin and the Greek Churches and Empires. — 4. Career
of the Gospel Church, and of the Latin Church, in the West — till our Times. —
HI. 1. The Logical Element: Stated and explained. — 2. Its Force when directed
by Divine Grace. — 3. Sympathy between the inward and outward Life of the
Church: Unity through all Generations. — IV. 1. Supernatural Element: Its Vital
Supremacy. — 2. The total Abnegation of Identity between the Gospel Church,
and every Institution, real or possible. — 3. Positive Exposition of it, Supernatur-
ally Considered. — V. 1. InfaUible Certainty concerning the True Church. — 2. All
possible Forms of the elemental Idea of Religion, reducible to three: These
stated. — 3. The First Class reject the Revelation of God : They cannot be the
Church of Christ. — 4. The Second abuse and pervert that Revelation : Precision
of the Rule of Judging them. — 5. The Third are the result, and expression, of that
Revelation: Their Glory and Blessedness. — VI. 1. Recognition of the Church
Visible, universal. — 2. Particular Marks distinctive of her: General Statement
concerning them. — 3. The two ultimate and opposite Foundations: Authority-
Reason.
I. — 1. I have now traced, in the four preceding chapters, the
Church of Christ as it may be considered in its fundamental idea
and elemental principles — as it may be considered in its nature
and end — as it may be considered as the universal Church ^visible
—and as it may be considered with regard to that spiritual freedom
which results from its complete consecration to Christ. It seems
to me that this course of exposition brings the whole subject to
a position in which we may say we have precise knowledge, and
therefore have clear and just views, touching a matter at once un
speakably vast and important. What would follow, if we lived
in the first age of the Church, would be to sum up and apply the
knowledge thus obtained, to the designation of those universal
marks of the divine Kingdom thus displayed, whereby it might

CHAP. XXIII.] MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH. 427
be infallibly distinguished. We live, however, not in the first,
but in the nineteenth age of the Church. And all the intervening
ages have claims greater or less upon our consideration ; and all
the permanent effects which their terrible convulsions and vicis
situdes, may be supposed to have produced upon these great ques
tions, require some line to be clearly drawn through them, whereby
we may walk in confidence. Before attempting, therefore, to point
out those infallible marks of the true Church to which I have
alluded, it seems necessary to explain carefully, but generally,
those great principles and truths, to the test of which all the
past, with all its influences, must submit ; and in the presence
of which, the true position of every age, as it exists, becomes
equally distinct.
2. There are united in the very fabric of the Church, three
elements, distinct but closely allied as they come to us, all of
which we must appreciate, in order to comprehend fully the as
pect she ought now to present, and to render truly our decision
upon the marks that determine her very existence. These are
the historical, the logical, and the supernatural elements which
enter into the question of the Church. Of these the last, is the
transcendent element : the second is next to it in importance, but
far below it : and the first, instead of being the chief, as is so
often asserted, really derives all its importance, since the close of
the canon of inspired books and the death of the last inspired
man, from the light it imparts to the other two, by showing us
how they have affected man, and how he has abused them. I
will consider each in its order as briefly as possible ; observing
that the necessity of any such consideration, and even of any
precise determination of the marks of the true Church, rests, on
one side, on the certainty that there is such a Church on earth,
and on the other side, on the certainty that fidelity to Christ
and to our own soul, renders it impossible to allow, without
examination, any claim, by any organization, that it is that
Church. II. — 1. I exclude from the historical element of the Church,
all its inspired history, all the narrative portion of the sacred
Scriptures ; for all this is an essential part of its supernatural
element — what God said he did, being as really divine as any
thing else he said — and the inspired narrative of what he did
being obligatory upon us as expounding his revealed will, and

428 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
not to be considered as simply explaining the course of events.
The Church is delivered to us by Bevelation in its Gospel state
. — the state in which it should exist by divine appointment, and
the Bevelation of which is addressed to man and cognizable by
man. Whatever history it had before, is written by God : what
ever development, was by divine authority, was under the Cove
nant of Grace, and terminated with the Apostles of the Lord.
That the steps of its previous development had been numerous
and distinct — all progressive, each emerging from the bosom of
its immediately preceding state, and conducting directly to its
immediately succeeding state : all this proves clearly that we
must accept the common result of all, as the Church of Christ ;
but proves, also, that further progress and development of the
same description, so far from being normal to the Church — are
impossible in the absence of that immediate authority of God,
attested by miracles and revelation, which had attended all its
previous changes. Add to this the express and repeated declara
tion of God, that the Gospel Church is the last dispensation of
his grace directed to the salvation of sinners, and that the second
coming of the Son of Man is the next manifestation of his King
dom ; and the demonstration is complete that the Apostolic
Church, and not a Church developed beyond it, is still the true
Church of Christ.
2. Whatever, therefore, the uninspired history of the Gospel
Church, during her progress, her convulsions, and her vicissitudes
for nineteen centuries, may deliver to this generation ; must, as
regards its value as an elemental part of the question of the
Church, sink very low in comparison with the supernatural ele
ment of it : and must submit whatever value it may really pos
sess to the severe scrutiny of the logical element of the great
question. What God has ordained his Church to be, and what
the human soul enlightened by divine truth, perceives from her
nature and end that she should be ; may derive a certain con
firmation to us from the fact, that historically that is what she
is, and has been. And our judgment may, to a certain extent,
be influenced by her free and common judgment, maintained
through all ages, as to what the ordination of God is, and as to
what her own nature and end oblige her to be. But it is only of
the true Church of Christ, that such statements can be made :
for the history which has been enacted, and the judgments which

CHAP. XXIII.] MARKS OP THE TRUE CHURCH. 429
have been uttered, by dead heretics and schismatics, dead per
secutors and oppressors, dead seducers and corrupters, are of no
more authority to us, than they were to those saints whose blood
they shed. When we attempt to appreciate the value of the
historical element of the question of the Church, we must be
careful not to deceive ourselves, by allowing the corrupters of the
truth and the oppressors of the earth, to speak in the name of
the Bride of the Lamb, whom these very despisers of the cross
of Christ have driven into the wilderness during two-thirds of
her pilgrimage, and would have destroyed utterly, if God had
permitted them. Nor must we allow ourselves to forget, even
when the Bride of the Lamb herself makes her voice audible
through centuries of corruption and persecution, that she must
speak by the same rule by which we must judge. We could not
allow her, even if she desired it, to settle determinately, and for
us, the significance of the elements of her own great question ;
without surrendering every claim which the Knowledge of God
has, to be considered a science of positive truth. In effect, there
has always been, and there is now, a true Church universal of the
Lord Jesus Christ ; and its history is the most important part
of the history of mankind, since the days of the Apostles ; and
it gives us a determinate element in the great question of the
true Church, chiefly as it sets before us to be scrutinized, the
very thing we seek.
3. Christ's conception of his own Kingdom as exhibited in its
members, and therefore called his Church, his Body, his Bride ;
was of a universal Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy,
into which men are divinely persuaded by teaching them eternal
truth. From the earliest dawn of tradition, and the existence
of the first powerful State among men, the human idea was the
establishment of universal dominion by force ; which has been
realized four times in the history of mankind, in those four uni
versal world-powers, of which various portions of the prophetic
Scriptures, especially the book Daniel and the Bevelation of St.
John, give so remarkable an account. In the bosom of the last
of these, the Gospel Church took its rise, when the set time had
come. During all subsequent ages, it had its predicted course,
first under the shadow, and then under the more baleful sun
shine, of this vast power ; till it was itself subverted, and the
very idea of universal dominion, as a pure civil conception, was

430 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
lost amongst men. Then the Gospel Church continued its course
towards its own predestinated triumph, in the midst of the pro
phetic Kingdoms into which that last subverted empire was rent
The Boman empire, and the visible Church already deeply cor
rupted, had both been torn asunder ; and the Latin Church and
empire, and the Greek Church and empire, at length divided the
civilized world between them. In the latter arose the apostacy
of Mohammed ; in the former the apostacy of the Papacy. Both
under the pretext of religion, and with the most formidable
union of spiritual and civil power the world has seen, sought to
prolong the existence in new and appalling forms, of universal
world-power by force, directed against both the conscience and
persons of men. To this day the Churches of the whole East re
main under the yoke of Mohammedan superstition, or are sunken
in spiritual deadness and defection. God has given to them no
great awakening, no great reformation, during twelve hundred
years ; and in all those vast regions, it would be far easier to point
out intolerable corruptions of Christianity, than to designate a
true mark of the Church of Christ.
4. In the West the Latin Church and empire had a different
career : and so had the true Church of Christ. From the days
of Christ to those of Constantine the Great, the whole Church ,
through three centuries of persecution, possessed, nevertheless,
inward freedom, and filled the earth with the knowledge of the
Lord. From Constantine to Pope Hildebrand, commonly known
as Gregory VII., during about seven and a half centuries more,
the Church of God passed through a period of constant declen
sion and oppression, and at length of merciless persecution ; and
the Papacy from small beginnings in the city of Bome, gradually
extended its dominion and its corruption, until it became the
mistress of Europe, and sought to subject the whole world to its
sway. From Hildebrand to Luther, during more than four addi
tional centuries, the true Church of Christ is to be traced chiefly
in the blood of its martyrs, and in the edicts of its oppressors ;
and the Papacy reigned with unlimited despotism throughout
the Latin Church, and over the nations inhabiting the countries
that composed the Latin empire. Twice before Luther, once in
the eleventh century in the south of Europe, and once in the east
of Europe in the fifteenth century, a Christian people had at
tempted, as did the Germans in the sixteenth century, to main-

CHAP. XXIII.] MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH. 431
tain against Bome, the right to love and serve the Lord : and in
both cases, they were visited with protracted and exterminating
war, and cut off with indiscriminate slaughter. From Luther's
day to our own, during more than three additional centuries, the
Church of Christ, restored to life by a miracle of divine grace,
has passed through a ceaseless struggle, with the Papacy on the
one hand, and with every form of unbelief and misbelief on the
other. And now she stands before the same lost world, from which
she has been so long separate, consecrated to the same Saviour
who has always been her portion, appealing to his blessed word,
and to her own nature and end, to confirm that historical claim
to be the Bride of the Lamb, which has been the crown of her
rejoicing through centuries of trial.
III. — 1. The Church visible of God, in whatever light we con
sider it, has, Hke everything else that is subjected to our scrutiny,
a logical element which it is impossible to omit, in every judg
ment we form concerning it. Everything that relates to that
Church, considered as the Church visible and universal of the
Lord Jesus Christ, distinguishes the question concerning it, as
containing this logical element in a very high degree. The un
inspired history of Christianity both in its purity and its cor
ruption, demands, from its very nature, a more thorough scrutiny
before any controlling influence can be allowed to it, than any
history besides ; whilst yet no permanent interest of mankind,
remains more inadequately prepared for the scrutiny of any, but
the learned, than this vast and diversified history. Moreover, the
entire supernatural element, which is the controlling element in
every question that relates to Christianity, cannot be accepted
by man, much less so accepted as to satisfy it, without something
to justify that profound conviction it demands. It is in the light
of all we know, and all we are — the light of reason, of conscience,
of philosophy, of the whole power we possess whether by nature
or through grace, directed by all the knowledge we have obtained;
that our meditations are to be directed to every serious question,
and above all to questions relating to God and to duty. The
ground of every decision is, in one respect, obliged to lie in the
subject matter itself; and, therefore, as in all I have said, so em
phatically here, nothing can be determined irrespective of its own
nature and end — irrespective of its own logical element. Nor is
it possible to determine anything against its own nature and end,

432 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
against its own logical element, without determining falsely. It
would be wholly impossible to believe that a God of purity and
truth, proposed to save sinners in their pollution, or by means of
falsehood and cruelty : impossible to believe, that the saints of
God have Satan for their Lord, instead of Christ : impossible to
believe that to be a true Church, which by virtue of its faith, its
life, and its worship, promotes sin instead of holiness. Eation-
ally, it is not competent to man to say, that truth and falsehood
are the same : ethically it is beyond his nature, to confound the
distinction between good and evil : logically the concrete of all
this is a controlling reality of his being — he cannot disregard the
nature and end of things.
2. If we add to these great principles and truths, which are
common to man, that which is peculiar to the children of God,
we shall perceive how sure a foundation is laid in this logical ele
ment of the question of the Church, for a true decision concern
ing it. He who is born of the Spirit is able to discern the King
dom of God,* and is fit to enter it.1 That which is born of the
Spirit is spirit, as really as that which is born of the flesh is flesh.'
To know God, the living and true God, and to know Jesus Christ
whom he has sent — this is eternal life.3 The Son of God has
given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true :
and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ : this
is the true God, and eternal life.4 But this Saviour whom we
know, is the way, the truth, and the life : and we know the truth,
and the truth has made us free : and the Spirit of truth guides
us into all truth." And is it so, that they who are thus enlight
ened cannot discern the common mother of them all ?6 Is that
spiritual insight which suffices to discern God, and Christ, and
all truth, blind when it is turned toward the Spouse of Christ ?'
Are the very elect of God, whom it is impossible for false pro
phets, and even false Christs to deceive, incapable of distinguish
ing a ferocious harlot, from the faithful and beloved Bride — the
Lamb's wife.8 Then what we are expected to believe is, that he
who ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, and who gave
* hvvarai ideiv. 1 John, iii. 3-6.
2 John, l 13 ; iii. 6 ; Titus, hi 6. 3 John, xvii. 3.
• 1 John, v. 20. 5 John, viii. 32 ; xiv. 6 ; xvi 13.
• GaL, iv. 26, 27. ' Song of Solomon, passim.
° Matt, xxiv. 24 ; Rev., xvii passim ; xxi. 9-27.

CHAP. XXIII.] MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH. 433
Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, for the per
fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify
ing of the body of Christ ; gave them sufficient grace to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and to discern the one
Spirit, the one hope of our calling, the one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one God and Father of all ; but did not give them
grace to discern the one body to which they were given : although
he says he did, and names it first of all, in the very front of the
wondrous array.1
3. Nor is this element of the question of the Church fully
appreciated, until we reflect, that besides the force which its very
existence implies, in distinguishing the true Church, the force
of its own working makes every mark of the Church more and
more distinct, while the absence of that working may be so ab
solute, as to destroy all evidence of the existence of the Church.
Considered of herself, the sympathy between the inner and the
outer life of the Church, is constant and profound ; her spirit,
her faith, her life, her form, all mutually and continually influ
encing each other. When she rose under the labours of the
Apostles, she rose altogether ; when she declined under the
tyranny of Bome, she declined altogether ; when she was re
stored to life under the labours of the Beformers, it was a resto
ration altogether ; and every apostacy from her, has been an
apostacy altogether. In proportion as each member is like
Christ, all are like each other : in proportion as the Church is
pure, she is identical in all generations. Her early Greek creeds
and her still more numerous creeds of the Beformation — the for
mer preceding the Apostacy of Bome, and the latter following by
a thousand years, and renouncing that apostacy, are all expressive
of the same unalterable faith. Nor is a less illustrious example
of that invincible force and concatenation of sympathy between
her inner and outer life, exhibited in all her endeavours to ex
ecute her true mission on earth. Her force in the world, and on
it, has always been great in proportion to her separation from it,
and feeble in proportion to the closeness of her connection with
it : and her desire and fitness to execute her mission, have al
ways risen and fallen with her abihty to do so, as measured by
her own complete organization, and vital activity, as Christ's
Kingdom. 1 Eph., iv. 3-13.
vol. n. 28

434 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
IV. — 1. The supernatural element of the question of the
Church, is the grand and controlling element in every aspect in
which it is possible to present it. If we would obtain the funda
mental idea of the Church, and the most elemental form of the
principles which enter into that idea ; if we would rightly appre
ciate the nature and end. of a Kingdom, organized upon thatldea
as arf~eternal witness for God ; if we would have a clear concep
tion of the aspect, and form, and working of_tliis_Kingdom, with
Christ at its head, the Spirit as its life, and regenerate men as its_
mem^ejs ; if we would understand the necessity and the form 01
its real freedom, resulting from its being separate from the world
and consecrated to the complete dominion of Christ : if this is
what we desire to understand, we have, we can have, no alterna
tive, but to sit down at the feet of Jesus and be taught by him.
It is this which, in the four preceding chapters, I have endeavoured
to prove and illustrate ; and in the widest sense of the truth im
phed in that method, it is this which pervades all I have written.
Whether we consider God, or man, or the Mediator between them ;
or salvation, or the truth which is available unto salvation, and
that whether in its objective or subjective form ; or the individual
sinner, or the race of sinners ; or the individual believer, or the
whole elect of God, or the Kingdom of God composed of them,
and that whether considered in its head the Lord Christ, or in its
author the Holy Spirit, or in its members the children of God ;
or whether we consider the Church visible, and that whether in
the very elements of the question, or in the marks of the true
Church— and that whether with reference to her faith, her life,
her worship, or her form : the^ njmrient we shut ..our eyes.J,o_the
supernatural element which not only pervades all, but determines
all— there we extinguish light and hope together. The just live
by faith ; the relation between life and righteousness, and the re
lation between both of them and faith — is divine, absolute, un
alterable.1 It is to the supj&natural element ijL^^stiauityJtself,
as well as in the question of the„visible Church by means of which
Christianity presents a particular aspect, that both the other ele
ments thereof are merely applied ; nay merely so applied, that
we^may the better. .comprehend its intimate nature, its practical
operation^jjirl its eternal design.
' Hab., ii. l^t ; Rom., i. 14-21 ; Gal., hi. 10-14 ; Heb., x. 35-39 ; John,
ill 16-21.

CHAP. XXIII.] MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH. 435
2. The Church of God is no longer manifested in a particular
race, a^jrinderLqne. aspect of ...the AFrahamic covenant : it is no
longer identified _ wjtb^jarticular State, or "a particular nation
ality, as withjhe. Jewish commonwealth and people. The truth,
of which it is the pillar and ground, is for all the world ; the
Gospel which it proclaims, is for every creature ; the repentance
and remission of sins, which are preached in the name of Christ,
are for all nations.1 Nor is it a high, but spontaneous and neces
sary, development of the fallen religious nature of man, under
fixed conditions ; so many degraded forms of which heathenism
presents to us. Nor is it a system created by human skill and
thought, out of such elements as existing systems furnished,
aided by such suggestions as reason, and passion, and natural
religion might afford ; of which we have examples in the system
of Mohammedanism, and in that of the disciples of Confucius.
Nor is it a fortuitous, or capricious, or traditional, or eclectic col
lection and arrangement of opinions, and speculations, and ideas,
and theories ; like the schools of the Oriental and the Greek phi
losophies. Nor is it a myth — springing from the efforts of the
human mind to objectify, upon the traditions of the race, its own
vague but powerful subjective life ; and assuming the particular
form in which we find it, by the development of the common life
of the race. Nor is it a voluntary association of individuals,
combined for particular purposes, governed by rules prescribed
by themselves and perpetuated from generation to generation ;
of which so many and such varied examples have been furnished,
in the progress of the human race. Nor is it even, like civil
society, which it resembles most of all in some remarkable par
ticulars which I have pointed out ; a permanent and divine insti
tution, of which God has laid down the elemental principles and
obligations, and left to human choice, or to the course of events,
to determine the particular form it may assume, and the particu
lar direction it may take. The Gospel Church is none of these
things. It is widely, divinely, different from them all. And in
saying this it will be observed that the negations which have been
made, exhaust the ordinary possibilities of human association, in
a simple form ; and yet they present few aspects which, in some
age, have not been asserted, by those destitute of the truth, to
be the true aspect of the Church of Christ.
1 Tim., iii. 15, 16 ; Mark, xvi. 15 ; Luke, xxiv. 47

436 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
3. Considered merely in its supernatural element, this is what
it is. It is a permanent, uniyeraaIusp.irilHaL ^ingdom^ jet up by
Godwin thilTworlcnf of which his Son Jesus Christ is the Lord,
and Sayiour7and head; of which the Holy Ghost is. the life;
and of which every member is chosen. out of 'thejhuman family,
by God himself. All these members in all lands and ages, con
stitute one vast brotherhood, and perpetuate themselves through
all time, disregardful of all things that would obstruct their vo
cation and their progress. They are united under the immediate
authority of God, made manifest in his written word, and en
forced by his divine Spirit ; their outward organization being
that prescribed in that word, and every act of authority being
performed in the presence, and in the name, of the Saviour of
the world. Every object to which the efforts of this body, thus
organized and administered, may be directed ; every doctrine it
may accept ; every duty which can devolve on it ; all are laid
down, explicitly or implicity, in the sacred Scriptures. The body
itself and every member of it, is absolutely precluded from doing
anything which God has forbidden, and from leaving undone any
thing which God has commanded ; no matter at what risk, or
loss, to themselves or others — no matter what ties are broken —
or what authority subverted — by obedience to God. While all
men, left to themselves, avoid and reject this absolute dominion
of God ; and while all who submit to it, do so only as they are
made willing and able by the Spirit of God ; it is, nevertheless,
the immediate duty and right of every human being, to deny
himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus Christ in the regen
eration ; and it is the immediate object of this universal Church
visible, to make known to every creature, his duty and his right
in this particular — to urge every one with all importunity to flee
from the wrath to come — and to teach every one with all dili
gence and love, the way of life eternal. This Church of God, is
the great glory of God, in time and through eternity. In a world
of sinners, it is vain to speak of a Church of God which contains
no such element as this : vain to speak to sinners saved by grace,
of any element paramount to this — or fit to be compared with
it,: vain to think of supplying its place — and yet saving lost
souls. V. — 1. These elements of the question of the visible Church,
appear to be exhaustive ; and any just consideration of them to

CHAP. XXIII.] MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH. 437
place that question in a posture, where the marks of the true
Church cannot fail to be always present with her, always so ob
vious that all may know her, and that her own children cannot
mistake her. What those marks are in particular, or considered
generally, every one who is enlightened in divine things, readily
determines practically, and truly to his own satisfaction : nor can
it, in any instance, affect the validity of the conclusion reached,
that boundless variety of mental experience and exercises, occurs
in the process by which the human soul reaches its conclusion
upon this, any more than upon other questions of our spiritual
life. Nevertheless, those marks of the true Church are capable
of distinct classification and statement, under a few general heads
— as I will attempt to show in the following chapters. And pre
liminary thereto, I will apply the foregoing analysis and exposi
tion to the great question of all religions and Churches, for the
purpose of clearing away all needless questions, and reducing the
one we have to settle to its exact state.
2. I have already shown that the innumerable acts which are
performed by public authority under every possible form of so
ciety, fall under a very few, namely three, great functions, which
exhaust all the force which results from its organization — and
supplies all that is possible, or even conceivable. It would be
perfectly easy to show, in addition, that all the possible forms
which organized society can assume, although they appear to be
innumerable — are reducible to a very few ; besides which, in their
simple exhibition and in the multiplied combinations of them,
there is no possible, or imaginable, form of organized society.
There is a form which is strictly popular and democratic ; there
is a second which is strictly aristocratical ; there is a third which
is strictly regal ; there is a fourth which is strictly republican and
representative ; and there are innumerable combinations of the
elements of these four forms. But nothing else is possible — until
some unknown element heterogeneous to society, and, as regards
human nature — either divine or diabolical — is introduced as a
further modification ; and even then, it is the spirit more than
the form that is affected. In hke manner, the permanent forms
which are possible, or conceivable, with relation to the idea of
religion, even in its widest sense— are very limited in number,
are capable of being precisely stated, and, following the nature
of the subject, are less capable of serious admixture without

438 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
mutual destruction. However numerous and diversified the re
ligions which have appeared among men, may be supposed to be
— the following classes embrace them all.
(a) Those which, destitute of all true external revelation from
God, are the product of the natural impulses of fallen man — and
of his necessities manifested through his depraved religious sus
ceptibilities. (b) Those which are the product of the abuse and perversion
of a true external revelation received from God.
(c) Those* which are the product, the sum, and the expres
sion, of all true external revelation received from God.
3. No one can doubt that all religions which fall under the
first of these three classes, are to be indiscriminately and com
pletely rejected, as no part of the Church visible universal of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever effect may be produced on man in
this life, or in that which is to come, by any conceivable form of
religion of that kind ; it is perfectly manifest that no single effect,
in either life, identical with any effect which the religion of Jesus
was designed to produce, can be produced — or even desired, or con
templated by any of them. It is impossible, in the nature of the
case, for the Christian religion to identify itself with any form of
natural religion, or general morality — or speculative belief origi
nating in that way — without forfeiting at once, every divine claim.
Of systems of idolatry and superstition — of fraud and violence —
of pollution, folly, and brutality — which have been accepted as
religions amongst men ; there is no occasion to speak here. So
far is it from being possible to recognize, from the stand-point of
the Christian Church, any system of religion originating in human
nature, or wrought out by man in his own strength, as being com
petent for our guidance in this life, and for our eternal salvation ;
the necessary effect of the triumph of Christianity, is the total
destruction of all such religions — the necessary effect of the re
generation of each soul, is its deliverance from every such delu
sion. At the very first step, therefore, of all enlightened attempts
to identify the Church of Christ, and even before the exact set
tlement of the precise marks which infallibly distinguish it ; the
field of enquiry is swept of an overwhelming mass of refuges
of lies. 4. Those religions which fall under the second class, require
more consideration. The decision which ought to be formed in

CHAP. XXIII.] MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH. 439
each particular case, depends somewhat on the circumstances pe
culiar to each. The general principle is clear enough. For as
the rejection of the true external revelation made by God to man,
necessarily deprives men of all knowledge of a Saviour, and, there
fore, excludes them from all communion with him ; so the abuse
and perversion of that revelation, to the extent of depriving men
of saving knowledge of Christ, also puts them out of the possi
bility of all communion with him. Nor is it at all material
whether this terrible result is reached, by abusing and perverting
God's revelation to man through human additions made to it —
through rejection of additional revelations made by God — through
voluntary ignorance of the way of life taught in the accepted
revelation — through perverse misstatement of the truth divinely
taught — through carnal deadness and indifference to it — through
holding it in unrighteousness — or by whatever other means dishon
ouring God the Saviour, and concealing from lost men the light
of life. In every such case, the just consideration of either ele
ment of the question of the Church, much more of all three —
shows that none such can have the freedom of the city of God.
The difficulty lies, not in the principles on which our decision
ought to rest ; but in the uncertainty which may attach to the
facts in each case, or in the conclusive significance of the facts
when established. That is, it lies, not in the supernatural, but
in the historical, or logical element of the question. For it is
not true that every abuse and every perversion of the word of
(Jod — even though it should be such as to be permanent, and
characteristic — justifies us in calling a Church corrupt, much less
apostate ; any more than that individual Christians whose faith
is very weak, or even erroneous on many points — or whose lives
may come greatly short of the Gospel standard, are to be cast
out as the children of the wicked one.1 The most remarkable
examples, perhaps, which the history of the Church affords, of
the abuse and perversion of the revelation of God, are those fur
nished by the Jewish and Papal Churches. And while it is per
fectly clear that neither of them can be considered any part of
the visible Church of Christ ; it is very remarkable to observe
the difference in God's providential dealings towards them, and
in the whole tenor of his word respecting them. Let it be noted
that whatever practical difficulty may exist arises only on the
1 Isaiah, xL 9-11 ; Eph., iv. 1-3.; Col., iii. 11-15.

440 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
lowest margin of the subject. It may not be easy to discover,
that those who shall be saved, yet so as by fire, are nevertheless
upon the only foundation that is laid, which is Jesus Christ ;'
nor to discern Satan when he is transformed into an angel of
light, and his ministers when they are transformed into ministers
of righteousness.2 But assuredly there is no mistaking the Bride
of Christ — to whom he saith himself, Thou art beautiful, 0 my
love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, looking forth like the morn
ing, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army
with banners."
5. It is those religions which are embraced in the third class,
those, namely, which are the product, the sum, and the expres
sion of all true external revelation received from God, which are
truly divine. That is the religion now professed by the true
Church, visible and universal, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor
has the human race any interest so great, as that this religion,
on the one hand, should have free scope upon earth — and that,
on the other, it should not be allowed to depart from its own
sublime mission, and thereby not only deprive mankind of in
finite blessings, but become perverted into an engine of unspeak
able misery. No folly of mankind is more fatal, than the success
ful accommodation of the Gospel Church, to human philosophies,
passions, and ends — the subjugation, that is, of God and eternal
truth, to man and to all changeful vanities and lies. The con- 1
stant effort, rather, should be, to reduce the visible Church more \
and more perfectly to the absolute standard of divine revelation, \
on which it wholly reposes ; and to make every human interest
which comes within its scope, conform itself more and more, to
the same perfect and eternal standard. As for the Church, all
she has is the gift of God. When this does not suffice, her mis
sion is at an end. For the Spouse of him who was dead, and is
alive, and liveth forevermore, may not accept bridal ornaments
from any hand but his, any more than she may lay aside those
with which he has adorned her, as proofs at once of his infinite
triumph, and his unquenchable love ! What has she to do — I
will not say with the pollution and guilt, but with the empty and
tawdry splendour of this miserable world ! Her faith — her life —
her all, are from above — and there is her hope and her rest : and
1 1 Cor., hi. 11-15. 2 2 Cor., xi. 13-15.
8 Solomon's Song, vl 4-10.

CHAP. XXIII.] MARKS. OF THE TRUE CHURCH. 441
her glory and her blessedness can mean nothing, but the presence
and approval of her Lord, and her fitness to serve and to enjoy
him !
VI. — 1. Our recognition of the Kingdom of God, therefore,
under the form of the visible Church universal of the Lord Jesus
Christ, is more than the personal recognition of individual be
lievers ; however imgrjQssible_Jt may be to, recognize. her in their
absence^or except through them. On the other hand, it is less
than the recognition of the universal body of the elect — the
greater part of whom were never in the flesh together ; less also
than the recognition of such a universal organic unity of all the
elect on earth, as we behold in a particular Church. The Gos
pel Church has no visible head — the Lord Jesus Christ being its
only head ; the conditions which attach to our present state, and
the necessities and obligations which arise from those conditions,
are incompatible with the organic union of the universal Church ;
the whole course of divine providence renders it impossible, under
the present dispensation ; and the revealed will of God discloses
it as appertaining to a more exalted condition of the Church.1
Schismatical, and even needless divisions of the Church, are sin
ful. But national, denominational, or other necessary divisions
of it, are no more to be condemned than the organization of sep
arate congregations, or particular Churches ; but, on the other
hand, to a certain extent, and in certain ways, they promote the
peace, the efficiency, and even the spirituality and unity of the
Church. The Church visible universal, therefore, which we are
to recognize, and which, as I have shown, it is not conceivable
that a child of God should mistake, is the Kingdom of God mani
fested in this world, and struggling to subdue it unto him : God's
people indeed — but God's people divinely organized under the
banner of the Lord Jesus Christ."
2. Descending from this wide and manifest ground of recog
nition, whatever particular marks of the true Church may be de
manded, must be such as the children of God, with his love in
their hearts, and his word in their hands, may clearly and readily
distinguish ; not such as even the wise and learned might find it
difficult to ascertain and determine, though honestly seeking for
them, by the light of eternal life. For the Kingdom of God
1 John, x. 14-16; Rev., xx. 4; Rom., viii. 17-25; Rev., v. 10; 2 Tim., il 11-13.
3 Rev., xix. 1\ 14.

442 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV
must be entered in the spirit of a little child ; it is to the hum
ble and the poor, pre-eminently, that the Gospel is sent ; and the
common people are they who have always heard Christ gladly.
They are marks, moreover, not determinable by the Church, but
by God. Nor are they exclusively for any Church to judge her
self by, but for all men, and especially for believers, to judge every
Church by. The testimony of any Church, that she possesses them
may, or may not, be true ; and must be received or rejected, ac
cording as it may be found to be. In their very nature, the marks
of the true Church are anterior to the claim of any particular
Church— they are logically independent of the Church, and com
pletely and divinely decisive concerning the Church. It is, there
fore, wholly absurd to speak of our ascertaining the Church first,
and afterwards ascertaining through her, what her true marks
are ; which is the method of the Papacy, and a specimen of the
methods of all in all ages, who exalt the historical element of the
Church to supremacy over its logical and supernatural elements.
It is a method by which it is impossible to arrive at truth ; a
device whereby the word of God, and the reason and conscience
of man, are sought to be controlled, by whatever body of persons,
that can obtain, by whatever means, dominion over whatever they
see fit to call the Church of God. Its use has been to cast the
responsibility of the most atrocious wickedness, and the most
abominable perfidy — upon the Church of the living God. What
ever may be the risk of error in determining for ourselves, what
these marks are, and where they exist, and by consequence, which
is the Church ; it is less by far — and there is no possibility of es
caping it — than necessarily falls upon every human soul, in de
ciding the previous, and still more important questions, which
relate to Christ, and to our own souls. Moreover, in both pases,
the risk is not diminished — but is immeasurably increased — by
trusting to human instead of divine guidance — by following the
commandments of a worm like ourselves rather than the doctrine
of the living God.1
3. There are but two ultimate foundations, upon one or the
other of which everything must rest, and all human conduct
proceed. One of these is authority, the other is reason : reason,
pure and simple, in all natural things — reason, enlightened by
divine grace, in all supernatural things. Either of these may he
1 Matt., xv. 9 ; Isaiah, xxix. 13, 14 ; Col, ii. 18-22.

CHAP. XXIII.] MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH. 443
adopted, and will conduct us completely ; but nothing, except
one of these, will do so. We may commit our souls to the au
thority of the priest, to the authority of antiquity, to the autho
rity of the Church — to any authority, lower than that of God —
and blindly foUow it ; and such are the peculiarities of the fallen
human soul, that it may be degraded into an unquestioning obe
dience to its idol — even to its own perdition.1 Or we may commit
ourselves to the guidance of that reason, by which God has dis
tinguished us above the beasts that perish ; and addressing it to
the great realities which environ us, follow the truth made known
supernaturally by divine revelation, and effectually applied to our
souls by the Holy Ghost. This is the method ordained of God,
commanded in his word, and appropriate to our nature, both as
created and regenerated by him. The true and the good become
clearer to, the soul, and are more precious, as its devotion to them
is more constant. The power and the proportion of that divine
faith by which we walk, open before our steadfast gaze. And as
with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we
are all changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as
by the Spirit of the Lord.3
1 2 Cor., iv. 4 ; John, xii 37-41 ; 1 Tim., iv. 1-3.
2 2 Cor, iii. 18; iv. 6; CoL, hi 10.

CHAPTEE XXIV.
PURITY OF FAITH: THE FIRST INFALLIBLE MARK OF THE
TRUE CHURCH.
I. 1. Alleged Difficulty of Knowing the True Church of Christ: Cause of whatever
may exist : Impostures. — 2. Nature of her Infallible Marks. — 3. The State of the
renewed Soul, responsive to the Revealed Salvation. — 4. Purity of Faith, the First
InfaUible Mark of the True Church. — II. 1. Divine Revelation the InfaUible Arbi
ter of the Purity of Faith — and the Infallible Rule by which to Judge the Church
- — 2. The Questions of Salvation — Church — Rule of Faith — and Judge of Contro
versions : Their indissoluble Connection. — 3. The exact Relation of the True Church
to the Question of the Purity of Faith. — 4. God himself the Infallible Judge : In
this World by his Word and Spirit: At the Last Day, by Jesus Christ. — 5. The
Imposture of an Earthly, Infallible, Judge of Faith, and of Controversies. — 6. The
Relation of aU Christian Graces to Purity of Faith. — 7. The Saving Work of the
Holy Ghost— the Vital Test of the Purity of Faith, and of the Church itself— 8. The
Regulative Power of Faith. — III. 1. Nature and ground of our Judgments con
cerning true Faith, and the true Church. — 2. Symbolical Statements of the Chris
tian Church. — 3. Hatred and Vengeance of God against Corrupt and Apostate
Churches.
I. — 1. As soon as God's people on earth assume, by his direc
tion and under his guidance, an organized, separate, visible, com
mon existence ; new obligations to each other, and to all mankind,
as well as new obligations of individual men and of civil communi
ties towards this divine society, arise out of its creation and action.
One alleged difficulty in the performance of these duties, is the
pretence of great uncertainty in ascertaining, amidst an immense
variety of religions, which is that true Church of God whose ex
istence amongst men gives rise to the duties themselves. Under
this pretext, the wicked evade the obligation to follow Christ at
all, and willingly confound his Church with every synagogue of
Satan ; while every anti-christ seeks, through it, to promote his
own wicked ends, and to defeat the grace of God, which bringeth
salvation. If the world, and more especially the children of Christ,
would follow simply and earnestly the light of that reason, with
which God has endowed us, and the teachings of that divine word,
which he has given to be a lamp unto our feet and a hght unto

CHAP. XXIV.] PURITY OF FAITH. 445
our path, it is not easy to imagine how the least obscurity could
hang over such a question. If the Church were, what she should
be — even then the wicked might hate and shun her ; but it would
be for her glory and beauty — and not upon the shameful pretext
that the house of Judah is like all the heathen. As long as the
people of God manifest clearly, the new life which animates them,
men cannot well avoid taking knowledge of them, that they have
been with Jesus ; nor can joint inheritors of the Kingdom of
Heaven fail to recognize each other, and so recognize the body,
which they unitedly compose. A city cannot be hid, if it be set
on a hill ; and salt is cast upon the dunghill, only when it has
lost its savour. And it has happened during the most deplorable
corruptions of the Church in the high places of the earth, that
the obscure and despised but faithful disciples of the Lord, have
found refuge, though it were in dens and caves of the earth ; and
when prevented by persecution from publicly manifesting God's
Kingdom, or when unable amidst surrounding darkness and cor
ruption to discern that it existed, they saw plainly that those who
claimed to be the Church of Christ, were indeed the Synagogue
of Satan. It is in order to favour the pretensions of corrupt, per
secuting, and apostate Churches, that all those false and delusive
means of distinguishing the true Church, which occupy so large
a space in controversies, and which are discussed in systems of
theology — were at first invented, and have been so vehemently
defended. I leave to those controversies and those systems, the
settlement of the true value of such impostures. The whole
subject, which to the true Christian is practically extremely sim
ple, has its chief importance in the clear statement of that, which
if it had never been intentionally corrupted and obscured, could
never have come to be doubted. To that statement, therefore,
I will address myself.
2. The Kingdom of God on earth, as I have sufficiently proved,
is constituted out of his elect, redeemed, and regenerated people.
The nature and end of that Kingdom, have a precise relation to
that definite principle and method of its composition. It is, as
so composed, of such a nature and for such an end, that it be
comes visible more and more, by becoming more and more per
fectly organized. Its absolute freedom, thus organized and visi
ble, is complete in its perfect separation from the world, and its
perfect consecration to Christ, its only Head. Its supernatural

446 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
element is, therefore, its distinguishing element — as exponents
of which its logical and historical elements find their chief value.
Inevitably, therefore, whatever mark infallibly distinguishes this
divine Kingdom, must be in complete accordance with these ele
mental truths, and must make full account of them all. What
ever pretended mark does not obviously meet this necessity, must
obviously be a fallacy and an imposture. Whatsoever mark does
obviously meet it, is beyond all peradventure, a permanent and
infallible mark of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where
any such mark is found, there is found a portion of that Church
— it may be an imperfect one — but still a true portion, of that
Church : just as there are real but feeble Christians. Where the
whole of these marks are found — and they are both few and sim
ple — there beyond all doubt, that Church is found in her beauty,
her strength, and her completeness.
3. Now the fundamental characteristic of every elect, redeemed,
and regenerated person — that is of every member of the Church
we seek — is, that he is a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ,
as the only and all-sufficient Saviour of sinners. To perpetuate
and to propagate this belief on earth, for the glory of God and
the salvation of men, is the fundamental object of the existence
of the Church, and of all its efforts to perfect and extend itseE
Every step by which the Church has become organized, visible,
and complete, has been a step perfecting, enlarging, and confirm
ing this belief, and making every method of perpetuating and
extending it, more and more complete and efficacious. The sub
ject matter of the belief itself, the mode of its communication
to men ; the power by which it is made effectual unto salvation ;
all the steps by which those who cherish it, are united, organized,
and separated from the world into one body unto Christ ; and the
total action of that one body, unto the great ends of its own ex
istence : all are supernatural — all are by divine revelation. It is
a revealed Saviour, revealed truth, revealed holiness, a revealed
Church, a revealed immortality. All are brought nigh to us, and
manifested in the union of all who are united to Christ — in the
organized communion of all who have communion with Christ.
This is that which we profess to seek. That in man which is re
sponsive to all this, God and all God's people in all ages express
by a single word — Faith : faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.'
1 Rom., i. 16, 17; 1 John, v. 10; Eph, I 13-23 ; ii. 3-21.

CHAP. XXIV.] PURITY OF FAITH. 447
4. The first infallible mark of the true Church is, therefore,
the Purity of her Faith. That faith, of which Christ crucified
is the specific object j1 of which the word of God revealed to us
in the sacred Scriptures, is the only infallible rule :2 of the pro
duction of which, as existing in us, the Holy Ghost is the divine
agent :3 which is unto us the substance of things hoped for, and
the evidence of things not seen :* which is in us a divine power,
working by love, and purifying the heart, so that in every one that
is born of God faith is the victory that overcometh the world.5
This is so great a reality, and is so directly related to Jesus Christ,
that he is himself both the author and the finisher of it ;" and
without it, it is impossible to please God.7 In this wide and yet
most specific sense, purity of Faith is the simplest, most obvious,
most universal, and most comprehensive mark, by which to ascer
tain and determine the union and communion of any soul with
Christ — and by which to judge and settle the claim of every
Church to be considered a part of his visible Church. What can
be more certain than that a Church thus spiritually and com
pletely united to the Lord Jesus Christ — is his Church ? What
can be more monstrous than for a Church, defiled and drunken
with the blood of saints and martyrs, shed for their maintenance
of the truth as it is in Jesus — to call herself his Body, his Bride ?8
The Church with respect to Christ, is his Body ; with respect to
the human race, it is the company of God's elect saved by grace.
Omitting either of these ideas — much more omitting both — the
conception of the Church vanishes : and every society that pro
pounds ideas of the Church opposite to these, or fails to pro
pound these, as its foundation — is by force of its own statement,
no Church of Christ. For the elemental idea of that purity of
Faith, which is itself the elemental mark of the true Church is,
that it has for its object the divine Bedeemer, crucified for us,
who is unto us the wisdom of God, and the power of God.9
II. — 1. I have devoted a previous chapter to the establish
ment and illustration of the great truth, that the sacred Scrip
tures are the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Little
need be added now to show, that being the only rule whereby we
can infallibly know what we ought to believe concerning God ;
1 1 Cor., i. 23, 24. " Isaiah, viii. 20. 3 Eph., ii. 8-10.
» Heb., xi. 1. 5 1 John, v. 4, 5. 6 Heb., xii. 2.
' Hob. x. 6. " Rev., xvii. 6. ' 1 Cor., i. 21-31.

448 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
they are necessarily the only rule whereby we can determine
whether any particular belief concerning God, is right or wrong
1 — any particular thing believed true or false. It is one of the ulti
mate laws of our being — without which indeed, our nature could
not be called rational — that we must believe whatever appears
to us to be established on sufficient evidence. Our belief cannot,
indeed, change the nature of things ; but it is itself regulated
by constant laws, one of which I have just stated. It is of the
essence of that law, and of our nature, that we must judge for
ourself, of the sufficiency of that evidence ; and this judgment,
also, is regulated by constant laws. Truth is, in all things, that
which we ought to believe — that which was natural to the soul
in its original purity— which it still desires and seeks in propor
tion as it is pure — -and whose existence, as a divine reality, we
cannot deny without denying our rational and moral nature, and
involving ourselves in endless contradictions. But as truth pre
sents itself to us in connection with all things, and therefore in a
boundless variety of aspects ; evidence of its existence, its pres
ence, and its particular form, must also be various in its kind, so
as to be pertinent and responsive to the various aspects in which
truth appears. Thus, facts cannot be established, except by proof :
a logical conclusion cannot be reached except by a process of rea
soning : the external world cannot be known to us except through
our senses : nor the internal except through our consciousness.
Now truth that can be known to us only from God, must depend on
the testimony of God. And this is precisely the case with every
thing that is the object of saving faith. There can be no ade
quate evidence of such things, independently of that given by God
himself : for if there could be, both the nature of saving faith,
and the nature of that truth, which is the rule of it, would be
wholly changed. For us, his revealed word, and his divine Spirit,
and faith itself created by the Spirit and regulated by the word,
are witnesses of the infinite truth he teaches us- — witnesses of
the infinite veracity of God. The word of God, therefore, made
plain to the soul, in its own divine light, and divine power, by the
Holy Ghost, is not only the appropriate, but is the only existing
manifestation to us, in a way of infallible guidance, of the will
of God concerning our salvation. To deny this is to render sal
vation by means of a divine Bevelation, impossible : for it is to
deny the competency of God to reveal saving truth to man—

CHAP. XXIV. PURITY OP FAITH. 449
and to deny also his competency to make that truth effectual in
man, even if it were revealed. Moreover, if we are not compe
tent to determine the Church of God, by the revealed truth of
God ; much less are we competent to determine our own relation
to that Church, by means of that truth. For the second ques
tion requires us to determine three things, instead of the single
one involved in the first question : and one of these three is that
insoluble first question : for we never can determine our relation
to the Church, until we know both our relation to God, and the
relation of the Church to God. The end of which is, to make
the soul, the Church, and the truth, mutually incompetent and
irrelevant, each to both the others : as before to make God in
competent alike to reveal truth, or make it, if revealed, effectual
in man. 2. The question of the judge of controversies, is a corollary
of the question of the rule of faith ; and its decision must follow
the decision of the main question ; just as the question of the
rule of faith, is itself a corollary of the question of the Church,
and must be decided according to the idea we have of the Church
itself; and just as the question of the Church, is a corollary of
the question, concerning the nature of personal salvation. They
are indissolubly united in the word of God ; and at the bar of
reason the decision of one necessarily controls the decision of the
rest, through the series in its order. If the personal salvation of
man is secured sacramentally, ex opere operato, then the Church
may be the visible society of all those, who by such a baptism,
are bound to the adoption of a particular external creed, to the
use of those sacraments so operating by their own force, and to
obedience to a common visible head : and their faith is accord
ing to that creed — as interpreted by that Church, or its head ;
which latter is the judge of controversies. This is a State — ¦
not a Church : salvation is impossible this way : in short this is
Popery. On the other hand if, by personal salvation, we mean
union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, by means of
the renewal of the soul through the work of the divine Spirit ;
then the Church is the congregation of the saints, the gathered
body of all believers in Christ ; and the rule of its faith is the
word of God ; and the question of the judge of controversies
—as I will immediately show— receives a corresponding solu
tion. This is in reality a Church : salvation in this way, is
vol. ii. 29

450 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
revealed from Heaven, and is certain : this, in short, is Chris
tianity. 3. It is, no doubt, true that the Church, being the pillar and
ground of the truth, and being charged with the work of evan
gelizing all nations by means of that truth, must receive that
truth in the love of it — must proclaim' it to all men — must ear
nestly contend for it, and must faithfully apply it both in the
way of doctrine, and in the way of discipline. And, doubtless,
decrees and decisions concerning the truth, and concerning con
troversies, are proper to all councils, assemblies, synods, and other
lawful authorities in the Church ; composed of the overseers
and other rulers of particular Churches, met by virtue of their
office in the name, and by the authority of the Lord Jesus.1 And
these decrees and decisions, if consonant to the word of God, are
to be received with reverence and submission, not only for their
agreement with the word of God, but also for the power whereby
they are made, as being an ordinance of God appointed thereunto in
his word.2 And in general, the presumption — before any particu
lar enquiry — is that all such decrees and decisions of the true
Church, are consonant to the truth of God : but since the visible
Church is not infallible — that presumption may be false : nor is
it possible for any decrees or decisions of a fallible Church, to
bind the conscience, by their own power. In this way, and to
this extent only, the Church visible is the judge of controversies
concerning that pure faith which is her own fundamental mark.
She must keep the unity of the Spirit — she must keep herself
pure — and in the love of God.3
4. Beyond this, every man must judge for •himself, and on
the peril of his soul, what true Faith is, and where it is to be
found, and what is the value, and what the result of such con
troversies about it, as it may be his duty to meddle with.4 Every
company of believers must act in like manner— -for themselves,
and for the furtherance of truth, peace, charity and hohness.6
The universal Church visible, must in its life, its testimony, its
worship, and its efforts, show itself alive to the discharge of those
great functions, which I have shown appertain to it, with refer
ence to the maintenance of truth and peace, and the suppression
1 Acts, xv. passim. 2 Acts, xv. 27-31; xvi. 4; Matt., xviii 17.
• Eph., iv. 3; 1 Tim., v. 22; Jude, 21.
* Rom., xiv. 5. * Rev., ii. 2, 6, 14, 20 ; hi. 20.

CHAP. XXIV.] PURITY OF FAITH. 451
of error and disorder. But God himself, the fountain of all
truth, is also the true judge of all controversies concerning it.
"The author and finisher of our faith, and the giver of the only
infallible rule alike of that true faith and of all duty connected
with it ; is alone able to destroy every refuge of lies, and to cast
the father of them all into the lake of fire.1 For this present
life, the divine and infallible word, given by inspiration of God,
profitable for all things, and able to furnish the man of God for
every good work, and make him wise-unto salvation — is the great
arbiter. It is God, who speaks to us through it. And his divine
Spirit, working in us, and also applying it with divine power and
wisdom to our soul, mind, and heart — leads us into all truth :
and by the manifold testimony of our own renewed conscience,
heart, and soul — of the infallible word of God — and of the wit
nessing Spirit — God begets in us an infallible assurance of faith.3
And finally, in the great day of Jesus Christ, he the eternal judge
of the secrets of all hearts — will judge and settle for all eternity —
every question which enters into the endless fate of every soul.
To that bar, at last, all questions of good and evil must go : this
with all the rest.
5. The whole doctrine of an infallible living judge of contro
versies, competent and divinely authorized to bind the conscience
by his decisions, and to put an end to controversies concerning
faith, not only by ecclesiastical censures but by direct temporal
punishments of every sort ; is one of those impostures, whose
terrible influence upon mankind has been great in proportion to
its utter want of any foundation in reason, in the word of God,
or in necessity whether temporal or spiritual. I have shown that
its logical foundation lies in a definition of the Church, itself so
utterly false, that what results from the definition is a State —
and not a Church — and that under it the possibility of salvation
disappears. If it could be supposed, that such a doctrine could
have any plea of necessity, it must be, that controversies about
faith are intolerable, and can, and should be put an end to, by
punishment. But every part of this plea is a fallacy, of which
it is not easy to say, whether the folly or the wickedness exceeds.
Heresy and schism can no more be put an end to, than any other
1 Rev., xx. 10-14.
3 Heb., vi. 11-19; Eph., i. 13, 14; 1 John, v. 13; Rom., viii. 15, 16; 2 Cor.,
i. 21, 22.

452 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
form of sin or folly. Neither of them is an offence which ought
to subject men to temporal punishment. Nor if they could be
suppressed, and if they ought to be suppressed by punishment,*
when considered of themselves ; is the peril arising from their
free toleration, worthy to be thought of, when compared with the
evils resulting from every attempt to enforce such doctrines. It
is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that they who usurped the
prerogatives both of God and of the State — should have been
given over to commit offences both against God and the State, a
thousand times more heinous than those they caused to be vis
ited with fire and sword. The Church of God can survive all
heresies and schisms which God will endure. But she cannot
exist, without proclaiming her abhorrence of the combined fero
city and ignorance, which under the pretext of an infallible de
cision of controversies, would exterminate the last behever in
Christ. 6. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which
is Jesus Christ.1 Gold, silver, and precious stones may be builded
thereon, and they shall abide forever ; or wood, hay, and stubble
may be builded thereon, and they shall be destroyed in the day
when every man's work shall be revealed by fire. That house
which is founded upon a rock, falls not ; but sure and great is
the fall of that house, which is built upon the sand ; and this is
the difference, pointed out by Christ, between those — whether
they be men or Churches — who hear his sayings and do them,
and those who hear, and do them not." It is they who are built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief corner stone — who are no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellow- citizens with the saints, and of the
household of God.3 Nor does it change the nature of the case,
that men and churches err concerning the truth, and overthrow
the faith of some ; for the foundation of God standeth sure,
having this seal — the Lord knoweth them that are his.1 But
having found the true foundation — it is the duty of all — whether
men or Churches, to build upon it — to leave the principles of the
doctrine of Christ, and go on unto perfection.6 Every Christian
grace is the product of the revealed word and the divine Spirit,
as really as faith is ; every one, as truly as it depends upon the
1 1 Cor., iii. 11. ' Matt., vii. 24-29. 3 Eph., ii. 19, 20.
* 2 Tim., ii. 18, 19. * Heb., vi. 1-6.

CHAP. XXIV.] PURITY OF FAITH. 453
union and communion of the renewed soul with the glorified Be
deemer, and like it is a manifestation of the new life of that soul.
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek
ness, temperance and such like, are declared to be the fruit of
the Spirit in them that are led by the Spirit. Whereas adul
tery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, en-
vyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, are the
works of the flesh : concerning which these two things are plainly
declared, namely, that they who do such things shall not inherit
the Kingdom of God — and that they that are Christ's have cru
cified the flesh with the affections and lusts.1
7. Tobe born of the Spirit, is at once the condition and the
method of our entrance into the Kingdom of God.' The rejec
tion of the doctrine of the Holy Ghost and of his saving work in
the human soul, therefore, renders it impossible for any sinner to
be saved ; how much more for a company of such impenitent and
unbelieving sinners, to constitute that very Kingdom, which nei
ther of them — Christ himself being judge — can either see, or
enter ? The Church of Christ is by Christ, and our entrance
into it is through him. But if the direct opposite — as Bome as-
serts — were True; and our connection with Christ were produced
by our connection with the Church ; even then, when we reject
the doctrine of the saving work of the divine Spirit — what re
sults is, that the Church is composed exclusively of such as have
by that rejection, rendered salvation impossible. That is, the vis
ible portion of the saved — consists of those whose salvation is,
upon the data, impossible. It is precisely, upon the doctrine of
the saving work of the divine Spirit, that all corrupt and apostate
Churches are prone to make shipwreck. Christ himself has said,
that much sin against him may be forgiven, and that great blind
ness and perversity can be overlooked, in those who really love
him. But it is otherwise with regard to the Holy Ghost, whose
office it is, not only to teach us truth, and make us holy, but
also to give us life. In rejecting, resisting, and denying him, we
sin not only against truth and holiness, but against life itself ;
and blaspheming him — which we do when we disallow his work,
or when we ascribe his work to Satan, to the incantations of
priests, to the inherent force of sacraments, or to anything else —
* GaL v. 16-26 * John, iii 1-21.

454 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
is, in its very nature, a sealing over to perdition.1 It is here that
the humble follower of Christ is least likely to err, in finding the
true heirs of salvation — the true Bride of the Lamb. For it is
in the unity of the Spirit that the bond of peace is kept — it is
the witness of the Spirit that is the crowning proof to the chil
dren of God, of their one ingrafting into Christ — and error con
cerning the doctrine of the divine Spirit, enters into every form
of fatal heresy.
8. The power of faith itself as_ a force regulating the life of
man, by means of its transforming power in his soul ; would be
a proper topic of enquiry in determining that purity of faith, by
which the Church itself is to be judged. That faith only can be
pure, which makes us pure ; and it is the constraining love of
Christ, by which it works ; — and this inward purifying and this
powerful working by love, are of the essence of that victory over
the world, which faith itself is declared to be.3 I have, however,
in former chapters, very fully and variously discussed the general
subject ; and it will be necessary, in a succeeding chapter, to ex
amine this special aspect of it, in considering that infallible mark
of the true Church which is exhibited in a holy life. A Church
which inculcates sin, can be considered nothing else than a Syn
agogue of Satan — and its unhappy members heirs of perdition.
III. — 1. It is the duty of every one to strive after perfection
in truth and holiness — the duty of the Church of the living God
to strive, above all, after exact conformity to his will in all things.
Whether in Churches or in individuals, voluntary ignorance of
divine things, is declared to be the peculiar sin of scoffers, walk
ing after their own lusts ; who are the peculiar pest of the last
days, and whose contented ignorance envelops nothing more
deeply, than the swift destruction which awaits them against
the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.3 But in
forming those judgments which we are obliged to form, both of
individuals and Churches, there is a wide difference to be made,
according to the opportunities they have enjoyed, and the light
they have ; a wide difference also between the position they oc
cupy, as teachers and leaders of God's people, or as humble dis
ciples — much more as lambs of Christ's flock. Nevertheless, there
are attainments in the divine life, which are absolutely distinctive
1 Matt., xii. 31, 32 ; Acts, vii 51-53. 2 1 John, v. 4.
s 2 Peter, hi 1-7.

CHAP. XXIV.] PURITY OF FAITH. 455
of Christianity ; for the impenitent and unbelieving cannot be
Christians. And there are revealed truths so absolutely funda
mental, that their removal from the plan of salvation completely
destroys it as the way of life eternal. I have stated, in every variety
of form, what I suppose to be the immediate and universal foun
dations of that Gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth ;' and God himself has de
clared, that if an Apostle, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel than that of Christ, he is accursed.2 It is absolutely
impossible, therefore, to esteem any faith pure, or any Church
true, unless the Lord Jesus Christ is accepted in sincerity as the
divine Saviour crucified for lost sinners — unless the word of God
is accepted purely as the infallible rule of faith and duty — unless
the Holy Ghost is accepted as divinely and effectually working in
the soul — and unless the new life, imparted to us by these means,
with its perpetual fruits, is accepted as the result of all. With
less than this, neither truth nor charity can admit, that the re
vealed remedy for sin has been received by man ; or that men
know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent —
which is eternal life.3 In effect, therefore, the true and satis
factory judgment which every child of God forms concerning
purity of faith, and concerning the true Church ; is the neces
sary result of his own inward experience of divine things, grounded
upon his own saving knowledge of Christ. Nor is any truth more
clear in itself, or more clearly revealed, than that if any man will
do the will of God, he shall know the doctrine whether it be of
God.4 2. The lawfulness and the value of the symbolical books of
the Christian Churches — those creeds and confessions against
which all heretics have protested — seem to be beyond reasonable
doubt. Indeed, it is not possible in the nature of the case to
avoid the formation and use of systematic statements, which are
essentially creeds. Every one who accepts the Gospel as the
ground of his hope, the rule of his faith, or the standard of his
life ; necessarily accepts it according to some sense of its vari
ous parts — and of the whole composed of those parts ; and neces
sarily utters this accepted sense of the parts, and of the whole,
as often as he has occasion to explain his religious life. But this
' Rom., i. 16. 2 Gal, l 8.
i| 3 1 John, v. passim * John> ™- 1>l-

456 THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. [BOOK IV.
is simply the formation and utterance of his creed. If the Gos
pel of God is so intractable, that its various parts cannot be put
together in some systematic order, then it is simply incapable of
being known by man, otherwise than as a series of incoherent
statements : if it is capable of being systematically stated — then
the primitive laws of our being unavoidably oblige us to state it
so, as soon as we take interest enough in it to desire to under
stand it. And every organized Church must necessarily do
something tantamount to this, every time it acts organically ;
and it is its indispensable duty to do so, both in order to preserve
its own purity and peace, and to bear its testimony for the truth
of God. Nor is it without great value to the Church herself, that
the most distinct expressions of her faith should be as permanent
as they are articulate. For by them the highest and surest proof
is created and preserved, through all ages, not only of her exist
ence but of her condition, age after age, beside the mighty stream
of time, as it rolls across all the centuries. It is thus she erects,
from generation to generation, great landmarks, by which pos
terity may know assuredly, how far the inundation of error had
spread, and how deeply the waters of eternal life had fertilized
the earth. Of course, human creeds can possess no more than
human authority ; and it is the highest profanation to put them
on a level with the word of God. But they may justly claim
great authority ; chiefly because they may — and so far as they
do — accord with the divine word. In addition, they are cove
nants, mutually binding, as such, upon the conscience of all who
voluntarily enter into them. And the clearness, fulness, rational
power, and spiritual unction, with which the great truths of sal
vation and the great duties of men, may be systematically stated
by such as God raises up, from time to time, for this very end ;
become means of gr.eat comfort to his poople, and of great con
fusion to his enemies. The Spirit, which has always been the
life of the Church, sometimes more powerfully, sometimes less so,
produces by his powerful presence, nothing more certainly, than
a renewed hatred of error, and a fervent love of truth, leading
to those great conflicts, out of which all the great testimonies of
the Church have been accustomed to spring ; testimonies which
there is reason to accept, as in a peculiar manner expressive of
the life of God's Church, in its most powerful manifestations.
3. It is impossible for the heart of man to conceive too deeply,

CHAP. XXIV.] PURITY OF FAITH. 457
of the sin of corrupt Churches, and of God's hatred of them.
Throughout the Scriptures, the image of the true Church is a
chaste, loving, and faithful wife ; and besides innumerable sep
arate passages, the entire Book of the Song of Solomon — and
that not one of the shortest — is devoted to the complete illustra
tion of this similitude. On the other hand, a faithless, corrupt.
and shameless wife, is everywhere the image of an apostate Church;
and besides multitudes of separate passages, a large part of the
last Book of the inspired oracles, is employed in exposing and de
nouncing the greatest, bloodiest, and most polluted of all apos
tacies, under the frightful appellation of a harlot. Nor is there
any command delivered to such of God's children, as may chance
to be found in such Synagogues of Satan, more distinct than that
they should come out of them ; nor any threat more precise, than
that they will, otherwise, be partakers of their sins, and receive
of their plagues.1 It is not, therefore, only against error, delusion,
and sin, abstractly considered, that God calls his children to tes
tify ; but, also, against the corruptors and oppressors of the earth
— and that all the more earnestly when their sins are perpetrated
in his holy name. Heaven itself is called on to rejoice, with holy
apostles and prophets, when God avenges his slaughtered saints
upon great Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations of
the earth : and the voice of much people in heaven is heard glo
rifying the Lord God, and saying, Alleluia — when the smoke of
her torment rises up, forever and ever V
1 Rev., xviii 4; Isaiah, xlviii. 20 ; Iii. 11 ; 2 Cor., vi. 17, 18.
2 Rev., xviii 5, 20 ; xix. 1-3.

CHAPTER XXV.
THE WORSHIP OF GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH: THE SECOND
INFALLIBLE MARK OF THE TRUE CHURCH.
I. 1. Divine Statement of the Three Infalhble Marks of the True Christian, and the
True Church ; The Second One now to be explained. — 2. The Unity and Spirit
uality of God the sole Object of aU Rehgious Worship : The Truth and Spirit
uality of all Worship, acceptable to Him. — 3. True Conception of this Worship—
and of its Nature and Grounds. — 4. Relation of the Word of God, and of the Life
of God in our Souls, to each other, and to God's Worship. — 5. God — Rehgion
— Worship — Salvation — Human Nature. — II. 1. The Kingdom of Royal Priests:
Their Life, a Life of Worship. — 2. The Obligation, the Rule, the Blessedness, and
the Perpetuity of this Ordination. — 3. The Plan of Salvation — the Work of Christ
— the Divine Idea and Organism of the Church, relative to Worship. — i. That Or
ganism in its Fundamental Nature as hitherto disclosed — and as yet to be traced
in Connection with the Gifts of God to his Church. — 5. Relation of the Sacrifice
and Priesthood of Christ, and of his Ascension Gifts, to the Idea of True Spiritual
Worship by the Church. — 6. The Relation of Worship to Rehgion, and to God —
through every conception thereof — from the widest to the narrowest. — 7. Wor
ship, as divinely disclosed in each Christian Congregation. — 8. Abstract Demon
stration, of the unavoidable Conclusion.
I. — 1. We are the circumcision, says the Apostle Paul, which
worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have
no confidence in the flesh.1 These are the marks in the elect in
dividually, of reigning grace ; the marks also, in their collective
body when organized into Christ's visible Church, by which that
body is to be infallibly distinguished as his body. According to
the point of view from which the subject is contemplated, the
particulars of this divine and all pervading definition, fall into
one or another order ; but in whatever order of these particulars,
unitedly they absolutely distinguish the child of God — and the
Church of God. In the order of absolute reality, they stand as
the Apostle has placed them ; for all is from God, all is through
Christ, and all is unto our complete deliverance from all subjec
tion to the flesh, and from all trust in it. In the order of actual
1 Phil, hi 3.

CHAP. XXV.] SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 459
¦development to our weak understandings, and to a certain ex
tent, also, in the mode of their inworking with our souls ; their
manifestation to us is, perhaps, more clear from the lowest to the
highest, to wit, man, Christ, God. And considered as accom
plished in us, and viewed as marks of our estate before God, the
first thing is our relation to Christ, and then our relation to God
through him, and then our real condition produced in that man
ner. I have, therefore, treated first and with reference to Christ
and our glorying in him, purity of Faith as the first infallible
mark of the true Church. And I am now to treat of the true
spiritual worship of God, which is indissolubly connected with
our union and communion with Christ, as the second mark. And
in the next chapter I will endeavour to disclose, as the third mark,
that holiness of life — that total abnegation of the flesh — which is
the product, through Christ, of all divine operation in the human
soul. 2. There can be but one God. I have proved that with any
true notion of the living God, we are incapable of conceiving of
a second God : and the Scriptures, as we might expect, assert
continually, and imply throughout, that God is one.1 The reality
and the unity of his existence — are the primitive truths upon
which the possibility of all spiritual religion rests. Hear, 0 Israel:
The Lord our God is one God : and thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
might :2 this is the revealed foundation of whatever acceptable
worship — in whatever sense of that term — man has ever rendered
to God.3 He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and
that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him : for with
out faith it is impossible to please him.4 Ye worship ye know not
what ; said Jesus to the woman of Samaria — we know what we
worship ; for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and
now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in
Spirit and in truth ; for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
For God is a Spirit : and they that worship him must worship
him in Spirit and in truth. And then he told her plainly, that
he was Messias— the Christ : — I that speak unto thee am he." In
hke manner, the other part of true religion— all duty as well as
1 Gal, iii 20 ; Rom., hi 30 ; 1 Tim., ii 5 ; 1 Cor., viii 4.
» Deut, vi. 4, 5. 3 Deut., vi. 13 ; x. 20 ; 1 Cor., viii 6.
i Heb. x. 6. 5 J°hn> iv. 21-26.

460 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
all faith, is involved directly in these immense truths ; and all
morality — all holiness — that is acceptable to God, as a part of
true and spiritual worship — depends upon the recognition of
them. Thou shalt have no other gods before me ; is the founda
tion of the moral law written with the finger of God in the na
ture of man — revealed anew at Sinai — and wrought by the Holy
Ghost in the inward parts of every saved sinner.1 And the true
and spiritual worship of God, responsive to the whole duty re
quired of man towards God — is declared by Christ himself;
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment.2 But the Triune God — the God revealed to us
in the sacred Scriptures — -is the only, the living, and the true
God ; God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost — is the sole
object of all true and spiritual worship : and what is to be illus
trated now is, that the worship of this glorious God, in spirit
and in truth, is the second infallible mark, of the true Church,
visible, universal, of the Lord Jesus Christ."
3. I have proved, abundantly, that as the creatures of God,
we are obliged to make his will the rule of bur conduct, in all
things ; and that as his sinful creatures, we are obliged to make
the will of the divine Saviour whom he has provided for us, the
rule of our conduct in all things. But God our Creator, and
God our Saviour — is the same, and the only God ; so that both
as creatures merely, and as sinful creatures also, we are bound to
him in our souls, and in our bodies, in all that we have and are.
To render back to him, in the way pointed out by himself, the
love, the service, the praise, and the adoration which are due to
him ; to do this truly, out of penitent and believing hearts — to
do it spiritually, as unto the infinite Spirit who fills immensity
and eternity — to do it, in all things : this is the posture of God's
children towards him, revealed in the Scriptures as their glory
and blessedness. In this posture, taught by the word of God,
and led by the Spirit of God — their lives are, in the widest and
truest sense, a true, spiritual, and perpetual recognition — service
— worship of God. What God is, of himself, entitles him to all
this, on our part : and what he has done for us, entitles him to
it all, in a manner still more precise. The heartfelt recognition
1 Exod, xx. 3; Jer, xxxi. 33. 2 Matt, xxii. 37, 38; Luke, x. 27, 28.
' Phil, iii. 3 ; 1 John. ii. 22, 23 ; Matt, iv. 10.

CHAP. XXV.] SPIRITUALWORSHIP. 461
of this — the willing and joyful endeavour to manifest that we
do thus recognize it — and, by consequence, the habitual surren
der of our will to his will : this is true and spiritual worship of
God, and he who strives to render it, is the child of God — and
the Church that inculcates and practices it, is the true Church
of the Lord Jesus. The ordinary and restricted sense of the
worship of God is true, and is a part of this wide and compre
hensive sense of it ; but to make that the whole, is to come far
short of what God requires — nay even of what his feeble but lov
ing children habitually render to him.
4. The revelation which God has given to us of his will con
cerning our salvation, makes known to us the only way in which
we can accomplish the chief end of our existence, in glorifying
him and enjoying him forever ; and it does this by teaching us
infallibly, what we ought to believe concerning God, and what
duty he requires of us. It follows, that the infallible rule of our
faith and obedience, is, of necessity, the infallible rule of our
worship of him in whom we believe, and whom we serve — no
matter in what sense we use the term. And the sacred Scrip
tures disclose to us, in the clearest manner, the nature of that
true and spiritual worship, in its widest sense, as well as the me
thod of that which is more special, in its narrowest sense. The
habitual state of heart which they everywhere inculcate, is one
which finds its truest manifestation in a life of habitual recogni
tion — service — worship of God, our Creator and Bedeemer : and
all mercy, through endless generations, is covenanted to them,
who, in such a spirit, iove God and keep his commandments.1
Moreover, Jesus Christ, who is the specific object of our faith,
and both its author and its finisher ; is, also, the head and means
of all acceptable worship of God. Through him alone, is there
any mercy from God to sinners ; by him alone, is there any access
for sinners to God. It is unto him, that the elect of God are pre
destinated to be conformed ; and the Church composed of them
is his Body.2 The revelation of him, is that which gives unity
to the sacred Scriptures; and to justify him, is the peculiar work
and office of the Holy Spirit. And that heartfelt worship of God,
manifest in all things, is the fruit in us, of the word and Spirit
of God, through the merits of the Lord Christ ; and they who
1 Deut, vi. passim; Exod, xx. 6.
1 John, xiv. 6 ; Rom, viii 29 ; Col, i. 24.

462 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
render it, can be only such as enabled by a pure faith — and, be
yond all doubt, it is at once the means and the expression of a
holy life.1 So that the connection of this mark of the true Church,
is indissoluble alike with the one that precedes it, and the one
that follows it.
5. The deepest and most enduring element of our nature, is
its religious element. Human nature must have a God, a reli
gion, a worship. Each one of us knows that we are finite— each
one feels that there is an infinite, from which that finite comes,
and to which it returns. In its presence, our sense of depend
ence, of accountability, and of blameworthiness, is explicable alike
to our reason and our conscience ; and our susceptibility of resto
ration, a sense of which was never utterly lost, is no sooner de
monstrated by the very fact of being restored — -than the infinite
object of so many convictions, is demonstrated too. Our utter
helplessness, in our natural estate, to all that is spiritually good
— our unalterable assurance of a life beyond death — our sense of
an eternal judgment, of our unfitness to appear in it, and of the
fear of God : in what manner is it possible to evolve such con
victions as these common convictions of our race — without dis
closing a God — a religion — a worship ? But, if the God of the
Bible is not God — if the religion of Jesus is not true and divine
— if the worship of that God, through that Saviour, in Spirit
and in truth, is not an infallible mark of the restoration of the
soul: then it is infallibly certain, that all the fundamental con
victions of our nature are false, and utterly destitute both of cause
and result — and that there is no God— no religion — no worship.
So that every way, the same result follows. And from the side
of God — of the Saviour — of revelation — of religion in its widest
sense — and of human nature in its profoundest convictions ; the
result is that true and spiritual worship, as the Lord has taught
us, is the only worship acceptable to the infinite Spirit — the only
worship taught or tolerated by Messias — the Christ.2
II. — 1. It is the Church, considered not merely in its indi
vidual elements, but chiefly in its social life, that we are at pres
ent seeking to distinguish. It is the life, the worship, of a divine
Kingdom, which is to be determined. And this of necessity gives
the broadest significance to the term, which, for lack of one more
1 Deut, xii 3 ; Matt, xv. 9 ; John, xiv. 6 ; 1 Tim, ii. 5 ; Eph, ii. 18.
s John, iv. 19-26.

CHAP. XXV.] SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 463
comprehensive, I am forced to use. For the social life of the
Church of God, in its whole organism and action, is a life of
worship : a life, that is, of religious obedience to the revealed
will of God, through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is clean hands
and pure hearts, lifted up to God in sincere faith and exact obe
dience, whether to labour, to suffer, or to testify ; by those who
once were not a people, but are now the people of God. For
though once they had not obtained mercy, now they have ob
tained mercy. The everlasting doors have been lifted up, and
the King of glory, who is the Lord of hosts, has come in, and
given the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the
God of our salvation.1 Organized as the visible Church of him
who called them out of darkness into his marvellous light, their
very vocation is to show forth his praises. And by whatever acts,
through whatever forms, in whatever ways their communion with
each other and their organic life are made manifest ; it is still
through faith in Christ Jesus — still by the guidance of his word
and Spirit — still in reverent and joyful obedience to God ; it is
still the recognition — the service — -the true and spiritual worship
of the most high God. Is not that a worship — in which none
but God's priests take part ? Is not that regal worship — where
every priest of God is also a king ? God promised, from of old,
to make that holy nation the most peculiar of all people, even a
kingdom of priests f and the crucified and exalted Saviour, who
gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works
— makes every one he loves and washes from his sins in his own
blood, both a king and a priest unto God and his Father.3 Yea,
and the sacrifices of these priests of the Lord — these ministers of
our God — are the very sacrifices of God— a broken spirit. And he
that came to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to
the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are
bound ; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the
day of vengeance of our God ; to comfort all that mourn : a
broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise.'
Yea. verily, remove the idea of true worship from our spiritual
1 Psalm xxiv. passim; 1 Peter, ii. 10.
a Exod., xix. 5, 6.
3 Titus, il 14; Rev, L 5, 6; 1 Peter, ii. 9.
* Psalm li. 17 ; Isaiah lxl 1-5 ; Luke, iv. 16-32.

464 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
life, personal and organic — and the Kingdom of Koyal Priests is
extinct — Christians exist no longer !
2. I have shown that the worship of the true Church of
Christ, has such a relation to its faith and its obedience, that it
must necessarily have the same infallible rule which they have —
that is the word of God contained in the sacred Scriptures.1 All
true and spiritual worship which is acceptable to God, is divine —
is revealed by God to man ; it is therefore strictly obligatory upon
the creature — while it is, at the same time, a means of blessed
ness to him, and, through him, of great and endless glory to
God. There can be neither any service of God, nor any enjoy
ment of him, by any creature, which does not assume the nature
and form of worship.2 But the service and enjoyment of God, is
our glory and blessedness throughout eternity ; and to increase
our fitness and our desire for that service and enjoyment of God
in this life, by gathering and perfecting his saints to the end of
the world, is the very mission of the Church on earth.3 It may
well be, that the glorified saints and the Church triumphant, will
serve and enjoy God in a manner widely different from any, now
clearly appreciable by us ; for this has occurred, to a remarkable
extent, under the successive dispensations of grace even upon
earth. But it has not occurred, nor can it occur, that the idea
of the worship of God in Spirit and in truth — and that through
Jesus Christ our Lord — has been separated, or is separable from
all true service, all conceivable enjoyment of him, by any crea
ture. Everything we know concerning heaven, is mingled with
exalted worship ; and the whole life of the Son of God— who is
the way, the truth, and the life — was a life in which the idea of
worship — in every sense — is perpetually manifest and perpetually
designated by himself.1 Becalling what I have said in a former
chapter, touching the great elements of the question of the
Church ; the supremacy which I have asserted for its super
natural element, is perfectly palpable in the determination of
this second infallible mark of it ; and, at the same time, the
utter absurdity and impiety of all human changes in the revealed
worship of God — whether in the nature of it, or the form of it.
In the lowest possible sense, to act in that manner is to assume
1 Rom., i. 3. ¦'- Psalm lxv. 2 ; Mai, L 11.
8 Isaiah, lix. 21; PhU, ii. 10, 11.
i John, iv. 3-34 ; Matt, xxvi. 36-46.

CHAP. XXV. J SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 465
divine authority, and exercise it in a way which we cannot know
is acceptable to God ; and in a broader sense it is the assumption
of divine authority over the faith — obedience — and inner life of
the Church, the whole of which are involved in the idea of its
worship, and find expression in connection with it.1
3. The social life of the Church — essentiahy a life of the
worship of God — is commensurate with the divine organization
of the Church ; for that divine organization, in itself, extends to
the entire social life of the Church ; and the mode of its produc
tion, and everything implied in its existence, and resulting from
it, are all related, in the most intimate manner, to the true and
spiritual worship of God. The root of our salvation lies in our
union with Christ ; and our communion with him in grace and
glory, is the source of every blessing and every benefit of the
Covenant of Bedemption received by us, whether in this world,
or in the world to come. The communion of his children with
each other, is the effect of their common union with him ; and
his headship over his redeemed — is the effect of his whole work
as Mediator between God and man, whether as our Prophet, our
Priest, or our King — and is, indeed, the fundamental stipulation
of the Covenant of Bedemption. But this communion of saints,
and this headship of Christ, are the component elements of the
Kingdom of God, considered as an organized Church — the Body
of Christ. Yet, nothing can be more obvious, than that this
Church of the Lord Jesus, whether considered in those elemental
principles of it — or in its own nature and end — or in its complete
organization and visibility — or in its spiritual freedom and con
secration to Christ — through the whole of which I have carefully
traced it ; totally changes its whole relation to Christ on one
side, and to penitent and believing sinners on the other side, the
moment she is stripped of the glorious function of vindicating
before the universe, God's exclusive right to the adoration of
every creature — and of illustrating to all eternity what his true
worship is — and what is the blessedness of all who render it.2
4. The progress of our enquiry into the Knowledge of God
Subjectively Considered, renders it necessary to discuss the ques
tion of the infallible marks of the true Church, as soon as a
certain point has been reached in tracing the effects divinely pro-
1 Matt, xv. 9 ; Matt, iv. 10.
2 Eph, hi. 7-13 ; 1 Cor, il 7-10.
VOL. II. 3(1

466 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
duced, by the use which God has made of the doctrines of the
Headship of Christ, and the communion of saints, in the organ
ization of the Church visible, universal. In the general enquiry,
it remains to explain, as fully as my limits permit, the vast sub
ject of the gifts of God to this Church — which I propose in the
next Book. Having now illustrated the nature of the true and
spiritual worship of God, as the second infallible mark of the true
Church, by means of the truths already established, concerning
its divine organization ; I will point out, in a more general man
ner, the bearing, upon the same topic, of those Gifts of God to
his Church, hereafter to be carefully considered, which have im
mediate relation to that organization — and therefore to her visi
bility, and to her social life.
5. The idea of sacrifice, strictly considered, as a perpetual
form of outward worship for the Church of God, was perfectly
consummated in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ ; after
which there would remain no more offering for sin, since Christ
has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and by that one
offering hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.1 The
idea, of priesthood is indissolubly connected with the idea of sac
rifice. I have shown, in another place, how the institution of the
Passover was connected with the rise of the priesthood, through
the first born of Israel whom the destroying angel spared ; and
how both sacrifice and priesthood stood related to Jesus Christ,
and through him to the Gospel Church and to its ministry. The
priesthood of Christ was after the order of Melcbisedeck— and
was, like his sacrifice, unchangeable and for eternity; and this
being so, he is able to sa,ve them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.!
Both sacrifice and priesthood, therefore, occupy a peculiar posi
tion in the Gospel Church : — the sacrament of the Lord's Sup
per, and the very nature of the peculiar people — children and
heirs of God, every one of whom is both a king and a priest-
manifesting continually those great ideas, and the relation of both
of them to Christ. In the body of this kingdom of royal priests
— a ministry is established by Christ — office-bearers are divinely
ordained — a government is constituted — tribunals are erected —
sacraments are instituted — its special worship is disclosed — the
1 Heb, ix. 19-28 ; Heb, x. passim.
" Heb, vl 20 ; Heb., vii. 24, 25.

CHAP. XXV.] SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 467
relation of the word of God and of all divine ordinances to it is
clearly pointed out— and Discipline, both in the wide and in the
judicial sense of that term, is appointed of God. For the pres
ent enforcement of the truth, that the true and spiritual worship
of God is an infallible mark of the true Church ; it is not mate
rial that the general statement just made of the ordinances and
ascension Gifts of Christ, should be exactly true ; that it is so,
however, will be proved hereafter.1 Because the adoring recogni
tion — service — worship of God, is already admitted to be an in
fallible mark of his Church, as soon as we confess that his Church
is bound to ascertain from his word, under the guidance of his
Spirit — whether these things are so : and thus seeking, is bound
not only, but is prompt, to accept with joyful obedience every
thing which God has ordained, and to reject everything else.
And what heart that adores God, can conceive that voluntary
ignorance of his will — -much less open disregard of it when known
— is consistent with the true and spiritual worship of him ? But
admitting the general statement I have made, concerning the
Gifts of God, and his ordinances for the Gospel Church, to be
substantially correct ; it is not possible to conceive how any or
ganization of that sort could be created at first, or perpetuated
afterwards, in the absence of a spirit of believing, trustful, ador
ing obedience to God ; nor to conceive how such an organization
when once created, could fail to manifest that spirit, so long and
so far as the Saviour of the world was its living head, and the
Holy Ghost was the bond of its vital union. But this is the
same as to say that the life of the true Church is a life of wor
ship, rendered to God in spirit and in truth.
6. The more we descend to what is special, the more distinct
does the idea become, that the worship of God in spirit and in
truth, is the habitual manifestation of the life, of God in every
soul. The wide idea of worship which we cannot separate from
that of God, and that of religion — is necessarily determined, as
to the nature of the worship, by the nature we attach to the God,
and the religion : so that to accept the living God as our God,
and his only begotten Son as the Mediator between him and us,
determines that we must worship that God, through that divine
Bedeemer : and that we must do this in the way made known
to us by them. And then, when these true worshippers of God,
1 Eph, iv. 1-25.

468 THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. [BOOK IV.
in Christ, become organically united, through the headship of
Christ, and their communion with each other ; everything that
is special in the conception, the nature and end, or the absolute
condition of this Body of Christ, shapes and illustrates more and
more distinctly, the idea of worship, step by step with the ideas
of religion, and of God. And then, when the Gifts which God
has bestowed on his Church, under every aspect of it — his Spirit,
his Son, and the knowledge of his will ; and the more special
Gifts which he has bestowed on it through them — his written
word, a ministry, sacraments, an outward organization, all divine
ordinances : it is manifest that the whole of these Gifts of God
are of that kind, that in proportion as they are received in the
love and in the power of them, the worship of the visible Church
becomes more distinctly the manifestation of her life, while it
also becomes more spiritual in its own nature, and rises to higher
forms of truth. And then, when all that God has done for his
Church, is concentrated in the ordinances of a particular congre
gation — a special Christian Church, met for stated and habitual
worship — and receiving and manifesting grace, mercy, and peace,
from God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; the ordinary form
of the spiritual life of the Church, exhibited in this primary and
most obvious and permanent aspect of the organization of these
royal priests of God — is the worship of God in spirit and in
truth. And finally, when we consider these followers of Christ,
one by one — and reflect on the personal relation of each to these
numerous themes — many of which are infinite ; when we call to
mind the innumerable statements of the word of God, touching
the manner in which each one is to work out his own salvation,
and make his own calling and election sure ; when we look into
our own soul, and remember what we once were — how we be
came what we now are — and by what means we hope to obtain
the crown : it seems to me we are ready to set our seal to what
our brother Paul has said, and proclaim that they are the cir
cumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh ;' ready to respond to
our divine Lord, in his own glorious words, God is a Spirit —
and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth.2 7. To make this explanation complete, let us consider more
' Phil, iii. 3. J John, iv. 24.

CHAP. XXV.] SPIRITUAL WORSHIP. 469
carefully the narrowest organic aspect of the subject, in its rela
tion to a particular congregation. It is needless to enquire here,
how the worshipping assemblies of God's people may have been
constituted and conducted, before the days of Abraham, or even
of Moses. This is undeniable, that those Synagogues of the
Jews, in which the written word of God was publicly read and
expounded, and prayer offered to God, statedly every Sabbath-
day ; were as much a part of the religious life of God's ancient
people, as the temple service was — were probably at least as an
cient — and have survived it nearly eighteen centuries. In them,
our divine Lord habitually worshipped and taught ; — and after
the model they furnished, in many respects, his inspired Apos
tles organized our Christian congregations. Each of these Chris
tian congregations is an elemental and organized portion of the
Church visible universal of the Lord Christ : and every one of
them, when complete, has everything which is possessed by that
universal Church, in its present state : and it is by means of the
union of these, that Church assemblies having rule, and a gov
ernment, are created. Now divine worship in its widest sense, is
the specific object of the existence of these particular Churches ;
and, in the narrowest sense of worship, it is one of their chief
objects — as it is their main employment. Such as gladly receive
the word of God, are baptized in them. Such as will be saved,
the Lord adds to them.1 To believers and to their seed, are the
promises of God herein held forth.3 To them, Pastors, Elders.
and Deacons are given, by Christ ;3 and in the bosom of each
one, a court of Christ is created.4 In this Church, it is the will
of God, that his people should statedly assemble on the Sab
bath-day, and as often besides as his providence permits, for his
solemn public worship, as revealed by himself.6 And, as parts
of that worship, it is the ordinance of God, that public prayer
should be offered to him :" that his praises should be sung, with
grace in our hearts to the Lord :7 that the word of God should
be read expounded, and preached :8 that the sacraments of the
Christian Church should be duly administered :9 and that the
i Acts, ii. 41, 47. 2 Acts, il 39 ; 1 Cor, vii 14.
s Eph, iv. 11, 12 ; 1 Tim, v. 17 ; Acts, vi. passim.
* 1 Tun, v. 17 ; Rom, xii 6-8 ; 1 Cor, xii 28. '
s Acts, ii. 42 ; xx. 7 ; 1 Cor, xvi. 2 : Heb, x. 25. « 1 Tim, il „
' CoL,'iil 16. " Acts, xiii. 15, 27 ; Titus, I 9 ; 2 Tim., iv. 2 ; 1 Cor, I 18.
0 1 Cor., xl 23-26 ; Matt, xxviii 18, 19.

470 THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. [BOOK IV.
people should be blessed from God.1 Moreover, God has or
dained that each particular Church — should, by the Court of
his Kingdom erected in its bosom, take care that its members
lead blameless and holy lives :* and that all I have discussed as
appertaining to our New Obedience, as rendered unto God, and
our Good Works, as performed towards our fellow-creatures —
be truly observed, as becometh saints ; and as the chief of all,
charity — love to God and compassion for our fellow-men.3 Now,
with such a state of case as this disclosed to us by God himself,
in connection with the primitive and most elemental part of
the organic life of the Church visible, universal ; we are left
without any possibility of denying — that the idea of the wor
ship of God pervades the total life and organism of the Church
of God ; and that the nature of the worship and the nature of
the Church, must necessarily harmonize. If God is a Spirit,
and is true— then the worship of him in spirit and in truth, is
an infallible mark of his true Church.
8. Beligion is exhausted, as a matter of contemplation, when
we have considered it under the aspect of Faith, the aspect of
Duty, and the aspect of Worship. It is in these three aspects
that it necessarily affords us, the three infallible marks of the
true Church. So when the word of God has taught us infalli
bly, what we ought to beheve concerning him, and what duty he
requires of us, there remains nothing to be taught concerning
salvation, except the expression of both, in the form of wor
ship. If, therefore, purity of Faith be one infallible mark of
the Church of Christ, as I have proved — and if holiness of life
be another, as I will prove — neither of which, I suppose, any
Christian will deny ; then, it is perfectly unavoidable, that pu
rity of worship, must be the remaining mark. And the very
terms of the whole science of Christianity, give us the same
result. God — man— and the Mediator between them ; this is
its mighty elemental formula. But Faith in that Mediator, and
worship rendered to that God — and Holiness — nourished by both
of them, through the grace of which all three are the products ;
this is the infallible manifestation that Christianity is realized in
us, in a form responsive to its mighty elemental formula.
¦ 2 Cor, xiii. 14. ' Heb, xiii 17 ; 1 Thess., v. 12, 13.
* 1 Cor, xiii. passim; Matt., v. 43-48; vi. 1-4, 19-23.

OHAPTEE XXVI.
HOLT LIVING: THE THIRD INFALLIBLE MARK OF THE TRUE CHURCH.
I 1. Relation of aU Righteousness, in Man, to the Law of God. — 2. Gospel Holiness :
its Relation to Christ — to Faith in Him— and to the acceptable Worship of God. —
II. 1. The Reality of Moral Distinctions: the Demonstration they afford that God
is the Fountain of aU Goodness. — 2 . Neglect or Perversion of these Moral Distinc
tions, fatal to aU Rehgions in which either occurs. — 3. The indissoluble and eternal
Connection of Holiness with Blessedness. — 4. The inward Aspect of that Hohness,
which infallibly distinguishes the True Church. — 5. Unity of that Holiness, as a
Mark of the True Church, with each of the preceding Marks. — 6. The Unity of
the Mystery of Godliness; Goodness the perfection of Knowledge, of Duty, and
of Grace. — III. 1. The True Life of the Church, is the Power of the Holy Spirit. —
2. Conclusive Effect of the Supremacy of the Supernatural Element, in the Ques
tion of the Church. — 3. Majesty and Glory of the True Church.
I. — 1. To keep and to do all the statutes and judgments of
God, is the highest proof of spiritual wisdom and understanding.
It has always been required by God as the sum of the whole duty
of man — always been declared to be the way of peace and mercy
for his people — always been prescribed as the surest evidence of
their true faith in Jesus Christ, and their acceptable worship of
the most high God.1 The sum of the instruction which the Apos
tles had in charge to give, in discipling all nations, was that all
should observe all things whatsoever Jesus had commanded them.2
And the constant doctrine of Jesus was, If ye continue in my
word then are ye my disciples indeed ; and ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free.3 My sheep hear my
voice and I know them, and they follow me : and I give unto
them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any
pluck them out of my hand.1
2. Without holiness no man shall see God.s This great truth
is involved in every just idea we can form of God and of salva
tion • and so essential is it in all that the Scriptures intend by
1 Deut, iv. 1-6 ; Eccl, xii. 13 ; Matt, xv. 9 ; John, xii. 50 ; vii 17
a Matt, xxviii 19, 20. 8 John, viii. 31, 32.
« John, x. 27, 28. 5 Heb, xii. 14

472 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
salvation, that nothing therein relating to us is either explicable,
or effectual, if we omit or fatally pervert their teaching concern
ing this. The everlasting righteousness which has been brought in
by Messiah the Prince,1 the righteousness which is of God through
the faith of Christ,2 the righteousness unto which they live who
are dead to sin f this is the righteousness which, together with
all goodness and truth, is the fruit of the Spirit,4 with which the
blessed, who hunger and thirst after righteousness, shall be filled
— and, in the blessed fruition of which, the pure in heart shall
see God.5 Now, this Gospel holiness — which I have so carefully
sought to trace and to disclose — is that which I always intend,
when I speak of holy living as a mark of the Church of Christ.
For the constant doctrine of the Scriptures is that the just shall
live by faith ;6 and the relation between life, and righteousness,
and faith is so close, that in every Christian sense, either of the
three necessarily involves the other two. So while true faith is
the life of the Church, and true worship is the means of nourish
ing that life — true holiness is the manifestation of its healthful
existence. Faith that rejoices in Christ Jesus, is the living tes
timony to the work of the Mediator between God and men ; wor
ship rendered unto God in Spirit and in truth, is the testimony
to the whole doctrine of God, of grace, and of salvation : and
total abnegation of the flesh — that is, true Gospel holiness, is the
testimony that the whole doctrine of God and of Christ, is real
ized in the power of it and the love of it, in the soul of man.
God, man, and, between the two, the God-man : this is the divine
formula.7 To worship God in the Spirit, to rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and to have no confidence in the flesh : this is the practical result,
in the human soul, as explained by God.5 Purity of faith, spirit
uality of worship, holiness of life ; this is the manifestation on
the part of the Church, which makes it certain, past doubt, that
she is the Kingdom of God — the body of Christ — the holy nation.
It is to the exposition of this third infallible mark of the true
Church, visible, universal, of the Lord Jesus Christ, that this
chapter is devoted.
II. — 1. In connection with the general subject of the fall and
» Daniel, ix. 24 a Phil, hi. 9.
3 1 Peter, ii. 24. 4 Eph, v. 10.
6 Matt, v. 6, 8. 6 Hab, ii. 4; Rom, i. 17.
i 1 Tim, il 5. 8 'hil, iii. 3.

CHAP. XXVI.] HOLT LIVING. 473
recovery of man, while discussing various parts of the way of
life and our relations thereto ; I have found it necessary to enter
somewhat fully, into enquiries touching the moral constitution of
man, considered in all the estates disclosed in the word of God.
It does not seem to me necessary to repeat, in this place, what I
have advanced on that subject ; just as I have already declined
repeating here, what I have taught in previous chapters, on the
subject of evangelical holiness. But as the immediate relation
of the latter topic to the present subject, demanded the brief ex
position I have just given of it : so the close connection of the
former topic, with the most direct method of illustrating the sub
ject before us, renders a few words of explanation concerning it,
important. I observe, therefore, that the reality of moral dis
tinctions is incontestably established, by the moral constitution
of man, upon principles as clear as those upon which the reality
of physical distinctions is established, by the physical constitu
tion of man. Whether such distinctions do, in fact, exist or not,
we are obliged by an ultimate law of our being, to recognize them
as real ; nor have we any faculty more intense, more pervading,
or more distinctive of our nature, than that which we call con
science, by means of which we take cognizance of these moral
distinctions. To say we have no conscience, is to contradict the
universal consciousness of the human race — as really as to say
we are not endowed with reason — or with sight. To admit we
have a conscience, but deny that the moral distinctions of which
it takes cognizance, have any reality — or existence ; is the same
as to admit we have reason, and then deny that there is anything
true, or anything false ; or to admit that we have the sense of
sight, and then deny that there is anything to see, or any light
to see by. To say nothing of the supremacy of the moral sense
— and of the overwhelming ruin in which such a race as ours
would be immediately engulphed, but for that supremacy : the
statement I have made seems to put beyond question, the abso
lute and ineffaceable existence of morality itself, independently
of us, and paramount to our nature. If that be so, the existence
of a creator and moral ruler of the universe is certain : and it is
in the bosom of the First Cause — the living God — -that the source
of all good is found.
2. The disregard of these moral distinctions, thus thoroughly
fundamental in the spiritual system of the universe ; must be

474 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
utterly fatal to the claims of every religious system, in which it
exists, to be considered either revealed by God, or suitable for
man. No religion can be true which misunderstands the absolute
nature of these moral distinctions — which overlooks or misstates
the relation of man's moral nature, in its fallen state most espe
cially, to them — which confounds the distinction between good
and evil in the very matter of salvation — which shocks man's
natural sense of morality — -which inculcates that which is wrong
in itself — which denies our felt moral depravity, or proposes as a
remedy for it, that which is incompetent, that which is false, or
that which is evil. In accepting any such religion as true, we
outrage the conscience itself — to sanctify which is the chief end
of true religion. The ruin which all false religions spread around
them, is produced chiefly by their blinding and depraving influ
ence upon the conscience ; a ruin analogous to that which would
occur, if the supremacy of conscience could be overthrown. And
the readiness with which our depraved nature accepts all false
religions, is the clearest proof of the disorder of the moral sense
of man, of the overpowering force of his religious instincts, of
his absolute need of a moral regeneration, and of the total fal
sity of all religions which cannot accomplish this. In estimating
that purity of life which religion, if it be from God, must pro
duce, we are obliged, therefore, even upon grounds of mere reason
and natural morality, to reject, indiscriminately, all religions
whose faith is inconsistent with virtue and good morals, or whose
worship is a snare to the souls of men, or whose life violates the
sense or loosens the bonds of duty. This great rule is laid down
by the Saviour. By their fruits ye shall know them : and it is
expressly laid down to enforce this great duty, Beware of false
prophets.1 In this manner, every false religion is rejected by
Christ — upon the ground of the fruit it bears ; even before we
pass the threshold of the subject. That which promotes sin —
that which is drunk with blood — which is polluted by unclean-
ness — which is rank with imposture — that whose very life is sus
tained by the death of souls : what madness is greater than to
recognize such organized unrighteousness as true religion, be
cause mankind is sufficiently brutal to be led captive by the
Devil at his will ;2 given over by God to strong delusion, that
they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned
1 Matt, vii. 15-20. s 2 Tim, ii. 26.

CHAP. XXVI.] HOLT LIVING. 475
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteous
ness.1 3. The connection between virtue and happiness is so imme
diate, that any attack upon the foundations of morality, is also
an attack upon every hope and possibility of blessedness. But
whatever is an absolute condition of blessedness for human na
ture, in any estate, or at any period : is an absolute condition of
its blessedness, to all eternity ; because human nature preserves
its essential identity, through all possible estates. Amongst all
the results of experience, not one is more certain — amongst all
the meditations of philosophy, none are more clear — amongst all
the teachings of the Holy Spirit, nothing is more distinct, than
that virtue, purity, holiness, lie at the foundation of human
blessedness. All growth in grace, strengthens this divine union :
and its bond will become closer in eternity, when grace is swal
lowed up in glory — closer forever, as we approach nearer to the
presence and the measure of God. To make us pure in heart,
that we may see God — discern him — know him — have fruition of
him, is amongst the chief blessings of true religion, pointed out
by the Saviour ;2 and no mark can be more palpable, that any
system of religion is not from God, than that it obscures our
vision — our fruition of him — by obstructing a life of hohness,
and hardening the heart. Both faith and righteousness, which
are indissolubly connected with spiritual life, have their seat in
the heart ;3 in which is begotten, and out of which must flow,
that true holiness, in which the new man is created, after the
image of God.4 Even in its natural state — much more when it
'has been renewed by divine grace — how full is the testimony of
the heart to its own need of this very holiness ! Its deep and
sorrowful convictions, at every survey of its best emotions ; its
profound sense of duty, even in the midst of the clearest mani
festations of weakness and sinfulness ; its intense longings for
that it hath not, even under the burden of pollution that robs
it of the power of articulate expression of its very wants ;
and when it has found what its need was, and has been sup
plied out of God's unwasting fulness — its clear and joyful vis
ion of all that was confused before, and of its God and Father
above all, and through all, and in all :5 can all this mean
1 2 Thess, ii. 11, 12 ; 1 Cor, vi. 9, 10 ; Rev, xxii 14, 15. a Matt, v. 8.
8 Rom., x. 10. * Eph, iv. 24 5 Eph, iv. 6.

476 THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. [BOOK IV.
anything less than the perfect relation of the divine remedy, to
our fatal disease — the perfect accordance between the testimony
concerning our previous emptiness and pollution, and that con
cerning our satisfying fruition of a new and divine holiness ?
Well may we say, we were sometimes darkness, but now are we
light in the Lord. And since the fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness, and righteousness, and truth ; well does it become us
to walk as children of light.1
4. It is by Bevelation from God — outwardly in his word, in
wardly by his Spirit — that the soul is made acquainted with the
true nature of all these mysteries of God and man. Bevealed in
that power of the divine word, which is such a glorious peculiarity
of the truth of God — and revealed in the power of the Holy Ghost,
working by and with that truth, in the human soul : these great
mysteries come to us in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.2
God reveals himself to those to whom it is given to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,3 in a peculiar light and with
a peculiar power, as the God of all grace — the God who saves
penitent and believing sinners by the blood of the everlasting
covenant. The purity which is needful, in order to this salvation,
is also a most peculiar form of righteousness, and is revealed in a
most peculiar manner. For the Gospel of Christ, which is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, reveals
the righteousness of God from faith to faith : which Paul first
asserts, and then confirms by the perpetual, equivalent truth,
The just shall live by faith." Christ, and his righteousness, re
vealed to us and revealed in us ; life, righteousness, and faith —
indissolubly united. It is, therefore, a righteousness of such
only, as have been renewed in the spirit of their mind : of such
only, as have put off the old man, which is corrupt according to
the deceitful lusts — and have put on the new man, which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness.6 This special
holiness of truth — and that the very truth of God — is the only
form of righteousness which is available in, or unto, a lost sinner.
And this is attainable only in, and through, the Lord Jesus
Christ. But of his fulness every penitent and believing sinner
receives ; and that in a manner, at once so complete and so
1 Eph, v. 8, 9. 2 1 Cor, il 4.
3 Matt, xiii. 11. * Rom, i. 16, 17 ; Hab, il 4
6 Eph, iv. 22-24 ; il 10.

CHAP. XXVI.] HOLT LIVING. 477
specific, that all grace in him finds some counterpart respon
sive to it, in all renewed souls.1 This is the inward aspect
of that holy living, which is an infallible mark of the true
Church. 5. This holiness, exhibited as it must be in the wide form of
holy living, is the product of the same divine life in man, which
has been shown to be manifested in purity of faith, and in true
spiritual worship. I have several times pointed out the indisso
luble connection of these three marks of the true Church with
each other, and the grounds upon which that connection rested,
in the very essence of the Gospel. Let me very briefly, disclose
the unity between this mark and each of the preceding marks.
The divine life which is manifested in evangelical hohness, is of
that nature and operates in that manner — whether in individual
persons, or in whole communions : — that it cannot commence by
means of the New Creation, without saving faith being immedi
ately manifested ; nor can it be sustained or increased afterwards,
except in connection with the perpetual exercise of that faith.
For the righteousness of God is by faith in Jesus Christ ; and is
unto all, and upon all that believe.2 And it is of God that we
are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.3 But that
pure faith makes men pure. For, it not only overcomes the
world,4 but it does this by purifying the heart.5 And the instru
ment by which it works in our purification, is love.6 So that the
purity of life which is an infallible mark of the Church of God,
is that purity which is manifested by love to God, and love to
our neighbour. But the Lord has told us that this is the sum
of all the commandments of God — all the law and the pro
phets hanging thereon.7 And I have just shown that it is the
sum of Gospel holiness. In like manner, holiness imparts to our
worship in whatever sense we use the term, one essential char
acteristic — which makes it acceptable to God — that is, its quality
of true obedience : while, at the same time, it is itself sustained
and advanced by all true, spiritual worship. For, whether in the
form of the Church, or whether in the assemblies of God's people
1 John, i. 16-18 — and grace for grace — xaPLVi avTL XaPLT0C
a Rom, hi. 22 ; Phil, iii. 9. 3 1 Cor, i. 30.
* 1 John, v. 4. 6 Acts, xv. 9.
6 Gal, v. 6. T Matt, xxii. 37-40.

478 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
statedly met, or in all the parts and particulars of the stated
worship of him therein : or whether in the right use of the sac
raments he has instituted as signs and seals of the Covenant of
Grace ; holiness of heart — and by consequence holiness of life, is
the very end at which everything aims, and to which everything
tends. We can have no just conception of the worship of God,
in spirit and in truth, which it is possible to separate, on the one
side, from the idea of duty rendered unto God — any more than
it is possible to separate it, on the other side, from the idea of
belief in God. And so while honour and majesty are before
the Lord ; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary : and the
exhortation is, Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holi
ness.1 For out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath
shined.2 6. There is a wonderful unity apparent in the whole mystery
of Godliness — from whatever point of view it is contemplated, or
by whatever process it is examined. One of the firmest founda
tions of faith is the grand and simple truth, that it is with the
heart man believeth unto salvation :3 responsive to which, the
Saviour has deduced from all the law and the prophets that most
glorious climax, that all duty to God and man, is fulfilled in
love.4 The wisest of mankind, therefore, could utter nothing
more profound in its doctrinal import — more pungent in its'
practical use, than the solemn words, Keep thy heart with all
diligence ; for out of it are the issues of life.6 Goodness, then, is
at last, the perfection of knowledge, the perfection of duty, the
perfection of grace ; the nature of man, and the Kingdom of
God — find perfection in a common result. When we treat of
Justification, it is Faith, and it is Forgiveness, which we are
called to contemplate : when we treat of Adoption, it is Hope
and the glory of the Kingdom, which burn in our hearts : when
we treat of Sanctification, it is Love and God's image perfected
in us, that fill the measure of earthly blessedness. And our en
trance into the Kingdom — our being replenished with its bless
ings and its benefits — and our being perfected in its spirit al
together ; unitedly do but express, in another form, the great
conclusion, Now abideth Faith, Hope, Charity.6 Nor need we
hesitate to add- — since the Apostle has done so, But the greatest
1 Psalm xcvi. 6, 9. ! Psalm 1. 2. 3 Rom, x. 10.
* Matt., xxii. 34-40. • Prov, iv 23. » l Cor, xiii. 13

&

CHAP. XXVI.] HOLT LIVING 479
of these is Charity. And when we examine the whole matter
with all thoroughness, in order to ascertain with certainty the
infallible marks of the Church ; we find ourselves conducted to
results precisely corresponding with those reached through so
many other processes, and precisely in accordance with the whole
analogy of faith. To be pure, is the grand necessity, obligation,
and blessedness of the Church. To be holy, according to that
peculiar manner of holiness, which is involved in the salvation of
sinners by the grace of God ; is her first step upwards. To be
holy, in perfect goodness — love to God and to man — charity — the
greatest of the great graces — is her last step upwards, in her
present form. Between these two stand Faith and Obedience,
looked at from the practical side ; Faith and Hope, looked at
from the doctrinal side ; for both a boundless Hope and a New
Obedience, are exponents of our Adoption into Christ — and
Worship is an expression of them both. A pure Faith, a pure
Worship, and a pure Life — is the general expression alike of the
true relation of saved sinners to an infinitely pure God — and of
the true Beligion of the Son of God, who is the Saviour of the
world. If either of the three is removed, the Beligion is de
stroyed ; because the three stand, or fall, together. If they all
abide, the Beligion is complete. They are, therefore, the infal
lible marks of the true Church, visible, universal, of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And there are no others.
III. — 1. The life of the Church of God is most inadequately
conceived, if we suppose it is complete when the doctrine is pure,
and the order is perfect, and the outward conduct is irreproach
able. It is possible for the understanding of man to receive the
doctrine of salvation revealed in the Scriptures, while the heart
remains unaffected by it, except as by a philosophy. It is possi
ble that the model of the Church should be outwardly exact, in
all things, and yet that the torpor of death should cover her fair
proportions. It is easy to see that her outward acts might wear
a decent conformity to the commandments of God, in the whole
round of her great duties ; and at the same time, a heartless
formality, or a self-righteous Phariseeism, supplant all true love
in her bosom. The true life of the Church, is a divine reality ;
perfectly distinguishable — scarcely capable of being mistaken by
such as partake of it. It is a power animating her faith, sus
taining her obedience, and nourishing her activity. It is the

480 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
fruit of God's Spirit within her. They do not err, who rate this
far above all. But they do err fatally, who suppose that this
divine power has no necessary connection with the faith, the wor
ship, and the active life of the Church : no necessary connection
with her doctrine, her order, and her practice. So far as we
know, it has a connection with them all, both absolute and ex
clusive : nor have we any reason to expect the supernatural inter
position of God, in saving any soul, except through his revealed
truth ; while we know, assuredly, that the divine Spirit does not
— will not — quicken men, otherwise than through Jesus Christ,
much less in dishonour of his person, his work, or his glory. The
faith, the worship, and the life of the Church, which is the fulness
of him that filleth all in all, are, therefore, not the power itself;
but, precisely in proportion as they are pure, they are fit to man
ifest the power by which men are saved. And, as far as we
know, the power of God unto salvation, is revealed only in the
Gospel of Christ, to every one that believeth ; and it is only
therein that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith ; and only thereby that the just live by faith. Taking all
things as they are made known to us by God, if the Holy Spirit
were withdrawn, there could be no more salvation — no matter
what else remained ; if divine truth were lost from amongst
men, there would be no more operation of the Spirit : if the
people of God were all cut off, the Spirit and the word, in order
to convert the world, would be obliged according to the divine
Economy we have, to reconstruct the Church out of penitent
and believing sinners saved by grace : and that Church, when
reconstructed, would possess the very marks I have demon
strated, and occupy the very position they indicate for her as
God's Kingdom in this world. The whole Economy of salva
tion is reducible to this solution : nor does it appear to admit of
any other.
2. The supremacy with which the supernatural element of
the question of the Church, pervades every part of this discus
sion, must be obvious to every reader. Nor is it possible to
conduct any enquiry, that can be of the least value, upon such
subjects, on any other basis. If the religion which we seek to
comprehend, is a mere philosophy — nay, if it is any less than a
divine revelation ; then, of course, it stands in the wisdom of
man, and that wisdom must construct it, aided, no doubt, by

CHAP. XXVI.] HOLT LIVING. 481
such intimations as God may have been pleased to give. But if
God has revealed to us, in a manner designed by himself to be
complete, a way of salvation which he requires us to accept :
then the whole matter stands in the power of God, and must be
so treated.1 Where the revelation stops, the divine power, in its
manifestation to us for salvation, also stops : and every attempt
on our part to extend the power, is either an attempt to extort a
further revelation from God, which is sacrilege — or an attempt to
teach God, which is impiety. The patriarchs did not presume to
erect the institutions of Moses ; nor did Moses presume to bring
in that simple grace and truth, which came by Jesus Christ.
Even Christ did . not set up the new form of his own Kingdom,
or write one word of his own glorious Gospel ; but he left to the
divine Spirit, acting through his inspired Apostles, the comple
tion in both respects of the will of God. How then shall men,
without the smallest claim to an extraordinary vocation from
God, dare to add one tittle or take away one jot ? Nor can it
make the least difference, whether we address ourselves to one
part or another, of what God has given to us as the perfect ex
pression of his will, concerning our salvation. It is as utterly
beyond our competency to institute for God a worship which he
ought to accept, as to establish a doctrine concerning him which
he ought to approve : a task as much above us to complete the
form of his Kingdom, as to improve the method of his grace.
We have no knowledge, we have no authority, we have no suffi
ciency, for any such thing. God alone has them all in infinite
fulness. And upon these two truths rests the argument, d priori,
for all divine revelation. So that we not only discredit the suffi
ciency of the revelation which God has given us, but call in
question the necessity of any revelation at all, as really when we
would amend, as when we impeach the faith, the worship, or the
life, prescribed by God to his Church. And every act of this sort
is the more to be condemned, because God has made known to
us so clearly in his word, what he would have us do ; that the
poor pretext of his silence can be made good, only by holding his
truth in unrighteousness, or by handling his word deceitfully.
He has spoken all his mind in the matter of our salvation ; for
bidding us in the beginning, and forbidding us at the end — always
under the most terrible penalties — -to add unto the word or unto
1 1 Cor, il 1-5.
vol. n. 31

482 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK IV.
the things commanded by him, or to diminish aught from either
of them.1 For besides the injuries we inflict on men, and the
corruption we bring into the Church, and the dishonour we offer
to the majesty of God, by such acts of presumptuous disobedi
ence ; we are also guilty of treason against our Lord the King in
Zion, as often as we usurp these high prerogatives of his crown.
With reference to ourselves — nothing can bind the faith or con
science of a Christian, in the matter of his salvatian, that is not
revealed from God. But nothing is revealed unto salvation, ex
cept in Jesus Christ our Saviour. So that where faith, conscience,
revelation, and salvation, have no place ; there is no Saviour —
and can be no Church.
3. This whole doctrine is transcendently glorious to the
Church of God. It invests her with the majesty, which springs
from her total deliverance from the control of carnal command
ments, and from her being clothed with the power of an endless
life. Her mission is commensurate with the human race. Its
very essence is, to do all good to all. Her own goodness is the
measure of her ability to do good. A mission of faith, obedience,
and love, accomplished in the power of the divine life by which
she hves. Salvation is wrought out through her, in proportion
as it is first wrought in her. As she trusts, obeys, and imitates
Christ, she manifests in the same degree the purity of her faith,
of her worship, and of her life ; exhibits the mighty power of
God, which works in her trustful and loving heart ; demon
strates her entire conformity to the divine will ; and thus work
ing out the glory of God on earth, she works out for herself an
eternal weight of glory. Does any child of God desire to take
from Christ, any part of his dominion over himself ? Then why
- should it be considered possible, that the spouse of Christ would
desire any such thing ? Does any sanctified soul feel the yoke
of Christ to be a heavy yoke ? Then why should it be im
agined that all sanctified souls should fail to rejoice as the
pre-eminence is given to him, in all things ? Nor will God
endure to be robbed of that which is his. I, the Lord thy
God, am a jealous God — is the reason given by himself, why
the glory, dominion, and worship, should be given only to him ;
and is rendered as a portion of that unalterable morality, whose
foundations are laid in his own being, and which pervades every
1 Deut, iv. 1-24 ; Rev, xxii. 18-20.

CHAP. XXVI.] HOLT LIVING. 483
manifestation of himself.1 And the last recorded utterance of
the redeemed in glory is, As it were the voice of a great
multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice
of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia : for the Lord God om
nipotent reigneth.2
1 Exod., xx. 5. 2 Rev., xix. 6.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD,
SUBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED.

ARGUMENT OF THE FIFTH BOOK.
This Fifth Book bears to the Fourth, a relation somewhat analogous to that
which the Third Book bears to the Second. For the Second Book attempts to
demonstrate a Christian, and the Third to demonstrate those personal Offices
without which there can be no individual Christianity : while the Fourth Book
attempts to demonstrate the visible Church of Christ organized out of those same
Christians, and this Fifth Book to demonstrate the Gifts of God to this Christian
Church, without which it can have no visible existence. And as in the former
case, those individual Offices of themselves prove that he who discharges them
does so by the grace of God, and is a true disciple of Christ ; so in this latter
case, these divine Gifts prove of themselves that the organized body of Disciples
of Christ possessing them, does so by the grace of God, and is a true Church
visible of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the negative conclusions in the two cases
are analogous ; namely, that lacking these individual Offices no one can be a true
disciple of Christ — lacking these Gifts of God no organized body can be com
posed of true disciples of Christ, or be his visible Church. So that the demon
stration is double in each case, and then general of the whole. The Twenty-
Seventh Chapter, which is the First of this Book, is devoted to the three supreme
Gifts of God to his Church more especially considered as visible, namely, his Son,
his Spirit, and his Word ; one large division of the Chapter being occupied with
the separate and detailed exposition of each. Concerning the Son it is shown
m what sense he is given by God to the Church, over and above the sense in
which he is given to each individual Christian, and in what different form he is
given to the Gospel Church, as compared with preceding dispensations ; what
are the mutual results of this as to Christ, and as to the Church — what is the
relation between them thus created — what is the position of the Church thus
considered — and her consequent glory and blessedness in her witness-bearing
and her work. Concerning the Spirit it is shown that all efficiency of the Church
is of him as really as aU authority is of Christ ; the difference in the manner of
bestowment, the manner of operation, and the manner of relation to all things,
between the Spirit and the Son, is explained ; the order of the mysteries of
grace the relation of the Spirit to the work of Christ and to the Gospel Church,
and the attestation of everything relating to both, and to all truth and godliness

486 ARGUMENT OE THE FIFTH BOOK.
bythe Spirit, are disclosed; the promise.of the Spirit — his outpouring, his mani
festation and work, extraordinary and ordinary, the Belation of both to Christ,
to the Church, to each other, and to salvation are explicated : and the doctrine
of the Spirit and of his relation to the Church is shown to be absolutely vital.
Concerning the Word of God, its relation to the Son, the Spirit, and the Church,
and its special relation considered as written to the Church considered as visible,
are pointed out; the Word and the Church before the former was written, and
the latter organized, and again after the former was written and the latter
organized, and again after the former was complete and as such bestowed
on the Gospel Church, are specially considered: the power of the Word as
mere truth, and its further power as the instrument of the Spirit, is disclosed ;
and the Chapter closes with an appreciation of the written Word considered as
a divine Gift to the Visible Church, and of the Gospel Church considered as
possessing the supreme Gifts of God just discussed. The Twenty-Eighth Chap
ter, which is the Second of this Book, djscusses the Sabbath-day, the Sacraments,
Instituted Worship, Discipline, and Evangelization, as Ordinances given by God
to his Church ; one large division being devoted to each. The Sabbath is shown
to be a perpetual element in the moral system of the Universe, and to be indis-
solubly connected with the creative, providential, and gracious work of God
therein : and its unspeakable importance to man is pointed out. The Sacraments
are treated generally, the idea of them, their nature, and use, the ends they an
swer and promote, being explained ; their efficacy is shown to depend on the
work of the Divine Spirit, and to be wrought instrumentally by them, in us, by
him through our faith in Christ : the number of them and its constancy, their
relation to the Church under successive dispensations, Christ's relation to them,
and their record of him, are explicated. The Instituted Worship of God is
discussed, and the relation of Atheism on one side, and that of spiritual worship
of the true God on the other, to our natural convictions is disclosed ; the revealed
will of God concerning the worship he requires of man is demonstrated ; the
particulars of that revealed worship, now divinely established in the Gospel
Church, are proved, classified, and explained. Discipline, as an ordinance of
God, is demonstrated, and its nature and efficacy are explained, — together with
the manner and objects of its administration ; the nature of Church censures,
their relation to the Threatenings of God, — and their execution upon God's erring
children, and upon his open enemies are set forth. And finally the Evangeliza
tion of the world is shown to be an Ordinance of God obligatory upon the
Church: and a brief appreciation of that great endeavour is attempted. The
Twenty -Ninth Chapter, which is the Third of this Book, is devoted to a particu
lar discussion of the Sacrament of Baptism, considered in its Nature and Design,
the Subjects of it, the Mode of its Administration, and the Apostohc Practice
of it. The origin and nature of the sacrament of circumcision, and its relation
to Christian Baptism, are explained : the relation of the Baptism of John, and
of that administered by the Apostles during the life of Christ, to Christian Bap
tism is also explained : Christian Baptism is shown to have been instituted by
Christ, after his resurrection, as a sacrament of the Gospel Church : the relation
of the outpouring of the Spirit to Christian Baptism is disclosed : and the cer
tainty of these divine mysteries, together with their sum, and their relation to

AEGHMENT OF THE FIFTH BOOK. 487
the doctrine of God and of salvation, is proved. In the next place, tne relation
between Baptism and the blessings of which it is the seal, is exhibited ; the title
of every one to the seal, who has title to the blessings, is proved ; and the right
of the infant seed of behevers both to the covenanted blessings and to this seal
of them, is demonstrated, in each of eleven successive propositions ; and the
effects, both of the neglect, and of the exercise of this right are shown. Then
it is shown that Baptism may be valid, even when its administration is not per
fectly regular ; Immersion in water, as a commemoration of the burial of Christ,
is proved to be a total perversion of this sacrament : the true scriptural relation
between baptism and the death and burial of Christ is disclosed : the various
senses in which the Scriptures use the word baptism, are set forth, and the right
of Christ to fix the sense in which he uses it asserted : and that he did use it — to
mean the sacramental application of water to the person, as a sign and seal of
our purification by the Holy Ghost, and our ingrafting into Christ is demon
strated in each of five successive propositions. The examination of the Apos
tolic practice follows, and the great example of Pentecost is shown in each of
three successive propositions, and then the great example of Gentile baptism at
Cassarea is shown in each of three successive propositions, and then more briefly
other Apostolic examples of every known class are shown, to accord exactly
with what was before shown concerning Christ's sense of this sacrament; and
the Apostolic doctrine of baptism is deduced. The Thirtieth Chapter, which is
the Fourth of this Book, treats in a particular manner, of the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper, considered in its Institution, Nature, Use, and End ; wherein the
relation of this Sacrament to the ancient Sacrament of the Passover is explained ;
the divine account of its institution by Christ is stated; its general nature and
ordinary use are disclosed in detail from the Scriptures : the matter of it and
elements of it, are pointed out ; and how it is a sign and what it signifies, and
how it is a seal and what it seals are set forth. Entering more deeply, what
the Saviour meant us to understand by saying the cup was the New Testament
in his blood, and by saying the bread was his Body broken for us, is care
fuUy examined ; the efficacy of the Body and Blood in our spiritual nourish
ment is disclosed ; the relation of this Sacrament to the Worship, the Word, and
the Spirit of God, is explicated ; and the relation of the constant and sacramen
tal showing of the Lord's death to his Second Coming is pointed out. And
finally it is shown how strict is the relation of Christ's sacramental word and
action to the Nature and definition of this sacrament; and that of the sacra
ment itself to the whole question of the Church. The Thirty-First Chapter,
which is the Fifth and last of this Book, treats of the Office Bearers of the
Gospel Church, and of Church government in their hands. It is shown that
all the Office Bearers of the Church both appertain to it, and in a still higher
sense to Christ; that the divine origin of the Church, of its government, and of
its office bearers is perfectly indisputable, both according to the universal testi
mony of Scripture, and to the absolute nature of the case ; in proof and illus
tration of all which, the example of the Apostolic Synod constituted at Jerusa
lem on the question of Gentile circumcision, is carefully examined, and the fact,
the nature, and the perpetuity of the government divinely established in the
Gospel Church, are demonstrated; the office bearers who constituted that

488 ARGUMENT OF THE FIFTH BOOK.
synod, are shown to have been in part Apostles, but chiefly Elders — Presbyters,
and then the nature of the office held by these Elders — Presbyters, and the na
ture of their right to constitute that synod, and every other tribunal in the Gospel
Church, is demonstrated. Then the question of the Church, purely as a question
of fact, is taken up at the death of Christ and its condition shown : the effects
of the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost, and the events which followed,
are traced, and the immediate formation of particular congregations with
a tribunal in each, and the nature and composition of that tribunal as a
congregational Presbytery composed of Presbyters — Elders, are proved : the
union of a number of these congregations with their tribunals — is shown to
have constituted a larger body with its tribunal over them all, still com
posed of Presbyters, and called in the Scriptures a Presbytery; and
then the union of all these Presbyteries with all their tribunals and all
their congregations with their tribunals — gives us the universal Church and
brings us back to its synod already demonstrated ; for that is the scriptural
name of this high tribunal ; and thus the nature, organization, and divine
authority of tribunals, Parochial, Presbyterial, and Synodical, all composed of
Elders — Presbyters — is proved by tracing the divine progress and development
of the Church, as before by a specific divine example. After this the nature of
all church power delegated by the Mediator, is analyzed, and its relations to his
Prophetic, Priestly, and Kingly offices shown ; the result being that the whole
power of Begimen is from his Kingly office, and is vested in all Presbyters
alike ; while the ministry of the word is a delegation from his Prophetic office,
and the Stewardship of Divine Mysteries is a delegation from his Priestly office
— which two functions — as a power of Order — are added, as to certain Elders,
to their power of Bule, and thus two classes in the order of Elders are produced ;
and it is shown that this power of Order is a several power, — while the power
of Regimen is a joint power; the result being that all rule is not only by
tribunals, but all tribunals are constituted of both classes of the order of Elders.
The mode of creating office bearers is shown to be by an inward and personal
Vocation of the particular person, by God to the particular office; which is
ascertained by the vocation of the individual by a particular congregation to be
its office bearer, and afterwards by the approbation and ordination of the person
by a church court : the vital power and importance of this Parochial and
Presbyterial vocation — being specially insisted on. Then the offices of Prophet,
Evangelist, and Deacon, who are the only remaining office bearers of the
Church, whether ordinary or extraordinary — are explained : and the Chapter
and Book close with a summary statement, in four successive propositions, of
the absolute nature of the government which God has bestowed upon the
visible Church ; and a slight appreciation of its marvellous origin, progress, and
actual position. The difficulty of treating the whole organic life of the Kingdom
of God, under the action of so many and such amazing gifts of God, in a few
Chapters, and of determining truly and disposing in a lucid order, in so small a
compass, so many and such vast topics— is one of the greatest to which the
human mind can address itself. To reduoe these Chapters to a short connected
argument, which will present the whole matter fairly, clearly, and sufficiently —
is also very difficult. And now to deduce from that argument its fundamental

ARGUMENT OF THE FIFTH BOOK. 489
results, in a few short propositions is no easy task. Possibly the chief results
may be summarily stated somewhat as follows: namely, That the Son, the
Spirit, and the Word of God, appertain in a pecuhar manner to the visible
Church of Christ, under the Gospel dispensation, as the supreme Gifts of God
to it : — That the Sabbath day, the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Sup
per, the Instituted Worship of God, the administration of the threatenings of
God by Discipline, and the Evangelization of the world, are divine Ordinances
obligatory upon the Gospel Church, being gifts of God to it :— That Baptism
instituted by Christ must be administered with water by a steward of the mys
teries of God, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, to the disciples of Christ, and to their infant seed, once only to each
person ; wherein our purification by the Holy Ghost, our ingrafting into Christ,
and the pardon of our sins, are sacramentally signified, and sealed to those who
worthily receive it : — That the Lord's Supper, instituted by Christ, must be
often celebrated and partaken of by all believers ; wherein the bread broken
and the wine poured out are the elements, and the broken body and shed blood
of Christ are the matter, and all together are the sacrament : the eating and
drinking of the bread and wine, and the spiritual receiving of the body and
blood of Christ by faith, through the Spirit, the word, and prayer, is a sacra
mental showing forth of his death, and a communion therein with him, and with
each other ; all the benefits of Christ, more particularly our redemption by, and
our communion in his death, and our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace
by feeding sacramentally upon his body and blood, being herein signified and
sealed to all who worthily communicate : — That God has bestowed upon the
Gospel Church Office Bearers, both extraordinary and ordinary, of whom the
former have ceased, the ordinary and perpetual being Elders and Deacons — to
whom must be added in a special sense — and as peculiar, Evangelists ; that the
whole power of Regimen in the Church is a joint power, and is wholly in the
hands of Elders — amongst whom certain, in addition to their power of rule,
labour in word and doctrme, and are stewards of the divine mysteries, both of
which are several powers, so that there are two classes of the one order of
Elders ; the power of Regimen being joint, all rule is, not by persons, but by
Tribunals composed of some of both classes of Elders, all of each class being
equal one with another, and the whole equal as Elders ; which Tribunals, one
above another, Parochial, Classical, Synodical, and Universal, are neither clerical
nor laic, but are Presbyterial Courts of the free, spiritual Commonwealth, which
is the Church of the Living God.

CHAPTEE XXVIL
SUPREME GIFTS OP GOD TO HIS CHURCH: HIS SON: HIS SPIRIT:
HIS WORD.
L 1. The special Gifts of God to his Church : Supreme amongst these, his Son — his
Spirit — his Word. — 2. Our Responsibility, personal and aggregate : corresponding
bestowal of these divine Gifts. — 3. Special Gift of the Son of God to the Church:
immediate mutual Results — 4. Nature and Effect of the relation between Christ
and the Church thus created. — 5. The Condition of the Church, considered as
possessing Christ. — 6. The Holy Church Catholic — the Communion of Saints — the
Forgiveness of Sins. — 1. The true God and Eternal Life. — 8. The Glory and
Blessedness of the Church, in her Witness-bearing, and her Work. — II. l. Gift
of the Holy Ghost: all Authority in Christ — all Efficacy from the Spirit. — 2. Dif
ference, in the manner of bestowment ; and the manner of operation ; and the re
lation of the Son and the Spirit to : — (a) Human Nature : — (6) The Plan of Salva-
tion : — (c) The Church : — (d) The World. — 3. The order of the Mysteries of Grace,
with respect to the Gift of the Holy Ghost. — i. Relation of the Spirit to the Work
of Christ, and to the Gospel Church — 5. The Saviour, the Church, the Truth, and
the Mystery of Godliness, all attested by the Spirit. — 6. The Promise of the Fa
ther: the day of Pentecost. — 1. Difference in the manifestation of the Spirit:
extraordinary manifestations: Theh relation to the Church. — 8. Saving mani
festation of the Spirit : Its relation to his extraordinary manifestations. — 9. The
Doctrine of the Spirit, and his relation to the Church, vital. — III. 1. Gift of God's
Word : Its relation to the Church, and the preceding Gifts : Relation of the writ
ten Word to the Visible Church — 2. The Word, before and after it was written:
the Church, before and after it was organized : General Exposition. — 3. The Gos
pel Church — and the Sacred Scriptures. — 4. The Efficacy of God's Word, consid
ered merely as Divine Truth : its further Efficacy when savingly used by the Holy
Ghost. — 5. Appreciation of the written Word, considered as a Divine Gift to the
Church. — 6. Appreciation of the Church, considered as possessing these Supreme
Gifts of God.
I. — 1. I have endeavoured to trace the principles upon which
the divine idea of the Church, and its permanent and visible
existence are disclosed in the Word of God — and to make, not
only its nature and end plain, but the immense truths also which
give it vitality, and the infallible Marks which distinguish it.
The course of the orderly treatment of the subject, conducts us
next to the consideration of those Divine Gifts which God has
bestowed upon his Church, thus created, organized, and made

492 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
permanent in this apostate world. Gifts, every one of which is
a proof of his love, every one a manifestation of his wisdom, and
the whole united an infinite dowry ; in the enjoyment of which
the Lamb's wife is shown to be the delight of God and the glory
of his universe, and the use of which is the means of the de
liverance of his universe from the curse and pollution of sin.
Amongst these Gifts there are three, which so immeasurably
transcend the rest, and, indeed, so exceed all that the heart of
man could have conceived, that the very Salvation which they
alone could have conferred, seems to human reason an object
unworthy of them. It is only as we comprehend that unsearch
able love and grace and mercy are the foundation of such gifts,
and that the highest glory of God, as well as the endless blessed
ness of the universe, is involved in the results they will produce ;
that we can see it to be capable of belief that God has given his
Son to die for his Church, his Spirit to dwell continually amidst
its sorrows and its sins, and his Word, made known through so
much anguish of his most beloved children, to be a light and
power and joy to those so utterly unworthy of it. Yet these
very gifts are so entirely the very essence of salvation, that it is
impossible to explain, or ever to conceive, any part of it, with
out the perpetual presence of them all. Of necessity, therefore,
they have been continually held up to view, in all I have said.
Nevertheless, the special aspect in which we now encounter them,
demands a particular statement concerning them.
2. The personal responsibility of every human being, whether
to God, to individuals like himself, or to those public authorities,
of whatever kind, to which he may be subject ; is the most fun
damental result of our personal existence, as rational and moral
creatures. It is far, however, from being the only result in the
nature of responsibility, to which the circumstances of our ex
istence may give rise. As a member of a household, of a body
politic, of the Church, nay, as a member of the great human
family, or one of the particular races which compose that great
unity ; every human being is liable to suffer and to be blessed,
and that out of all proportion to his personal share of respon
sibility, for that which brought him happiness or misery. This
aggregate responsibility is as real, as our personal responsibility ;
and can, no more than it, be overlooked or evaded. — In like
manner, the Gift of the only begotten Son of God, the Gift of

CHAP. XXVII.] GIFT OF THE SON. 493
the Holy Ghost, and the Gift of the Divine Word, has, each, a
general as well as a personal relevancy, in the dispensations of
God. The gift of each of them to the individual children of
God, and the gift of each of them in organizing these children
of God, under Messiah, through the Holy Ghost, into the divine
kingdom now held forth as the Gospel Church : has been already
sufficiently considered. But there is, also, the gift by God of
each of them to the Church contemplated as the Body of Christ,
in a sense different from any, that it has been hitherto necessary
to state very explicitly. Nay, there is a gift of each of them by
God, to the whole family of man considered merely as such :
which we are apt to overlook, because it does not result in salva
tion, but which is, nevertheless, by far the greatest bestowment
which God makes to our race. For it is possible, that of whole
nations and races, not an individual might sufficiently regard the
message of salvation, the admonitions of the Spirit, and the
love of Christ, to believe, repent and be saved : while yet these
divine agencies might so enlighten their darkness, and so rebuke
their sins, and so diffuse a real power for what is good, that all
other blessings given to them might be insignificant, compared
with these. To a certain extent all speculative believers in
Christianity, and all nominally Christian nations, are examples of
this very mercy of God : this efficacy of these divine gifts to the
world. But it is in the more strict sense of their bestowment,
namely, — upon the Church of Christ, that I am now considering
them. 3. He whom God has raised from the dead, and set at his
own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is
named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come :
he under whose feet God has put all things, and who is head over
all things : he it is whom God has given to the Church, which is
his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.1 He filleth
all in all : and the Church is his fulness — because it is his body.
It is the Son who made all things and who rules and governs all
things. — As Mediator of the covenant of grace, as Head of the
Church, all things are still under his feet : things in heaven and
things on earth, and things under the earth — things present and
things to come. He, the glorified God-man, that liveth, and
1 Eph, L 20-23.

494 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
was dead, and is alive forevermore, in whose hands are the keys
of death and hell : has been given by God to this Church, of
which, having redeemed it with his most precious blood, he is
the Lord and Head.1 Nor is it difficult to understand the na
ture of the claim, which the Son of God has on the behever
whom he has redeemed from hell, and made a member of his
mystical body forever ; nor, on the other hand, to understand
the nature of the claim which the believer has in that divine
Saviour, given to him by God, and to whom his soul is united in
the bond of an everlasting covenant. In Hke manner, the title
of the Lord Jesus is clear and perfect, to that Church which he
so loved that he gave himself for it, which he makes worthy to
partake of his own glory and blessedness, and upon which he
has staked his renown : and on the other hand, the Church
which has given itself to Christ to be his Bride, and which can
produce proofs the most tender and the most august, that he
has redeemed her, purified her, and owned her for his Spouse ;
has such a claim upon Christ her Lord, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other crea
ture, shall be able to separate her from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus her Lord.2
4. Our want of faith and our sense of personal un worthiness,
cause us to shrink from the full acceptance of God's plain dec
larations, and from the unavoidable result of our own firmest
beliefs and convictions. How is it possible for the Saviour to
have a people, unless his people have a Saviour ? How can God
give a kingdom to his Son, without giving his Son to that king
dom ? He does both. He gives to his Son an eternal kingdom :
to his people an almighty Saviour. And though, as yet, we see
not all things put under him, we have seen that he who was
made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death,
has been crowned with glory and honour :s we know that the heav
ens must receive him until the times of restitution of all things,
which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets
since the world began :4 and we need no more doubt that the
kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord
and of his Christ, than if we beheld the heavenly multitudes
1 1 John, iii. I ; iv. 10 ; Rom., v. 8-10 ; viii. 32. » Rom., viii. 39.
1 Hek, ii. 9. * Acts. hi. 21.

CHAP. XXVII. J GIFT OF THE SON. 495
rejoicing over this assurance, and saw the four-and-twenty El
ders fall upon their faces before God, as they cry, We give thee
thanks, oh ! Lord God Almighty, which art, and which wast,
and which art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy
great power, and hast reigned.1
5. It is manifest, that as the very existence of the Church
hangs on her relation to Christ, and his relation to her : the gift
of Christ to her involves, implicitly, every other gift which that
may draw after it. Wherefore, the manner in which she receives,
cherishes, and uses this supreme gift, must be decisive of the in
fluence which every other gift of God will exert upon her, and
upon the universe through her. Christ is her life : and her only
hope of appearing in glory, is that when Christ shall appear, she
also shall appear with him.3 He not only shows her the way : he
is the Way. He not only teaches her the truth : he is the Truth.
He not only conducts her to life : he is the Life.3 Having said
this, making himself all in all : he adds — precluding everything
else, No man cometh to the Father, but by me. Whatever of
wisdom, or righteousness, or sanctification, or redemption, the
Church can enjoy or communicate, she possesses not only by but
in Christ : for he is made of God unto her, not only the method
by which these wonderful gifts are bestowed, but in the highest
possible sense, the very things themselves.4 God manifest in the
flesh, is the most comprehensive statement of the sum of Chris
tianity : and Christ in his person, his work, and his glory, is its
concrete form, and its infinite essence, and its almighty power.
Christianity may exist in permanent supernatural records : it
may live, as an activity, in the hearts of believers : it may be
proclaimed as a rule of Hfe to aU nations : it may be taught
as a science in the schools : it may pervade the earth as a per
fect system of spiritual truth : but it is in Christ himself that
his undefiled Bride possesses it absolutely. She possesses, him
as her only Mediator with God — her Immanuel, Prophet, Priest,
and King : the author and finisher of her faith — her very present
help in every time of need — her glory unto her, and her light to
enlighten aU nations : her final judge, deliverer, and rewarder for
all she has done and suffered for his name — her eternal and satis
fying portion in the blessedness of the life to come. All the
1 Rev., xL 16, 17. * Col., hi. %
3 John, xiv. 6. * 1 Cor., i. 30.

496 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
while that she thus possesses him as her own, he, her Head and
Lord, is the Creator of the universe, by the word of whose power
all things were made : the infinite source of all life, and light,
and truth, and goodness : the infinite Buler who controls and
directs all things by the word of his wisdom : the infinite Bene
factor, from whom all blessings flow, and through the word of
whose grace Salvation is bestowed on lost sinners ! Glorious
Church ! Transcendently glorious Saviour !
6. It was with good reason that the ancient, comprehensive
and universal symbol of the Christian Church, expressed con
spicuously amongst its fundamental propositions such articles
as these : I believe in the holy catholic Church — I believe in
the communion of saints — I believe in the forgiveness of sins
The earliest and probably most rational form of the first of
these three statements was — not that I believe in — but I
believe the Church. Either way, the conviction may well be
cherished and asserted, that she, in the midst of whom God
dwells, shall never be moved : and that notwithstanding the
malice of devils and wicked men, the gates of hell shall not
prevail against her.1 Nor can it be doubted, that while she
holds fast to Christ, she wiU also hold fast by the truth,
which he himself is : and that as the common mother of all be
hevers, she will know and testify the doctrine of God, in propor
tion as she walks according to his divine will.2 Pure in Faith,
true and spiritual in the Worship of God, and holy in Life, she
needs must be, so long as she possesses Christ. Nor can there be
any uncertainty touching the universal duty of the Communion
of Saints. For the very organization of the visible Church, and
every ordinance of God which separates it from the world, pre
sents these two conspicuous aspects ; that therein is a proof of
God's rejection of the world, and therein his saints constantly
profess, that as the brethren of Christ, they are brethren. For
it is not possible for them to be united to their common Head
by faith, without being united to each other in love." But one
of the highest obligations of Christian love, as well as one of its
clearest manifestations, is the perpetual endeavour to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace : since we know that
we are one body, and have one hope of our calling, through one
' PBalm xlyi. passim ; Matt, xvi. 15-18. a Gal., iv. 26, 27 ; John, vii. 17.
3 Col, i. 18 ; Matt., xxiii. 8-10.

CHAP. XXVII.] GIFT OF THE SON. 497
Lord, one Spirit, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of
all.1 Nor is this communion of Saints less important in itself,
than it is clear in its grounds and obligations. For whether we
consider the nature of the case, or the plain intimations of the
Scriptures, there is no ordinary possibility of Salvation, out of
the Church of Christ.2 For the forgiveness of Sin, which is the
third point, and which the Church has in charge to proclaim, in
the name of Jesus, to every creature, as the very essence of the
Gospel unto them : and in the reality of which, we profess our
trust, through the means revealed in the Gospel : has no exist
ence whatever, except in connection with the person and work
of Christ. It is by her ministry, that proclamation of this for
giveness of sin, is made to fallen men : it is by her ordinances,
that this forgiveness is sealed to penitent sinners : it is through
her worship that they are built up in the sense and the fruits of
it : it is the Saviour, the Spirit, and the Word, which are God's
supreme gifts to her, whereby any possibility exists that God can
be just, and justify the ungodly. When we say, therefore, that
we believe in the holy catholic Church : and immediately add,
that we believe in the communion of saints, and in the forgive
ness of sins ; we give utterance to the most vital truths touching
the nature and office of the Church, considered as in possession
of the divine Kedeemer, as God's unspeakable Gift.3
7. I think I have shown conclusively, in another place, that
the salvation of sinners is inconceivable upon any supposition of
the mode of the divine existence, materially different from that
revealed to us : and on the other hand, that the plan of salva
tion actuaUy revealed to us, is incomprehensible, except on the
supposition that the mode of the divine existence revealed in
connection with it, is that of three Persons in one Essence.
What is commonly called the doctrine of the Trinity, is there
fore, at the foundation of all practical godliness, as well as of all
exact knowledge concerning God, and all intelligible exposition
of the life and immortality brought to Hght in the Gospel. This
makes it very wonderful, that this great doctrine should have
been considered a mystery of that kind, that can have no imme
diate relation to the life of God in the human soul. But when
it is so considered, it makes it very plain why systems of The-
1 Eph., iv. 1-6. ' Acts, ii. 47 ; iv. 14 ; xi. 21-24.
3 2 Cor., ix. 15 ; James, i 17.
VOL. II. 32

498 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
ology should be as completely emptied of all spiritual unction,
as systems of mere Philosophy : and why so much, of what is
meant for evangelical preaching, should be Httle more than pious
rhapsodies, or little better than ethical disputations. The Son
of God given to the Church, is the true God and eternal life.1
And the incontrovertible foundation of the whole mystery of
godHness — is God manifest in the flesh.2 Nor can it be called in
question, without taking down the whole fabric, and rendering
nugatory every remaining support on which it rests. For why
should the Spirit justify, or the unseen world obey, or the Church
proclaim, or the human race accept, or heaven receive in triumph:
a Saviour who neither did, nor could, deliver a single soul from
death : and concerning whom, every one of these sublime reali
ties becomes an utter nullity, the instant it ceases to be true —
that he is God manifest in the flesh.
8. The very existence of the Church, then, considered as the
possessor of this transcendent gift of God, is to the end that
she may vindicate to the universe the true doctrine of Christ :
and therein the true doctrine of the divine being and perfec
tions. In the very preaching of the unsearchable riches of
Christ, and in all attempts to make men see the fellowship of
the mystery, which from the beginning of the world, had been
hid in God ; it is the intent of God, that now unto principalities
and powers in heavenly places, might be known, by the Church,
the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose,
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.3 No wonder then
that Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it: no wonder
that he sanctifies and cleanses it, and that he will present it to
himself, a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing ; but holy and without blemish.4 By means of it,
the universe wiH be taught all those infinite realities concerning
God, his perfections, his works and his purposes, now revealed in
his word, which otherwise had remained forever hidden ; now
seen in part, and darkly as through a glass, and known in part —
but when that which is perfect is come, then to be seen face to
face, to be known by us even as we ourselves are known/ And
in the process of this unspeakably glorious development, the in
finite Goodness and Justice of God, his unsearchable Grace, and
1 1 John, v. 20. ^ 1 Tim., hi. 16. 3 Eph., hi. 8-10.
« Eph., v. 25, 27. 5 i Cor., xiii 9, 12.

CHAP. XXVII.] GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. 499
his immaculate Hohness, will shine forth to all eternity in the
salvation of his elect, the perdition of Devils and ungodly men,
the purgation of the universe from the pollution of sin, the re
capitulation of all things in the Son of God as the Saviour of
the world, and the everlasting reign of blessedness ! Is it possi
ble to exaggerate the position of such a Church, with such a Sa
viour, and such a mission ? Is it possible to exalt, unduly, that
Gift of God to this Church, whereby her place in such a scheme',
of such a God, is at once assured, and made effectual to such re
sults ?
II — 1. It behooves to treat next of the Gift of the Holy
Ghost. And the most obvious fact concerning his indwelling- is,
that the efficacy of every act and every function of the Church,
depends as absolutely upon him, as the authority of every one
does upon Christ. Whatever the Church does, derives what
ever vaHdity it has from the approval of Christ : whatever
force it has from the work of the Holy Ghost. Without the
former everything she does is a mere usurpation : without the
latter, it is a mere nullity. All that has been advanced con
cerning the knowledge of the mystery of God's existence and
purposes, as developed through the Church, by means of the
gift to her of the Son of God to be the Saviour of the world : is
equally true, according to its own manner, of the gift of the di
vine Spirit to the Church to be the Sanctifier, ahke of her, of
her children, and of her acts. The fitness of her children to
partake of the blessings she is capable of bestowing on them, as
well as their fitness to be the instrument of bestowing these same
blessings upon the world : depends upon the efficacy of the work
of the Spirit, in each one of them. And the ability of the
Church to bless, either her children or the world, depends upon
the efficacious working of the same divine Spirit, in her own
bosom. And again, the efficacy which abides in her acts, her
ordinances, her sacraments, her communion of Saints, her exer
cise of discipline, her proclamation of truth, her continued sup
plications, and her abounding charities : results, absolutely, from
the presence and power of the Holy Ghost.
2. There is, however, a great difference in the manner of be
stowment, between the gift of the Sou, and that of the Spirit.
The Son is given simply, freely, and sovereignly, in the covenant
of God's eternal love. The Spirit is given not only as the prom-

500 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
ised, but as the purchased Spirit. Christ did not give himself
for his Church, because the Spirit would sanctify the Church :
but the Spirit sanctifies the Church, because Christ has pur
chased it with his blood. It is the work of the Son, which
draws after it the work of the Spirit : the Gift of the Son, upon
which the gift of the Spirit depends. He is sent from the Father
and the Son : and his coming is the crowning proof of the glori
fication of the Son, and of the certainty of the eternal triumph
of divine grace.1 There is a great difference, also, in the man
ner of operation. For, on the one hand, the operation of Christ
is external to us : while on the other, the operation of the Spirit
is internal with us. Or to express this difference in other words ;
the operation of Christ is specially with God, in reference to us ;
while that of the Spirit is speciaUy in us, with reference to
Christ. The work of Christ changes our estate and relations to
wards God : that of the Spirit changes our nature in a way of
conformity to God. — Still further, there is a great difference be
tween the relation of the Son and that of the Spirit, to human
nature, to the plan of Salvation, to the Church, and to the world.
Thus: (a) As to human nature, the immense difference is, that the
Son has taken our nature into personal and eternal union with
the divine nature : and in that manner human nature, in its to-
tahty, becomes partaker with the divine nature. But the Spirit,
remaining separate from and free of any personal union with hu
man nature, so renews that nature in the divine image in every
individual who is elect of God and redeemed by Christ : that all
of them are made partakers of the divine nature, and are filled
with all the fulness of God.2
(b) As to the plan of Salvation, the difference is, that Christ
as the Mediator of the Covenant of Grace, has actually wrought
it out as God-man, in his estate of Humiliation, and administers
it as God-man, in his estate of infinite Exaltation. While the
Spirit, continuing simply God, applies the whole work of Christ
and makes it all effectual, through the merits and in the name
of Christ, quickening, enlightening, sanctifying, and comforting
the Church, and all her children, by means of what Christ has
done and now administers.3
i Acts, ii. passim. " 2 Pet., i. 4; Eph., iii. 19. 3 Rom., viii. 1-17.

CHAP. XXVII.] GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. 501
(c) As to the Church, the difference is, that the relation of
the Son is that of elder brother to every child of the God and
Father of all ; that of husband, head and Lord to the body of
Christ, which they unitedly compose ; that of Mediator of the
eternal Covenant, and as such the Prophet, Priest, and King in
Zion : who having accomplished all that appertained to him in
humiliation, now administers from the throne of God all that
appertains to his estate of exaltation. While the relation of
the Holy Ghost to the Church is, that he is the Vicar of Christ
here actually and divinely present with her, and with all her
children : working in them to will and to do according to the
good pleasure of God, as manifested in Jesus Christ. Which he
does with authority so plenary, that to resist and grieve him is to
shut ourselves out from Christ ; and to blaspheme against him,
is the same thing as to make our bed in hell ; while to honour,
love, and obey Christ is the infallible means of increasing the
gifts and graces of the Spirit, to the greater glory, through the
Church, of her divine Lord.1
{d) As to the world, the difference is, that the Son, who
made it and aU that is therein by the word of his power, and
who is able to save it by the word of his grace, rules it with infi
nite dominion as head over all things, and head of the Church ;
by his revealed will in the Scriptures commanding all men to
believe and repent that they may be saved, and making known
to the Universe, through his Church, his manifold wisdom ; by
his secret will, upon which his adorable providence proceeds, con
ducting all things to the infinite issue which God purposed in
himself, from all eternity. While the Spirit has to the same
fallen world, the relation of its divine Beprover, convincing it of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they
believe not in Christ ; of righteousness, because Christ is gone
to his Father, and is seen no more ; of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged. All the while being the Spirit
of truth — glorifying Christ — and comforting his Church and his
brethren, and guiding them into all truth.2
3. All the promises, mercies and gifts of God, are in Jesus
Christ. Out of him God is a consuming fire to fallen creatures.
The name of Jesus is the only name given under heaven amongst
men, whereby we must be saved. Still, there was a reason,
i John, xiv. 15,-17 ; 1 John, iii 23, 24 * John, xvi 7-15.

502 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
which God has clearly stated, which led him to bestow on fallen
man the unspeakable gift of his only begotten Son ; and we must
beware lest we fall into the error of supposing, that it was this
gift itself which produced God's purposes of mercy to us. It is
not because he has given his Son to the world, that God so loves
the world ; for then, while the reason for the love, after the gift,
might be clear, no motive for the gift itself would be exhibited.
The method of the unsearchable riches of God's grace, as ex
plained by himself is, that Christ loved the Church and gave
himself for it j1 but that God, who is rich in mercy, not only so
loved us, that on account of that great love he quickened us to
gether with Christ, even when we were dead in sins f but this
amazing love of God towards us, was manifested in the very fact
that he sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might
live through him.3 And Jesus himself, when expressly recount
ing the grounds and objects of his coming in the flesh, says that
it was God's love for the world, that caused him to give his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish
but have everlasting life.4 This, then, is the order of these
mysteries of divine grace ; the infinite beneficence of God, is the
source of our salvation ; this manifested itself in the unsearch
able love he bore to faHen sinners of the human race ; this love
exhibited itself in the eternal covenant of grace between the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; the outbirth of this
eternal Covenant is the whole Mediatoral work of Immanuel, with
all the results thereof ; the sending of the Holy Spirit, upon the
glorification of the Mediator, after his work of humiliation was
over, was the immediate result both of that glorification, and of
the eternal covenant ; of which sending of the Spirit, the actual
result was the Gospel Church, together with all it has received
with the Spirit, and by means of it ; and the general and certain
result, complete salvation by Jesus Christ, and the total exclu
sion of sinners from God's mercy, except through him, by the
Holy Ghost.
4. This divine exposition clears the whole relation of the
Spirit to the work of Christ on one side, and to the Gospel
Church on the other, of all obscurity. The Spirit considered as
the author of the New Creation, under all possible aspects of
that creation, has relation to the Godhead as the third Person
1 Eph., v. 25. a Eph., n. 4, 5. a 1 John, iv. 9. * John, hi. 15.

CHAP. XXVII.J GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. 503
thereof, to the covenant of grace as a party thereto, and very
especially to the Son considered as the Mediator of that cove
nant ; but considered in a special manner as the gift of God
to the Gospel Church, the Spirit has direct and inseparable rele
vancy to the work of Christ as the Saviour of sinners. The
operation of the Spirit, therefore, through the Church, and the
doctrine of the Spirit in the Church, must depend, always, upon
the position of the Church with reference to the person and work
of Christ ; that is, upon the amount of its actual knowledge of the
Bedeemer, and the state of its actual faith concerning him. For
while it is universally true, that all who are saved, are so by means
of the Covenant of Grace, and, therefore, through the merits of
Christ, applied to them by the Holy Ghost ; still, the clearness,
the fulness, and the power of any particular dispensation, or age,
or saint, with reference to the Holy Ghost, could not, in the
nature of the case, exceed the actual knowledge of Christ, and
the actual faith thereby possible in him. And we are thus fur
nished with an explanation of all those differences observable in
the manifestation of the Spirit, under successive dispensations of
the Church, and during different periods, and even in different
individuals under the same dispensation. Whatever views we
may see fit to hold concerning the sovereignty of divine grace,
or the ability of man to that which is acceptable to God ; it is
certain that all the manifestations of that grace of God, which
bringeth salvation, are by means of the revelation of Jesus Christ
to us and in us ; both of which are accomplished only by the
divine Spirit.1
5. As soon, then, as it is admitted that the Gospel Dispensa
tion is more clear and powerful, than the dispensations which
preceded it ; there remains no possibility of doubting that the
gift of the Spirit under it exceeds, in the same degree, all that
went before. The more of Christ, the more of the Spirit also.
So that what took place on the day of Pentecost, and what has
been taking place ever since ; is no more than is inevitable, if
the resurrection and ascension of the Saviour, be once admitted :
no more than the ancient prophets had foretold : and Jesus had
taught his Apostles in the most explicit manner, to await it as
their unction for their great ministry.2 For the Church of the
Hving God is the pillar and ground of the truth : and however
' Tit., ii 11-15 ; iii. 3-7. * John, xvi 7-16 ; Acta, i. 3-9 ; ii. 14-33.

504 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
great may be that mystery of godliness which is the sum of that
blessed truth, the elements which compose it are beyond all con
troversy. For the sum both of the truth and of the mystery, is
revealed as contained in these six incontrovertible propositions,
namely : God manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world,
received up into glory.1 Of these six propositions, five are, in a
manner expletive of the first. The second is to the effect, that
the whole work of the Holy Spirit is unto the whole person, work
and glory of the God-man — one vast, perpetual, perfect justi
fication. And so the Saviour, the Church, the truth, and the
mystery of godliness, are all divinely attested by the Spirit : and
the ends designed in aU are made complete and effectual, through
him. 6. In a peculiar manner, therefore, the Church of God, after
the day of Pentecost and until the second coming of the Son of
man, is a Dispensation of the Holy Ghost. It is a Dispensation
administered by the glorified Bedeemer, and executed by the
Divine Spirit, through grace and truth, — and as a Gospel ; and
is declared by the word of God to be far more glorious in all re
spects, than any that has preceded it : amongst other things,
in the completeness of our knowledge of God and of Christ, and
the corresponding power, fulness, and extent of the saving work
of the Holy Ghost.2 Nor is anything in the teachings of Christ
more explicit than what relates especially to this subject : any
thing in the divine record concerning the establishment, and
early life ofthe Christian Church, more distinctly explained. It
is expedient for you, said Jesus, that I go away : for if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I
will send him unto you.' And then he explained, as I have be
fore shown, how this promised Spirit would glorify him, both as
he would be the Keprover of the world, and the spirit of truth
in alh believers : and added the emphatic promise of his own re
turn — the great promise of the New, as his advent was of the
Old Testament." And amongst his last words to his Apostles
were these, Behold I send the promise of my Father upon you :
but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with
power from on high.6 And on the day of Pentecost, when the
* 1 Tim., hi. 15, 16 a 2 Cor., hi passim.
3 John, xvi 7. 4 John, xvi. 16 ; Col., hi. 4 ; 1 John, hi. 2.
* Luke, xxiv. 49 ; Acts, i 3, 4 ; Joel, ii. 28 ; Isa., xliv. 3.

CHAP. XXVII.] GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. 505
great promise was fulfilled, Peter standing undismayed amidst
the overwhelming proofs of God's immediate presence, explained
to the wondering multitude gathered around him in the temple
from every quarter of the earth, the great miracle and the great
truth it attested. This, said he, is that which was spoken by
the prophet Joel, It shall come to pass in the last days, saith
God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. This Jesus,
whom ye have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and
slain, God hath raised up, whereof we are witnesses. Therefore.
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of
the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth
this, which ye now see and hear.1 It is added most significantly,
by the sacred historian, that the same day about three thousand
souls gladly receiving the word, were baptized and added to
them. And from that to this, and from this day onward, as long
as these last days shall continue, in the sense divinely limited :
the outpouring of God's Spirit upon all flesh, is the promise
of the Father upon which the continuance of the Church de
pends : and from which Joel, and Peter, and Paul, each contem
plating that promise from a different point of view, unite in
drawing the same grand conclusion of practical grace, Whoso
ever shall call on the name of the Lord shah be saved.2 And
with this agrees the wide declaration of John ; that the life
which was in Christ, was not only the light of men : but was
the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the
world.3 Alike in duration, in extent, and in efficacy, the Promise
of the Father, the Bedemption of the Son, and the Work of the
Spirit, go hand in hand across all these last days, during whose
continuance the Gospel Church has in charge, to preach the gos
pel to every creature.4
7. There is a distinction to be made between the manifesta
tions of the Spirit. For though every manifestation of him is
a gift of God, and every one is in order that they also receive it
may profit withal : yet there are diversities of gifts by the same
Spirit, differences of administration by the same Lord, diversities
of operation by the same God, which worketh all in all. And
the body also is one — though its members like its gifts, be both
numerous and diverse. All are baptized in one body, by one
i Acts, ii. 16, 17, 32, 33. ' Joel, ii 32 ; Acts, ii. 21 ; Rom., x. 13.
3 John, i 8. 9. « Mark, xvi. 15.

506 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
Spirit — all are made to drink into one Spirits — everything being
wrought by one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man
severally as he will. This distinguishing peculiarity of our di
vine religion, and of the power which gives it all its vitality, has
been clearly and systematically explained by the Spirit himself.1
I have already pointed out that every operation of the Spirit
that has relation to the covenant of grace, has also immediate
relevancy to Christ : and that his saving operations bear a direct
relation to the clearness and fulness of our knowledge of Christ.
But it is to be borne in mind that some of the greatest and
most indispensable operations of the Spirit, considered as under
the covenant of grace, and as immediately relevant to Christ,
and as directly indispensable to the Church, and to the salva
tion of men : are not of that kind which disclose him as the in
dwelling life of the Church, or which disclose him as the Quick
ening Spirit in the human soul, leading it into all truth, working
in it all holiness, and diffusing through it divine love and peace.
These manifestations are distinguished by calling tbem Extraor
dinary. Examples of them, having immediate connection with
the gift of the Spirit to the Church by God, are the most re
markable of all that are revealed to man. It was in one of these
that the Apostles of the Lord received the Spirit, as the prom
ise of the Father, so signally announced by Christ : and through
his unction were anointed and qualified for their great work, as
the immediate founders of the Gospel Church. It was in one
of these, that they and the other servants of Jesus Christ, who
spake and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, who
had so long withheld all manifestations of this kind : made those
divine utterances, which are recorded in the New Testament
Scriptures, wherein the revelation of God is completed. It was
in one of these, that miraculous power was added to miraculous
authority and miraculous insight : whereby, through signs and
wonders and gifts of the Holy Ghost, the authority of the action,
the truth of the utterance, and the fitness of the persons chosen
by Christ, were all divinely attested. It has seemed good to the
Head of the Church, that these manifestations of the Holy
Ghost, should be permanently continued only in their effects.
And the whole career of the Church since they ceased to be
made, sufficiently attests how thoroughly her very existence de-
1 1 Cor., xii. passim.

CHAP. XXVII.] GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. 507
pended on their bestowal at first : and how completely all her
fitness still depends, in their permanent effects, upon their orig
inal reality and efficacy.
8. But it is by the saving operation of the Holy Ghost, that
all Extraordinary Manifestations of himself, can be savingly re
alized in the soul, and by the Church. The truth revealed by
inspired men, remains ; the work of the Apostles in taking down
the fabric of the preceding dispensation, and reconstructing the
Church, also remains ; the signs and wonders, and diverse mira
cles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost are no less real now, than when
they were first manifested. The whole of these effects of the Ex
traordinary Manifestations of the Spirit, are made efficacious to us
for salvation, precisely in the same manner they were made effi
cacious to those who personally witnessed them : in all instances
not by the Extraordinary Work of the Spirit which produced
them, and which has ceased from the Church ; but by his gra
cious, quickening, enlightening, and sanctifying work, still pow
erfully wrought. And the mode in which the merits of Christ
are applied to men, by the Holy Ghost ; and the efficacy which
he gives to the preached Gospel, and to all the ordinances of
God ; are exactly the same, as when the Church manifested her
early life in her present form, amidst miracles and inspiration
under the teaching and rule of the Apostles of the Lord. In
addition to these we have long centuries of God's most glorious
providence developed to his Church — and of his wonderful work
ing in the souls of men. The divine and saving element provided
in the gift of the Holy Ghost, is permanent and constant ; sov
ereign, always, in the actual operation. The Extraordinary ele
ment, provided in the divine gift— not permanent in its manifes
tation, but permanent in the effects of that manifestation : which
also are made efficacious, through the manifestation which is per
manent. And those effects survive through all generations — and
upon every generation is accumulated, besides, all the treasures
of practical knowledge and grace, which all preceding generations
yield : these last accumulating in force, under the continually
increasing proofs of the presence and power of God.
9. The relation of the Holy Spirit to the Church is, there
fore, in every sense vital : and the doctrine and life of the Church
with reference to this great gift of God, are completely decisive
of its state. Independently of the Spirit of God, there can be

508 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
no Christian Church — no Christian man. It was so always. But
under the present Dispensation, there is an emphasis in this great
truth, derived from all that is peculiar to it, in addition to all
that is common to every dispensation. And it is the more im
portant that this should be carefully considered by every believer,
because the doctrine of the Spirit, in itself and with reference to
the Church, is continually assailed, from the most opposite quar
ters, and upon the most diverse grounds. Nor is there any point
upon which the truth and the Church can be assailed, under more
deceptious appearances of every sort ; nor, on the other hand,
any point upon which all possible assaults can be more effectu
ally resisted, as soon as they are disclosed, both by the everlast
ing testimony of God, and by the inward convictions of every one
of his children, and by the true life of the Church itself. It is
here, therefore, that the Church is most secure when she lives
near to God — -most exposed when she sinks into indifference, or
is carried away by fanaticism. The more she cherishes and uses
this great gift, the more she increases while she scatters ; and the
more she withholds both its diligent use, and its free bestowment,
the more she tends to poverty. The waters of eternal life are
free for the whole family of man. The Spirit saith to all that
are athirst — come 1 Let the Bride, also, say — come ! As she
leads her children beside the still waters, and teaches them that
they are the waters of eternal life ; let it dwell in her heart that
the last exhortation of her Lord is, to be urgent that all men
take of them freely.1
III. — 1. The third Supreme Gift of God to his Church, is his
Written Word : concerning which it remains to treat briefly,
considered in that light. It is in the third aspect of the King
dom of God, namely, the aspect of it as held forth in its mem
bers, and therefore called his Church; that the revelation of the
will of God concerning Salvation, and especially that revelation
considered in its written and permanent form, is always exhibited
as the Gift of God to his Kingdom. Considered under the first
aspect of that Kingdom,- — -namely, as the Messianic Kingdom :
Christ, the Head of the Kingdom, and the Mediator between
God and man, and so the Saviour of the world — is the great Gift
of God to it. And considered as the New Creation, which is its
second aspect : the Divine Spirit, sent from the Father and the
1 Rov., xxii 17.

CHAP. XXVII.] GIFT OF THE WORD. 509
Son, whose work is the efficient cause of all salvation, is always
exhibited as the Gift of God to his Kingdom. These gifts of
God have a necessary and a perpetual relation to each other, and
to the Kingdom of God. Though we can distinguish, in thought,
between the Kingdom itself and the aspects of it thus presented ;
and cannot confound, in thought, the Kingdom with the gifts
bestowed on it — much less can we confound these gifts with each
other : yet, under the whole ceconomy of salvation, the Kingdom
is not manifested independently of all three of these supreme
gifts of God to it : and throughout that ceconomy they are all
manifested unto Salvation, always in precisely the same relation
to each other. With regard to the Written Word, it is very
certain that none of it is older than the age of Moses ; unless
the Book of Job belongs to the period between the giving of cir
cumcision and the giving of the Passover. If this exception be
insisted on, even then, the written word began after the distinct
organization of the visible Church began. And from Moses until
the last inspired writer, the divine organization and the revela
tion in a permanent form, went on ; till both were delivered up
in their perfect and final condition, and the Gospel Church stood
before men, invested with all divine gifts. Commensurate, too,
with the rise of a permanent revelation to the Church, and a per
manent organization of it : God laid, in the miraculous preserva
tion of the first-born in Egypt, the foundation of priesthood and
ministry for his gathered Church — -and at Sinni restated on tables
of stone, and uttered audibly to all Israel, as the foundation of
all his written revelation, that moral law which he had written,
at the Creation, in the nature of man. So that the divine Teacher
and his Word of truth, and the divine Spirit which justifies him
and makes it effectual, and the organic visibility of the divine
Kindom, and the permanent institution of a ministry between
God and man, with God's holy will and holy ordinances committed
to them : stand in immediate and indissoluble relation to each
other, in the origin as well as in the entire progress of the King
dom of God, considered as visibly separated from the world and
organized as the Church of Christ.
2, Whatever the Lord Jesus Christ has done, or will do for
his Church, and by consequence the foundation of all that the
Spirit has done, or will do, in her and by her : has no other infal
lible record and repository, accessible to man in his mortal condi-

510 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
tion, than the Holy Scriptures. The whole of them is declared
to be given by inspiration of God : to be spoken by holy men of
God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost : to be able to make
men wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus ;
to be profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruc
tion in righteousness ; to be the means whereby the man of God
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.1 These
Scriptures, therefore, holy in themselves, and in all they teach,
divine in their origin and in their contents ; are a complete reve
lation from God, of the great end of our being, and of the way
in which we may accomplish it. They are, as to the form of
them, invested with divine certainty ; as to the matter of them,
with divine authority. And thus they are the only infallible rule
whereby men may know what duty God requires of them, and
what they ought to believe concerning him. In their present
form, they present to the Gospel Church the means of knowing
the will of God, in some important respects, different from what
existed under all previous dispensations — widely as their several
conditions may have differed from each other. God's Kingdom
existed in this world for many centuries, without possessing aDy
written revelation of his will ; and it might have existed con
tinually, in that condition — through the same divine means that
actually sustained it so long — or through whatever other resources
of the infinite wisdom, power, and grace of God. As soon as
God began to separate his Kingdom — visibly and organically
from the world which he rejected, he began, also, to bestow on it
the permanent knowledge of his will, in a written form — as I
have before shown. But under the Mosaic Dispensation, these
written revelations of the will of God were given, little by little,
through many centuries ; whereas we possess the complete and
final record of his whole will concerning our salvation. To esti
mate with some degree of certainty, the practical effect of a dif
ference which seems to be so great ; there are other elements of
the problem, and they decisive, which are to be considered. The
word of God, when unwritten, was adequate for the guidance of
the nncient people of God in the way of life ; and the successive
portions, as written, were adequate in the same way, to the Jewish
Church. But after the Old Testament Scriptures were complete,
and the Jewish Church and people had crucified the Lord of life, —
i 2 Pet, iii. 16; 2 Tim., iii. 15-17.

CHAP. XXVII.] GIFT OF THE WORD. 511
the whole became a sealed book unto them — even to this day.
And now God's entire word, in its perfect form, does not avail,
of itself, to keep the nominal professors of the religion of Jesus
from fatal heresy and iniquity, much less to subdue his avowed
enemies. We must add, therefore, on one side, the extraordinary
presence of God, in his ancient Church, and the constant mani
festation of miracles, prophecy, and immediate divine inspira
tion ; and on the other, the mighty increase of the saving work
of the Spirit, commensurate with the increase of the saving reve
lation of Christ, in the Gospel Church. So far from diminishing
the pre-eminence of the Gospel Church state — these added con
siderations seem to increase it greatly ; and to point out to us,
in the sum of its relations to Christ, to the Spirit, and to the
written Word — the ground of that undeniable supremacy over
all preceding dispensations, which is so clearly asserted in the
Gospel.1 3. With the Written Word complete ; with Christ crucified,
and then infinitely exalted ; with the Spirit actually poured out
according to the promise of the Father, actually dwelling in the
Church, with all his saving influences; with her own organization
complete, according to the will of God ; and with the accumu
lated fruits and experience of eighteen centuries of labour, of
warfare, of witness-bearing, of suffering, and of rejoicing, as the
Bride of the Lamb : the Church of God presents herself to the
actual generation of perishing sinners — with the one Great Mes
sage, repeated through all ages, and in all tongues, — Deny thy
self — take up thy Cross — follow Jesus Christ in the regeneration!
Her fundamental means of grace, is the Knowledge of this
Written Word. Her highest duty, is to hold and teach the
whole counsel of God, therein revealed. The great office of the
ministry given to her by God, is to preach this blessed Gospel —
which is the power of God unto Salvation, to every one that be
lieveth. And the highest necessity, as well as the chief duty, of
every one that hears the good tidings of great joy, glory to God
in the highest, on earth peace, good will towards men ; is to
arise from the dust, and hail the blessed day, and hasten to the
light of Zion and to the brightness of her rising. For here is
that truth, of which this Church of God is the pillar and ground.
Here is that household of faith, of which Jesus Christ is the
' GaL, iii. and iv. passim ; Heb., vii. passim.

512 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
chief Corner Stone ; of which all the Prophets and Apostles have
been successive foundations; in which all true believers are fellow-
citizens with the saints : which the Holy Spirit builds together
as a habitation for God ; and whose life is first given, and then
perpetually nourished, through that incorruptible and imperish
able truth.1
4. From the beginning of the world God's will was made
known to man, in a supernatural manner, concerning all that
relates to his spiritual advancement. It was so before the fall
of man : still more emphatically so after the fall. Through all
the centuries the revelation of divine truth continually increased ;
and it is capable of being shown — as I think I have shown
in a former Treatise — what was the aggregate state of divine
Knowledge among men, at every great era of the past — and
what was added by God from period to period. At length, all
that had been revealed was reduced, by men chosen and inspired
of God, into a written form, and delivered to his ancient Church
as soon as it was completely organized : and thenceforward,
during many centuries, as further revelations were made to it by
men chosen and inspired by God, they were reduced to writing
and delivered to the Church. And coincidently with the complete
organization and establishment of the Church in the gospel form
of it, and her complete possession of the whole revealed truth
of God unto Salvation, inspiration from God ceased altogether ;
and with it, the power of miracles, and the spirit of prophecy,
by which God was accustomed to attest the extraordinary voca
tion of his divine messengers. And now for nearly eighteen
centuries, this Gospel Church, visible, universal, of the Lord
Jesus Christ, has possessed this inestimable gift of God in this
complete form. Thus considered, the subject presents itself to
us under two distinct aspects. In the first ¦ place, this complete
revelation must be contemplated as a perfect system of divine
truth — independently of any divine efficacy external to the
written Word, as, for example, of the Holy Spirit ; and inde
pendently of the effects of that superadded efficacy, in us. In
this aspect, it has whatever efficacy truth, of itself, has : and
it has this in the highest degree — because this truth is complete
— and has no error mixed with it ; and the failure of that inhe
rent efficacy of truth, when this truth is brought to bear on
1 1 Tim., iii. 15 ; Eph, ii. 19-22.

CHAP. XXVII.] GIFT OF THE WORD. 513
man, is necessarily attributable to some quality in man himself —
as, for example, the sinful blindness of his mind or hardness of
his heart — and not to the untruth of truth itself. Uttered by
God with infinite authority and certainty ; addressed to the
understanding of man with perfect simplicity, directness, and
clearness, making known to him more distinctly all moral,
spiritual, and eternal things which he knew before, and re
vealing to him the most glorious truths, before wholly unknown
to him ; appealing to his heart and conscience in a manner the
most effective, by methods the most powerful, and with motives
the most transcendent : whatever it is possible for truth, of itself,
to effect, responsive to itself in the mind, and soul, and nature,
and life of man ; this heaven-descended truth — issuing from the
bosom of Jehovah, embodied in the person of God manifest in
the flesh, inspired by God the Holy Ghost ; must be competent
to effect, far out of comparison with the combined effects of all
other truths of which man can have any knowledge. Indepen
dently of any superadded efficacy, this is the natural efficacy, so
to speak, of this gift of God to his Church ; and upon the
ground thereof, the obligation to make its contents known to
every being capable of being influenced by truth, is complete :
and the rejection of it by any such being, is a demonstration of
his own depravity. But in the second place, this efficacy of
divine truth, transcendent as it is when compared with all analo
gous means of influencing man ; is as nothing compared to
the efficacy of that same divine truth, when it is used by the
divine Spirit as the divine instrument of our salvation. Just as
the Spirit executes his work of grace, with reference to the Lord
Jesus Christ as the Mediator of the Covenant of Grace : so, also,
he executes that work with reference to divine truth in its prac
tical application to our souls, — of which truth Christ, in all his
offices, is the central object. And just so far as the sacred
Scriptures contain the revelation of the will of God unto salva
tion ; in the same degree the divine truth they contain, is that
truth which the Spirit uses as his instrument, and with reference
to which he performs his work, in man's salvation. But as these
Scriptures are by inspiration of the Spirit himself, and contain
his own record of the way of saving sinners : it is merely im
possible that sinners saved through him, can be saved by, or
into, any other form of truth ; impossible if he works by truth
vol. n. 33

514 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
at all, that he should fail to work by this very truth ; impossible
that this truth, thus used by him, should fail to effect the very
object for which he— very God — both revealed it, made it per
manent, and now uses it. This is the aspect of this gift of God
to his Church, considered with reference to the work of the Holy
Ghost, in our salvation ; and so considered, it is absolutely cer
tain that the Gospel of Christ, is the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth ; and is the great means bestowed on
the Church by God for the promotion of his glory, and her own
blessedness. 5. Considered in itself, and considered as the heritage of the
Church by the gift of God, this Written Word is capable of an
appreciation perfectly distinct, and as immense as we are compe
tent to make, (a) It is unto the Church her divine warrant, for
all that it is her duty to attempt on earth ; and is, in addition,
a divine guaranty of support, of comfort, and of final triumph,
in all her faithful endeavours to accomplish the will of God.
(b) It is an infallible guide to her faith, also, wherein her own
blessedness is assured, in proportion to her holiness ; and wherein
salvation is secured to every one, upon the single condition of ac
cepting her Lord, as their Lord, (c) Widening from these ele
mental points, it is the divine record of the entire life of the
Church, from the beginning to the end of time ; the record, also,
of the career of the human race, from its creation to the con
summation of all things ; the record, also, of the bearing of all
earthly things upon the Church and upon the human race,
and of each of these upon the other. So that, standing in the
midst of the centuries as they roll over her, she has the means
of comprehending clearly, both herself and all things that
touch, or in any wise affect her. However dark the place may
be, she has a divine light which shines into it. (d) Still widen
ing, it carries her back into immensity and eternity, setting be
fore her the system of the Universe, of which all earthly things
are so small a part,- — -making known to her the position which the
race of man occupies in that boundless system — revealing the
influence of his fall and recovery upon it— the relation of the
method of his recovery to it- — -and the relation of all these stu
pendous reaHties to the being, the counsel, the providence, the
grace and the glory of God, as manifested throughout his im
measurable works and dominion. So that, face to face with the

CHAP. XXVII.] GIFT OF THE WORD. 515
unseen world, she may comprehend her own mission, and posture
with relation to the whole Universe, (e) Still widening, it opens
before her the eternity to come — the life beyond death with its
wondrous laws — her own consummation in boundless glory — the
ruin of all the enemies of God with an endless ruin — the con
summation of all power, and wisdom, and justice, and good
ness and truth, and love over all worlds, to all eternity. And
amidst all these fearfully immense issues of so much force
so long applied, her own sublime and endless exaltation — her
own transcendent relations to God and to the Universe, when
God will be all and in all, and the Universe retrieved from sin,
wiU be full of the blessedness, which her own Lord and Saviour,
Head over all, will have bestowed on it, through her his elect
Bride ! So that all along her pilgrimage there is no moment of
darkness so profound, but that if she could endure it, she might
have the vision of God ; no moment of weakness so abject, but
that if she could lift up her head, she might behold upon the
heights of heaven, the banner that was dipped in blood !
6. We seem prone to form the most erroneous opinions, con
cerning the true nature of the Church of God. On one side,
men attribute to her an authority essentially divine ; and claim
for her ordinances and office-bearers, powers which reside only in
God. On the other side, they strip her of all authority, reduce
her to the condition of a merely human association, and look to
her own articles and acts as the only source of her power. Widely
different from both, God represents his Church to be a real spir
itual Kingdom, strictly subordinated to himself, yet charged with
a sublime mission, and invested with authority to execute a work
unspeakably glorious. Giving to her his only begotten Son, his
Divine Spirit, and his Inspired Word, it is not possible to con
ceive that he could hold men guiltless, who resist his purposes of
infinite grace and mercy through her. How then, should those
who profess to be his people, pervert her nature, contemn her au
thority, or corrupt her life ; without forfeiting many of the most
costly blessings provided for them, and putting at hazard the
whole work to which they suppose they are called ? Where the
divine Bedeemer, and the Holy Spirit, and the Sacred Scriptures
abide — even if it be with the humblest children of God ; there
God abides also. But when these unspeakable gifts are bestowed
by God as marks of his divine favour, to his Kingdom made

516 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
visible on earth — and as the efficacious means, besides, wherein
that Kingdom grounds its very existence, and whereby it is able
to execute the eternal purpose of God's will ; we insult the ma
jesty of God, and we obstruct, according to our ability, the
progress of his grace, by whatever departure, on the one side or
the other, from the simple and complete reception, as they come
from heaven, of ordinances which have the most convincing
proof that they are of God,

CHAPTER XXVIII.
DIVINE ORDINANCES: THE SABBATH— THE SACRAMENTS— INSTI
TUTED WORSHIP— DISCIPLINE— EVANGELIZATION.
I. Statement of the General Demonstration. — II. 1. The Sabbath a perpetual element
in the Moral System of the Universe. — 2. Its indissoluble connection with the
whole Creative, Providential, and Gracious Work of God. — 3. Its unspeakable
importance to Man. — III. 1. The true idea of the Sacraments. — 2. Nature and
Use of these Divine Mysteries. — 3. Descriptive explanation of them. — 4. The
Ends they serve and promote. — 5. Their Efficacy depends on the Work of the
Spirit in him who receives them, and is Wrought through our Faith in Christ. —
6. The Number of them, and its constancy : their Relation to the Church under
Successive Dispensations : Christ's relation to them, and their Record of him. —
IV. 1. The Instituted Worship of God: Atheism repugnant to our natural con
victions: The Spiritual Worship of the true God repugnant to our depraved na
ture. — 2. The Revealed Will of God concerning the Worship he requires: its
Object, Nature, Means, Rule, Obligation and End. — 3. Particulars of Revealed
Worship. First class : Sanctification of the Sabbath — Stated Assembling of Con
gregations — Almsgiving. — 4. Second class : Particulars of stated Public Worship
ordained by God for each congregation. — 5. Third class : Administration of the
Sacraments, Infliction of Church Censures, Public Fasting and Thanksgiving. —
V. 1. The Ordinance of Discipline : Its Nature, and Efficacy. — 2. Manner and
Objects of its Administration. — 3. The Censures of the Church are wholly spirit
ual : those inflicted upon offending members. — 4. Administration of the Censures
of the Church against ah the Enemies of God. — VI. 1. The Evangelization of the
world, an Ordinance of God : its Obligation on the Church. — 2. Brief Apprecia
tion of that great Endeavour.
I. The execution of God's eternal Covenant of Grace, pro
duces the Kingdom of God in its threefold aspect of the Mes
sianic Kingdom under Christ its head, the New Creation by
the Holy Ghost, and the Church of the Living God held forth
in the covenant people of God. In this last aspect the Kingdom
of God becomes visible and organized by the divine use of the
two ideas of the Headship of Christ and the communion of
saints : and the whole of that organization, and the whole action
of the Church by means of every part thereof, are products of
divine ordinances revealed by God, and every one of them a Gift
of God to his Church. These divine ordinances therefore, em-

518 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
brace everything which gives visibility, organization, and efficacy
to the Kingdom of God as now manifested in this world, consid
ered as the Church of Christ. Of the three supreme Gifts of
God to this Church, which I have considered in the preceding
chapter, only the third one— his written word — can be considered
as strictly an ordinance ; and that, perhaps, only in its form as
written and therefore permanent. Nevertheless, there is a pro
found sense in which not only the written word, but, also, both
the Saviour and the Spirit are, as I have endeavoured to explain,
peculiar Gifts of God to his Church visible and organized, pecu
liarly related to all these ordinances bestowed on her in those re
spects. The chief of those ordinances by means of which those
three supreme Gifts of God are made effectual, I am now to con
sider as briefly as I can. First generally ; afterwards those called
sacraments, more particularly ; then the office-bearers who ad
minister them, and the Government which these office-bearers
compose and administer by the ordination of God. In this man
ner the analogy will be complete between the second and third
books of this Treatise, on one side, wherein the Subjective
Knowledge of God, first in the actual work in the individual
soul and then in the effects of that work, is disclosed ; and the
fourth and fifth books on the other side, wherein first the actual
constitution of the visible Church, and then the outward divine
movement of it, are attempted to be demonstrated. And thus
the whole Treatise to the end of this book, ought to present to
us one large and connected demonstration of the mode in which
God saves his elect, the personal work in their souls, their indi
vidual lives resulting therefrom, their organization into a visible
Church, the true nature, end, and work of that Church, the
supreme Gifts of God to it, its divine ordinances, its divinely-
ordained office-bearers, and divinely-appointed Government and
the movement thereof.
II. — 1. The consecration of man to the service and enjoyment
of God, and therewith his investiture by God with dominion over,
and property in, the earth and all things therein, and the divine
command to possess and to replenish it with his seed ; was coin
cident with the creation of the first parents of our race 1 The
other great act of God's providence preceding the Covenant of
Works, was that he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.1
' Gen., i 27-30. 2 Gen ;;. !_3.

CHAP. XXVIII.] DIVINE ORDINANCES. 519
Throughout the Scriptures no two ideas are more perpetually
held forth, than these two of the primeval consecration of man
and of the Sabbath ; and amidst the great variety of aspects in
which the latter is presented to us, we are never left in doubt
that it is a fundamental element in the moral system of the uni
verse to which man appertains. Its primary conception is that
of a hallowed rest, whose use shall be the special worship of God,
the cultivation of the divine life in our own souls, and the doing
of good to our fellow-men. It is, therefore, a divine ordinance
containing in itself, in some sort, a summary of all human obli
gation ; our duty, namely, to God, to ourselves, and to each
other. In this manner we see it connected with the whole
work of God, as manifested in creation, in providence, and in
grace. In this manner it is connected with the origin, course,
and destiny of our race under both Covenants, under every
dispensation of the Covenant of Grace, with reference to our
entire being in this life, and to all the issues of it in the life
to come. 2. I have already pointed out the fact of its institution in
immediate connection with the work of creation, and as one of
the two great acts of God's providence towards man in his estate
of original perfection. And the reason of that connection, and
of the connection of those two acts of God towards man with
each other, is clearly and repeatedly given by him. The act
commemorated, alike, God's work of creation, and God's ceasing
from further creative work, in ineffable repose, when that work
was done, and he saw that everything he had made was very
good : and it ordained that man, the created and the blessed
head of this whole work, should thus commemorate, forever, his
own origin and blessedness, and the being, and glory, and work,
and rest of God, in whose image he was created.' And this was
its special use, under both covenants— with such additions as in
creasing revelations of the grace of God made thereto — until the
work of humiliation by Christ was complete, and he had risen
from the dead. Its connection with the moral nature of man,
and the moral Law written in that nature by God at the creation
of man, is no less immediate. When God, at Sinai, restored upon
two tables of stone, the sum of that unalterable rule of all duty
required of man, and laid it at the foundation of his written
1 Gen., ii. 1-3 : Exod., xx. 8-11.

520 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
word ; one of the four commandments of the first table, the sum
of which as interpreted by Christ, is the duty of supreme love to
God, was the distinct reiteration of this ordinance of the
Sabbath day, as possessing the very highest moral obligation.1
Nor was its connection less close with the civil polity, ordained
by God for his ancient people. The feast of the Passover which
commemorated both the bondage and the deliverance of the
Jewish people, the feast of Pentecost which commemorated the
giving of the Law at Sinai, and the feast of Tabernacles which
commemorated their pilgrimage from Egypt to Canaan — the
greatest events in their history, were all as really sabbatical as
they were national ; and both their years of Jubilee, the seventh
and fiftieth — the most remarkable features of their political insti
tutions, were purely sabbatical years. Indeed the idea of hal
lowed time — time consecrated to God and a Sabbath for man,
pervaded, thoroughly, every civil institution of that remarkable
commonwealth. The ceremonial system added to the moral and
political systems, completed the outward organization of the
Jewish Dispensation ; and the idea of the divine and perpetual
obligation of the Sabbath day was as completely fixed in the
whole Levitical and sacrificial system, and in the Dispensation
considered as a whole, as I have just shown it to have been in its
moral and civil elements. In the wilderness no manna fell on
the Sabbath day. Nothing might be brought in through the
gates of Jerusalem on that day. And so completely was the
right observance of the day a conspicuous token between God
and his ancient people,2 that this has been continually made a
pretext for rejecting the Sabbath, as a purely Jewish institution.
In like manner, the New Testament Scriptures and the Christian
Dispensation, have not only accepted and perpetuated, in a man
ner the most complete, this vital conception and ordinance ; but
they have articulately enlarged its significance by investing the
Sabbath with the idea of Bedemption as well as the idea of Crea
tion — the idea of the divine Saviour as well as the idea of the
omnipotent God. Christ proclaimed himself to be the Lord of
the Sabbath day ;3 his inspired Apostles called the day on which
he rose from the dead — and repeatedly appeared to them — the
Lord's day ;4 and, divinely authorized, they distinguished that
i Exod., xx. 8-11; Mat., xxii. 37, 38. 2 Isa., lviii. 13, 14; Ezekiel, xx. 12-20.
3 Mat., xii 8. d Rev., i 10; John, xx. 19. 26.

CHAP. XXVIII.] DIVINE ORDINANCES. 521
day as the perpetual Sabbath of the Christian Church : which
that Church has observed through all ages, with a fidelity exactly
proportioned to the measure of its grace. — And finally, this en
during and august summary of the sublime spiritual system of
which God, and man, and creation, and providence, and redemp
tion are the everlasting elements — is projected into eternity ; and
the assurance of a rest — a sabbatism — on the other side of the
Jordan of death — even that heaven into which Jesus the Son of
God, our great high priest has passed, is revealed to our faith as
one of its very firmest supports.1
3. To us, then, this Sabbath clay is a sign between God and
our own souls, alike of our original perfection as bis creatures,
and of our crowning and endless blessedness as his redeemed
children. It is besides a joy and a support to us, all along our
weary pilgrimage, fighting as we go the good fight of faith
Truly has our Lord said, The Sabbath was made for man ;2 and,
therefore, how could it be, that the Son of man should not be
Lord of the Sabbath? Take from the Christian Church this
very first gift of God to man, and who can conceive by what
other means she can either gather or perfect God's saints ?
Take from a world full of sin, and toil, and ignorance, and mis
ery, this hallowed rest, and then imagine by what possibility the
human race can be extricated from perpetual degradation in this
life, and endless ruin in that which is to come ? Silence, in the
hearts of all God's saints, those words of solemn admonition and
of sweetest consolation, Bemember the Sabbath day ; and who
could endure a life of temptation, and trial, and warfare, and
sorrow — robbed of all hallowed rest on earth — robbed of all type,
and sign, and seal of eternal rest to come ? And who should
restore to God the glory and the praise of all penitent and
believing souls — -the glory and the praise of aU created and
redeemed souls — when the day of the Lord should return no
more, and the voice of the bride be heard no more ? Many
things are done and many are left undone, both by the Church
and the world, which, while we see the omission or the act to be
wrong, we see also some way to explain the motive for that which
we condemn. But that the Church or the world could ever appre
hend the ordination of the Sabbath day — as anything else than
a transcendent blessing to our ruined world — a transcendent
1 Heb., iv. passim. a Mark, ii. 27, 28.

522 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
proof of the goodness and wisdom of God — seems to be incapa
ble of any explanation, that is not grounded in the total obdu
racy of our depraved nature.
III. — 1. The covenant in eternity between the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, is the complete and is the most remote expres
sion of all God's grace toward fallen man ; and each penitent
sinner, a party in interest from the beginning through Christ his
covenant head, becomes a party in fact from the moment of his
union with Christ, in his effectual calling. Following the anal
ogy of this infinitely vast conception and example, God has been
pleased from time to time, when he revealed to man some signal
mercy which he had in store, to reduce the statement of it into
the form of a covenant, and to add a sign and seal of the covenant
in the form of a sacrament. — The Covenant of Works was the
first example : and the special divine covenants under all dispen
sations of the covenant of grace, are additional examples more
or less complete — all of which and their sacraments, whether
extraordinary or permanent, are manifestations of that eternal
covenant. Until the time of Abraham, these merciful dealings
of God with man, were of a kind that did not create any visible
and permanent separation of his people from the world, nor lead
to the outward organization of his Church. But to the covenant
which God made with him, which contained so many stipula
tions and such numerous and glorious promises, he added the
sacrament of circumcision — a token of the covenant- — and by it
signified every stipulation and sealed every promise of it.1 The
ideas involved in this remarkable transaction are very clear in
themselves, and are reiterated, explained and enforced through
out the Scriptures. As it will be necessary for me to treat the
two sacraments of the Christian Church separately, I shall in
this place speak only of that which is common to all, as the sec
ond great ordinance of God.
2. God's Covenant, whereby grace is given to men, is ex
hibited in permanent rites, appointed by himself.2 These rites
are tokens, signs, and seals between God and his people, con
sidered both individually and collectively, of his covenant together
with every promise made and every truth held forth in it, and
also of every duty enjoined and every right conferred by it.
1 Gen., xvii. 9-16 ; Rom., iv. passim.
a Gen., xvii 9-14; Ex., xii. 1-20; 1 Cor., xi. 23-34; Matt., xxviii. 19; John, iii 22.

CHAP. XXVIII.] DIVINE ORDINANCES. 523
Above all, these rites hold forth Christ, the Mediator of that
eternal covenant of Grace to which every sacrament of the
Church of God appertains ; and they hold forth those blessings
which he confers on all believers — most especially those benefits
which are connected with the righteousness of faith ; the whole
of which are thus signified and sealed, according to the measure
of the true knowledge of God under each dispensation — and most
conspicuously of all under the sacraments of the Gospel Church.'
We call these sacraments, after the Latin Fathers, who trans
lated the Greek word iivoTrjpiov which is of such frequent occur
rence in the New Testament, not by the more obvious Latin
word arcanum which the Bomans had consecrated to their idola
trous mysteries, but by the word sacramentum whose previous
use was chiefly juridical and military. The true sense of the
original term is a divine secret ; and the proper signification of
our term sacrament is the entire thing to which God gave the
original name ; not merely the outward elements and rites, not
simply the sign and the seal, but also the sublime spiritual reali
ties which all these hold forth to our faith.
3. Sacramental signs Emd ceremonies, of whatever kind, are
to be clearly distinguished from moral obligations, which are
binding upon all men : for the former are obligatory upon
believers only, and are accessible only to them. They are insti
tuted and revealed by God ; are wholly destitute of natural
existence, and of human authority ; and so both their obligation
and their efficacy are divine. In order to any efficacy, there must
be some external, visible, substantial sign, distinguishing them
from mere oral instruction — and which in its application to us,
becomes sensible and real. There must be a correspondence,
indeed a union, between the sign and the thing signified ; not
indeed natural, much less physical — but moral and spiritual, and
at the same time constant and authoritative. There must be the
things signified — the benefits held forth, taught, confirmed unto
those to whom the outward signs are applied ; and those also
properly qualified to receive those signs, and to partake of the
blessings they signify— to seal which unto worthy recipients is
the chief end of every Sacrament. And that great end must be
clearly set forth and understood, in the proper use of every sacra
ment, as being accomplished in us, not by the inherent efficacy
1 Gal., iii. 27 ; 1 Cor., x. 16 ; John, vi. 27-65.

524 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
of the sacrament — nor by the power or intention of him who
administers it — nor by the will of him who receives it — but by
the power of God who instituted it, and who exhibits and applies
his grace by means of it.
4. There are, therefore, obvious and various ends and uses,
all of them of the highest importance, to which sacraments are
relevant, and to which God has caused them to be applied. Pri
marily, both of the sacraments of the Church after Abraham,
and both of those of the Gospel Dispensation, served as visible
marks of separation between those in covenant with God, and
the world out of which he had called them to be his people. As
sacred rites, God's people by their first use make open profession
of giving themselves away to him ; and by their after use renew
their public profession of being his — with personal and solemn
engagements to his service, through Christ, by the Gospel. As
divine ordinances, God's people by their use make profession of
that true faith by which alone sinners can be saved ; holding
forth in this manner the sum of the great truths and promises
of God, and their acceptance of them all, and of Christ the sum
of all — as a testimony to the world that lieth in sin. They
serve, by their use, to realize the communion of all saints with
each other, and with their common Lord, through the Holy
Ghost, by the word of God ; and thus to promote amongst all
saints, a more perfect fellowship, in the Church which is the
Body of Christ, a more complete spiritual unity, a deeper sense
of the supreme headship of Christ, and a fuller participation of
the Holy Ghost. They serve as sensible, perpetual, and sacred
manifestations, on the part of God, to the faith of his people, of
the reality of his promises and the exactness of his fidelity in
their performance ; according to his eternal covenant, in Jesus
Christ, by his Spirit and his Word. They serve as perpetual
means whereby the obedience and love of God's penitent and
believing children, are both manifested and strengthened ;
wherein, by the use of God's appointed signs and seals of his
Covenant — aU his promises, and Jesus Christ the sum of them
all, are so made over to them, that the merits of Christ and the
work of the Spirit, and the consolations of the Gospel, are more
and more effectual in their souls — to their great growth in grace,
and increase in all spiritual gifts. And finally, they serve, by
their true and lawful use, as a perpetual exhibition of the ex-

CHAP. XXVIII.] DIVINE ORDINANCES. 525
istence, the life, and all the infallible marks of the Church of the
Living God, to which they appertain by his gift ; manifesting
the power of God's word and ordinances, and the efficacy of that
ministry bestowed on it by Christ, and in whose hands is the
administration of the sacraments of the Christian Church.
5. The nature of all sacraments is such that their mere use
cannot insure salvation — nor their mere absence defeat it. Being
only of positive obligation, and not in their nature moral, they
are in their nature variable, and in their use efficacious only in
the way and to the extent revealed by God, and only by reason of
his blessing on their use. So far from involving salvation, there
fore, their efficacy is indissolubly connected with faith in Christ,
and they cannot of themselves confer any grace. On the other
hand, being ordained of God, and their lawful use enforced by
divine commands and promises ; their neglect, perversion, and
corruption are not only heinous sins, but, according to the gross-
ness of the abuse of them, are infallible proofs of unbelief, of
backsliding, of depravity, of apostacy. Considered as outward
and visible signs, of inward and invisible grace ; they would
be pertinent to any grace, and might be held forth in any sign,
that God would appoint. In effect these principles and truths
have had a wide application, as every student of the Scriptures
is aware; and perhaps the tendency of those who have expounded
those sacred oracles, has been rather to enlarge than to limit the
application of the great principle on which the idea of all sacra
ments rests, namely, the confirmation of God's promises to man,
by outward signs and seals. It is certain — as I have already said,
that true sacraments can have no efficacy except through the
work of the divine Spirit in us ; and that it is through our faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, that the efficacy imparted to them by
the Spirit produces its effects in us. And since the word of God
is the infallible rule of our faith, and Christ crucified is the spe
cific object of it ; whatever can be accepted as a true sacrament
of the gospel Church, must have the precise warrant, in that
word, of that Saviour ; and must hold forth that Saviour in his
person, his work, his promises, and all his benefits.
6. The number of ordinary and perpetual sacraments of the
Covenant of Grace, is but two. The truths and principles upon
which they rest are permanent — and the essential characteristics
of those divine rites which signify and seal to us the blessings

526 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
and benefits which the Bedeemer confers on penitent sinners,
must also be constant. We need, and he secures for us, on the
one hand pardon and acceptance with God, and on the other re
storation to his lost image. This is the sum of whatever form of
revealed salvation for fallen man through the Mediator ; the sum
of what is held forth in the sacraments of the Covenant of
Grace — however their form may have been divinely varied. That
change of form has occurred but once — -and will occur no more :
for the state of the revealed Knowledge of God, so increased from
Abraham to Christ as to require the change of their form under
the Gospel Church, is constant under it till the second coming of
the Son of Man. I have shown in another place, how the insti
tution and use of these sacraments necessarily involved the visi
bility and organization of the Church of God, and the visible and
sacramental rejection of the world by him ; how, therefore, their
institution was so long delayed ; and how, coincidently with their
institution, and again with the change in their form, all things
relating to the Kingdom of God considered as held forth in his
children organized into a visible and separate Church, received
successively their shape and direction. The Church is before the
Sacraments, before every ordinance of God bestowed on it ; even
the Sabbath day, was ordained and hallowed after God had
created man, and consecrated him to his service. But the Sacra
ments are before the Church considered as visible, organized, and
separate from the world ; and are, together with all the other
ordinances bestowed on her by God, the outward means of pro
ducing her organization, of perpetuating her existence, and of
achieving her triumph. The Sacrament of Circumcision was im
mediately connected with the Abrahainic Covenant, which is, in
a manner, the great charter of the Church of God, and of the
human race. The Sacrament of the Passover, formed the point
of separation between the Abrahamic and Mosaic dispensations —
appertaining to both ; and the Jewish institutions, possessing no
sacrament peculiar to themselves, accepted these two, and by
means of them perpetuated the sacramental unity of the visible
Church, during the long interval between the dispensation of
Abraham and that of Christ. Christ came, not to destroy but to
fulfil. A priest forever after the order of Melchizedek — an order
above and before Abraham himself — the end of all the priest
hood, all the sacrifices, all the righteousness of the law of Moses;

CHAP. XXVIII.] DIVINE ORDINANCES. 527
he accepted these primeval sacraments, used them, ratified them,
changed their form, fulfilled them into a perfect accordance with
the perfect form of the Knowledge of God. He came by water
and blood — the Spirit being his witness. In heaven the Father
and the Word bear record ; in earth, the water and the blood
bear record ; the Spirit in this great spiritual dispensation,
bears record both in . heaven and in earth ; in heaven, as one
with the Father and the Word; in earth as agreeing in one
with the water and the blood ; and this is the witness of
God which he hath testified of his Son.1 In the Sacrament of
Baptism by water, and in the sacramental use of the symbols of
the Body and Blood of Christ, therefore, there is a threefold re
cord in earth — agreeing with a threefold record in heaven — to
the Son of God as the Saviour of the world.
IV. — 1. The Church of God to which he has given the Sab
bath and the Sacraments, has by his ordination an instituted
Worship. In a previous chapter I have discussed the question
of worship acceptable to God, considered as one of the infallible
marks of the true Church ; and have treated the whole idea of
it, in connection with a pure faith on one side, and a holy life on
the other, as obedience rendered with a willing, subject, and
trustful heart, to the Triune God, by his people, according to his
law. That worship may be considered as personal, domestic and
social, or public : it is public worship, as connected with the
true Church, and as a divine ordinance, which I am now to con
sider very briefly. I understand the Scriptures to assert that
the existence of God is manifested by God himself, in the con
viction of every soul created by him ; and that, on this account,
invisible things concerning him — amongst the rest his eternal
power and Godhead — are clearly manifested to men, by the
things he has created ; and thus every man is left without
excuse. Thus knowing God, men neither glorify him nor rejoice
in him ; but reject him and corrupt themselves, until at length
they transfer the glory due to the incorruptible God, to images of
corruptible man, and birds and beasts, and creeping things.
Then God gives them over to all degrading sins, to change his
truth into a lie, to a mind utterly reprobate, and to the fellow
ship of all whom he judges worthy of death.2 On the other
hand, the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation
1 1 John, v. 6-9. 2Rom., i 18-32.

528 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
to every one that believeth ; for therein is the righteousness of
God revealed from faith to faith ; as it is written, The just shall
live by faith.1 In effect, atheism is incompatible with the nature
and convictions of any created being, who has reason and con
science ; and on the other hand, the recognition and worship of
the true God, are incompatible with the nature and desires of
any created being having reason and conscience — who is depraved
and left without the grace of God. Beligion and worship, man
must have. Left to himself in his fallen state, they will cer
tainly be false — probably brutal. If pure and true, they must
be revealed by God, and perpetuated through his grace.
2. All religious worship should be rendered to the true God ;2
the triune God is the only true God ;3 no religious worship
should be rendered to any other being.4 I have proved at large
in previous chapters, that the word of God is the only infallible
rule of faith, obedience, life — and in the most special sense, of
aU religious worship ; with reference to which, the law of God is
the rule prescribed by him to us, of all that we ought to do and
to avoid, under the penalty of death to the disobedient, and the
promise of life to the obedient.'' The special manner in which
God requires man to approach him, is in the way of spiritual
worship ; and in the first table of the Law he has revealed, in
the form of a covenant binding and unalterable forever, the sum
of all duty due directly to himself ; and this sum our Lord has
explained to be supreme love to God.6 All worship rendered to
God by fallen man, must be rendered through the Mediator of
the Covenant of Grace ; who is Jesus Christ the Son of God
and the Saviour of the world.7 It must be rendered also by the
help of the Holy Ghost ;6 and according to the will of God.9
And seeing that God is a spirit, they who worship him, must
w-orship him in spirit and in truth :10 and all who do thus worship
him, are his covenant people — and being kept by the power of
God, through faith unto salvation, will inherit eternal life.11
This summary, brief as it is, of the revealed will of God con
cerning the worship due to him ; discloses with perfect clearness,
i Rom., I. 16, 17. a Deut., vi. 13 ; x. 20.
» 1 Jno., v. 7 ; 2 Cor., xiii. 14 ; Mat., xxviii. 19. * Matt., iv. 10 ; Ex., xx. 3.
6 Matt, xix. 17 ; Rom., i. 18-32. 6 Ex., xx. 1-11 ; Mat., xxii 37, 38.
7 1 Tim., ii. 5 ; John, xiv. 6. e Rom., viii 26 ; Eph., ii 18.
9 I John, v. 14. 10 John, iv. 24.
"Phil., iii. 3; 1 Pet., i 5.

CHAP. XXVIII. J DIVINE ORDINANCES. 529
its object, its nature, its means, its rule, its obligation, and its
end ; and at the same time discloses the most fundamental truths
concerning God, concerning ourselves, and concerning those
great relations between him and ourselves which we express by
the word religion. When we come to apply the revealed truths
which I have stated, to the practical life of God's visible Church,
so as to determine with certainty the particulars of that divine
worship which he has instituted for her ; we find the whole mat
ter revealed with the clearness and the completeness which dis
tinguish God's word. I shall not in this place for lack of room,
attempt to disclose the particulars of God's instituted public
worship, which were peculiar to any preceding dispensations ;
but confine myself to those which appertain to the Gospel
Church. And in summing up the chief of these from the sacred
Scriptures, I will endeavour to classify them in such a way as to
avoid all confusion ; the object being, not to comment on them,
but to show what they are, and that they are of divine authority.
3. There is a class of these particulars of which it may be
said, they are stated in their recurrence, general in their appli
cation, and universal in their obligation. The chief of these are
the sanctification of the Sabbath day ; public worship by the
congregations of God's people, especially on that day ; and the
giving of alms for the poor, and for other pious purposes, as an
act of religious worship. The sanctification of the Sabbath, as
a duty we owe to God, is expressly revealed as a part of the
moral law ; its indissoluble connection with all recognition of the
true God by man, and all recognition by God of any people as
his, is manifested throughout the Scriptures ; and its relation to
the Lord Jesus is so close, that on it he rose from the dead, on
it continually appeared to his disciples, on it finally ascended up
into heaven, and in commemoration of him his inspired Apostles
changed the day of the Jewish Sabbath, and called the Chris
tian Sabbath, the Lord's day.1 The stated assembling of the
gathered congregations of God's people on the Christian Sabbath,
for his solemn worship, was obligatory and habitual from the
foundation of the Gospel Church ; and the weekly contribution
of the saints to pious purposes, was as distinctly commanded, as
any other divine ordinance of its class.2 Nor was either of the
1 Ex, xx. 8-11 j Matt, v. 17, 18; Rev., i 10; Heb., iv. 3-11.
3 Heb., x 25; Acts, ii. 42; xx. 7 ; 1 Cor., xvi. 1-4; Gal., ii. 9, 10.
VOL. II. 34

530 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
particulars just stated, new to the Gospel Church. For under
every preceding dispensation the sanctity of the Sabbath had
been a fundamental part of revealed religion ; the synagogue
worship goes back, possibly, to the captivity in Egypt — certainly
to the captivity in Babylon ; and the service of God by means
of our worldly substance, religiously appropriated according to
his will, is as ancient as religion itself, and thoroughly pervaded
the institutions of Moses. The Church of God ought never to
forget, that special blessings and duties rightly performed, go to
gether. 4. There is another class of these particulars of which it may
be said, as of the preceding, that they are stated in their recur
rence, and universal in their obligation, but, unlike the others,
they are special — not general — in their application. They ap
pertain to each congregation, severally, with all the force of a
divine appointment, and embrace its stated duties and privil
eges, as an assembly habitually meeting for the worship of God.
I had occasion in a previous chapter, when treating of purity of
worship as an infallible mark of the true Church ; to state all the
divine ordinances for public worship in each Christian congre
gation, and to adduce Scripture proof of what I taught. — I,
therefore, limit myself here to a brief recapitulation. It is the
ordinance of God, plainly declared in his word, that in the stated
public worship of each Christian congregation, the sacred Scrip
tures shall be read in the hearing of the people, prayer shall be
offered to God through Jesus Christ, God's praises shall be
sung by the congregation, the gospel of the grace of God shall
be preached to the people, and the blessing of God shall be in
voked upon them. It is thus that God has provided, in the
stated worship of every congregation, for the manifestation of his
own glory, for the comfort and edification of his saints, for the
conversion of sinners unto himself, for restraining and rebuking
the iniquity of the impenitent, and for the perpetuation and in
crease of the Church itself.
5. The last class of these particulars, though all of them are
ordained of God, and all as ordinances of God have relation,
more or less intimate and direct, to his Church ; that relation
varies too much amongst the several particulars, to admit of
any general definition of it, that would embrace all and be at
once brief and exact. The administration of the sacraments,

CHAP. XXVIII.] DIVINE ORDINANCES. 531
in each particular congregation, to all such as are entitled to re
ceive them, is of stated, but at the same time of occasional and
special obHgation.1 The infliction of Church censures consid
ered as the public execution of sentence ; and in like manner
the public restoration of such as have been separated from the
Church by due process of Discipline ; are both parts of the in
stituted worship of God, of only special obligation.2 Public and
solemn fasting and humiliation — as well as public and solemn
thanksgiving, are divine ordinances of a peculiar kind ; for while
it is competent to the civil power, as appointed of God, to ap
point both with reference to the commonwealth ; it is the duty
of the whole Church upon occasions relevant to the whole, and
of each particular congregation upon occasions relevant to it, to
observe these ordinances of worship, whose obligation is only
special — and may arise very often, or very seldom.3 It cannot
be said that the rite of marriage appertains in any way to the
instituted worship of God- — -nor that the burial of the dead is a
spiritual ordinance obligatory upon the Church : nevertheless,
marriage is treated in the Scriptures as being far more than a
merely civil contract ; and the relation of temporal death to
sin, together with the certainty of the resurrection of the body,
impart to the burial of our dead the deepest solemnity. It is in
accordance with the revealed will of God, that both particulars
should be attended with special religious solemnities.- — The office
bearers and government of the Church, both of which are ordi
nances of God, have the most intimate connection with the mat
ters I have been discussing. But as it will be necessary to treat
those topics more fully, they are passed over here. The especial
fitness of the former for their respective places in every congre
gation, and their diligent discharge of the duties appertaining
to their several stations ; are, next to the blessing of God, the
decisive element in the practical effect of every particular in the
instituted worship of the Church of God.
V. — 1. Though the public infliction and the public removal
of Church censures, are particulars of the worship appointed of
God ; it appertains to the government ordained of God for his
Church, to determine the particular cases in which censures shall
i Matt., xxvi 26-29 ; xxviii 19 ; Acts, h. 41, 42 ; 1 Cor., xi. 23-29.
'-1 Matt., xviii. 15-18 ; 1 Cor., v. 1-5 ; 2 Cor., ii 6-8.
3 Luke, v. 35 ; Psalm 1. 14 ; Phil., iv. 6.

532 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
be inflicted or removed, according to the divine law and the
merits of each case ; and the practical administration of that law
of God, both as a function of government, and as a part of wor
ship, is what is specially meant by the Discipline of the Church,
which is one of the great ordinances bestowed upon her by God.
The commonwealth is, both in thought and in fact, before and
above any particular form which is given to what we call govern
ment ; and that again is before and above any particular institu
tions which are created for the community, in connection with
the co-existing form of government. But in whatever state of
advancement any commonwealth may be, and whatever may be
the form of its government, and whatever may be its peculiar in
stitutions, whether civil, political, or social ; it is certain that the
just, wise, and faithful administration of its government and
institutions, is indispensable in the accomplishment of whatever
they are designed or competent to effect. In the Christian
Church considered as a free commonwealth, which it is, there is
this great peculiarity, that the community itself exists after a
spiritual manner, and for spiritual ends — and that the visible form
which it acquires is prescribed by God in the sacred Scriptures,
together with all government and all institutions relevant thereto.
The just, wise, and faithful administration of the government,
institutions, and whole interests of such a community, is, upon
the conditions stated, perfectly vital : and when, in addition,
God gives to this universal administration the dignity of a divine
ordinance, and bestows it upon the Church as at once a special
command and a special blessing ; the DiscipHne of the Church
becomes a matter not merely necessary to her peace, her edifica
tion, and her purity— but indispensable to her continued existence
as the visible Kingdom of God. According as the laws and or
dinances of God are administered, more or less truly and exactly,
in the Kingdom of God, by the government he has established
in that Kingdom ; the Kingdom itself is more or less prosperous,
more or less glorious. But when they cease to be administered
as laws and institutions of God, and the government itself is
depraved, and discipline is at an end : however God's individual
.children may be still faithful to him— the visible organization is
corrupt— and must repent and reform, or become totaUy apostate.
There is no instance in the history of Christianity, of the restora
tion of a Church which has completely forsaken God.

CHAP. XXVIII.] DIVINE ORDINANCES. 533
2. I shall consider the government of the Church in another
place : concerning its particular nature nothing more being
necessary here, than is commonly allowed by aU Christian peo
ple. No one will deny that the people of God considered as his
Church, are entitled to have that form of government and those
ordinances, which God judges to be best for them ; and few will
hesitate to admit that the obligation resting on them as a Church,
as office bearers therein, and as members thereof, is not only
complete, but divine, to use their highest endeavours to obtain
and to perpetuate that government and those ordinances. What
is insisted on here, is the divine and universal obligation resting on
the whole Church, and on all office bearers of it who are invested
with any sort of authority or power, and on all tribunals of it,
and on every separate portion of it, and on every private mem
ber of it — each in his place, and according to his degree, and
his opportunity ; to contribute all he can towards the wise, just,
and faithful administration of the actual government and ordi
nances, to the glory of God and the good of men. This high
duty is specially and officially binding on those who bear rule in
the Church. The government which the Lord Jesus has appoint
ed in his Church, distinct from the civil power, is charged with
the momentous duties of admitting penitent and believing sin
ners into it, — of watching over and guiding the Church, and
every one who is a member of it, — and of administering those
Censures which God has ordained in his word, and which bear
to its threats, a relation somewhat analogous to that which the
sacraments bear to its promises.1 For the objects of it are, the
reclaiming of offenders against the Law of the Lord, — the deter
ring of believers from the commission of offences, — the purging
out of evil leaven from the Church, — the vindicating of the pro
fession of the Gospel, the maintaining of the honour of Christ,
and the preventing of the wrath of God from falling on the
Church.2 The administration of these censures, whether it
serves, actually, as a correction of offences, or simply as a pun
ishment of them ; in both ways purifies the Church, confirms
believers, and glorifies God. For in the former case censures
justly inflicted bring offenders to repentance, and in the latter
case they serve to declare and manifest the ruin that awaits the
1 Matt., xvi. 19 ; xxviii. 17, 18.
8 1 Cor., v. ; 1 Tim., v. ; 1 Thess., v. 11-25 ; John, xx. 19-23.

534 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
wicked.1 , And in these, as in aU things, they who do not corrupt
the word of God, but sincerely, as by his authority, and in his
sight, do his will ; are unto God a sweet savour in Christ, in
them that are saved, and in them that perish.3
3. The Censures of the Church are, like the Church itself,
wholly spiritual ; they have no civil, political, or temporal sanc
tion — nor any force but that which is purely moral and spiritual.
They are executed in the name, and by the authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ ; and are grounded exclusively on the written word
of God. Being destitute of any of these elements, they are utterly
void : while, possessing them all, they carry with them a weight
which they who defy are lost, unless they be able to defy the Lord
of glory also. When addressed to the members of the Church,
they consist of excommunication from' it, suspension from its
privileges, rebuke, and admonition ; to which in the case of such
as bear office, are to be added deposition therefrom, and suspen
sion from its exercise. In all cases of restoration of offenders,
and removal of Church censures ; repentance for the sin com
mitted, and where it is possible, reparation for the injury in
flicted, are wholly indispensable ; while on the other hand, since
it is the glory cf Christ that he is able to save to the uttermost
all who come to God by him — and the joy of his Church to em
brace all that are his — no ecclesiastical censure can be irrevoca
ble. No one can be more sensible than I am, how inconsistent
all the parts of this brief summary are, with the doctrine and
the practice of most corrupt, and all apostate Churches ; and
how different the view of the Church of God and her Discipline
herein presented is, from that commonly entertained concerning
both by ungodly men. I beheve, however, that what I have
advanced will be accepted — imperfect as it is, as true, by most
sincere disciples of Christ; and few earnest students of the
sacred Scriptures, will gainsay it. Supposing I have taught
what is true, — it is obvious that mankind at large, and all civil
States, have the highest interest in delivering themselves from
the opposite view of the Church and her Discipline ; which be
gins by establishing corruption in her own bosom, proceeds by
transforming her into a persecutor and an oppressor, and ends by
demanding for her the double sword, the triple crown, the keys
i Matt., xviii. ; 1 Cor., v.; xvi. 22; 1 Tim., i. 20.
3 2 Cor., h. 14-17.

CHAP. XXVIII.] DIVINE ORDINANCES. 535
of heaven and heU, and an unHmited despotism, temporal and
spiritual, over the human race.
4. What I have said, as yet, has special relation to the inter
nal administration of the Church of God ; the application of his
commands and threatenings, to offences and offenders in her own
bosom, the use of ecclesiastical Censures by the Church for self-
edification, self-purification. There is another and external use
of the divine ordinance of Discipline, more general, less personal,
perhaps more difficult, yet of the highest necessity and obHga-
tion. The Church has immense duties to perform towards
the world without. It is through her instrumentality that men
are converted to God ; it is her part to carry the glad tidings of
salvation to all the families of the earth — and to beseech men to
be reconciled to God. But, at the same time, it is her duty not
to shun to declare unto them, the whole counsel of God ; and,
therefore, the threatenings of God against the impenitent are to
be administered by her as faithfuUy, as the promises of God to
the penitent. The Censures of the Church, as I have before
intimated, have a relation to these threatenings of God, in some
degree analogous to the relation between the sacraments of the
Church aud the promises of God : and while the latter are to be
administered to all God's children, the former are to be adminis
tered to all his enemies. The administration is, no doubt, widely
different in the two cases ; widely different, as respects censures
merely, when administered against those without, and those
within the Church. What is insisted on is, that although the
administration be different in form, it is, nevertheless, a real
administration of the threatenings of God, in the way of eccle
siastical Censures, exceeding the mere preaching of the terrors
of God's wrath, revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men. The Church is bound and obliged, in
the name and by the authority of Christ, and in accordance with
the will of God, to rebuke and to condemn all heretics who deny
the faith, aU schismatics who break the bond of charity, all
apostates who deny the Lord that bought them, all idolaters who
transfer the glory of the incorruptible God to images of corrupti
ble things, all open enemies of God and his Christ who insult
the majesty of heaven and turn the truth of God into a He ; all,
in short, whose sins, of whatever kind, expose them flagrantly
to the wrath of God, and come up before the face of the Church

536 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
as perpetual hindrances to her, in the work of saving souls, in
the maintenance of the truth of which she is the pillar and
ground, or in her witness-bearing for the glorious Lord who loved
her and gave himself for her. She may no more refuse to ad
minister the threatenings of God against sin and sinners, whom
he has exhibited to her as objects of divine abhorrence ; than
she may omit to proclaim salvation to -every one who will call
upon the name of the Lord. And she may settle it in her heart,
that exactly in jjroportion as she grows in grace and in the
knowledge of God, and manifests her fidelity to him, and her
zeal in his service, she will incur the hatred of all who hate God
and his Christ : and at the same time, let her know assuredly,
that but for her own steadfast resistance, even unto blood,
throughout aU past ages, every vestige of the Gospel would long
ago have been swept from the earth. Nor has any preceding
age demanded of her a wiser or a more exact fidelity, in execu
ting the high duty here disclosed, than the one now passing over
her ; the whole world, on one hand, open to the Gospel, and on
the other, crowded with every hideous form of sin that can make
the Gospel of none effect.
VI. — 1. All the Gifts of God which have relation to salvation,
whether those supreme ones which have been considered in the
preceding chapter, or those treated of under the name of Ordi
nances in this chapter, have a very special relation to the Church
on which he has bestowed them ; but, nevertheless, all of them
have, also, very obvious relations to the world of sinful men from
amongst whom God's children are taken, to all of whom salvation
is offered, and every one of whom will be judged by Jesus Christ
in the great day. The Son of God is the Saviour of the world,
the Spirit of God is poured out upon all flesh, the Word of God
is made known to every creature, the Sabbath is a universal
blessing and obhgation, the sacraments are the most simple and
the most solemn representations to all men of the sum of Gospel
truth, the instituted worship of the Church is the most effectual
means of teaching the human race all things whatsoever Christ
has commanded us and of enforcing it all upon the conscience,
and the censures of the Church, as I have just shown, are insti
tuted means used by the Spirit in his work of convincing the
world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.1 Now it is the
1 John, xvi. 7-11.

CHAP. XXVIII.] DIVINE ORDINANCES. 537
bounden duty of the Church to give this outward efficacy,
according to her utmost ability, to aU these gifts and ordinances
of God ; and so the crowning Ordinanee given to the Church,
has the most special reference to the world — namely its Evange
lization. And the more perfect is the inward efficacy of all
Gifts and Ordinances of God — the more completely is the Church
fitted and the more earnestly is she inclined, to give outward
efficacy to every one of them ; and thus complete in her own di
vine equipment, to address herself, in the power of God and by
the authority of God, to the great work of saving the world. It
is God who has given her this blessed work to do : she may not,
without impiety to him, and dishonour to herself and ruin to the
world, omit to do it. It is God who has bestowed on her every
gift which could fit her for its performance — every ordinance
which could aid her in its accomplishment — every promise which
could render its achievement certain. And then he has staked
her crown, and his own glory, upon her success in the great work ;
and he calls to her from heaven, — Be of good cheer, I have over
come the world I1
2. The perpetuity of the Church, from generation to genera
tion, depends on the thoroughness with which this work of Evan
gelization is done by her. If it were to cease altogether, the
shortness of human life would cause the almost immediate extin
guishment of the Church, If it is done unfaithfully, the pro
portion of unconverted professors of religion constantly increases
— hurrying the Church into formality, deadness, heresy, corrup
tion, apostacy : a fearful course, every step of which is palpable
throughout the history of the human race. And yet to do it
faithfully, is far beyond any power on earth except that of the
Church ; and far beyond hers except as the life of God animates
all her endeavours. A whole world in utter rebellion against
God, is to be subdued : a thousand millions of impenitent sin
ners are to be converted : every form of false religion is to be
extirpated : the mental darkness of the human race is to be
enlightened — its temporal degradation is to be removed. In
attempting this — toils, and sufferings, and self-denials, and dan
gers are to be encountered, which no other end would justify. To
gain any triumph, and to secure every one as it is gained, to pre
pare us for the very doing of the work and to maintain the Church
1 John, xvi 33.

538 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
in a posture to do any part of it — the temporal means which are
demanded for a thousand necessities, at home and abroad, must
never cease to flow into the treasury of the Lord, and in the
course of ages must exceed all computation. Wisdom too, ap
parently more than human, there must be, to direct all the im
mense forces of every sort, which are organized by God unto this
vast end : an unwavering pursuit by millions of men, from age
to age, of the one immense object, through the same divinely
appointed means : a consecration which has no limit, and which
recurs forever, of the purest, the best, the greatest that adorn
the Church, to one part or another of this greatest of all attempts.
If there be in this world a class of persons who have an object
and a career for which nothing but the grace of God can qualify
them — and in the pursuit of which nothing but unqualified devo
tion to God can sustain them : surely that is the class of persons
whose hearts are consumed with the desire and the endeavour to
execute this crowning Ordinance of God. No zeal can surpass
the zeal they need ; no knowledge can exceed the knowledge
they require ; no patience, no courage, no perseverance, no
activity is too great to be exacted of them ; no faith is beyond
that which their trials demand ; and blessed be God, no recom
pense can equal that which God has in store for them. In the
meantime, their hearts are sustained by every consideration
drawn from the great duty which God requires of them, and the
great honour he has put upon them, and the great reward he has
laid up for them — as the hope of their high calling is more and
more sealed unto them, and the hour of their entrance upon their
eternal rest draws nigher and nigher. Oh ! that every follower
of Christ was of the same mind with those, who lead the fore
front of that glorious array, whose banner has always floated
over the hottest of the conflict with every enemy of God ! Oh !
that the heart of every soldier of the cross responded, as the
watchword of the unconquerable host swells along its ranks —
Brethren 1 Advance the banner of the Lord !

CHAPTER XXIX.
THE SACRAMENT OP BAPTISM: ITS NATURE AND DESIGN: SUBJECTS
OF IT: MODE OP ADMINISTRATION: APOSTOLIC PRACTICE.
I. I. Circumcision: its origin and Nature. — 2. Its Relation to Christian Baptism. —
3. Mission and Baptism of John. — 4. The Baptism of the Apostles, during Christ's
personal Ministry. — 5. Institution of Christian Baptism, by the Risen Saviour. —
6. Outpouring of the Spirit with Power ; Relation thereof to Christian Baptism.
— 7. Certainty of these Divine Mysteries : and theh Sum. — 8. Theh relation to
the doctrine of God, and of Salvation — -II. 1. The relation between Baptism and
the blessings of which it is the Seal. — 2. AU who have title to the Blessings, have
title to the Seal. — 3. Vindication in eleven propositions, of the Right of the In
fant Seed of believers, to Christian Baptism. — 4. Effects of the neglect, and of
the exercise of this right. — III. 1. Effect of the mode of Baptism on the validity
of the Ordinance. — 2. Immersion in commemoration of the Burial of Christ, a
total perversion of the Sacrament of Baptism. — 3. Exposition of the Scriptural
Doctrine of Baptism — as related to the death and burial of Christ. — 4. Various
Scriptural Senses of the term Baptism : Authority of Christ to fix the sense of
this term, and the mode of this Sacrament. — 5. Proof in five propositions of the
mode of administration intended by Christ. — IV. 1. Apostolic Practice : Day of
Pentecost, and the Baptism then administered. — 2. Evidence afforded by this great
example: stated in three propositions. — 3. First Gentile Baptism. — 4. Evidence
afforded by it, stated in three propositions. — 5. Doctrine of Baptism deduced from
the Apostolic Practice.
I. — 1. When Abram was ninety and nine years old the Lord
appeared unto him, and under his name, the Almighty God, re
newed unto him all his promises and enlarged them, changed his
name to Abraham — -father of many nations — reduced the whole
into the form of an everlasting covenant to be a God unto him
and to his seed after him, and instituted the sacrament of circum
cision as the perpetual token of the covenant, and the common
seal of all its stipulations.1 He who entered into this covenant
with Abraham declared himself to be Jehovah — and the divine
names under which he binds himself, express, in a peculiar man
ner, his almightiness and his all-sufficiency.* In the sacrament
which is the outward token of this covenant, lies the first step in
1 Gen., xvii. 1-14. * iqei *st* ttStt''

540 TEE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
the separate_organization of the Church of God considered as
visible : a sacrament which, under three dispensations of the
Covenant of Grace, and under two very distinct forms has con
tinued for about four thousand years,* to be a sign and a seal of
God's grace to his people. Moses simply continued, by a positive
enactment, the sacrament of circumcision as he found it estab
lished amongst his people ;' and engrafted it into the dispensa
tion he was sent to organize out of the descendants of Abraham
through Isaac, upon one branch of the great promises sealed by
this sacrament. Christ himself plainly tells us that this was the
relation of this sacrament to the Levitical dispensation f and
therein points outJdienaJure_of^jts^elation to, the whole Jewish
system. It was the token._of, all the promises of a strictly per
sonal kind, made to Abraham : the token, also, of all the prom
ises made injfavour of Ishmael and his posterity, and Esau and
his posterity : the token, also, of the far_higher_ promises, both
temporal and spiritual, made to the descendants of Abraham
through Isaac and Jacob — who were very specially heirs according
to the promise of God. InjthisjvssjDej^cjr^u^^ basis
of the Hebrew commonwealth^ and of the peculiar system of the
Jews in "all its aspects. But its fundamental sense and uge were
to signify and seal divine grace, and £o bind and oblige men to
the performance of all duties corresponding thereto.3 And there
fore, God called it from the beginning a token of the covenant
between him and Abraham,4 and declared two thousand years
afterwards, by the mouth of Paul, that Abraham received it as a
seal of the righteousness of faith — the great stipulation of the
covenant, that Abraham should be heir of the world, not beina-
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.6 Where
fore, and in like manner, justification was sealed by it to all be
lievers, of whom Abraham, through this covenant, is the common
Father :° by which, also, sanctification was signified and sealed
* The chronology adopted in this, and the former Treatise, is that -which is com
monly accepted as settled upon the foundation of the labours of Petavius and his
successors. This is done, not as assenting to the accuracy of any part of it, preceding
the Christian era, but because any disoussions on such a topic, in the present state of
opinion, and in connection with such labours as I have been attempting, would only
perplex my general subject, even if they cleared up the chronology of it before the es
tablishment of the Gospel Churoh — which was far more than I could expect.
1 Lev., xii 3. 3 John, vii. 22. 3 Deut, x. 16.
* Gen., xvii 11, « Rom., iv. 11, 12. s (jaj ft <r_

&

CHAP. XXIX.J SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 541
unto them, through this sacrament. For God promised to cir
cumcise the hearts of his ancient people, as well as to bring them
into the promised land.1 And in truth, in the very nature of
things, he was not a Jew who was one outwardly, neither was
that circumcision which was outward in the flesh ; but he was a
Jew who was one inwardly, and circumcision was of the heart,
in the spirit, not in the letter.2
2. We are not left any room to believe that the particular
form of circumcision under which this great and permanent sa
crament was first instituted, — under which it endured as the seal
of all the promises for two thousand years, and endures still as
the token of a portion of them ; was intended by God to con
tinue, as the token between God and his Church visible, and a
sign and seal of covenanted grace, any longer than the glorious
dispensation of the Gospel should be fully manifested on earth.
Why, demanded Peter of the Assembly of Apostles and Elders,
met to consider this very question — why tempt ye God, to put
a yoke upon the neck of the disciples ?3 My sentence is- — said
James, — after proving that it had always been the purpose of
God to visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his
name ; — My sentence is that we trouble not them, which from
among the Gentiles are turned to God. And the whole Assem
bly, divinely authorized and divinely taught, broke in two the
heavy yoke of the ceremonial law, and of circumcision as a token
of it.4 The Apostle Paul, largely proving these things to the
Churches of Galatia, told them, that if they persisted in being
circumcised, Christ profited them nothing — for they not only re
jected his grace thereby, but made themselves debtors to do
the whole law.6 ForChrist had expressly commanded, that Bap
tism with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost, should be the form of this sacrament, from
the moment of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, on the day
of Pentecost.6 For then the long predicted time would be fully
come, for the Church of God to be opened to the long excluded
Gentile world,7 and for the proclamation of that New Covenant,
so long predicted — not according to the covejj&nt under which
Israel was brought up out of Egypt, but according to an ever
lasting covenant, underwhichf all shall know the Lord.8 We
1 Deut., xxx. 6. 2 Rom., ii. 28, 29. s Acts, xv. 10. A Acts, xv. passim.
6 Gal, v. 1-6. B Matt., xxviii 19 ; Luke, xxiv. 49 ; Acts, i. 8.
» Amos, ix. 11, 12 ; Acts, xv. 15-17. 8 Jer., xxxi. 31-37.

542 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
may therefore confidently say that circumcision was the primeval
sacrament of the dispensation of the covenant of grace, insti
tuted, by God, in Abraham and his seed : that it was a token
between God and every one beneficially interested in that cove
nant, of the covenant itself and of every^promise made in it :
and, as such, was accepted by Moses, and engrafted into the
Jewish dispensation, as the foundation thereof. Ordained by
God in the flesh of his covenant people — the seed of his friend
Abraham, it became the first mark of the visible separation of
God's people from the world — the first step in the visible organ
ization of the Church of God ; and as such, its main use and
significance were, that it was a token and a seal of the deliver
ance of believers in God from sin and endless death, by the only
way in which God ever delivered any — to wit, by the Son of God
as the Saviour of sinners — whose advent was the chief stipula
tion of the covenant : and that its period, under the form origi
nally given, was until the end of all that was legal, typical and
ceremonial, and the complete manifestation of divine grace and
truth, through Jesus Christ — by whose command, Baptism with
water, in the name of the Triune God, took its place as a token
and seal of the covenant of grace, under the Gospel dispensa
tion. 3. The Scriptures clearly explain the mission of John the
Baptist, as the forerunner of Christ, together with the nature
and whole course, fruits and end thereof.* It is repeatedly de
clared, that one grand part of that mission, was to baptize the
people, in the preparation of the way of the Lord, and with ex
plicit reference to his immediate appearance in his personal
ministry. Behold, said John, the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me
cometh a man which is preferred before me ; for he was before
me. And I knew him not : but that he should be manifest to
Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. I saw the
Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon
him. And I knew him not : but he that sent me to baptize with
water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the
Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which bap-
tizeth with the Holy Ghost.1 It is therefore certain that John
was divinely commanded to baptize : that this baptism had a di-
* Luke, iii 1-22 ; Matt., hi. passim; xi. 1-19. i John, i 29-33.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 543
rect relevancy to the immediate mamfc-l^olon of Jesus Christ,
as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world ; and that Jesus
Christ would initiate a better baptism than one of mere water unto
repentance, which was the nature of John's baptism, as explained
by himself, while he describes that of Christ as a baptism with
the Holy Ghost and fire.1 The baptism of John, therefore, bore
the same relation to Christian baptism, that John himself bore
to Christ. It was not instituted by Christ,— but preceded his
ministry, and had relation only to that ministry, as has been
shown,— and as the baptism of Christ himself, by John, abun
dantly confirms.* Moreover, the Apostle Paul, not only baptized
disciples who had already been baptized unto John's baptism ;
but he explained why he did it, in the sense I have already stated.2
4. The Lord Jesus did not personally baptize ; but his disci
ples did, with his approbation, in his presence, and as part of the
work appropriate to them, while his ministry continued : indeed
it is expressly stated that they did this before the close of John's
ministry, f Nor in all the testimony of John to Christ, as the
Son of God and the Saviour of the world, is there anything
more clear and full, than his exposition of these very circum
stances, when he was informed of them.3 Still the decisive fact
must be remembered, that Jesus Christ was a minister of the
circumcision : sent only, so far as his personal ministry went, to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel : he came unto his own and
his ,own received him not. J And this was aU involved so deeply
in his Mediatorial work, that it might not be otherwise : and
even the truth of God, the promises made unto the fathers, and
the call of the Gentiles themselves, exacted, as is declared by
Paul, this very form of the coming of Messiah." He neither
took down the Jewish system, nor set up the Christian system in
its stead ; but on the contrary, amongst his most wonderful
teachings, were his expositions of the spirituality of the dispen
sation to which his own mission put an end. Having invested
his Apostles with all power, and designated the circumstances in
which they should receive all fitness ; his reserve was so great,
that although he instituted the sacrament of his body and blood
while he observed the Passover for the last time, he did not then
1 Matt., iii 11. * Matt, hi. 13-17 ; xxi. 23-27.
2 Acts, xix. 1-5. \ John, iv. 2 ; hi. 22-24.
3 John, hi. 26-36. X Rom., xv. 8 ; Matt, xv. 24 ; John, i 11. ' Rom., xv. 8-12.

544 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
say to his Apostles that the sacrament, which had commemorated
his own sacrifice so long, and which was to commemorate it to
the end of time — must, thenceforward change its form. In like
manner, not a word is recorded which lends any support to the
idea, that John believed, or that Christ taught, or that the Apos
tles understood, that either the baptism of John, or the baptism
habitually practised by the Apostles, during the ministry of Christ,
was to supplant the sacrament of circumcision. On the contrary,
it was not until long after Christianity had opened its bosom to
the Gentile world, that the Apostles themselves could see, that
the true Christian Baptism instituted by Christ after his resur
rection, was, itself, to supplant the bloody and national form of
the ancient sacrament.1 In fine, as the baptism of John bore to
Christian baptism the same relation that John bore to Christ,
as I have shown ; so the baptism practised by the Apostles, dur
ing the personal ministry of Christ, bore to the baptism insti
tuted, by Christ, after his resurrection, the same relation that the
ministry of Christ, in the flesh, as a minister of the circumcision,
bore to the dispensation of the Holy Ghost, administered by
Christ from the right hand of the majesty on high. Both these
forms of baptism were of God ; but neither of them superseded
circumcision — neither of them was identical with complete
Christian Baptism, in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost, expressly instituted by Christ, after his
resurrection. They were the steps of the transition, by which
the Church of God passed from the legal to the Gospel state :
by which the Sacrament of Pardon, — if we may venture, with
all the Fathers, to call it so — passed from its bloody and fore
shadowing state, into its perfect state, as attested by the Spirit,
the water, and the blood already shed.
5. We arrive, at length, at the institution of the final and
perfect form of this Sacrament. The testimony of John the
Baptist, is ended : the work of Christ as a minister of the cir
cumcision, is accomplished. Crucified, dead, buried, — risen again
on the third day,— appearing repeatedly to his Apostles and
others during forty days— he is at length, while he blessed them,
parted from them, and carried up into heaven. During this
most remarkable interval between his resurrection and his open
and glerious ascent, from their very presence ; the eleven went into
i Acts, xxi 17-26.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 545
Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. See
ing him, worshipping him, and, strange to say, some doubting,
Jesus spoke unto them those sublime words, which leave to men
no alternative between adoring him and denouncing him ; — All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth ! Go ye, therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.* He had said unto Nic
odemus, near the commencement of his ministry, Except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the king
dom of heaven j1 — and now, having triumphed over death and
hell, his command is — Teach. — Baptize : — Lo I am with you al
way, even unto the end of the world ! Go into all the world —
teach all nations — disciple them all — teach them all to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And as they
hear, and believe, and live, gather them together as my disci
ples. Baptize all who are mine, in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Here is the warrant — here
the institution — the command — the promise : all that remains
will be added when Pentecost is fully come.2 It is the crucified
and risen Saviour who institutes Christian Baptism, in the hands
of his Apostles, aud lays it as distinctly at the foundation of
the Gospel Church, as circumcision was laid at the foundation
of the visible Church. The work of the Spirit in us, and the
benefits signified and sealed to us by the Sacrament with water,
and the Sacrament in the body and blood of Christ, summarily
involve all that our salvation demands. The institution of the
Supper immediately preceded the sacrifice of Christ, to which it
so closely relates : the institution of Baptism immediately pre
ceded the outpouring of the Spirit, whose work it so distinctly
attests. 6. The outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost — ¦
which was the promise of the Father, which Jesus had said he
would himself send upon his Apostles, by which they would be
endued with power from on high, and for which he directed them
to tarry in the city of Jerusalem ;3 initiates, in absolute com
pleteness, the kingdom of God with power.4 Complete to teach
— complete to disciple — complete to baptize. And that same
day, about three thousand souls, gladly received the word spoken
* Matt, xxviii. 16-19 ; Mark, xvi. 15, 16. ' John, iii. 5. * Luke, xxiv. 49
3 Luke, xxiv. 49. < Matt., vi. 13.
VOL. II. 35

546 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
by Peter, and were baptized, and so added to Christ, — the first
fruits of the Spirit given with power. It is true that no one
was ever saved except through Jesus Christ, the only Mediator
between God and men : but it is equally true that the knowl
edge of that Saviour has been constantly increased, through all
the dispensations of the Covenant of Grace, and that under the
Gospel dispensation it has reached the climax, until his second
coming. In like manner, no one was ever saved independently
of the quickening and sanctifying work of the Divine Spirit ;
but, at the same time, the saving work of the Spirit had univer
sal relevancy to the work of Christ, and the knowledge thereof
attainable by man, and so the saving dispensation of the Spirit,
with power, was manifested coincidently with the miraculous
testimony he gave of the glorification of Christ.1 Christ himself,
in the very institution of this Sacrament, made the distinction be
tween discipM'iig men, and baptizing them : a distinction which
putsan end to the pretext of Sacramental Grace. In like manner,
the whole of what occurred on Pentecost, establishes the distinc
tion between the saving and the extraordinary work of the Divine
Spirit, — thus putting an end to all pretext that regeneration is
miraculous, and also to all pretext that it is not now the effect
of the saving work of the Spirit with power. Nor is it less clear,
from all that occurred, and all that followed, that, without the
divine word there is no authority for any Church, or any Sacra
ment, just as there can be no efficacy in any independently of
the divine Spirit. It is as a method of divine instruction, that
a foundation is laid in any Sacrament, to make it a method of
divine grace ; and it is only as it becomes a method of divine
knowledge and grace, that the Spirit of God deals with the souls
of men through it. And, as both the Word and Spirit have ex
clusive application to fallen men, through the work of Jesus
Christ ; it is only so far as he is exhibited and applied, that any
Sacrament has any authority, or any efficacy. In Baptism we
make profession of Jesus Christ—that is, we receive and rely on
him and the doctrine taught concerning him : and in the mode
of doing this, we are unreservedly dedicated to the Triune God.
What follows to the worthy recipient is fellowship with the death
and resurrection of Christ;* salvation through grace, by the
1 Acts, ii 33. * Rom., vi 3-6 ; Co]., ii. 9-13.

CHAP. XXIX.] s SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 547
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, shed
on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.1
7. Of all these sublime mysteries, there are three, says the
Apostle John, that bear record in heaven : the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost ; and these three are one. There are three
also, that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, the water, and the
blood ; and these three agree in one. Well does he add, that,
if human testimony can prove anything, here is divine testimony
which cannot be resisted. Of these five witnesses, one is common
to heaven and earth, and cannot be deceived. But — so the be
loved Apostle urges — he that believeth on the Son of God, hath
the witness in himself ; and, thereby, the record that God hath
given to us eternal life and that this life is in his Son, is sacra
mentally sealed to the believer, both by the three that bear record
in heaven and the three that bear record in earth.2 It is certain,
therefore, that Baptism is a Sacrament of the Covenant of Grace,
appertaining by the institution of Christ, to the Gospel Church :
wherein, by the use of water, through the ministry of the word,
in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
believers testify, through the work of the Spirit, their union with
Christ and their communion with each other ; whereby they are
established in their fellowship with the death and resurrection of
Christ, and have the benefits thereof signified and sealed unto
them, amongst which benefits are remission of sins, the new
obedience, and eternal life ; they, therein, binding themselves
unto all the duties which spring from faith and repentance, unto
the salvation of their own souls, and the glory of the Triune
God. 8. Presenting in a condensed, but complete form, the doc
trine of salvation by grace, through Jesus Christ, the two Sacra
ments of the Gospel Church set before us, distinctly, the nature
and work of God himself. If we had nothing but the divine for
mulary of Baptism to teach us, we could not fail to know,
that the mode of the Divine existence is that of three persons
in one essence ; and that our own destiny is completely involved
in this transcendent mystery. Nor can we contemplate this or
dinance with attention and avoid perceiving that it teaches the
participation of all three pf these divine persons, in the matter
of our salvation, in such a way, that, while it exhibits the unity
1 Titus, iii. 4-7 " 1 John, v. 4-12.

648 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
of the divine essence to be the unity of a threefold personality ;
it involves, as to us, our former pollution, our present repentance
toward God, our faith toward the Son, our pardon by the Father,
our purification by the Holy Ghost, and as the result, our future
and endless salvation. A sacrament of the Church of the living
God, it is a sign — a token — of that eternal Covenant of Grace, of
which the Church is an outbirth, and a seal of every stipulation
of it, of every promise made in it, of every blessing conferred
by it. It is a divine mystery — a great secret of God — opened to
the spiritual insight of his children ; and they who will read it
truly, will find great light and great peace.
a II. — 1. They to whom covenanted blessings belong, have a
perfectly clear right to participate in the enjoyment of whatever
token of that covenant is provided by its own terms, as the seal
of those blessings. And whatever blessings the covenant con
fers, those precisely, neither more nor less, are signified and
sealed to those whom the covenant embraces. It may be that
the sign and seal has relation to such blessings as need to be con
tinually repeated ; in which case it also may require frequent
repetition. This is true of the Sacrament of the broken body
and shed blood of Christ, by which his people are nourished con
tinually ; and so the Lord's Supper is often celebrated. But, it
may be, that the sign and seal has relation to such blessings, as,
in their nature, can be conferred on us but once ; and for that
reason, such a Sacrament cannot be repeated without superstition,
or impiety. This is true of the Sacrament of Baptism. We
cannot be ingrafted into Christ but once ; we cannot be born
again but once ; and so Baptism cannot be lawfully administered
a second time. And such has been the universal judgment of
the Church of God, and is the unquestioned doctrine of the
Scriptures. If it were true that the Sacraments had an inherent
efficacy, no one, lawfully baptized, could fail of being born again,
and ingrafted into Christ, at the moment of his baptism. I have
abundantly proved that nothing of this sort is taught by God,
or true in fact. The blessings and benefits signified and sealed,
by the Sacrament of Baptism, incapable as they are, in their
own nature, of being conferred on us more than once ; were
never stipulated, by God, to be conferred along with the ordi
nance. On the contrary, Abraham received the sign of circum-
.cision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 549
being uncircumcised.1 So far are the blessings signified and
sealed in this Sacrament, from being limited, for the efficacy
given to the Sacrament by the Holy Ghost, to the moment of its
administration ;a that they extend over our whole lives, involve
the very existence of the life of God in our souls, and relate to
the most perfectly sovereign of all the acts of God's grace
towards the elect, under his eternal covenant, namely, the time
and circumstances of their new creation.*
2. It is just as clear, from the New Testament Scriptures,
that every one who professes to be a follower of Christ must be
baptized with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost, as it is from the Old Testament Scrip
tures, that every Jew was circumcised ; and the command of
Christ is as explicit, that his disciples must be thus baptized, as
the command of God was, that the seed of Abraham must be
circumcised.f And the testimony of Scripture is clear, and the
judgment of the Church of God has been uniform, that every
adult believer in the divine Saviour is entitled to be baptized,
upon a credible profession of repentance toward God and faith
toward the Lord Jesus Christ.3 I do not doubt that thejright
of the infant seed of believers is, also, perfectly clear, to a par
ticipation in that Sacrament. The steadfast — I regret to add
the contemptuous — denial of this right by one of the Christian
denominations, and the ceaseless outcry against it by multitudes of
heretics ; make it proper to vindicate it somewhat specially. This
I will attempt to do, in a series of distinct propositions, as much
condensed as is consistent with a clear statement of the argu
ment contained in each ; what I propose to establish being the
absolute right of the infant children of believers, to participa
tion in the Sacrament of Baptism under the Gospel dispensation.
3. (a) The original Covenant of God. It is indisputably
certain that God's covenant with Abraham contained stipulations
and promises, whose execution sacramentally created by means
of circumcision, a visible and separate Church out of the de
scendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob — and that their
seed were obliged, by express command of God, to be circumcised
when eight days old, in execution of that covenant.' But, this
1 Rom., iv. 10-12. 2 Acts, viii. 13-23.
* John, hi. 8 ; 1 Cor., ii. 11. f Matt., xxviii. 19; Gen., xvii. 12
8 Acts, xx, 17-27. * Gen., xvii. passim.

550 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
was expressly an everlasting covenant between God and Abraham
and his seed, that he would be their God ; and by it the adop
tion, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the
law, and the service of God, and the promises pertained to
Israel :! and the chief stipulation of it, sealed by the sacrament
of circumcision, was the promise of the Saviour of the world,
and of gratuitous justification through the righteousness of faith.*
t /Therefore, the children of believers being expressly embraced by
I an everlasting, spiritual covenant, in the original organization of
the visible Church of the living God, and expressly entitled to
| have the promises sacramentally sealed to them ; are, under the
\ present Gospel form of that same Church, in possession of the
same right — and should be baptized.
(b) Confirmed under every Dispensation. It is indisputably
| certain, that the children of believers were, of right, and in fact,
accepted and circumcised as members of the visible Church, from
1 its foundation, through the whole patriarchal dispensation, from
the Covenant with Abraham to the giving of the Law, through
Moses : and through the whole Dispensation of the Law and the
Prophets, to the coming of the Son of God : and through his
personal ministry, as a minister of the circumcision — his own cir
cumcision being a signal example and test of what had been
universal in the visible Church from its origin two thousand years
before.2 But, the kingdom of God on earth, whether presented
as the Messianic kingdom, or as the new creation, or as the Church
of Go-d — is still the same : and that Church, whether presented
without or with a visible organization, and if with a visible or
ganization then under every successive dispensation is still the
same_chosen and beloved Bride of the Lamb : and now since
Pentecost, manifested under the Gospel form — -it^rerriains the
same Church of the living God, elect in his eternal Covenant of
Gauj£. Therefore, the infant children of believers are still to be
accepted as oF right,' and in fact, members of the visible Church,
and are to receive in like manner as before, the sacramental seal:
the variation in the form of the sacrament, in no wise affecting
their rights.
(c) Immutability of the Gifts and Calling of God. The
spiritual^iftsjand blessings of God, which are manifestations of
1 Rom., ix. 4.
* Rom., iv. passim ; GaL, hi. passim ; Acts, iii 25, 26 ; Gen., xxii. 18 ;' xxvi. 4.
¦ Luko, ii. 21-10.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 551
his grace — and the vocation of his people by him — are all immu
table,. And these precious truths are nowhere taught~more
clearly, than in the connection of all of them with God's ancient
people, and in such connection with them, even after the rejec
tion and crucifixion of the Saviour, and after the calling of the
Gentiles, as to establish the perpetuity of every right, in every
creature, founded on such divine gifts, blessings and vocation.*
But, undeniably, the children of believers have received of God
that vocation which he declares to be immutable, and all those
immutable gifts and blessings which appertain to membership in
the visiT5TeTJhurch were signified and sealed to them, sacramen
tally and without question, from the call of Abraham till the
ascension of Christ. And the clearest statement of the principle
here involved, is made by the great Apostle to the Gentiles, while
Christian children were actually enjoying the rights his argument
establishes, throughout Christendom. Therefore, the seed of be
lievers are still entitled to the sign and seal of God's immutable
grace and vocation through Jesus Christ; — which, for them in the
Gospel Church is Christian Baptism.
(d) The Oath of God. The impossibility of the failure of the
immutable counsel and promise oT God, and of the grace and
vocat^n_j^rmected therewith, is confirmed unto the heirs of
promise by the oath of God : so that by two immutable things,
in which it was impossible for God to lie, they might have a
strong consolation.f But, that oath of God was sworn to Abra
ham, the Father of the faithful, in whose flesh and the flesh of
his seed, the Church of God became visible by the sacrament of
circumcision, which Christ, who was the chief promise sealed in
circumcision, supplanted by baptism, which he ordered to be ad
ministered to those innumerable heirs of promise which Paul
proves are the same innumerable seed, in behalf of whom God
took the oath of confirmation to Abraham. Therefore, whatever )
title Isaac and _Jacob had to their part in the divine blessings ;
theyT-elieived, and to the use of the seal thereof ; and whatever ;
title the Jewish Church and people had to their part and to the
seal thereof ; and whatever title the Gospel Church has to her
part and to the seal thereof ; precisely the same title to their part
and to the seal thereof, — which is baptism — the seed of believers
now have, by the promise, the covenant, and the oath of God.
* Numb., xxxiii 19-24 ; Rom., xi. 29-36. \ Gen., xxii. 16-19 ; Heb., vi. 12-20.

552 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
(e) The Way of Salvation. The righteousness of Christ is
the sole meritorious ground of the salvation of sinners. That
righteousness is imputed to us by God, as the ground of our jus
tification, and is wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, in our regene
ration and sanctification. It is by faith in Christ that we receive
his imputed righteousness, and faith in Christ is the grace per
petually manifested by the regenerated and sanctified soul. And
the Scriptures expressly assert, that circumcision was the seal
of the righteousness of faith — and was so received from the
first, and so taken by Abraham as the father of all believers — to
whom righteousness ever would be imputed ; without which he
could not have been the heir of the world.1 This whole way of
salvation is retained and more clearly exhibited in the Gospel
Church, than before ; the bloody form of the sacrament being
discarded by Christ, and the use of water in the name of the
three persons of the Godhead being substituted by him, to make
the seal of the righteousness of faith, accord more perfectly with
the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ. But,jinder
the Abrahamic Covenant, and throughout the Patriarchal and
Mosaic dispensations and during the ministry of Christ, the seed
of Jielievers were entitled to receive, and did receive, that sacra
ment which was theseal of the righteousness of faith — through
which alone can sinners be saved. Therefore, to deny to them
under the Gospel Church, the use of the sacrament of baptism,
is not only to reverse, as to them, the whole method of salvation;
butTt Ts to put them wholly out of the provisions of the Cove
nant of Grace, in which they had been expressly and sacramen
tally embraced, from the foundation of the visible Church. It
is to do this, not only without one word of God to justify it, but
against his immutable promise and vocation, against his ever
lasting covenant, and against his oath expressly sworn to confirm
them all. It is to do it in contempt of the direct command of
Christ not to forbid, but to suffer Httle children to come unto
him :* taking the seal of the righteousness which alone fits us
for the kingdom of heaven, absolutely from those of whom the Lord
of that kingdom has declared that of such is the kingdom itself
and leaving them, under the Gospel dispensation, no alternative
but the universal damnation of all who die in childhood or their
1 Rom., iv. 11-17, * Matt., xix. 13-15 ; xviii. 2-6.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 553
salvation outside of the Covenant of Grace, and independently
of the righteousness of Christ !
(/) The Teaching of Christ and his Apostles. Christ being
a minister of the circumcision, and at the same time the great
Teacher of men, and all the while the Son of God and the only
Mediator between God and men ; what he said and did must be
conclusive. Moreover Peter and Paul being both of them in
spired Apostles of the Lord, acting in his name, by his authority,
and with plenary inspiration ; both of them Jews, and the former
sent specially to the circumcision, while the latter was sent specially
to the uncircnmcision : we are obliged to accept their teaching — as
embracing both the Jewish-Christian and the Gentile-Christian
aspect of the relation of the seed of believers to the Church of
God, under the Gospel dispensation. It is impossible to doubt
what that relation was under all previous dispensations back to the
origin of the visible Church : and I have shown, under various
aspects, that this conclusively settles and was designed to settle
their relation to it now. But, Christ, whose mission closed the
Jewish dispensation, and the Holy Ghost, whose mission opened
the Christian dispensation with power on Pentecost, and after
wards to the Gentiles ; have both taught us with great distinct
ness, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter the Kingdom of God.1 And Jesus called a little child unto
him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say
unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children,
ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.2 Suffer little chil
dren to come unto me and forbid them not : for of such is the
kingdom of God.8 And he took them up in his arms, put his
hands on them, and blessed them." Take heed that ye despise
not one of these little ones : for I say unto you, that in heaven
their angels do alway behold the face of my Father which is in
heaven.5 All these are the words of Jesus. Can it possibly be
imagined, that the first passage meant precisely what it asserts
concerning the relation of man to the Kingdom of God ; and
that the other passages did not mean what they assert, concern
ing the relation of the child of that man, to the Kingdom of
God ? Again, Peter on the day of Pentecost, full of the Holy
Ghost, demonstrated to the immense congregation of Jews who
1 John, iii. 5. a Matt, xviii. 2, 3. " Luke, xviii. 16.
* Mark, xvi 16. 5 Matt., xviii 10.

554 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
were gathered from every quarter of the earth — and of whom
about three thousand were baptized the same day — that the cru
cified and risen Saviour whom he had preached to them, was the
sum of all the promises — and that the promise of him, was unto
them, and unto their children :* a hereditary promise — apper
taining to endless generations of the seed of believers — precisely
as God covenanted with thousands of generations of them that
love him, in the second commandment.1 Again, Paul, writing to
a Gentile Church — in a Gentile city, where he had laboured
amongst the Gentiles for a year and six months, by express com
mand of God ; not only tells them that the__child of a believing
parent, so far. from being unclean, is holy ; but makes this in
contestable truth, the ground of his proof that the unbelieving
wife is sanctified to the believing husband — and of his decision
that the believing wife is not religiously bound to separate from
her unbelieving husband.2 Therefore, Christ, in closing the Jew
ish dispensation and laying down those truths which were com
mon to all Dispensations, as well as those which are peculiar to
the Dispensation of the Gospel ; and the Holy Ghost in setting
up the Gospel Dispensation, especially by Peter amongst the
Jews, and by Paul amongst the Gentiles, and in recording for
everlasting instruction, the way of eternal life for all mankind ;
have alike confirmed the unalterable^ relation of the seed of be
lievers to God, to his Kingdom, to his _ Covenant, and, by inevi
table consequence, to the seal thereof, — which irTthe Christian
Church, is baptism.
(g) Practice of the Apostles. In the small and then recently
gathered Church at Philippi, where the Gospel seems to have
been first preached in Europe, two households, at least, are men
tioned as having been baptized — namely that of Lydia, and that
of the jailor.3 In the Church of Corinth, besides others alluded
to, two households are named, to wit, that of Crispus the chief
ruler of the Synagogue, and that of Stephanus whose family
were the first fruits of Achaia ; these households being, except
Gaius the host of Paul, the only persons he baptized in Corinth.f
In Cesarea, Cornelius the centurion, together with his kinsmen
and near friends, were baptized by the Apostle Peter under im
mediate supernatural guidance, being the first fruits of the Gen-
* Acts, ii 39; iii. 25 ' Exod., xx. 6. 2 l Cor., vii. 14.
3 Acts, xvi 15, 33. f Acts, xviii. 8 ; 1 Cor., i. 16 ; xvi. 16.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 555
tiles.1 These cases are but conspicuous examples of a uniform
practice ; the case of Cornelius and his household, being singu
larly important, and as such, considered and approved by the As
sembly of the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem.2 But, besides
the certainty arising out of the nature of the case, that in mul
titudes of households habitually baptized everywhere by the Apos
tles, there must have been many children ; the form of the divine
expressions, and the force of the terms divinely chosen in making
the repeated statement of these cases, oblige us to understand,
that in speaking of these households it is expressly intended to
include children.* Therefore, upon the face of the inspired Acts
of the Apostles and Apostolic Epistles, where we must look for
guidance as to Apostolic practice ; it seems impossible to avoid
the conclusion that they did what had been uniformly done from
the foundation of the visible Church ; namely, admit the seed of
believers into sacramental union with the people of God, which
they did by the sacrament of baptism, to which, therefore, such
persons are still entitled.
(h) Testimony of the Church of God. From the moment
in which the Church became visible and separate from the world,
to the present moment, her testimony has been uniform through
four thousand years. The command of God was express that
every man child of the seed of Abraham, in all their generations,
should be circumcised.3 And so it continued unquestioned for
two thousand years, through the Abrahamic and Mosaic dispen
sations, and during the personal ministry of Christ. The man
ner in which the form of the Sacrament was changed, — passing
through John's baptism, and through that administered by the
disciples of Christ during his ministry, — and in which it acquired
1 Acts, x. passim; xi. 1-18. 2 Acts, xv. 6-29.
* Thus, a Bishop must be * * * one that ruleth well his own house — idiov oikov —
having his children — rexva — in subjection. (1 Tim., hi. 2, 4.) Por if a man know not
ho-w to rule his own house, tov tSwv oikov, &c. Again, the deacons * * * ruling
children — reavav, (vor. 12.) Again; the younger women marry, bear children, guide
the house — reKvoyoveiv — oinoSemroTetv, &c. The editor of Cahnet has1- cited fifty
examples, and examined three hundred, in which the word house — omoc — (Cris-
pus * * * with his house. &e.) — denotes. a family embracing children. The use in
the Hebrew was even more extensive — Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house ;
and then the chief particulars are added — closing with — nor anything, &c. Not an
Israelite in the world, probably, had a house thea hii-p rra and rnn? ^a were
both used to express the family of God — the Whole Israehtish people.
8 Gen., xvii 9-11.

556 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
its present form with water in the name of the Trinity, by the
express institution of Christ after his resurrection, and was fully
initiated under the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and by the
baptism of three thousand persons, on the day of Pentecost : all
this, the Scriptures clearly state. In this final and perfect form it
was constantly administered to the seed of believers, by the Apos
tles during their whole ministry after Pentecost. This immense
testimony, all to the same effect, is all derived from the oracles
of God, and covers the entire existence of the visible Church
during all the dispensations under which she received all her
sacraments, and all the written word of God, and was graduahy
developed from a totally inorganized state, into a perfect Gospel
state. The subsequent testimony, during nearly eighteen cen
turies to the present time, as compared with that already stated ;
is more important as showing her own conformity to the revealed
will of God, than as adding anything to the testimony of the sa
cred Scriptures. Still her testimony has been steadfast in all
ages, and in all countries, and under all vicissitudes. The right
of the seed of believers to participate of the sacrament of bap
tism, has always been, not only allowed, but vindicated, by an
immense majority of the true followers of Christ, out of all com
parison with those who have denied that right ; and during the
greater part of those eighteen centuries, that right was hardly so
much as questioned by any one professing to be a Christian. But,
if the truth of a fact can be supposed capable of being estab
lished, by any testimony human or divine ; then it is proved, that,
in point of fact, the seed of believers have always received in the
visible Church of God, the seal of the righteousness of faith.
And if the existence of a right can be supposed capable of being
incontrovertible, and its use capable of being put beyond ques
tion ; then the right of the seed of believers to the use of that
sacrament, which, under both its forms has been uninterruptedly
enjoyed by them, during the entire existence of the visible Church,
is wholly beyond doubt. Therefore, if God has had, and now
has, a Church visible on earth, and that Church has had and now
has, his Spirit and his word ; and if so existing and so endowed,
she is worthy of belief as to any matter of fact, or worthy of
trust as to any matter of right ; then the certainty is complete,
that the seed of believers must receive Christian Baptism.
(i) The Nature of the Case. The evidence upon which re-

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 557
vealed religion rests is, no doubt, different in important respects,
from that on which natural religion rests ; and the truths and
duties of the two are, in many respects, very clearly distin
guishable. Yet the God of nature is also the God of Grace ;
and the God of providence is the God, both of nature and of
Grace ; and the course of providence is the manifestation of his
secret will, as contrasted with his revealed will, considered as the
God both of nature and of Grace. The fundamental principles
of all his acts can no more conflict with each other, than his
Attributes can be inconsistent with each other, or than he can
deny himself. But, while the relation of husband and wife
founded in nature, is not only sanctified by. grace, but is made
an image of the mystical union between Christ and his Church ;
the corresponding relation between parent and child, through
which nature itself continues to exist, is so thoroughly in
grafted into grace that it is the uniform type of God's relation
to his elect, and of the inbeing of the Father and the eternal
Word. Grace sanctifies this relation, providence proceeds upon
it, nature perishes without it, every dispensation of God respects,
assumes, uses it, while every thing in man revolts at the violation
of it, and the nexus of the universe is broken by infringing it.
Therefore, to demand that this principle shall be eliminated from
the religion of Jesus, which is the perfect form of true religion,
and the chief means of blessedness to the universe and of glory
to God ; and that a principle the reverse of it — wholly unknown
to and incompatible with nature, providence, and grace, shall be
substituted for it ; is to demand of the Church, who is the com
mon mother of us all, a sacramental renunciation, not only of her
fruitfulness, but of her own filiation to God, and her own espou
sals to Christ.
(j) The Nature of the Sacrament itself. As the undeniable
effect of the fall of the first Adam, who was only a living soul,
is the production of a depraved nature in every one of his ordi
nary descendants, and this anterior to the personal consciousness
of the person, and independent of it ; it is far from being com
petent to us to say, that it is impossible for the incarnation, obe
dience, and sacrifice of the second Adam, who was a quickening
Spirit, and the Lord from heaven, to heal that depraved nature,
anterior to and independent of our personal consciousness. The
tie created by the covenant of grace, cannot be weaker than that

558 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
created by the covenant of works, — and spiritual regeneration
by the Holy Ghost is as real and as explicable as natural genera
tion. Tojtssert, under such circumstances thenatural pollution
of infants, and. at the same time deny the possibility of the
spiritual purification of infants, is self-contradictious. But, bap
tism is the sacramental expression of both the sets of facts just
stated. It is the shed blood and perfect righteousness of Christ
that save us : faith, even in an adult person, who besides his
natural pollution, is stained with innumerable practical sins, only
receives that blood and righteousness applied to us. The dis
tinction between the working of the divine Spirit, and the'effects
of that working, one of which is faith, is complete. So that even
if it were possible to prove; — which it is_nojt^-*1diatJa^ is impos
sible in infants, — it would be necessary, in addition, to prove that
no spiritual benefit is possible without faith is already in exercise.
But this is two ways absurd : because faith is itself the gift of
God — and if it be the first gift, then a spiritual gift, even faith,
may be given where no faith was before : and because, in fact,
faith- is' itself the very proof that the greatest of all spiritual
benefits — namely the new birth, of which faith is a manifesta
tion — had been bestowed before faith could exist. In a psycho
logical sense, justifying faith expresses that state of a soul already
renewed by the Holy Ghost, in which its acceptance of the
righteousness of Christ imputed to it by God, is manifested.
Therefore, it far exceeds, -the warrant of the Church to deny to
the resources of God's infinite power and his abounding grace,
the possibility of the production of such states of soul in the
children of believers ; — far exceeds her authority, on the ground
oF'that alleged impossibility, to deny to them rights which God
has bestowed on them ever since the Church herself had a visible
existence. She dare not deny the reality of original sin, and the
need of a Saviour, in the infant seed of believers : on the other
hand she dare not deny the possibility of their salvation through
Christ, and assert the universal perdition of all that die in child
hood/ To do either is to deny the faith. She is obliged, there
fore, to baptize her children.
(k) The Nature of the very Cavils against it. No one, I be
lieve, has ever pretended that there is any distinct command of
God forbidding the infant seed of believers to be baptized. The
ground of refusal to baptize them is only inferential. At first,

CHAP. XXIX.J SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 559
the existence of sin in infants was denied — and their baptism
refused on that ground. Then it was taught that sins commit
ted after baptism are peculiarly unlikely to be pardoned ; and the
inference followed that baptism should be deferred to a late
period of life. Afterwards, in the lapse of centuries, it was
taught that none dying in infancy can be saved at all ; whereupon,
as such teachers judged, none should receive in infancy the sign
and seal of salvation. After further centuries, the An.abaptists. ',
about the period of the Beformation, taught that faith in the
personbaptized is an indispensable condition in the valid admin
istration of baptism — that infant children can neither exercise
nor naTOifest faith — and therefore they cannot be baptized. These
are the chief forms of this error ; in each case grounded, as I
have said, not on any command of God, — but always on an infer
ence from some other dogma, itself in each case either wholly
erroneous, or only partially correct ; thus flagrantly violating
the divine rule, that our faith ought to stand in the power of
God, and not in the wisdom of men. But as to the great funda
mental point, if there is no precise .warrant from God to deny
membership in his Church to such as he has, by an exact com
mand made members of it, then the question is settled : for no
authority but that of God, least of all an erroneous human in
ference — is competent to annul the plain and repeated command
ments of God. As to the notion that infants have no sin, and
the other that sins after baptismare well-nigh unpardonable ;
the former is a heresy held by no orthodox Christian, and the
latter a superstition long ago extinct as a form of human opinion.
iThe same remark is true of the atrocious heresy which taught the
; universal perdition of all who die in infancy; a fearful madness long
, ago extinct. Nevertheless, they who hold the two propositions
that salvation is impossible without personal faith in Christy and
that no infant can exercise such faith ; can escape the inexorable
conclusion that all dead infants are damned, only by some incon
sequence of logic — or by some heresy. The doctrine now held
by all Christian people who reject infant baptism, I suppose, is
substantially that taught by the Anabaptists of the sixteenth
century. Concerning which it is to be observed, that admitting the
general principle that faith in Christ is indispensable to baptism,
the inference from this which leads to the denial of infant bap
tism, proceeds upon a threefold fallacy. It is a fallacy to suppose

560 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
that the faith required in the baptism of infants, must be their
own "personal faith. The Scriptures distinctly teach the con
trary ; and give them the seal of the righteousness of faith, ex- _
pressly because they are the seed of believers — as I have abun
dantly proved. If_thejloctrine of imputed righteousness is de
nied — then faith itself is forever impossible ; for in that case no
sinner was ever regenerated. If the doctrine of the righteousness of
faith is denied, then the salvation of sinners is forever impossible;
for in that case we are still under the law and Christ can profit us
nothing. Moreover, it is a faUacy^to suppose, that this personal
faith, even if it were invariably presumed in every baptism — '
mustjBxist at the time of baptism, in order to make the act law-.
ful. On_J^he^contrary, the efficacy of baptism, and the great
blessings it signifies and seals, chiefly our ingrafting into Christ
and our inward purification through the Holy Ghost ; so far from
being bound to the moment of administration — extend — for their
manifestation — over the whole of our life on earth. And it is
from considerations connected with this great truth, that the great
peculiarity of the administration of this sacrament but a single
time, arises. This is inevitable jf the efficacy of baptism depends
on the blessing of God, and the work of the Spirit. If that
efficacy depends on its own force, or the will of him who adminis
ters, or of him who receives it ; it ceases to be a sacrament and
becomes an incantation. Finally, it is a fallacy to suppose that
we can know with certainty, at what age, if at any, the soul is
incapable of faith ; or to suppose that we can know with cer
tainly, what is the state of another person's soul at the period
of his baptism, or at any other period. Suchjknowledge, unto
certainty, is not attainable by man on either point, in any single
instance f and to demand it is to put an end to the administra
tion of this sacrament. A, credible profession of faith and. re
pentance, is the scriptural condition of adult baptism : being
thej|ed of believing parents, is the scriptural condition of infant
bapHsm. Therefore, the Church of Christ,""so far from being
authorized to make a breach so immense, upon the order of God's
house, and the method of his grace, and the rights of his chil
dren, and the principles which illustrate his divine Attributes
and his sublime relations to the universe; has nothing even in the
shape of human reasons, and motives, and wisdom, suggested to
he/ as the ground of so great an outrage, that rises higher

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 561
than an appeal to her ignorance, to her caprice, or to her
fanaticism. 4. There is reason to doubt whether there are now on earth
as many persons who even profess to follow Christ, as there are
persons living who are the offspring, immediate or remote, of
true believers : and probably the whole number of those saved,
as yet, out of the human race, may not exceed the whole num
ber of those who were naturally, so to speak, the children of the
Church. In what position does it present the visible Church,
through all generations, that even a doubt can arise, whether,
'speaking after the manner of men, God has lost more of the
lambs of his flock through her negligence, or gained more from
the lost fold of the world by her diligence ? The neglect of, the
proper_riurtureof_ the seed of God's . people, is to be ranked
amongst_the most deplorable evils — nay amongst heinous sins.
It need not be urged how great is the certainty of increasing
this evil and encouraging this sin, by diminishing the sense of
responsibility both on the part of the Church and of Christian
pareDtsTJ after we have apparently cast_out their seed from all
covenanted mercies, and allowed them to suppose that God
hold_s^ them to no special accountability concerning their sal
vation. Moreover, it is a fatality attending all errors that they
never come singly ; the rejection of one truth involving the per
version of others, and the neglect of one duty drawing after it
the denial of others. It is impossible to estimate the greatness
of the desolation which would be produced, by the universal ex
clusion of the children of God's people from all participation in
that Sacrament, whereby they are sealed as in covenant with
God. On the other hand, it is impossible to estimate the ex
tent of the good which has resulted from the recognition, by the
visible Church, of the covenant relation of the seed of believers
to God through Jesus Christ ; notwithstanding the unfaithful
ness, both of parents and of the Church, may have been as great
in this as in all other respects. As an illustration of the im
mense subject, it may be asserted with confidence, that common
mendicity and total illiteracy are banished from every Christian
communion in which parents, at the baptism of their children,
are required, by a sacramental engagement, to rear their off
spring in the fear and nurture of God, and to teach them to read
his holy word ; while it is from the bosom of such communions
vol. n. 36

562 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
that the most steadfast resistance to heresy, to superstition, and
to fanaticism, invariably arises. So true is it that godliness
hath promise both of the life that now is, and of that which is
to come. III. — 1. It is true of all things — pre-eminently true of spir
itual things — that it is the Spirit which giveth life, while the
mere letter killeth.1 To determine concerning a series of acts
professing to be identical, that one is perfect, that one is valid,
that one is irregular, and that one is void ; involves the recogni
tion of the universal principle I have stated — and involves at
every decision an attempt to apply it. It is, therefore, with good
reason, that the Beformed Church in particular, and, to a certain
extent most other Churches, have held, that baptism though ir
regular may be valid ; that it is not necessarily void because i*
is irregular. It may be wholly void, it may be perfect, it rnaj
be very nearly perfect, or may be very irregular ; and yet, in the
last two cases, the substance of the Sacrament may be preserved,
and the act be good. If a certain Church thinks itself author
ized to add to the Scriptural form of baptism, the exorcism of
the Devi] — and another to add the sign of the cross — and an
other to add sponsors, — or if some, going still further, change in
some degree, more or less serious, the particulars divinely pre
scribed — as for example to immerse the subject in water, instead
of applying the element to him ; it may nevertheless be true,
that such additions and changes may not so vitiate the ordi
nance as to oblige those who condemn them, to reject the ad
ministration of the Sacrament in that manner, as merely void.
The administration may be so vitiated, no doubt, as to make it
necessary to reject it wholly, as void ; and this may become neces
sary on various other grounds — as for example, the total apos
tacy, or even the gross heresy of the communion whose mem
bers administer the ordinance. But the errors of a true Chris
tian Church which do not destroy the substance and nature of
the Sacrament, cannot justify other Christian Churches in re
jecting its ordinances, and thus making schism in the body of
Christ, on the ground of mere irregularity, even though it be se
rious. This is the common doctrine of the Church of God, in
all ages, and with relation to every ordinance which he ever gave
to that Church. Nor has the departure from it by those who act
1 2 Cor., iii 6.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 563
as if immersion was the only valid form of Christian baptism,
saved them from the fate of all who commit similar breaches
upon the faith of the Church, and the unity of the Spirit. For
by making immersion the great test of Christian communion, so
far are they from establishing any unity even amongst them
selves, that some have insisted on immersion only, whilst some
have added sprinkling or pouring to it : some have allowed only
a single, while others have adopted a trine immersion : some
have immersed the subject backwards, some forwards : some
have allowed the subject to be immersed in ordinary apparel :
some have allowed or required a peculiar apparel : and for sev
eral successive ages in the early Church, their practice was to
strip the subject naked before immersing him. Bevolting as
this last perversion of a divine ordinance may now appear to be ;
it is well to remember that the analogies on which it was de
fended had, apparently, as much force as any upon which the
exclusive validity of immersion is now almost universally vindi
cated by Baptists as a type of the burial of Christ. For the an
cient immersionists insisted truly, that Christians were required
to put off the old man, that rich men can hardly enter the King
dom of God, that all men had forfeited everything by the fall of
Adam, that Christ had laid aside even his glory for us, and to
crown all, that we entered this world naked ; and as the com
mon conclusion from many such truths — baptism in total na
kedness was the superstition to which the fanaticism led, that
made an erroneous form in the use of an element, the badge of
Christianity itself. Nor has this ancient and wide-spread schism
upon a point so narrow, secured unity in the most important
parts of truth and godliness, better than in the mere form which,
first misunderstanding, they so unduly exalted. For amongst
such immersionists as are recognized as true disciples of Christ,
some have followed Augustine and Calvin, some have inclined
to Arminius, some are almost Antinomians — and many profess
doctrines curiously taken from several systems ; while Arians,
Sabellians, Socinians, Pelagians, Universalists, and even Mor
mons have been, to a great extent, believers in the exclusive
validity of baptism by immersion. If it be replied, that as touch
ing these last-named divisions, their misfortunes are no way dif
ferent from those of Churches which baptize by affusion, while
they admit baptism by immersion to be valid, though it be ir-

564 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
regular ; the obvious answer is, that such Churches never sup
posed or asserted that their mode of baptism was the great test
of fidelity to truth and to Christ ; never made schism on ac
count of it ; never limited the visible Church of Christ, and the
fellowship of the Gospel, by their method of using water in
the Sacrament of baptism. We are, therefore, not at all
disappointed that it has failed to keep us pure and united, well
knowing that a mere form even if right and divine, has no such
efficacy ; and deeply regretting that our brethren amongst im
mersionists cannot see in the same light, the total failure of that
irregular and erroneous form of whose importance they have
such exaggerated ideas.
2. I have proved there were but two permanent Sacraments in
the visible Church, from Abraham to Christ ; that there are but
two in the Gospel Church, namely, Baptism and the Lord's
Supper. The relation of each of these sacraments to the God
head, to us, and to salvation, is extremely clear. In particular
they signify and seal to us the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour,
and all the benefits we receive from him ; and are, therefore, out
ward signs of all inward graces of the Spirit of God. By one
of them, the benefits of Christ, considered as purchased for us
by his sacrifice, — by the other those benefits considered as ap
plied to us by his Spirit, become ours sacramentally. One of
them seals our ingrafting into him, as lost sinners regenerated
and purified by the Holy Ghost, sent by him from the Father ;
the other seals our nourishment and growth by his body and
blood, received through faith, as penitent and believing sinners,
for whom he died and rose again. All this, it seems to me, is
clear even to a very weak spiritual discernment. How the aton
ing sacrifice of Christ in our room and stead should be the foun
dation of everything ; and how the work of the divine Spirit
within us should be the consummation of all, I think I see
clearly. And how both the former and the latter should secure
for, and produce in every child of God, grace responsive to both,
in his spiritual union and communion with Christ, and in his
spiritual purification by the Holy Ghost, seems to me very plain.
And then, how the two Sacraments should relate, on the one
hand, to these inward and spiritual graces, in us, and on the
other, to the divine Saviour and the divine Spirit who redeem
and purify us ; as well as implicitly, to the eternal Father, and

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 565
the eternal covenant which provides all, appears to be obvious.
And all this, as I have shown, is plainly taught by the word of
God. But in what manner the fairial of the dead human body
of Jesus temporarily in a sepulchre hewn in stone — can be made
the ground of a Sacrament, which, by means of water baptism,
shall be a sign of any inward grace in the soul, and shall seal
any promise made by God to penitent sinners ; this, I confess, I
do not understand, and cannot conceive. And I am thoroughly
convinced that no doctrine, no fact, taught in the word of God,
justifies us in saying that the burial of Jesus is the subject of
any sacrament ; much less, that the sacrament of baptism has,
for any part of its object, the representation of that burial.
There is a twofold perversion of the sacred mysteries, resulting
primarily from a perversion of the mode of administering bap
tism. The Sacrament of the Supper signifies and seals the
broken body and shed blood of Christ, according to his own ex
press declaration. If baptism, the only remaining Sacrament, is
converted into a commemoration of the burial of Christ, then
no sacrament remains to the Church, which teaches, signifies or
seals any part of the work of the Spirit of God — none which
teaches, signifies, or seals, our ingrafting into Christ — without alii
of wdiicTTnb sinner can be saved, and all of which is taught, sig-
nifiedjuanrlsealed in Christian baptism. And a new sacrament,
unknown to the Scriptures, and destitute of every scriptural
mark of a sacrament, is created for God, by man, based upon
the temporary placing of the dead body of Jesus in a stone
sepulchre, and held forth in a supposed representation thereof by
immersing a person in water. Those who thus act might have
some reason for what they do, if their design was to discredit the
entire doctrine of the Holy Ghost, and of the life of God in the
soul of man ; which assuredly is not the purpose of any Chris
tian immersionists. In effect, the aspect given to the whole
subject, by the modern state of opinion amongst Baptists gener
ally, so far from affording any support to the idea that they who
immerse, are exclusively possessed of the sacrament of baptism ;
creates a serious and increasing difficulty on the part of other
Christians, in recognizing the validity of the ordinance, even
when administered by evangelical Baptists. Not, as I have
already shown, because of the inherent irregularity of immersion
itself; but because of the fundamental perversion of the true

566 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
Sacrament, and the sacramental nullity of what is substituted
for it. 3. I am aware that such Scriptures as Bom., vi. 4, and Col.,
ii. 12, are habitually relied on to prove, that baptism is a special
commemoration of the burial of Jesus, and that, therefore, im
mersion is the exclusive mode of its administration. I repeat
what I have already intimated, that even if the former part of the
statement were true, it affords no support to the latter part of
it. For the immersion of a living person in water, whether for
ward or backward, whether once or three times, whether clothed
or naked ; does not represent the fact of burial, nor any mode
of burial ever used among men, nor the particular burial of
Jesus in the sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea. So that even
if those Scriptures alluded to, or any others, prove that the sacra
ment of baptism was a special commemoration of the burial of
Jesus ; it would be as far as ever from being proved that immer
sion in water was a proper, much less the exclusive way of ad
ministering that sacrament. But the true sense of the Scrip
tures relied on to prove that baptism is a commemoration of the
burial of Jesus, is far different from that which they attempt to
torture from them. Know ye not, says the Apostle Paul, that
so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death ? Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism
unto death : that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life. For if we have been planted together in. the likeness
of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrec
tion.1 It is three times stated in the passage, that it is the
death — not the burial of Christ — which is to be commemo
rated by us ; we are baptized into his death — it is baptism
into death — we are baptized into the likeness of his death.
This is the fundamental point : our baptism signifies our ingraft
ing into our crucified Saviour. It is not into water, nor into the
grave that baptism is declared to point, or that we are declared
to come through it ; but is into Christ, and into his death ; and so
baptism is called baptism into death. And the assurance that we
shall live with Christ, is derived, as this Apostle declares in the text,
from the certainty that we are dead with him who died for us
while we were yet sinners ; and by whose death we are reconciled
1 Rom., vi. 3-5.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 567
to God.1 As to immersion being a representation of our resur
rection, and therefore the exclusive mode of celebrating baptism:
that is as futile as the other. Because it is expressly said in this
Scripture, that such as are, by baptism into Christ and into death,
buried with Christ, ought to walk in newness of life : not that
they ought to come up out of the water — nor that coming up out
of the water, is a representation either of Christ's resurrection,
or of our own. Being buried with Christ by means of baptism
into death, neither signifies our natural death, nor our natural
burial, nor the mode of baptism, nor that baptism represents the
burial and resurrection of Christ. But what it means is, that
by baptism into Christ, and into his death — we signify our death
unto sin, and our subsequent newness of life, our ingrafting into
Christ, our being planted into the likeness of his death and so
buried with him, and by consequence our being planted in the
likeness of his resurrection. The benefits of his death and re
surrection — are thus signified and sealed to us. And the passage
runs thus : They who are baptized into Jesus Christ, are bap
tized into his death ; their burial with him, through that bap
tismal death, is to the end that even as Christ was raised from
the dead, so they should live a new life : because they are planted
in the likeness both of his death and resurrection. Which is the
common doctrine of the Church of God : and in the very words.
To the same purport is the only remaining passage of the New
Testament Scriptures, in which the burial of Christ is so men
tioned as to be liable to the perversion I am considering. Fo-r
in him, says the same Apostle who wrote the other passage,
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are
complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power :
in whom ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the cir
cumcision of Christ : buried into him in baptism,* wherein also
ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God,
who hath raised him from the dead.3 That is, we must have fel
lowship with the death of Christ, if we would have fellowship
1 Rom., v. 8-10 ; vi. 8.
* 2vvTGtj>evTee avra ev tQ /SarrTio/ian bv <£, &c. In the passage in Romans it is
cwera/fin/iev ovv avru dia tov Pairno/iaTOc, &C; the Greek, as well as the sense, jn
both passages, making the Baptism — not a burial nor a similitude of one — but a means
unto our mystical joint burial with Christ.
a Col, ii 9-12.

568 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
with his resurrection ; since we must be ingrafted into him,, if we
would live with him ; and it is shown how that ingrafting and
that fellowship are signified and sealed in our baptism. For by
it our death to sin and our resurrection to righteousness, are
sealed in Christ ; and the burial which attends one, and the
newness of life which attends the other, are both not only in but
with Christ : and therefore both are through baptism. Which
is precisely equivalent to saying, that baptism seals our ingraft
ing into Christ, and our purification by the Spirit. The Apostle
does not say that our baptism is our burial, or that it is the
similitude of a burial, or a resurrection. But he says it is a
means whereby our burial and that of Christ become a joint
burial, and whereby our resurrection and that of Christ also became
joint. It is such a means, he says, through faith, — which is the
work of God who raised Christ from the dead ; and our complete
ness in him, thus signified in baptism — was equally signified in cir
cumcision. Now our baptism being, indubitably, neither Christ's
burial nor our own, it can be truly said that by means of it we
have a joint burial with Christ, only in a mystical sense : which is
exactly what is said. In a real, but in a spiritual sense — that is
mystically — sacramentally — the people of God have a joint death,
burial, and resurrection with the Saviour : and baptism signifies,
and seals all three. But it seals neither of them by immersing
a person in water, as a representation of the fact and manner of
Christ's burial and resurrection : but it seals them all by the ap
plication of water to the person, as a sign of the purification
wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, who was purchased by the
death of the Saviour who redeemed us with his blood, and sent
from heaven as the Comforter of his people — the crowning proof
of his glorification.
4. I have, said the blessed Lord, a baptism to be baptized
with ; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished I1 Had
that baptism a solitary point, identical with any one in ordinary
Christian baptism ? And yet how many have incurred, and do
still incur, that baptism of anguish, with Christ, and for Christ ?2
Again, we have the word used in a comparatively low spiritual
sense, to signify so much of the things of the Lord as was taught
by John the Baptist : and that even after Christian baptism had
1 Luke, xii. 50 ; Matt., xx. 22, 23 ; Mark, x. 38, 39.
1 Rom., viii. 17, 18, 37; 2 Cor,i. 3-7.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 569
spread over the Boman empire.1 Again, we have the word applied
in an exclusive and strict sense by the Apostle Peter, who of all
men ought to have known what Christian baptism was ; to sig
nify the outward ordinance, calling it a figure, an antitype of the
Ark in which Noah was saved.2 And again, it goes so high as to
become a baptism with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.3 Four
senses of the word baptism, each of them scriptural, and most
distinct ; and yet neither of them the sense intended by Christ
when he instituted the sacrament of baptism, and commanded
his Apostles to teach all nations, and to baptize his followers in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.4
And if there were a thousand scriptural senses, and a thousand
more heathen senses, in which the word had been used, should
that prevent the Lord Jesus from using it in a specific sense, for
a special purpose ? What if some hundreds of its other senses
did better accord, in the judgment of many thousands of men,
learned and unlearned, with the original meaning which they
suppose the word had, or should have had, than the sense the
Lord gave to it did ; should that oblige the Lord to mean what
he did not mean ? Nay if countless men, who judge themselves
to be learned, are sure that one special sense is the true, original
sense of a term afterwards used in many senses ; should that
oblige us to torture language, human and divine, until we extort,
no matter at what cost of reason and faith, the meaning which
satisfies this multitude ? For my own part, I admit the right
of the divine Bedeemer to establish what ordinances he pleased ;
to give them what names he thought proper ; and to attach to
the terms he used, the sense he considered most appropriate.
Thus accepted, the Scriptures do unquestionably teach, as I
think I have proved, and as the true followers of Christ have
commonly and always believed, that what the Lord meant by
baptism was a divine mystery, administered by his Apostles, and
to be administered to all his disciples to the end of the world,
by duly authorized stewards of his mysteries ; that the element
used in this divine ordinance, was water ; that the administration
of it was directed by the Saviour to be in the name of the Father,
and of the Sou, and of the Holy Ghost ; and that it was designed
to be, and has continued according to the promise of Christ to
i Acts, xviii. 24-26 ; xix. 1-7. * 1 Peter, hi. 20, 21.
« Matt, hi 11 ; Luke, iii 16 * Matt., xxviii. 18, 19.

570 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
the present time, one of the two sacraments of the Gospel Church.
So far, there is probably no dispute amongst evangelical Christians.
I add, that this sacrament was designed and understood by his
Apostles, to be administered to the infant seed of believers, as I
have endeavoured to prove : that it was designed by Christ and
understood by his Apostles, to be administered by the application
of water to the subject, that is by affusion, or the pouring or
sprinkling of the water upon the subject, and not by immersing
him in the water ; as I will attempt to prove.
5. In considering the intention of the Lord, as to the mode
in which water should be used in the administration of this sacra
ment, which intention if it can be ascertained is conclusive on all
who believe in him ; some of the grounds upon which we are now
able to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion, may be very briefly
stated, somewhat after the following manner.
(a) Nature of the Grace, of the Seal, of their Relation to
each other, and all to Christ. It is, as I have proved, the doc-
trine_of the word of God and of the Church of Christ, that the
fundamental idea of a sacrament is, that it is an outward and
visible sign of inward and invisable grace ; and that the
great mward^race signified in baptism, by the sacramental use
of water, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, ist_the purification of the soul by the blood of Christ,
through the work of the Spirit. Now the whole of this is from
God to us : done to us from above, not done by us. It is the
grace of God, the blood of Christ, the work of the Spirit, applied
to us. The water which signifies it all, and signifies by its puri
fying virtue the effect of all, and that by the institution of Christ,
should also be applied to us. Which is confirmed by the decla
ration that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God
the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ :' and the further
declaration that the pouring out of the Spirit of God, is the
characteristic work of the only dispensation in which water is a
sacramental element.2 It is the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
it is the outpouring of the Spirit of God on us, it is the efficacy
of these which produces the inward grace, which the water sig
nifies. Unless we are expressly told the contrary, how are we to
i 1 Peter, i. 2 ; Heb., xii. 24.
a Joel, ii. 28, 29; Acts, ii 17, 18.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 571
avoid the conclusion that the water, also, must be poured or
sprinkled on us ?
(5) Relation of Sprinkling Blood and Water, always, to pu
rification and to Christ. The use of both water and of blood in
the sacred mysteries of the Church of God, was habitual and
constant under the institutions of Moses from their origin. But
that ancient form of the Church, was simply a dispensation of
the Messianic Kingdom, of which the Saviour of the world was
the head and Lord : and everything in it was his, and pointed
continuaUy to him. Moreover he was a Jew, and his ministry
was passed as a minister of the circumcision ; and his Apostles
were all Jews ; and his whole life was passed in scrupulous and
perfect observance of the entire righteousness that was by the
law. Now when the covenant between God and his people was
ratified after the giving of the law at Sinai; Moses by the command
of God, sprinkled half the blood of the sacrifices offered to God
upon the altar, and the rest of the blood he sprinkled upon the
people, saying, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord
hath made with you.1 The Apostle Paul in allusion to this, and
in the transcendent exaltation of the Christian above the Jewish
dispensation, says, We are come to Jesus the Mediator of the
new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh bet
ter things than that of Abel.2 It was a perpetual statute, that
all who were ceremonially unclean by any contact with the dead,
should have the water of separation applied to them, as a puri
fication from sin : which was done by sprinkfing the water upon
the person :3 and upon the great day of Atonement, once every
year, the high priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice even
upon the mercy seat, which covered the ark :4 both of which with
other ordinances, the Apostle Paul recounts in iUustrating what
the Lord Jesus had done, and adds, How much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot unto God, purge your consciences from dead works
to serve the living God ?6 Let me add the remarkable declaration
of Paul, that all Israel that went up out of Egypt were baptized
into Moses in the cloud and in the sea :" and that of Isaiah, in
one of his most illustrious prophecies of Christ, So shall he
sprinkle many nations :7 and that of Ezekiel, when expressly
1 Ex., xxiv. 6-8. 2 Heb., xii. 24. s Numb., xix. passim. 4 Lev., xvi. 14.
s Heb., ix. passim. e 1 Cor., x. 2. t Isa., Iii 15.

572 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
foretelling that blessed time, when God would give his people a
new heart, and put a new spirit within them, Then I will sprinkle
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean.1 Let these exam
ples suffice, to illustrate the mode in which blood and water were
used by the authority of Christ himself, in the sacred mysteries
of the ancient Church ; the form in which these ideas lay in the
mind of every child of God on earth, when Christ instituted the
sacrament of baptism with water, as the sign of the sprinkling
of his purifying blood — the form in which they could not but lay
in the mind of the Jewish people on the day of Pentecost when
the first Christian baptism was administered to three thousand
Jews. In the absence of any explicit statement that he meant
something else, how can we doubt that he intended the water in
baptism to signify a purification, and to be sprinkled or poured
on the subject ?
(c) Sense, original and actual, of the Words personally used
by Christ. The language of the New Testament is a somewhat
peculiar dialect of the Greek : though that is not the language
which Christ spoke, and in which he taught. We have those
sacred writings in that tongue, by inspiration of the Holy Ghost:
and accept them as they are, as infallible truth concerning what
our Saviour said, and did, and meant. It is extremely easy for
those whose minde are already made up that a particular mode
of baptism is exclusively valid ; to make positive assertions
concerning the original meaning and only proper use and signifi-
cancy of words in this peculiar language and in classic Greek ;
neither of which the bulk of mankind know anything of, and
which very few persons understand thoroughly. I cannot, of
course, enter at large into discussions bearing on that aspect of
the subject, in such a Treatise as this. What is proper here, on
such a point, with reference to such a subject, is to state my
own convictions, and support them as briefly as possible.
The wonder is that it should ever have been supposed, that we
are competent to determine either the laws of thought or of
speech in such a manner ; as by them to fix an absolute and
invariable sense beforehand, to which the utterance of the Cre
ator, both of thought and speech, shall be limited. The utmost
to which we are competent, is some just knowledge of the sub
ject and the language, and then the careful consideration of
1 Ezekiel, xxxvi. 25.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM 573
what God has actuaUy said and done. The sacred use of water
in connection with their religious rites, which I have alluded to
in the case of the Hebrews, is known to have been common to
aU ancient nations — the Egyptians, the inhabitants of Judea,
the Persians, the early Bomans, as well as the Greeks. If it
were positively certain that the mode of this sacred use, espe
cially among the Greeks, was exclusively by immersing the
person in water ; it would prove nothing with regard to the in
tention of Christ as to the sacred use of water by him in the
Christian Church : not even if he should adopt the very words
they had previously used in their mysteries. This obvious truth
is illustrated in the frequency with which words in common use
by Greek authors, are employed in the New Testament in a
sense materially, sometimes wholly different from the classical
sense, in order to express ideas peculiar to the Church, and to
salvation. And surely, in the whole system of Jesus, nothing
is more peculiar than the idea of the union of the soul with
him, through the virtue of his shed blood, applied to us in the
work of a divine agent. I deny, however, that there was anything
in the original signification, or the previous use whether common
or sacred, of the word employed to express the intention of Jesus
in the institution of this sacrament,* to authorize the inference
that he meant the subject of it to be immersed in water. On the
contrary the original sense of the term (/3aTrra) from which all
the rest are derived, was, when applied to things common, that
their state was changed by ohanging the surface — and when ap
plied to things sacred, that their state was changed by purifying
them ; which, in effect, accords with the idea of baptism, by
which the state of man, both external and internal, is signified
as being changed ; changed outwardly by his becoming a cove
nanted follower of Christ, and inwardly by his being born of the
Spirit. In the common use of the terms, they signify any
change of colour by dyeing garments, or anything else, even the
hair ; the glazing of pottery ; the painting, varnishing and gild
ing of pillars, statues, or anything else ; the cleansing of house
hold vessels and furniture by the use of water, and the like ;
some of which uses can be easily proved by citations from the
New Testament, and all of them, and many more to the same
purport, are common in the Greek classics. The use of the
* Barrrt^ovTec — f3airTi£u  fiaTCTC).

574 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
words attributed to Christ by the sacred writers, is remarkable.
He told Nicodemus, early in his ministry, that in order to enter
the Kingdom of Heaven, a man must be born of water and of
the Spirit ;' but it was not until after his resurrection that he
explained this use of water to be baptism in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ;2 nor till then
that he explained the great difference between John's baptism,
and his own.3 In one of his parables he put the word Paifin into
the mouth of a man in hell ; Send Lazarus that he may dip the
tip of his finger in water ;* and as he celebrated the last Supper,
he used it again in the same sense.* He that dippeth his hand
with me in the dish : one of the twelve that dippeth with me in
the dish : he it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped
it ; it is thus our translators have rendered the places.5 He
used the word again, when he spake of his own cup and bap
tism ;f alluding doubtless to his agony in the garden of Geth-
semane and on the Cross ; to the whole, it may bej- that befell
him, from the last Supper till his resurrection.6 Once he appHed
the word (ia^naiia to the baptism of John, demanding of those
who questioned his own authority, whence that baptism was.'
These are the chief instances, if not the whole, in which it is
known that Jesus personally used these words, either before or
after his resurrection. He appHed them once to the baptism of
John, once to the wetting of the tip of the finger, once to a
piece of food put in a dish, and to the putting of a man's hand
in a dish for food, twice to his own approaching agony ; and after
his resurrection, he used them once in instituting the sacrament,
once in exhibiting its relation to salvation, and once in pointing
out the difference between John's baptism with water, and the
immediately approaching baptism of the Holy Ghost, which
John had so distinctly taught was peculiar to Christ, and out of
all comparison superior to his own. Upon this state of case,
presented in this paragraph, and remembering what was shown
before, what pretext is there for asserting that the teaching of
Jesus establishes immersion as a way, much less the exclusive
way of Christian baptism ?
' John, iii. 5. s Mat, xxviii. 19 ; Mark, xvi 16. s Acts, i 5 ; xi. 16. 4 Luke, xvi 24.
* Efi/3afar — efi^aixrojievoc — pafac. E Mat., xxvi 23 ; Mark, xiv. 20; John, xiii. 26.
\ Harcnofia — jiaTmadrpiai — jSaTTTi^o/iai — ^aTTTiaBvaeade.
e Mat, xx. 21, 22 ; Mark, x. 38, 39 ; Luke, xii 49, 50 ; xxi. 25
' Mark, xi. 30 ; Luke, xx. 4.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 575
(d) Sense of Christ's special Explanation. In connection
with his command to await the outpouring of the Spirit, Christ
said to his Apostles, For John truly baptized with water ;
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days
hence.1 Peter says that when the Holy Ghost fell on the Gen
tiles in the house of Cornelius, he remembered the words of the
Lord, which he repeats ; and they led him to baptize those first
Gentile Christians.2 Thus remarkably did Christ fulfil the prom
ise he had made, that the Comforter should teach them all things,
and bring all things to their remembrance.3 Thus remarkably
did he make Peter the honoured instrument of opening the Church
of God, once more, to the nations so long rejected ; according
to his promise to him, when Peter made that great confession of
him.4 And thus completely did this explanation by Christ, of
the baptism he had instituted, control its administration, as we
shall afterwards see, both to the Jews and Gentiles. What I
insist on here is, that those decisive words of Christ, oblige us to
understand that his baptism was to be administered loith water,
and not in — much less into water ; that the water was to be ap
plied to the person — not that the person was to be immersed in
the water. The Greek words are the same, in both the passages
already cited from the Acts of the Apostles.* The language in
the English is also very nearly the same in both passages, and
exactly expresses the sense ; baptized with water — baptized with
the Holy Ghost : a form of expression, and of contrast, common
in the New Testament. But the Greek form of expression in
the words used by Christ, is not the same in both branches of
the statement. When he says John baptized with water, he
puts the noun (vdari) in the dative case, after the verb, and omits
the preposition {ev~) ; and when he says they should be baptized
with the Holy Ghost, he uses the preposition before the dative
case (sv nvevfian dyio>). In the former case it is John, and the
person baptized, and the means, the element, with which as the
case used shows : in the latter case it is Christ, and the person
baptized and the divine Agent with whose concurrence, as the
case used shows. It is noteworthy that the writer of the Acts
of the Apostles, when repeating the words of John the Baptist,
i Acts, i 5. 2 Acts, xi. 16.
» John, xiv. 26. ¦> Matt., xvi. 16-19.
* "On luavvnc uev e/3anTUv Man, ifteic <5e (SairTioBnoeode iv irvev/MTi (iyi6j.

576 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
expresses the same sense as to the water, by changing the phrase
a Httle ; putting the noun (vdan) before the verb, in the dative,
and without the preposition ; at the same time preserving the
exact form in what related to Christ. Matthew and Mark re
peating the words of John the Baptist, use the preposition
before both nouns, in the dative case, after the verb :l while
John once conforms to that usage, and once uses the noun
before the verb, prefixing both the preposition and the arti
cle.2 These are the various forms in which the statements
concerning the relation of John's baptism and that of Christ to
each other, are given in the words of both of them, by Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John. The unquestionable sense of all the
statements seems to me to be, first, that we must be baptized
with water, and not into water ; and, secondly, even if toith water
were proved to mean in water in the sense of completely wetting
the person, it would be as remote as ever from immersion, that
is, into the water. Such modes of expression as I have pointed
out, oblige us to understand that the water, and the blood, and
the Spirit are applied to us : and I suppose it to be impossible
to find, or to construct, a Greek sentence analogous to these re
markable passages, which could, without violence, be understood
otherwise. If this be so, the very words used by Christ, after his
resurrection, to his Apostles, in exposition both of John's bap
tism and of that which he had instituted, oblige us to see that
Christian baptism is to be administered, not by immersion, but
by sprinkling or pouring water on the subject.
(e) Sense attributed to these Words by the Apostles of thi
Lord. The sense intended by Christ to be affixed to the terms
he used in instituting the Sacrament of baptism ; is precisely
determined by the use made of them by his Apostles, who re
ceived the command from him, and executed it with plenary au
thority and inspiration. Their account of the matter is to the
following purport : Christ loved the Church, and gave himself
for it : that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glori
ous Church, not having spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing ;
but that it should be holy and without blemish.3 Here is the love
and the sacrifice of Christ — the power of the divine word — the
power and effects of the divine Spirit — the product of all, the glo-
1 Matt, hi. 11 ; Mark, i. 8. 3 John, i 26-33. 3 Eph., v. 25-27.

CHAP. XXIX. J SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 577
rious Church ; but in the midst of these, is the cleansing of the
Church with the washing of water.* Baptism, therefore, rep
resents the powerful washing of the blood and Spirit of Christ,
by which we have access, by a new and living way to the holiest
of aU ; to which, says the Apostle, Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.1 How
then is it possible for the heart to be purified, by having it
sprinkled ? Paul tells us it is by sprinkling it with the blood
of Christ, that the conscience is purged from dead works.2 And
as to sprinkling the blood of Christ on the heart, Peter tells us
that this sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, is through
sanctification of the Spirit :3 and to clear the matter still fur
ther, he adds that by the washing of our bodies with pure water
in baptism, he does not understand the putting away of the filth
of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God.4
For it is not by works of righteousness that we have done, but
according to the mercy of God our Saviour, that he saved us, by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ;
which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Sa
viour.6 But what Paul had called the washing of water in the
Epistle to the Ephesians, he calls here the washing of regenera-
tion.f Baptism, therefore, is the seal of our ingrafting into Christ,
and into his body which is the Church ; a seal, also, of our puri
fication by the work of the Holy Ghost ; and the washing with
water in it, is not to cleanse the filthiness of the flesh, but signi
fies the work of the Spirit in the conscience, — and is after the
manner of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, upon our
hearts. Christ said to Nicodemus, Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of
God ;" and the declaration of Paul is precise, that God saves us,
according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and the
renewing of the Holy Ghost.7 According to the word of God,
the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth us from all
sin ;s even that Jesus who came not by water only, but by water
and blood, as the spirit of truth beareth witness.9 And so it is
* YLadapioac rip h>vrpu rov vdaroc. l Heb., x. 22. 2 Heb., ix. 13, 14.
8 1 Peter, i 2. 4 1 Peter, iii. 21. 5 Titus, hi. 4-6.
f Aia lovrpov ¦naTiiyyevemac. 6 John, iii. 5. ' Titus, hi. 4, 5.
8 1 John, i 7. "1 John, v. 6.
VOL. II. 37

578 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
declared, Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified, in the
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.1 Now,
that this sacred mystery, this baptism, this washing, this sprink
ling,* was the sacramental application of water to the person of
him who received the ordinance ; thereby signifying and sealing
his ingrafting into Christ, and his purification by the Holy Ghost ;
is as undeniably certain, as it is that the Greek tongue is capable
of expressing these ideas. As to any teaching of the divine Scrip
tures, that this sacrament is a burial, or an immersion ; that it is
an exorcism, or a charm, or that it has any inherent efficacy, or
that it is to be accompanied with any ceremonies beyond those
necessary in the solernn application of the water to the person :
nothing of that sort is to be found in the word of God ; but a
great deal irreconcilable with it all. As to any pretended incon
sistency between the obvious sense conveyed by the language of
the sacred writers, and the alleged original, and only proper sense
of the terms they used ; it appears to me that those men, speak
ing Greek by immediate inspiration of God, instructed in what
they taught immediately by Christ, and full of the Holy Ghost ;
very probably knew what they professed to teach. And that
they were both honest and in earnest, is rather clearly proved by
their having sealed their testimony with their blood.
IV. — 1. It remains to examine, as carefuUy as my limits will
allow, the Apostolic practice with regard to the administration of
this sacrament. The first instance of it that occurred, was alto
gether the most wonderful and pregnant ; and the divine state
ment of the actual event corresponds, in simplicity and brevity,
with those concerning the institution and the exposition of the
sacrament by Christ. Then they that gladly received the word
were baptized ; and the same day there were added unto them
about three thousand souls.2 This record was made many years
after the event, and by a man who may not have been present on
the occasion : but the Acts of the Apostles as an inspired book
is invested with such proofs of its divine origin, as to justify the
title by which it was once known, namely, the Gospel of the Holy
Ghost. Those long intervening years had been full of the most
wonderful events. Luke, the writer of the book, in which the
history of the planting of the Gospel Church, and of the first
1 1 Cor., vii. 7, 11. * Mvarnpiov — j3aiTTio/ia — Xovrpov — fiavTiojioc.
* Acts, 11.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 579
period of the dispensation of the Spirit with power, has been
preserved ; had already written his Gospel, in which the life and
acts of Christ, from his birth to his taking up into heaven, are
narrated ; and the doctrine and practice of that baptism, the
first and grandest example of which is stated in the words I
have quoted, had penetrated all civilized nations. Considering
the solemn occasion on Pentecost from this point of view, and in
this light; it would have been strange if the Evangelist had
paused in his great narrative, to give a particular explanation of
the mode of administering baptism. He recounts the miraculous
outpouring of the Spirit, that promise of the Father so much in
sisted on by Christ ; the miraculous effects of this on the Apos
tles, and their immediate exercise of the gift of tongues ; the
amazement of the vast, heterogeneous multitude gathered out of
all nations at Jerusalem, and their hurrying together in confused
wonder and trouble ; the mighty discourse of Peter, and its
mighty effects ; three thousand souls accepting the words of eter
nal Hfe — added to the company of the redeemed — baptized. If
there is anything connected with such a scene as this, which
throws incidental but clear light upon things less important
than the main events ; we can hardly doubt that this light be
longs to the nature of the case, and is to be confidently ac
cepted by us. I think there is much, and will endeavour to
disclose it.
2. (a) The nature of the Events and the shortness of the
time. It was the third hour of the day ; about nine o'clock in
the forenoon. The three thousand persons were baptized and
were added to the Church of Christ, that same day.1 The ninth
hour of the day, about three o'clock in the afternoon, was the
habitual hour of public prayer, at which the Apostles attended ;
and this was a season of great solemnity.2 The entire period
occupied by these great occurrences, could not, therefore, have
occupied more than six hours. Within that space must be
crowded, all that was uttered by Peter — those other words, (as
well as what is recorded) in which he testified and exhorted the
multitude to save themselves from that untoward generation ;
and all that was said by all the Apostles, before Peter commenced
his discourse, to crowds of people from every nation under heaven,
of whom fifteen nations are mentioned by name, to every man in
1 Acts, ii. 15, 41. s Acts, iii. 1 ; ii. 48.

580 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
his own tongue wherein he was born, concerning the things whereof
the Spirit gave them utterance.1 Moreover it was to be ascer
tained who they were who gladly received the word, and they
were to be separated from the great impenitent multitude, and
were to give such proofs of their faith as satisfied the Apostles,
before they received them into their fellowship. And further
still, whether we suppose these stupendous scenes to have oc
curred in the very temple itself, or in the general enclosure more
largely called the temple,* or perhaps in one of the courts or
porches of it ; in either case, whatever delay may have arisen
from the special difficulties appertaining to the particular place,
must be considered. To say nothing further, let the six hours
allowed by the inspired narrative, suffer the deduction required
by the foregoing circumstances ; and how are we to conceive it
to be possible, that the portion of time remaining was sufficient
to allow of the immersion of three thousand persons, even if, on
the instant, and at the place, everything had been in readiness ?
There are but three allowable solutions. They were immersed
by the Apostles — which seems to be impossible. Or they were
sprinkled in mass, according to the custom of the Jews, who on
certain occasions appear to have purified in this manner, by the
sprinkling of blood or water with a hyssop ;3 which would not
have been the baptism instituted by Christ, and is wholly unsup
ported by evidence. Or they were baptized by pouring or sprink
ling water upon each one of them, sacramentally ; just as they
would be now, according to the method still practised in the
Church of Christ ; which was possible, under the circumstances.
The conclusion then, supposing the mode of baptism to be dis
puted and doubtful, is apparently very strong against the immer
sion of these three thousand persons — and in favour of their
baptism by the application of water to them.
(6) The Nature of the Place, and the Circumstances. Let it
be borne in mind that the circumstances of this enquiry are
inexorable. It is expressly stated that these people were con
verted on the day of Pentecost, and that they were baptized the
same day : they were baptized with water : and there are but
three modes by which this is possible, namely, putting them into
water, or applying the water to them, or combining both in one
1 Acts, ii. 5-13, 40. * Nnoc — the temple itself; lepov — everything in the walled area.
" Ex., xii. 22 ; Lev., xiv. 51 ; Num., xix. 18 ; Heb., ix. 19.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 581
ordinance. As to the third of these possible methods — it is not
imaginary. It probably prevailed to a considerable extent in the
early Church ; and in it, and in some of the oriental Churches,
so far as trine immersion has ever prevailed, the water poured on
the subject after the threefold immersion, was, in effect, the real
baptism ; the immersions being purifications in the name of the
Trinity, added without divine warrant, gradually accepted as part,
and by some finally as the whole of the sacrament. In the
Churches of the Latin Empire, in the Papal Church, and the
Protestant Churches, this superstition, which only increases all
the difficulties of the immersionists, never prevailed ; and need
not be discussed here. Upon the circumstances stated, therefore,
it follows, that whatever tends to establish either of the re
maining two modes, tends in an equal degree to confute the
other : and whatever subverts one establishes the other. This
inexorable antagonism is the basis of all the practical difficulty
created by the immersionists, and is the logical foundation of
their argument, their conclusion, and their practice. It is better
to accept the issue, and put an end to the question, if that be
possible, than to content ourselves, as was formerly the case, with
affirming the lawfulness of affusion as a mode of scriptural bap
tism. Admitting then that a mode is the mode, I urge that in
addition to the physical impossibility arising out of the nature
of the transaction, which I have explained in the preceding
paragraph ; there is an additional and more obvious impossi
bility, arising out of the nature of the place where, and the cir
cumstances under which, the transaction occurred. It is not
possible that these three thousand persons could have been bap
tized by the Apostles, and the record is positive that they alone
had anything to do with the matter j1 because there was no place
about the temple where it could be done at all, in the sudden and
hurried manner required ; and because if there had been such a
place, they would not have been allowed to put it to any such use.
If the events occurred in the temple itself, or within its general
area, in one of its courts or porches ; then it is certain there was
no possible way of immersing three thousand persons off hand,
about the temple ; certain, also, that those having the control
of the temple and its sacred pools, would not ha-ve allowed them
to be used for any such purpose, even if they had existed, and
1 Acts, ii. passim.

582 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD [BOOK V.
been* sufficient, and in complete readiness ; certain, also, that
the temper of the Jewish priests towards Christ whom they had
caused to be crucified a little before, and towards Peter whom
they caused to be arrested a little after, was the furthest possi
ble from allowing to the Apostles, of aU men in the world, indul
gences forbidden by their law and their traditions, and which
those priests could consider as nothing but a profane and osten
tatious desecration of the temple. The narrative contains no in
timation that any change of plan occurred, preparatory to the
baptism ; but it proceeds exactly as if the three thousand per
sons were baptized forthwith, and where they were ; and it is
manifest that all the proprieties of the case, indicate the temple
of Jerusalem as the very spot, where the Holy Ghost should de
scend upon the infant Church of Christ, and where his Apostles
should inaugurate that Church amidst just such proofs of the
mighty power of God, as attended that first Christian baptism.
But the exigencies of the place and circumstances, as well as the
narrowness of the time before pointed out, rendering one of two
disputed modes of baptism impossible, the presumption is irre
sistible that the other mode, which was perfectly practicable at
the place and under the circumstances, was the one adopted. I
suppose it cannot be controverted that these events took place
in the temple : for in immediate connection with the statement
of them, it is said they continued daily with one accord in the
temple,1 and it is afterwards added that the Apostles ceased not
to teach and preach Jesus Christ daily in the temple.2 And
moreover, it is expressly stated that the second great discourse
of Peter, which he was arrested and imprisoned for preaching,
and under which many believed, and the number of the men was
increased to about five thousand ;3 was delivered in the temple,
in the porch that is caUed Solomon's.4 It is significant that while
it was said many of them that heard the word beHeved, there is
no indication that any were then baptized ; it being eventide,
and Peter and John who had gone there together, being put in
hold unto the next day.8 But even if it were conceded that the
great scene on Pentecost did not take place in the temple ; or
if it were conceded that although it did take place there, up to
the actual administration of the Sacrament, and then the three
i Acts, ii 46. 2 Acts, v. 42. « Acts, iv. 4.
4 Acts, ffi, 1-11. 5 Acts, iv. 1-4.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 583
thousand persons were led away and immediately immersed some
where else ; neither admission can beget a doubt as to the mode
of their baptism. We have the means of knowing more about
the city of Jerusalem, in all that bears upon the present enquiry,
than about any decayed city that ever existed. And it may be
pronounced to be certain, that nowhere in that city, on the even
ing of that day, was it possible for those three thousand persons
to have been immersed off hand by the Apostles, without any
previous expectation or preparation for the unparalleled occasion,
in the space of time left to them. It could not have been done
at the pool of Bethesda, which was near the temple ; for besides
being in the possession of the priests, and being the common re
ceptacle of the filth from the temple and of the blood and offals
of the sacrifices, it was habitually without an adequate supply
of water for immersion, at the season of Pentecost. It could
not have been done at the brook Kidron, a turbid rivulet whose
channel passed along the east side of Jerusalem, and was dry
except in winter. It could not have been at Siloam, a small
fountain depressed in the rock, some distance from the temple,
at the foot of Mount Moriah and Mount Zion, and from which
at some distance, a small riU emerged with an inconstant flow.
No, it was not possible. It was by no such spectacle — by no
such wild and confused attempt to display a burial in water as
the sacramental commemoration of the mighty power of God,
that day experienced by thousands and witnessed by all Jerusa
lem ; that the Kingdom of Messiah assumed its last and perfect
form, as a dispensation of the grace of God unto salvation.
¦ (c) Nature of the Case itself, as divinely explained. There
is another aspect of the subject, which seems to me to have a
controlling influence. The relation of the Holy Ghost to the sa
craments of the. New Testament Church, is as fundamental a
part of the doctrine of these sacraments, as the relation of Christ
himself to them. This relation of the Spirit is more obvious
with regard to baptism than to the Lord's Supper. For the
Lord's Supper being a special sacramental commemoration of
Christ's propitiatory sacrifice, the relation of the Spirit to it is,
that he uses it as one of the methods of applying to believers the
benefits of that sacrifice. But he does this also with regard to
the sacrament of baptism, and the benefits signified and sealed
in it ; but does it in such a way as, in addition, to signify and

584 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
seal his own special work in our salvation ; this sacrament being
a special sign and seal of the purification which the Spirit him
self works in us. When the matter is considered in this light, it
is easy to see why an immersionist represents baptism as a burial,
and not a purification. For if we allow water, the visible sign
in baptism and the visible purifier of all things sensible, to rep
resent the work of the only purifier of all things spiritual,
namely the Holy Ghost ; it is but a short step afterwards to the
conclusion, that the manner of applying the water should sym
bolize, and not outrage, the manner of the application of the
Spirit. The Lord Jesus took bread, and broke it, and said, take,
eat, this is my body which is broken for you.1 In like manner,
this is God's Spirit poured out on us ; and why should we refuse
to pour water, in token thereof, on him that is baptized?
Throughout thirty years embraced in the Acts of the Apostles —
throughout all their immense labours — I believe it will be impos
sible to find a single expression or act, suggestive of any concep
tion of the work of the Spirit, which is justly represented by the
immersion of the believer in water ; while the application of
water to the believer justly represents the conception of the work
of the Spirit, which the uniform language of Scripture suggests.
No more decisive example of this need be sought, than is found
in-the narrative of the events of Pentecost ; in which numerous
expressions occur illustrating what I insist on. Thus : Suddenly
there came a sound from heaven — cloven tongues as of fire ap
peared unto them and sat upon them — they were filled with the
Holy Ghost — they spake with other tongues as the Spirit gave
them utterance — the whole was the result of God's Spirit poured
out upon them — which, by special promise of the Father was
poured out that day — the Lord Jesus having received, that pro
mise had shed forth that Spirit which was to be poured out on
all flesh— they were pricked in their heart — Peter told them they
might receive the gift of the Holy Ghost — they gladly received
the word — and were baptized.2 All this appertains to the narra
tive of the first baptism, after the advent of the Spirit. Is it
capable of belief that the sacrament which, on the spot responded
to it all, was so administered as to conceal, confuse, and contra
dict the conception constantly suggested by the narrative ; when
it might be so administered as to conform to it, illustrate it and
1 1 Cor., xi 23, 24. a Acts, ii. passim.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 585
enforce it ! That a sacrament with water, after all this, did not
mean purification, but did mean burial ? That it did neither
signify nor seal the outpouring of the Spirit, then operating gra
ciously in the hearts of thousands, and miraculously before the
eyes of thousands besides, and therefore water must not be ap
plied to men ; but did signify and seal the burial of the body of
Jesus, and therefore men must be immersed in water ? Upon a
careful consideration of this immense and decisive example, I do
not see a single circumstance compatible with the notion that
these three thousand persons were immersed by the Apostles ;
but, on the contrary, it does appear to me to be certain that they
were baptized by affusion — that is by sprinkling or pouring water
upon them. Still however, I repeat, that I consider the perver
sion of the sacrament from its true nature and end, and the
schism wrought in the Church of Christ in support of that per
version, far graver evils than a simple error as to the mode of
using the sacramental element. For an error as to the mode does
not necessarily annul the sacrament itself, nor necessarily produce
schism. But schism is sinful of itself ; and the perversion of the
sacraments in their absolute nature, attacks the essence of faith,
and the life of the Church.
3. Next in importance to the great example which I have
considered, is the baptism of the company of Gentiles in the city
of Cassarea ; concerning which the Scriptures give so full an ac
count. By it, the right of the Gentile world to share in the life
and immortality brought to light by the Gospel, was miracu
lously established, and openly sealed. By the events of Pente
cost the Gospel Church is fully endowed with the Holy Ghost —
antl commences her sublime course. By the events at Caasarea,
eight years afterwards, she enters upon the greatness of her
work, and is forced to understand that God manifest in the flesh is
to be preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on throughout the
world.1 Ye shall be witnesses unto me, said the Saviour to the
Apostles, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.2 And now they had
borne their testimony to Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria ;8
and the time had come to commence the world work. We
have seen the majestic figure of Peter in the very front of the
great scene when the kingdom of heaven was opened to the
1 1 Tim., hi. 16. » Acts, i. 8. 3 Acts, ix. 31.

586 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
Jews ; and now we see him chosen of Christ, according to his
wonderful promise to him,1 to open the Kingdom to the Gentile
world. So Peter understood it ; and none could gainsay it. For
when he recounted what he had done, they of the circumcision
held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also
to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.2 In the arduous
years which had intervened, and during which such wonderful
results had followed the labours of the early Christians ; so far
was this great Apostle from losing the impression of the events
of Pentecost, that the very declaration of the Saviour which
filled his mind that day, and which he expounded to the Jews
who crowded the temple, filled his mind again as he stood in the
palace of the Boman soldier at Caesarea, and expounded to the
Gentile multitude the doctrine of Jesus of Nazareth. I remem
bered, said he, the word of the Lord how he said, John indeed
baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost.3 God had shown both to him and Cornelius, that the
whole matter was of his own divine ordination ; and as Peter
uttered the words of eternal life, the Holy Ghost fell on the "Gen
tiles as he had fallen on the Jews, and the same miraculous gifts
were bestowed upon them. Well might Peter demand of those
brethren of the circumcision, who afterwards contended with him,
Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gifts as he did unto
us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I, that I
could withstand God ?4 He commanded them to be baptized in
the name of the Lord.5 And now I will gather from this great
example, the matter and manner of the baptism.
4. (a) Matters common to the Baptism on Pentecost, and that
at Ccesarea. There is so much that is common to the two ear
liest Apostolic administrations of Jewish and Gentile bap
tism in the Christian Church, that much of what I have said
concerning that, appHes with equal force to this. There are two
inspired accounts of this baptism in Caesarea : one written by
Luke, the other given in the words of Peter himself;0 and a
third, but brief statement of the case by that Apostle, when the
memorable decision concerning Gentile circumcision was ren
dered.7 Not only are the operations of the Holy Ghost, and the
1 Matt., xvi 19. a Acts, xi 18. 3 Acts, xi 16 ; ii. 33 ; i 5.
» Acts, xi 17. 5 Acts, x. 48. • Acts, x.passim; xi. 1-18.
T Acts, xv. 7-11.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 587
reality and nature of his gifts continually insisted on ; but the
manner also — his being given to us, poured out on us, his de
scending on us, filling us — is constantly stated. And throughout
this transaction, the connection between the work of the Spirit
and the sacrament of baptism, and between the nature of the
application of the one inwardly and the other outwardly to us ;
is as clearly stated and sustained, as I have shown it is in the ac
count of the events of Pentecost. In this case as in the previ
ous one, the idea that baptism is a sacramental representation of
the burial of Jesus, and must be administered by burying us in
water, is wholly destitute of any support. This case, therefore,
like the other, presents two conclusive lines of proof ; one nega
tive, showing the total absence of everything suggestive of, or
consistent with, that conception of this sacrament and its nature
and end, which immersion exacts ; the other positive, showing
the existence of everything suggestive of, and consistent with, that
conception of it which requires it to be administered with water
and not into water. That is, upon any principle of symbolism
immersion is necessarily confuted ; because it is neither a symbol
of any known sacrament, nor of any known act of God, or grace
in man. But the correspondence between the symbol and the
thing sacramentally symbolized, is assumed as indispensable,
when our immersion is declared to be symbohcal of the burial
of Jesus. Therefore, baptism being symbolical, it is impossible
that immersion can be the mode. On the other hand, to purify
men is the work of God, and to be pure is a grace in man ; and
the purifying Spirit is poured out — and the appHcation of puri
fying water to us, is a sacramental symbol. And this is the doc
trine of the first Gentile, as well as of the first Jewish baptism
by the Apostles of the Lord.
(b) Circumstances peculiar to this Example. As in the pre
ceding case there were many circumstances, some of which have
been considered, which were decisive of the nature of the sacra
ment and of the nature of its administration ; so in this case,
besides those circumstances common to it and the previous ex
ample, there are others peculiar to it, which throw much light
on the principles and acts involved in it. Of all the baptisms
administered by the Apostles, this one alone seems to have been
attended with great previous deliberation, to have been adminis
tered under controlling divine guidance against the previous scru-

588 THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. [BOOK V.
pies and strong personal convictions of the Apostle, to have been
seriously called in question after it was celebrated, and to have
been ratified after deliberate consideration. Indeed the princi
ple on which it rested according to the decision of the Apostles and
Elders, by its working finally subverted all that was temporary
and special in the religious institutions of Moses.1 Cornelius, a
Boman centurion doing military duty at Caesarea, at that time
the civil metropolis of Palestine, a devout man and one that
feared God with aU his house, generous in alms and constant in
prayer ; having been instructed in a vision by an Angel of God,
sent a devout soldier and two household servants to Joppa, with
a message to Simon Peter, that God required him to come and
tell him words whereby he and all his house should be saved.2
The day following the vision of Cornelius at Caesarea, Peter had
a vision still more remarkable at Joppa, the import of which he
did not then understand ; but the great and general sense of
which God himself explained to be, that what he has cleansed
is no longer common or unclean. While he still meditated on
the vision, the messengers of Cornelius had arrived, and found the
house of Simon the Tanner, and asked for Peter ; and the Spirit
had told Peter that the men were there and that he had sent
them, and bade him go with them, nothing doubting. Instructed
by the messengers from Cornelius concerning him, and concern
ing the vision he had, pondering the vision he himself had, acting
under the immediate command of the Spirit ; he went to Joppa
expressly to teach the Gentiles the way of salvation through Jesus
Christ. Accompanied by six brethren of the circumcision from
Joppa, and the three messengers of Cornelius, Peter journeyed to
Caesarea during the two following days ; ample time and oppor
tunity being thus afforded him, for conference with God, with his
own soul, with his brethren of the circumcision, and with the de
vout Gentiles of their company, touching the wonders of divine
love and mercy, which none of them could doubt, were to be dis
closed. Entering Caesarea on the second day, he found at the
house of Cornelius, beside his ovu household, his kinsmen and
his near friends ; a multitude of Gentiles gathered by the Gen
tile soldier to meet Peter, and now awaiting him in the latter
part of the fourth day after the vision of Cornelius, and of the
1 Acts, xi 1-18 ; x. passim ; xv. passim.
* Acts, x. 1-8, 30-33 ; xi. 13, 14.

CHAP. XXIX.J SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 589
third day after the vision of Peter.1 Whatever, therefore,
Peter may have said and done in the matter of this baptism,
was in a very peculiar manner, with the divine approbation.
Moreover, there was no possibility of his doing anything by sur
prise ; for he had ample and repeated warnings both of God and
man, of the nature of the service that lay before him. Nor yet
of his doing anything, the manner of which would be unusual or
amiss ; for it was eight years since Pentecost — years to him full
of labour and full of fruit in the whole work of an Apostle. In
whatever way, therefore, he baptized all them who heard the word
in the palace of Cornelius, that undoubtedly is the way in which
he and his brethren had baptized the converted Jews on the day
of Pentecost — and had baptized every penitent believer in Jesus,
in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and in Samaria ; and that beyond
question, is the way in which every Gentile convert in all nations,
and through all ages, ought to be baptized.
(c) Its actual Administration. Peter said, at once, to the
Gentiles who awaited him, Ye know that what I have done is
unlawful to me — for I am a Jew and ye are Gentiles. But I
have done it because God hath showed me that I should not call
any man common or unclean. For what intent, therefore, have
ye sent for me ? Cornelius recounted his vision, and what he
had done in consequence of it ; and telling Peter he had done
well in obeying God, added solemnly, Now therefore are we aU
here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded
thee of God. As Peter began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on
all them that heard the word. He saw, and confessed, that God
is no respecter of persons ; that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He
preached Jesus to them — his word— his sacrifice— his resurrec
tion — remission of sins through him — eternal judgment by him.
In two respects the work was more remarkable than even that
at Pentecost ; for here the Holy Ghost fell on all who heard the
word, and his miraculous gifts were manifest in them before they
were baptized. All the glory, all the power of Pentecost, nay
the very emotions and the very Scriptures came back to the
illustrious man. Then remembered I, says he, the word of the
Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water ; but ye shall
be baptized with the Holy Ghost. And his hnmble and be
lieving conclusion was, What was I, that I should withstand
i Acts, x. 19-27 ; xi. 11-14.

590 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
God ? And his open demand was, Can any man forbid water,
that these should be baptized, which have received the Holy
Ghost as well as we ? No man dared to forbid water. And he
commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.1 Such
is the narrative. This company of Gentiles, these friends, kin
dred, and household of a Boman military officer, gathered in his
palace to hear the Gospel, are converted to God and ought to be
baptized. Has any one authority to forbid it ? What says the
centurion ? What say the high Boman dignitaries, his friends
and kinsmen there present ? What say the astonished Jewish
brethren from Joppa ? No one- — -a single word ! Then let them
be baptized — is the command of the Apostle. Is there any sug
gestion to leave the room they occupied ? Is there any sugges
tion about a pool, bath, pond, river, or anything of the sort ?
There must be water, for without it there can be no baptism :
but is there the slightest hint that there must be water enough
to immerse them, else they cannot be baptized ? Is there any
hesitation, any delay, any confusion, by reason of a sudden and
unforeseen demand on Cornelius for a large and deep body of
water ; — or does not the irresistible impression of the scene in
dicate a demand for a small portion of water, for instant use ?
Is there any intimation of any spectacle, any procession through
the streets of Caesarea, the Boman centurion with his near
friends, his kindred, his devout soldiers, and his domestic ser
vants, led by Peter and six Jews from Joppa to a public immer
sion — all speaking strange tongues, and all Caesarea filled with
wonder ? Nothing of the sort : nothing that can be tortured
into correspondence with any such ideas. They are the growth
of other ages — the product of a state of mind far different from
that of the Apostles of the Lord. However great, perhaps unex
pected, may be the issue of this Gentile baptism, it is plainly the
will of God that it should be celebrated ; and it is done. Done
there — then ; with water, not into it ; not as a sacramental burial,
but as a sacramental purification, commemorating the blood of
Jesus sprinkled upon our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Done as it
was in the recorded case of an Apostle, even the great Apostle
of the Gentiles, when Ananias went to him at the house of Ju
das, in Damascus, and put his hands on him and said, Brothei
Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared to thee in the way as
1 Acts, x. 28-48; xi. 12-17; xv. 7-11.

CHAP. XXIX.] SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 591
thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight,
and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell
from his eyes as it had been scales ; and he received his sight
forthwith and arose and was baptized.*1 Done as it was in the case
of the Ethiopian Eunuch, with whom Philip riding through the
desert between Jerusalem and Gaza, came to some water (em tj
¦bSup) ; and when both of them had gone down from the chariot
to the water, Philip baptized him on the wayside ; and the
Eunuch, no notice being taken of his condition after his supposed
immersion, went on his way rejoicing.3 Done as it was at Phil-
ippi, when Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned for casting
out a devil ; and at midnight they prayed and sang praises unto
God, and a great earthquake shook the foundations of the prison,
and its doors were burst open, and every one's bands were loosed,
and the keeper of the prison seeing how things were, would have
killed himself ; but Paul saved his life and then sought to save
his soul and the souls of all his house, through the blood of Jesus
Christ preached unto them. In whom believing, he and all his
were baptized straightway ; baptized, that is, in the prison, after
midnight and before it was day.3 Surely a wondrous night scene
in a Boman prison, attending the first planting of the Gospel
Church in the land of Japhet, eighteen centuries ago.4
5. We have, then, examples of various kinds ; and I have
considered, more or less carefully, the conspicuous examples
under each kind. The period embraced is, probably, more than
twenty years ; those eventful years which followed the complete
unction of the Apostles, the sublime proof of the glorification
of Jesus, and of the commencement of the Dispensation of the
Holy Ghost. The great example of Pentecost, and the great ex
ample of Caesarea, one inaugurating the Gospel Church, the
other making it palpable that God had granted unto the Gentiles
repentance unto life, have been gone over with much particu
larity ; for when these two examples are thoroughly considered,
all that belongs to baptism must respect what they determine.
I have added, very briefly, the remarkable case of household
* Avf/SXeTpere aapaxpnfia tiai avaarac e/SanrtoBe. This Greek is even more deci
sive than our English version of it, that Paul was baptized in the place where he rose
up, and that he rose up to be baptized. Standing up to be baptized, like Paul, is tho
common mode of baptism.
1 Acts, ix. 17, 18. 2 Acts, viii. 26-38.
8 Acts, xvi. 25-35. 4 Acts, xvi. 9-12.

592 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
baptism by Paul and Silas at Philippi ; and, also briefly, two
conspicuous cases of strictly private baptism, that, namely, of
Paul by Ananias, and that of the Ethiopian Eunuch by Philip.
Peter most conspicuously, after him Paul, but in the wide sweep
of the period and events, all the Apostles and the whole Church
of Christ in its origin and during its first age, stand before us.
After so many centuries and amidst so great conflict of human
opinion, these all recall us to the simple and indisputable facts
of the inspired record. They all demand of us the exercise of
our best judgment and our spiritual insight, and afterwards our
honest and enlightened verdict, according to the law and the
testimony ; for if we speak not according to this word, God has
told us, it is because there is no light in us.1 For my part, I
never gave a verdict of this kind, after more careful examination,
or with deeper conviction of its truth. It seems beyond doubt
that the Scriptures do teach that Baptism with water, in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is
a permanent sacrament of the Christian Church, wherein the
ingrafting of the believer into Christ, his purification by the
Holy Ghost, and the pardon of his sins, are signified and sealed
to all who worthily receive it.; that it is the undeniable right of
the infant seed of believers to have this sacrament administered
to them, and the sacred duty of believing parents to have it
done ; that while any endurable mistake in the mode of admin
istering this sacrament does not nullify the ordinance, the only
true mode of administration is that intended by Christ, practised
by his Apostles, and recorded in the sacred Scriptures, which is
by a minister of the word, applying the water to the subject, by
pouring or sprinkling it on him : and, finally, that true baptism
being once administered, must not be repeated under any cir
cumstances whatever. On the other hand, I find nothing in the
Scriptures to warrant the assertion that there is any sacramental
commemoration by the mode of baptism of the burial of the
body of Jesus, nothing to warrant the practice of immersion in
the administration of baptism, nothing to warrant the refusal of
baptism to the infant seed of believers, nothing to warrant the
addition of any ceremonies, any adjuncts, any powers, any prin
ciples, by any authority under heaven, to this sacrament. As
held forth in the Scriptures, and as practised by the Apostles,
1 Isaiah, viii. 20.

CHAPTER XXX.
THE SACRAMENT OP THE LORD'S SUPPER: CONSIDERED IN ITS
INSTITUTION, NATURE, USE, AND END.
I. 1. Relation of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ to the more ancient
Sacrament of the Passover. — 2. Divine account of its Institution by Christ. —
3. Its General Nature and ordinary Use, as taught in the Scriptures. — 4. Matter
and Elements of this Sacrament; what it signifies, and of what it is a Seal —
II. 1. The blood of the New Testament.— 2. The Broken Body of Christ— 3. The
Body and Blood of Christ given for us on the Cross, and sacramentally given to
us. — 4. The Cup the Communion of the Blood, and the Bread the Communion of
the Body of Christ — 5. The sense in which the Bread is the Body of Christ, and
the Cup is the blood of Christ— 6. Efficacy of the Body and Blood of Christ in
our Sacramental Nourishment. — 7. Relation of this Sacrament to the Worship,
the Word, and the Spirit of God. — 8. Relation of this continual showing of the
Lord's Death, to his Second Coming. — III. 1. Strict Relation of Christ's sacra
mental action and Word, to the Nature and Definition of this Ordinance. — 2. Re
lation of this Sacrament to the whole Question of the Church.
I. — 1. How great was the honour put on the Jewish dispensa
tion, that the Son of God scrupulously observed every ordinance
of it ! Not only did he obey the whole law of commandments
contained in ordinances peculiar to it ; but he respected the man
ner of use required by it, of those institutions more ancient and
permanent than itself, upon which it had been ingrafted, and
which it had in some degree modified. He did not come to destroy
but to fulfil, the law and the prophets. And his sermon on the
mount is, to a great extent, a development of this great and per
vading truth in its application not only to the Mosaic Institutions,
but to the whole compass of prophecy, to the true nature of the
moral law, to aU the duties of life, and to the way of salvation and
the pursuit thereof by men. Thus it was in connection with his last
celebration of the great annual sacrament of the Passover, that he
instituted the Gospel Sacrament of his own broken body and shed
blood. By means of that seal of God's special covenant with them —
the heirs of promise, during the Mosaic dispensation of the Cov
enant of Grace, and back into the closing years of the Patriarchal

CHAP. XXX.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. 595
dispensation of it, had kept alive the remembrance of their bond
age in Egypt and their miraculous deliverance from it ; and had
kept alive also the sense of their bondage under sin, of which their
bondage in Egypt was so sharp a type, and of their everlasting
deliverance through the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin
of the world, to whom every paschal lamb slain during so many
centuries had continually directed their faith.1 It is Christ our
passover sacrificed for us, — the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, by whose blood not only all the first born who were
saved alive in Egypt, but every one of the first born whose names
are written in heaven, have been redeemed.2 And so from year
to year through all generations, they kept their feast of unleavened
bread, and ate by households with bitter herbs, the lamb slain
by the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel. And so
Christ with his Apostles, his immediate attendants, ate the pass-
over the night before his crucifixion. And when the supper was
ended, and Judas had been exposed and had departed to betray
him, he instituted that sacrament in bread and wine which super
seded the ancient sacrament ; commencing where it closed, by
the same authority which had created and sustained it for so
many centuries. Thus it has continued to the present hour —
according to his command. The Gospel Church by its congre
gations, by that organic manifestation which is elemental to its
form of the Church visible on earth — does and has always done,
essentially what the ancient Church by its families had done year
by year from the night before its departure out of Egypt. And
so it will do — attesting on one side the sacrifice, the faithfulness,
and the second coming of the Lord — and on the other the ruin
and the redemption of faUen man, till the Son of man shaU
come.* The difference lies in this, that the ancient sacrament
preceded the incarnation of the Son of God, while the present
sacrament is immediately connected with his crucifixion. The
substance, namely Christ and redemption through his sacrifice, is
the same ; the form is changed to make its correspondence com
plete with the state of grace and truth under the Gospel Dispen
sation. 2. There are three detailed accounts preserved of what oc-
1 John, i. 29 ; Rev., v. 6-9 ; Exod.. xii passim.
2 1 Cor., v. 7 ; Heb., xii. 23 ; Exod., xii. 12, 13 ; Rev., xiii 8.
* John, xiv. 3 ; xxi. 22 ; Acts, i. 11 ; iii. 19-21 ; 1 Cor., iv. 5 ; xv. 25, 26,

596 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
curred at the institution of this sacrament, and of the circum
stances immediately connected with it : one by the Apostle
Matthew, the other two by the Evangelists Mark and Luke.1 To
these the Apostle Paul has added a distinct but condensed state
ment of what Christ said and did concerning the sacrament when
he instituted it, with which he has connected the commands of
the Lord to him concerning the proper celebration of it.2 The
Apostle John, whose Gospel was written long afterwards, devotes
his narrative of what occurred at the Last Supper, chiefly to
circumstances which had been omitted or only partially stated in
the previous accounts. He occupies five chapters of the twenty-
one which compose his Gospel, with the acts and the teachings of
Jesus, during the few hours which elapsed from the ending of the
paschal supper, to his going forth with his disciples over the
brook Cedron to the garden of Gethsemane3 — where he endured
his agony — was arrested during the night — crucified the day fol
lowing, and already dead by the middle of the afternoon. In a
very peculiar manner John has preserved the mind of the Lord
concerning this wonderful ordinance ; for besides what has just
been intimated, the full and clear account of the relation be
tween our inward spiritual life, and our participation of the body
and blood of Christ, is preserved by him in the words of Christ
in an earlier chapter of his Gospel.4 Besides these numerous
and explicit statements, the Old Testament Scriptures teach
nothing more clearly than the whole nature, and use of the Pass
over ; and the allusions of the New Testament Scriptures to the
nature and use of the Lord's Supper are constant. It may be
justly asserted, therefore, that nothing but voluntary ignorance,
the seductions of false teachers, and the delusions of the Devil,
can prevent any one who has the word of God in his hands, from
knowing all that is needful for us to know concerning this solemn,
affecting, and powerful ordinance of God. Of this let all judge
from the following divine statement of the institution of this sa
crament, which is one of the four to which I have alluded : For
I have received of the Lord that which I have delivered unto
you. That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was be
trayed, took bread : and when he had given thanks he brake it,
and said, Take, eat : this is my body, which is broken for you :
¦ Matt, xxvi. 1-35 ; Mark, xiv. 1-25 ; Luke, xxii 1-38. * 1 Cor., xi. 20-34.
3 John, xiii. — xviii 4 John, vi 26-71.

CHAP. XXX.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. 597
this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he
took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New
Testament in my blood : this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in re
membrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink
this cup, ye do show the Lord's death, till he come.1
3. From the great and precious mass of divine instruction
distributed throughout the word of God, and most especially
throughout tb-j New Testament Scriptures, I will endeavour to
collect into a connected statement, as brief as possible, the mat
ters which are taught us by the Lord and which appertain to his
people, concerning the nature and use of this sacrament. As I
have already shown, it was instituted by Christ himself, in imme
diate connection with the last passover he celebrated, and in place
of it, as one of the two sacraments of his Church ; the other, as
I have shown, being instituted by him after his resurrection, in
the place of circumcision. This, instituted the night before his
crucifixion, had immediate relation to it, and to the benefits
which would result from it to his disciples : just as the other,
instituted immediately before his ascent finally into heaven, had
immediate relation to the benefits which his glorification would
secure to his disciples— chiefly the Holy Ghost purchased by his
blood, and to be sent with power, as his great witness, and the
sole efficient agent in our salvation. This sacrament, therefore,
like the other is perpetual : for as long as sinners are saved by
grace, the work of Christ and the work of the Spirit, will be the
form in which that grace is manifested — and these sacraments
will be signs and seals of the covenant through which it flows to
us. This do, said Christ concerning this sacrament, in remem
brance of me. Baptize all nations — was his command concerning
the other. All power is given to me in heaven and in earth : Lo
I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world : was his
declaration, and his promise concerning the whole work commit
ted to his Apostles. Unlike the other sacrament which cannot
be lawfully repeated, as I have shown — this must be often re
peated : must be, not only from its nature and the nature of the
blessings it confers, as will be shown, but from the intention
expressed by Christ at its institution. How often, he did not
state — but often in comparison with the annual celebration of
the passover which it superseded ; and in accordance with the
1 1 Cor., xi. 23-26.

598 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
practice of the Apostles, whose habitual celebration of it is
recorded ; though I do not think the Scriptures warrant any
statement, on this point, more definite than this. It is in its
nature a social, not a private ordinance ; it is a communion ap
pertaining to the family of Christ and therefore not general ; but
as to them it is public — and belongs to them as a Church, and
not as individuals. And while the intimations of Scripture are
that it was celebrated by the Church at the stated places of its
worship,1 I believe there is neither Scripture example nor precept
affording the least countenance to any private, much less any
individual celebration of it. The contrary practice, to a remarka
ble degree, obtained with regard to the other sacrament ; which
seems to have been administered privately, by households, and
by thousands ; in the temple, in the palace of Cornelius, in the
houses of private persons, in prisons and by the wayside as cir
cumstances required. The celebration of both is in the hands
of the ministers of Christ, as stewards of the mysteries of God2
— the nature of the duties to be performed therein, not only
being proper to them and to none else — but the command of
Christ concerning the celebration of both this and the other sa
crament being, personally given to the Apostles, as teachers and
rulers in his Church. It follows necessarily from what I have
said, and moreover is distinctly taught, that every true follower
of the Saviour is entitled, is in the highest degree interested, and
is bound and obliged to partake of this sacrament ; and that no
one else has any right to partake of it, or can do so without im
piety." Every one should partake of both elements ; the denial
of the cup to private Christians, being a mere act of tyranny and
impiety on the part of the Church of Bome.* But the infant
seed of believers may not partake of it until they come to years
of discretion, and have knowledge to discern the Lord's body ;
of which they must give satisfaction to those whose duty God
has made it to decide in all cases, concerning that inward work
of which baptism is the sign. For all who approach the table
of the Lord are commanded to examine themselves, in order to
the eating of that bread and the drinking of that cup, concerning
many things that exceed the state of infancy.5 And in like man-
¦ 1 Cor., xi. 18-22 ; Acts, xx. 7 ; James, ii. 6.
2 1 Cor., iv. 1 ; Titus, i. 7 ; Luke, xii. 42. 3 1 Cor., xi 27-34; 2 Cor., vi. 14-17.
' 1 Cor., x. 15, 16, 21; xi. 26-28. B 1 Cor., xi. 28.

CHAP. XXX.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. 599
ner no outward profession justifies any who are ignorant and un
godly, in partaking of these solemnities ; any more than conni
vance at such impiety can be justified on the part of the Church.1
It is both from its author, its nature, the occasion on which it
was instituted, and the authority of Scripture use, that this
sacrament has derived its name. The passover was celebrated at
night by divine command, and the sacrament of the body and
blood of Christ ingrafted on it by him, was in its nature a com
munion both of the disciples with each other, and in a still higher
sense, of them all with Christ. The Scripture calls it The Lord's
Supper." I do not mean to say that this sacrament should there
fore be celebrated at night : for none of what may be called the
fortuitous circumstances connected with the institution of the
Supper, which have no connection with the design or nature of
the ordinance, can be considered of any importance : though we
should be extremely careful not to class amongst such circum
stances, anything whose change or disuse may destroy or even
weaken anything that does appertain to its nature or design.
4. It is no more possible to doubt that bread and wine are
the elements with which this sacrament is to be celebrated, than
that water is the element with which baptism is to be celebrated.
The Lord Jesus took bread and blessed it, and brake it and gave
it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat ; this is my body which is
broken for you. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave
it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it ; for this is my blood of the
New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins.3
This is my covenant, said God unto Abraham, which ye shall
keep between me and you and thy seed after thee : Every man-
child among you shall be circumcised." And so the passover, and
the blood of it, and the observance of it, are continually called a
token, a memorial, an ordinance, a sign, between God and his
people. And thus Christ says, This is my blood of the New Tes
tament which is shed for many for the remission of sins : — a state
ment repeated in every account of the institution of this sacra
ment. Bread and wine, therefore, and they alone, are the outward
and visible signs — elements — in this sacrament. What the bread
1 1 Cor., xi 27-29 ; v. 6-13 ; 2 Cor., ii 14-16 ; 2 Thess., iii. 6, 14, 15.
2 1 Cor., xi. 20.
3 Matt., xxvi. 26-28; Mark, xiv. 22-24; Luke, xxii 19-20 ; 1 Cor., xi 23-26.
4 Gen., xvii. 9-14.

600 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
is, — or is put in the place of, is declared by Christ to be his body
broken for us ; and what the wine is — or is put in the place of,
is declared by him to be his blood shed for us ; Christ and him
crucified, is, therefore, the matter of this sacrament. And the
inward and invisible grace signified and sealed to us, by this sa
crament, are the blessings and benefits secured to us, by the sac
rifice of Christ, considered in themselves, and considered in the
fruits and effects thereof, wrought in us. It is the relation which
God establishes between the thing done and the thing it repre
sents, that makes one the sign of the other, and makes the sa
crament, which embraces both, a sign of the covenant of grace.
Moreover and in like manner, as the correspondence between the
elements and the matter of the sacrament, makes one the sign
of the other, and makes the sacrament the sign of the Covenant
of Grace : so the relation established by God between the sacra
ment, and the inward and invisible grace which it signifies —
makes the sacrament a seal, as well as a sign, of the Covenant of
Grace. The matter of this sacrament, as has been shown, is
Christ and him crucified : the sign is bread and wine, represent
ing his broken body and shed blood : the things signified by the
sacrament, are all the blessings and benefits of his vicarious sac
rifice. But merely to signify these things to us, merely to repre
sent them and recall them — never could save our souls. There
must be, beyond that, a fitness in the sacrament to produce or to
nourish in us the graces which must exist in order to our salva
tion : a divine correspondence, that is, between the sacrament
and the inward and invisible grace of which it is the sign. But
this correspondence is exact, complete, perfect. For Christ cru
cified, and he alone, can save us. The blessings and benefits he
has secured for us, in his redemption of us, are the very, and the
only things fitted to save us, or whereby we can be saved. And
these wrought in us by the Holy Ghost produce in us all the fitness
we have or could have, to be saved. This sacrament is, there
fore, not only a sign, but also a seal of the Covenant of Grace.
II. — 1. Christ not only said the wine was his blood but that
it was his blood of the New Testament ; an expression of great
import, and repeated by all the sacred writers who give account
of the institution of this sacrament. I have constantly explained,
that our salvation is the product of the eternal covenant between
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; which I have

CHAP. XXX.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. 601
caUed indiscriminately the Covenant of Grace because all grace
is manifested through it, and the Covenant of Bedemption be
cause it is the Mediator of that covenant who has redeemed us
with his most precious blood. I have also constantly explained
that everyone of God's elect is a party in interest to that eternal
covenant, by reason of his covenanted Saviour the Son of God
having represented him in it ; and that every one becomes a
party in fact, as soon as he is personally united to that Saviour
in his effectual calling. Under this eternal covenant, and by
way of giving special designation and emphasis to each successive
dispensation of it, those dispensations as they arose were called
covenants by God ; and the special mercies they conveyed were
made stipulations, and were solemnly ratified. Thus the visible
Church had its origin in God's covenant with Abraham, called
the covenant of circumcision from the seal of it, and the cove
nant of promise from its glorious stipulations.1 Thus the Mosaic
dispensation was formally initiated, by a solemn covenant be
tween God and the children of Israel, who had already received
in Egypt the propitiatory sacrament of the passover : a covenant
under which everything was purified by blood — and everything
first ministered to condemnation and then pointed to Christ.2
That there was a better dispensation, a better covenant to come,
Abraham and Moses and every true believer under both the dis
pensations which they respectively introduced, knew perfectly ;
nay the very covenants themselves had no efficacy, no import
touching grace and salvation, except as they were founded on
and stipulated the Mediator of the new and better covenant.3
The Apostle Paul puts the matter past doubt ; for he quotes at
large the declarations of Jeremiah concerning the new covenant
which God would make with his people, and declares that they
mean Christ, and were uttered by the Holy Ghost.4 When the
Saviour said, This cup is the New Testament in my bloood, we are
to understand that they who receive it have God's covenant in its
supremest form — ratified as his own testament by Jesus, and sealed
by his death upon the cross for us. His death gives, at the same
moment, an endless validity to his testament, and an infinite
ratification to the Covenant of Grace, as the Gospel covenant ;
1 Gen., xvii. 1-16 ; Acts, vii. 8 ; Eph., ii 12.
J Exod., xxiv. passim; Heb., ix. 18-23.
* Jer., xxxi. 27-40. 4 Heb., viii passim ; x. 10-22.

602 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
and this blood of our great High Priest seals it all.1 The Gospel
dispensation is the covenant in the incarnate Bedeemer, just as
the dispensation of promise was the first covenant in Abraham,
and the dispensation of the law was the old covenant in Moses.2
And it is by the oath of God that Jesus was constituted the
surety of this better covenant, being consecrated by that oath a
priest forevermore, and by one offering of himself perfecting for
ever them that are sanctified.3 The blood of Jesus is the blood
of this covenant. Thus sealed by his death, this covenant be
comes his testament. SacramentaUy bestowed on us, it is the
blood which the cup in the Eucharist signifies and seals. In it
God stipulates remission of sins, and eternal life ; and Christ
stipulates for us Faith and Bepentance ; and through his blood,
and word, and Spirit he works both of them in us. Penitent and
believing sinners are, therefore, entitled to all the benefits of this
covenant and testament — and sacramentally participate of the
blood of Christ, which signifies and seals these benefits unto them.
2. In like manner, Christ not only said the bread was his
body, but he broke it and said, This is my body which is broken
for you : and these, also, are pregnant words. I have taught
continually that union and communion with the Lord Jesus
Christ, was the only way given under heaven among men, where
by we must be saved ; and that this union and communion are
possible only by means of his participation of our nature through
his incarnation, and our participation of his nature through our
regeneration. But the possibility of our regeneration, depends
in every way upon the efficacy of his atoning sacrifice ; and
that sacrifice was impossible but for his incarnation, and was
without all efficacy but for his supreme Godhead, and had rela
tion to us only through that eternal covenant of which- he— God
man — was the Mediator. This broken bread is the symbol of
the crucified God-man ; and he has established between the sym
bol and the inward and invisible grace, such a relation as makes
the one a sign of the other ; and then such a relation between
the matter and the sign united into a sacrament, and the effects
of Christ crucified, as to make the sacrament itself a seal of the
covenant under which the crucifixion occurred ; that is of the
eternal Covenant of Grace, and also of the special covenant of
1 Heb., ix. passim. « Gal, iv. 24-31.
3 Heb., vii 20-25 ; x. 10-16.

CHAP. XXX.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. 603
the Gospel dispensation under it. But Christ crucified is to
every one that is caUed, both the power of God and the wisdom
of God.1 We are planted together in the likeness of the death
of Christ; our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin ; and
being dead with him, we believe we shall also live with him.2
In knowing him and the power of his resurrection, we must have
fellowship with his sufferings, and be made conformable unto his
death.3 Suffering with Christ, is the prelude of being glorified
together with him." Whether, therefore, we consider the cru
cifixion of Christ in itself and in the divine motives for it, or in
the relation of it to the whole ceconomy of the grace of God and
of the salvation of man, or in the inward participation of it by
every one of his followers through union and communion with
him : we equally perceive the glorious pregnancy of these words
of Christ, and the unspeakable fitness of the symbol to represent
that for which it was put, and of the sacrament thus consti
tuted to be a seal of the covenant under which he made satisfac
tion to God for us, and so a seal to us of all that he purchased
for us by his death.
3. This sacrament is very far from being a mere exhibition
of the death of Christ — a mere representation of the passion
and sacrifice of the Son of God. If the whole of our relation
to what Christ did and suffered, is satisfied by merely represent
ing and exhibiting his agony and death ; we have much to learn
about the burden, the curse, and the pollution of sin ; much
about the love, the peace, the joy of a soul that has communion
with him that died and rose again. If the whole of God's love
for us which led him not even to spare his own Son, but on the
contrary to deliver him up for us all, is expressed when his Son
has done that which lost sinners need only represent and recall ;
then his poor children in this world have pungent conceptions
alike of their Father's love, and of their need of it, which he
never excited in their souls, and will never fulfil. This is my
body which is given for you : This is my blood which is shed for
you. It is thus that Jesus speaks. His death is no representa
tion : it is a vicarious sacrifice. The sacrament of his broken
body and shed blood is not a mere exhibition: it is a sacrament in
i 1 Cor., i. 23, 24. ' Rom., vi. 5-8.
3 Phil., hi. 10. 4 Rom., viii 17 ; 2 Tim. ii 11, 12.

604 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
which the purchase of that body broken for us is sealed to us, and
the purchase of that blood shed for us is sealed to us. He gives
to us tokens of inestimable blessings, already secured for us at an
inestimable price : he gives to us seals of that covenant ordered in
all things and sure, in which these blessings are promised to us.
We accept, with loving, confiding hearts the token and the seal.
But this is not all. Is no inheritance secured ? Is no earnest of
it bestowed? No sure participation, here and now, not merely of
signs and seals, but of Jesus, of his death and of his resurrection ?
I am — said Jesus — the bread of life : he that cometh to me shall
never hunger ; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me,
and I in him.1 Beyond all doubt they who are redeemed by the
sacrifice of Christ, have along with their redemption, unspeak
able blessing and benefits, which are explained throughout the
Scriptures with great fulness and great minuteness, the whole of
which are gifts of God, through Jesus Christ.2 All these and
every covenanted mercy and every grace of the Spirit, are pur
chased for us by the body and blood which was broken for us and
shed for us on the cross ; and all of them with that body and
blood, are sacramentally sealed to us, — and are ours. To sup
pose the sacrament has any efficacy of itself, is to destroy its na
ture as a sign and seal of the Covenent of Grace — that is — to
destroy it as a sacrament ; and is, moreover, to set aside the work
of the Holy Ghost, upon whom the efficacy of all things spirit
ual depends, as reaUy as their authority depends on Christ ; thus
subverting, on the one hand, the way of life, and on the other
life itself. To deny to the sacrament any reality beyond a mere
exhibition and representation of the sacrifice of Christ, is either
to annul it altogether, by destroying its divine fitness through
the work of the Spirit to accomplish its proper end in us ; or it
is to go deeper still, and annul the efficacy of the sacrifice of
Christ who is the matter of the sacrament, by converting it from
a satisfaction into a representation, thus rendering it incompe
tent for anything but another representation.
4. In addition to what has been particularly noticed, the
Lord Jesus saii, Take, eat, this is my body : and in like manner,
giving them the cup, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of
the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of
1 John, vi. 35, 56. 2 Col., i. passim • Enh. i. passim.

CHAP. XXX.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. 605
sins. The Apostle Paul, illustrating the fellowship of Christians
with each other, and of all with Christ, demands, The cup of
blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of
Christ ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion
of the body of Christ ?' And the Apostle John, appealing to
his own knowledge of the word of life, which was manifested and
was capable of being shown to others as eternal life, declares,
That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that
ye may have fellowship with us ; and truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.2 Salvation consists,
summarily, in our union and communion with Christ through
faith ; and the visible Church of Christ rests upon his headship
over all thus united to him by faith, — and their communion with
each other by love ; the efficacious bond in both instances, being
that of the Spirit. It is the Body of Christ, considered as his
Church, nourished by his body and blood sacramentally given to
them by him and received by them. It is a communion of saints
with each other by means of a joint communion in the body and
blood of Christ ; and a communion of the whole with Christ, at
the same time, and by the same means. And so completely is
this reaHzed in this sacrament, that it is called the communion
of the Lord's Supper, or simply The Communion. Nor is there
any other way known, nor as far as we can comprehend, possible,
by which these sublime spiritual realities can be made at once
perfectly simple and efficacious, comparable to the way thus pro
vided by the Lord. Our love for each other is both manifested
and nourished, and our common increase in all that is sealed to
us is itself a precious communion ; while the communion of all
with our common Lord, opens in him the fountain of inexhausti
ble grace, which all receive from him. But who does not see
that if all this be true, it establishes with divine certainty the
nature of the sacrament through which it all occurs ? How
could the cup we bless be a cup of blessings such as these, if it
were not the communion of the blood of Christ ? How couM
the bread we break, produce such spiritual nourishment as this,
if it were not the communion of the body of Christ ?
5. It seems to me that any serious consideration of the words
of Christ when he intituted this sacrament, and which conveyed
to bis disciples ideas, which under so many forms of expression
1 1 Cor, x. 16. 2 1 John, i. passim.

606 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
throughout the New Testament, present the very same truths ;
ought to satisfy every one who has the least spiritual insight, at
least of the general sense in which he wished to be understood.
I need not deny that there is much involved in this great mys
tery of communion with Christ, no matter in what aspect the
sublime topic is presented, which far exceeds our finite compre
hension ; since he who was not inferior to the chiefest of the
Apostles, habitually speaks nearly to the same effect. Speaking
of Christ as the head of the Church and the Saviour of it as his
body, of his love for it, of his giving himself for it, of his sanctify
ing and cleansing it with the washing of water by the word, and
then presenting it to himself a glorious Church ; he goes so far as
to say, For we are members of his body, and of his flesh, and of his
bones. And then adds — This is a great mystery : I speak con
cerning Christ and his Church.1 And this language is not more
decisive, than that which Christ used not only when he instituted
the Sacrament of the Supper, but a year before his crucifixion in
a discourse which has been preserved by John ; after which, many
of his disciples, unders inding him to teach hard sayings which
they could not receive, went back and walked no more with him.2
His own explanation to his Apostles was, It is the Spirit that
quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing ; the words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life.3 It is impossible,
therefore, to suppose, that Christ meant that the bread was phy
sically his body or the wine physically his blood, or that his dis
ciples physically eat his flesh and drink his blood ; impossible,
because, as we see, he said that would be of no profit to them, and
that it was his Spirit and word which made his flesh and blood a
means of life to his followers. Indeed it is obvious, as I intimated
before, what the general sense of his words is. He uses both sets
of terms throughout, and therefore we must accept both through
out. We cannot, without violence, allow with the Papists, that the
bread and wine are by consecrating them transubstantiated into
the soul, body, blood, and divinity of Christ ; for then, to say no
thing else, one set of terms used throughout has disappeared, —
and the ordinance has become a gross impiety. For the same rea
son, we cannot allow with the Socinians, that the whole is a mere
representation ; for then the opposite set of terms has disappeared,
and the ordinance has become an empty show. We cannot allow
i Eph., v. 23-32. ' John, vi 26-66. 3 John, vi 63.

CHAP. XXX.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. 607
with Luther that consubstantiation has taken place, and that the
body and blood of Christ are present in, with, and under the
bread and wine ; for then both sets of terms are outraged by
confounding what Christ has carefully kept seperate ; and pre
tending to eat both bread and Christ's body, and to drink both
wine and Christ's blood, we combine into one error the opposite
misconceptions of the Papists and the Socinians. All that is left
is to accept and respect both sets of terms. And in effect, while
no other conception of this sacrament can be justly gotten from
the terms of its institution, none can be gotten from any other
scriptural representation of it, which does not require the use of
both sets of terms to express it. The bread is bread and is eaten,
and the wine is wine and is drunk ; and so are Christ's words.
But the body and the blood of Christ are as really the matter of
the sacrament, as the bread and wine are the symbols used in it :
and the relation between the matter and the symbol is instituted
by God, and is so immediate that the name of the matter is given
to the symbol : and the matter and the symbol — thus related and
united by God — unitedly make the sacrament. PhysicaUy, the
symbols bread and wine are present to our senses. Spiritually,
the matter, Christ crucified, his body and his blood, are present
to our faith. To express more strongly the reality of this spir
itual presence, we may call it mystical ; by which we mean that
it is spiritual, but real. Just as our union with Christ is real,
but spiritual, that is, it is mystical ; and just as the Church
itseH", the Body of Christ, is a spiritual but real body — that is,
it is a mystical body. We cannot, of course, eat the broken
body of Christ and drink his shed blood, in any other sense or
manner than that in which they are present with us ; but I have
shown that they are present after a manner that is real but spir
itual, that is, mystical ; in that manner and in that sense,
therefore, and in no other, we participate of Christ crucified, in
the communion of the Supper. It is a sacrament.
6. The doctrine of transubstantiation leads directly to the
sacrifice of the mass, and to the idea that the Christian ministry
is a priesthood who offer sacrifices ; namely the sacrifice of Cal
vary repeated continuaUy in an unbloody form, as it is expressed.
The whole of this is the grossest heresy and impiety. Christ is
the Great High Priest of our profession, a Priest forever after
the order — not of Aaron — but of Melchisedek ; and after him

608 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
there is no priesthood at all, except in the sense of the royal
priesthood of every brother of Christ, adopted as a son of God.
The offering up of himself by Christ once, one sacrifice for sins
forever, by which he hath perfected forever them that are sancti
fied, — put an end to all offerings and sacrifices for sins : whereof
we have the explicit and repeated assurance of God, who even
declares that the Holy Ghost is a witness to us of these truths.1
It was not to repeat the sacrifice of Calvary, but to give efficacy
to it in the souls of men, that all the means of grace under the
Gospel dispensation received their present form. By that sacri
fice of himself Christ has redeemed the elect of God : redeemed
them in every sense and to every intent. It is not to add any
thing to what Christ has done, nor to repeat anything he has
done, that the sacrament in his body and blood was instituted ;
but its use is to show forth his death, and by participation of him,
to nourish and strengthen his disciples in all grace, to exhibit and
to seal their union and communion with him and their commu
nion with each other, and to testify and renew their covenant
with him. In what manner the body and blood of Christ, — that
is, in what manner the crucified Saviour can effect the whole of
these spiritual objects — or anyone of them : is an enquiry, which
if directed to the possibility of such an efficacy, goes to the root
of the question of salvation by grace through the Mediator ; or
if directed only to the particular manner of that efficacy, goes
to the root of the nature of this sacrament. Considered in the
former light, the answer is immediate, that unless salvation by
grace through the Mediator is a divine reality, neither is the ef
ficacy enquired after — nor the sacrament by which it operates, a
divine reality : all are nullities together — if the foundation of all
is a nullity. Considered in the latter light, the answer is also im
mediate, and lies upon the face, and is wrought into the nature
of the sacrament. Bread and wine nourish the human body —
if we partake of them according to their nature and ours ; they
do this by a mysterious vital process of assimilation ; the effect
of which is our support and continued existence. In like man
ner the body and blood of Christ crucified for us, nourish our
souls, if we partake of them according to their nature and ours
that is their sacramental nature and our renewed nature ; they
do this through a mysterious spiritual process, expressed by the
1 Heb., x. 10-18.

CHAP. XXX.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. 609
terms faith, the new creature, and the work of the Holy Ghost;
the effect of which is a closer communion with Christ and with
each other, and the comfort and growth of the spiritual life.
There is a manifest difference between bread, and the act of him
who eats it, and the nourishment which is produced by it, — and
the process of assimilation by which the end is reached. There
is also a manifest difference between the body and blood of Christ,
and the faith of the Christian which rests upon Christ crucified,
and the fruit of that faith manifested in us, and the work of the
Holy Ghost which produced that faith and now nourishes it in
this manner. The declarations of the word of God, and the tes
timony of our own experience, and the witness of the Holy Ghost,
are the grounds on which we assert the latter series of facts.
There are no more conclusive grounds on which to assert the
former series of facts. The efficacy on which everything in both
series depends, is wholly inscrutable : it is in God. That Christ
crucified is the matter of which bread and wine are the symbols,
in the Sacrament of the Supper, and that as such he is sacra
mentally received, and does nourish our souls ; is not only the
plain doctrine of this sacrament, but is in exact harmony with
everything else taught in the Scriptures, concerning the whole
doctrine of our union and communion with Christ. In one sacra
ment we are baptized into his death : in the other we have com
munion with his crucifixion : aU the time the glorified God-man
is at the right hand of the majesty on high. In the former sa
crament our ingrafting into Christ and our purification by the
Holy Ghost — in the other our redemption and nourishment by
Christ, are signified and sealed. In this life it. is mainly feUow
ship with his sufferings, and death — in the life to come fellow
ship with his resurrection. In both worlds union and communion
with him — is salvation.
7. The connection of divine worship, the divine word, and the
divine Spirit with the proper administration and worthy par
taking of this sacrament, is indissoluble The inspired accounts
of its institution agree that its celebration was accompanied by
thanksgiving, and benediction by the Saviour. Jesus took the
bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave it to the disciples ; and
he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them. Such
are the statements. His directions, also, were clear ; take, eat,
drink, this do in remembrance of me. The universal obligation
vot. n. 39

610 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
resting on us to sanctify everything by the word of God and
prayer,1 is made very special in this case, both by what the Lord
did and by what he said. And if anything were wanting to add
force to this obligation, it would be found in the fact that it is
only by means of the blessing of God, and through the presence
and inward work of the Holy Ghost, that any blessing is found
in the use of this ordinance ; while the state of our own souls
may exclude us from the blessings which, so to speak, appertain
in a particular manner to the worthy reception of it. Moreover,
the peril of trifling with the sacred and mysterious ordinance,
much more the impiety of intentionally profaning it, ought to be
well considered by such as do not discern the Lord's body ; since
it may well happen that eating and drinking unworthily, men
may eat and drink damnation to themselves.' Without the
knowledge which the divine word alone can give us, whereby we
might discern the Lord's body, the spirit of true worship in which
it becomes us to approach God in this sacrament of that body
cannot be in us ; and in this condition, we have much more rea
son to dread that the Spirit may be grieved, than to hope for any
fellowship with him. And yet it is of the very nature of this
sacrament, to be fitted to produce— when used by the divine
Spirit to that end — as a seal of the covenant of grace, those in
ward graces of which it is the sign : and I may add, nothing
else has that sacramental fitness with reference to those special
graces. Divine truth is specially fitted to produce faith and
repentance, and invariably does produce them, when used to that
end by the Spirit ; while ho other truth is fitted to produce either
faith or repentance ; nor is any other ever used in the production
of either by the Spirit. So also, all divine ordinances are specially
fitted to produce, and when used to that end by the Spirit, do
produce the effects appointed of God ; and nothing besides them
is fitted, to produce their effects, or is used by the Spirit to pro
duce them. The great offices of the Spirit in salvation, have
immediate relevancy to the Lord Jesus Christ : and both the
sacraments of the Christian Church have a similar immediate
relevancy to him. We as easily see, therefore, how the efficacy
of the sacrament depends on the Spirit, as we see how its au
thority depends on Christ. And we might as soon, perhaps, to
speak after the manner of men, we might sooner expect the Spirit
1 1 Tim., iv. 5. 2 1 Cor., xi 28-32.

CHAP. XXX.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. 611
to own and bless uttered falsehoods dishonouring to Christ, than
sacramental falsehoods dishonouring to him. If this sacrament
is that divine spiritual reality which I have endeavoured to rep
resent, it is impossible to doubt its divine relation to the worship,
the word, and the Spirit of God ; impossible not to perceive
in that divine relation, which it is easy to establish independently,
convincing evidence of its own nature and use.
8. All that has been considered is founded on the words of
Christ uttered when he instituted this sacrament, but uttered
separately of his body and the symbol of it, and of his blood and
the symbol of it. Paul speaking of all together, adds imme
diately, as part of what he received of the Lord, For as often as
ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death
till he come.1 As often, therefore, as we celebrate this commu
nion of the body and blood of Christ, it is bread that we eat, and
it is wine that we drink ; but this bread and wine are put for the
body and blood of Christ, and it is by breaking and eating the
bread, and by pouring out and drinking the wine — that we show
his death. The efficacy of that death for our redemption — and
the certainty of our present participation of that crucified Saviour
and of eternal life through him ; are all assured by the resurrec
tion and glorification of the Lord. Being planted in the likeness
of his death, we are also planted in the likeness of his resurrection.
We are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ,
who is our life, shaU appear, then shall we also appear with him
in glory.2 And so we are to show forth the Lord's death, till he
come. This sacrament touches on one side, the crucifixion, on
the other the second coming of the Lord, covering the whole
space between them, having special relation to the former, and
pointing continually to the latter. For Christ is risen from the
dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from the
dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. But every man in his own order : Christ the first fruits,
afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming.3 It is that com
ing of the glorified Lord, in which they that are his will be made
alive by their resurrection from the dead, and will appear in glory
with him who is their life ; to which his saints must continually
have reference, both as real and as not having yet taken place, as
1 1 Cor., xi. 26. 3 Col, hi. 3, 4. 3 1 Cor, xv. 20-23.

612 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
often as, and as long as, they sacramentaUy show his death.
While the Saviour sat with his Apostles, and apparently before
instituting this sacrament, he said unto them, With desire have
I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer : for I
say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled
in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup and gave thanks,
and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves : for I say
unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the
kingdom of God shall come.1 And again, apparently after he
had instituted this sacrament and his Apostles had partaken of
its elements, he said, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of
the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my
Father's Kingdom.2 A little after he said, I appoint unto you a
kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me : that ye may
eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.3 This sitting on thrones and
judging, accordiag to his previous promise to them, will occur
when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, and all
his followers shall inherit eternal life.4 I suppose, therefore, that
the Lord did not mean to refer in what he said, to those few oc
casions on which, after the resurrection, he partook of food and
drink with his disciples, apparently to satisfy them of his own
identity ;5 but to that coming and estate of the kingdom of Goa,
and that consummation of the work appointed by him unto his
Apostles, and that further consummation of the New Testament
in his blood, which he had before explained by the parable of the
marriage supper of the King's son ;" and concerning which the
Apostle John, repeating the Alleluias of the redeemed, and re
lating the glory of the Lamb's wife, and the joy in heaven that
his marriage had come — writes, Blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.7 Whatever of glory
and blessedness is in store for us, is purchased for us by the blood
of Christ ; and the more perfect our communion is with him in his
death, the more complete is our appreciation of all divine things,
and the more entire is our fitness for all divine blessings.
III. — 1. The manner in which this sacrament was adminis
tered by Christ, and ought to be always administered by his fol-
1 Luke, xxii 15-18. 2 Matt, xxvi. 29. a Luke, xxii. 29, 30.
4 Matt, xix. 28, 29 ; xxv. 31, 34, 46. 5 ictSi x_ 41 _
6 Matt, xxii 1-14. 7 jj^ ^ix. ]_g.

CHAP. XXX.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. 613
lowers, is set forth with great particularity in the Scriptures.
His example ought to be sufficient ; but when we consider that
everything he did was significant, and that all departures from
his example have led to superstition and heresy, we see the more
plainly that it is a wise and trustful obedience, which conforms
exactly to that example of the Lord. Therefore the bread and
the cup are to be taken by him who is to administer the Sacra
ment, and so separated unto their peculiar end : they are to be
set apart from a common to a sacramental use, by the word of
God, and by special prayer, thanksgiving and blessing : the
bread is to be broken and distributed amongst those who com
municate : the wine being poured out, the cup is to be taken
and distributed amongst those who communicate : the bread
is to be taken in the hand of the communicant, and is to
be eaten by him : the cup is to be taken into the hand of
the communicant and the wine is to be drunk by him. At
the proper times, and suited to the proper parts of the sa
cramental action, the Lord's minister should repeat the Lord's
words, according as they were uttered : and they who com
municate, reverently, waiting on the Lord, and decently ex
hibiting their mutual fellowship in a common and simultaneous
participation, should solemnly and believingly eat and drink the
symbols of the broken body and shed blood of Christ Jesus their
Bedeemer. Though there be two elements, there is but one
sacrament : and the power of administration is not joint, but sev
eral : wherefore all the parts of the sacramental action that ap
pertain to him who ministers in the place of the Lord, appertain
to a single and the same minister ; just as in the sacrament of
baptism. They who worthily and with preparation of heart,
wait upon him who said, This do in remembrance of me ; will
find his promises fulfilled unto them, to the great peace and ed
ification of their souls. And it may be confidently asserted that
the natural effects of bread and wine upon those who receive
them physically, are neither better assured nor more explicable
after their kind ; than the gracious effects of the body and blood
of Christ crucified are, upon those who receive them spiritually,
after their kind. For this communion is a sacrament of the
Covenant of Grace, under the Gospel dispensation, instituted
by Christ, wherein by the breaking and eating of bread his brok
en body and by pouring out and drinking wine his shed blood,

614 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
are signified and sealed, together with aU the benefits of his cru
cifixion, unto all who worthily commune.
2. With respect to each individual Christian, this sacrament
is the means of a most solemn, gracious, reiterated, and irrevoca
ble dedication of himself to God as his God, and to the Lord
Jesus Christ as his Saviour. In return he receives from God
pardon, holiness, Hght, strength, comfort, peace, and joy through
the divine ordinance, word, and Spirit. For the crucified Saviour
in all his past work, in all his present power, and in all his fu
ture glory, is sacramentally assured herein, to the penitent and
believing sinner, on whose behalf is God's eternal Covenant of
Grace, and under it the New Covenant which is a testament in
the blood of Christ. With respect to the whole company of be
lievers, who are the Church of the living God, the Bride of the
Lamb, and the Body of Christ, we see how this and every other
gift of her husband and Lord, who gave himself for her ; con
secrates her to himself, and separates her from a world lying in
sin and under the curse of God. She had the promise of her
Saviour, the constant revelation of the wiU of God, and the pres
ence of his Spirit, before she had any permanent sacrament.
With the covenant of promise in Abraham, came circumcision
and her own visible and separate existence ; with the covenant
of sacrifice in Moses, a covenant in the blood of beasts, came
the passover, and the written word, and her more complete, and
ordered, and separate Church state : with the New Testament
in the blood of Christ, came baptism and the Lord's Supper, the
complete and permanent revelation of the will of God — Christ
incarnate, crucified, risen, and glorified, the Spirit poured out, and
aU the ordinances of God, and all the ascension gifts of Christ,
peculiar to the Gospel Church. All the time it is the elect of God,
the Bride of the Lamb, the Body of Christ, the Church of the
first-born whose names are written in heaven : and all are proofs of
eternal, unalterable, unsearchable, divine love for her. These are
sublime and infinitely fruitful truths. Upon the foundation they
establish, the whole doctrine of the Church must rest. What
ever will not endure to be built on them, can be no portion of
the house of God. Whatever they subvert, is divinely subvert
ed. They guide us, from all that concerns the humblest be
liever considered as a member of Christ, onward through the
whole question of the Church, to the highest generalization that

CHAP. XXX.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. 615
concerns the kingdom delivered up to the Father on the Lamb's
Book of Life : iUuminating the entire career of the Church,
from the beginning to the end. As soon as we let them go, we
are lost in darkness, amidst the innumerable revolutions of opin
ion, and the interminable disputes of men, concerning things
with regard to which no opinion is of any value, and about
which no man can know aught of any worth, except as divine
light is shed upon them. Amongst all the benefits which Christ's
faithful ministers could confer on his Church, none could com
pare with a successful effort to recall her completely to these
grand and simple truths, the perversion of which has cost her
so much.

CHAPTER XXXI.
OFFICE BEARERS IN THE GOSPEL CHURCH: AND THE GOVERNMENT
IN THEIR HANDS.
L Office Bearers, and Government in theh Hands. — 1. Considered in theh relation to all
Society : and to the particular society called the visible Church of Christ — 2. As
appertaining to the Church, they appertain in a still higher sense to Christ. —
3. Fundamental principle of the Divine Origin and authority of both, commensu
rate with the existence of the visible Church : proved and illustrated by the ex
ample of the Apostolic synod of Jerusalem. — 4. The Divine Example of that synod
particularly considered ; and the Fact, the Nature, and the Perpetuity of Church
Government demonstrated. — 5. The Office Bearers who constituted it : and first
of the Apostles considered as uniting in the Administration of the government
they had formed. — 6. Of the Elders — in whose Hands the Divine Government of
the Christian Church is permanently and exclusively lodged — II. 1. The actual
origin of the Christian Church, its Government, its Office Bearers, and its Tribu
nals : Its particular congregations, and the Tribunal in each. — 2. Progress and
development of the Government : Nature, Organization, Divine Authority of Tri
bunals Presbyterial, Synodical and Universal. — 3. The Nature of Church Power
as delegated by the Mediator : its relation to his Offices of Prophet, Priest, and
King : the fundamental distinction in its Nature and Use, as the Power of Regi
men and the Power of Order. — 4. The Perpetuation of Office Bearers and Gov
ernment in theh hands, by Vocation of God, immediate and mediate. — III. 1. Other
Office Bearers ; Prophets, inspired and temporary. — 2. Deacons : Divine Authority,
Nature, and permanence of their Office. — 3. Evangelists : Divine Authority, and
pecuhar Nature of their office. — IV. 1. Summary of the Fundamental Principles
of Church Government. — 2. The Phenomenon exhibited in the Origin, Develop
ment and Progress of such a Government.
I. In the preceding chapters of this Fifth Book, I have en
deavoured to explain the chief gifts of God to the Church of
Christ, which I had attempted to demonstrate in the Fourth Book.
In the first place came God's supreme gifts to the Church —
namely, his Son, his Spirit, and his Word. Then the great Or
dinances which he has bestowed on her, namely, the Sabbath, the
Sacraments, Instituted Worship, DiscipHne, and Evangelization
of the world. And then, on account of their immense impor
tance, the two Sacraments of the Gospel Church have been sepa
rately discussed. What remains, is to demonstrate the Office
Bearers ordained by God in the Christian Church, and the Gov-

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 617
ernment in their hands which he has appointed therein. Partly
for the sake of brevity, and partly on account of the indissoluble
connection of the subjects, they will be discussed together.
1. As soon as we conceive of society as organized, no matter
for what purpose, and no matter how, there arises a necessity for
the designation, in some manner, of persons to perform for it
those- offices which, whatever, they may be, society cannot per
form in mass, and without the performance of which, society can
not exist. These persons are officers. There is a multitude of
ways in which they may come into office ; a multitude of condi
tions on which they may hold office ; a multitude of official duties,
functions, powers — very various, and capable of being distributed
in numberless ways. In all these respects the simple, limited,
and powerful elemental principles of government, which I have
pointed out in another place, are susceptible of endless variety
in their practical exhibition ; and, therefore, government itself
is presented under so many diverse aspects. But in every case,
under every modification, the office bearer under every form of
organized society, is the office bearer of the society, and performs
its offices, for its benefit, and on its behalf. Otherwise, he is a
mere intruder, usurper, and tyrant, holding simply, by force ;
whose acts do not subvert society, but ordinarily defeat the proper
ends, and always defeat the proper mode of its existence, until
he is taken out of the way. The apothegm of the despot who
said, I am the State, was as true as it was insolent. Neverthe
less, there could be no despot, if there was no State ; and the
powers he usurps are not created by him, but flowing from the
existence of society, are grasped and abused by him. The Church
visible of Christ is subject, in these respects, to the laws and
conditions belonging to the nature of all societies, organized out
of human beings. Every office bearer in her bosom, is her officer;
and his existence is necessary, because the continuance and per
fection of her own organized existence, depends on the perform
ance of offices, which she cannot discharge in mass. In the
nature of the case, therefore, duty and power, obligation and
authority, responsibility and control, go together. But, as I have
before explained, the visible Church is a society of a peculiar
kind, created in a peculiar manner, and for peculiar purposes.
Of necessity, therefore, those great principles and truths which
He in the nature of man and of society, must incur, in this pecu-

618 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
liar use and direction of them, such a combination and applica
tion of them, as the nature and end of this peculiar society de
mand ; precisely as in all other cases of their practical applica
tion. This is a society having primary reference, not to this but
to a future life, not to temporal but to spiritual things : a society
perfectly free, separate from the world, consecrated to Christ, and
so divinely prohibited from making laws for itself, but required
to obey, to expound, to proclaim, and to execute laws given to
it by God. A society nevertheless ; and by consequence possessed
of officers and a government. Indeed it is by far the oldest society
in the world ; having existed through successive dispensations in
a visible form, and in unbroken succession, since the covenant
of circumcision was made by God with Abraham ; and in its pre
sent form as the Gospel Church, since the day of Pentecost. The
fact of its organized and perpetual existence, is the most palpa
ble fact in the public history of the human race ; and the divine
authority for its existence, from the beginning to the end, is far
more frequently and variously declared throughout the Scriptures,
than the divine authority for anything else that exists.
2. This most ancient and permanent society, concerning whose
officers and government we are enquiring, is not only an ordinance
of God, like the family, and the State ; but, as I have abundantly
proved, it is an ordinance resting absolutely in divine revelation
and divine acts, having relations both to God and man, the whole
of which are revealed. It is a society created by the special grace
of God, out of those who are united to the Lord Jesus Christ, by
means of a divine regeneration of the Holy Ghost ; and it is in
tended to be the chief witness for time and throughout eternity,
to his whole intelligent Universe. It is the Kingdom of God,
which his Son, Messiah the Christ, has redeemed with his most
precious blood ; which his divine Spirit creates and sanctifies ;
which the brethren of Christ, sons and heirs of God, compose
and hold forth as the Church of the living God. The relation of
the Son of God to this society is inexpressibly close and power
ful. He is the Mediator between God and men of the Eternal
Covenant under which it exists ; and the Gospel form in which
it now exists, as compared with its preceding forms, is in a spe
cial sense the New Testament in his blood. To be Mediator, he
took their nature into eternal union with his own divine nature ;
and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself so as

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 619
to become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross for
them. As Mediator, he is the Prophet, the Priest, and the King
of his Kingdom ; by his word and Spirit the Teacher of it, by
the sacrifice of himself, the Bedeemer of it, and now glorified,
he is the only head, ruler, and Lord of it. Nothing exists in it,
except according to the will of God, except through the authority
and in the name of the Lord Jesus, except by the effectual work
ing of the Holy Ghost. It follows, that whatever office bearers
may appertain to this wonderful society, however they may be its
officers, as I have already explained, must be in a still more strict
sense the servants, the ministers of Christ : and whatever gov
ernment of this Kingdom may be in the hands of the servants
and ministers of Christ, is his government, administered in his
name and for his glory. Undoubtedly it is conceivable that offices
of various kinds might exist, and that governments of various
kinds might also exist, as God might see fit to order his Kingdom.
But it is not conceivable, under the data, that offices should law
fully exist in such a Kingdom, or that it should lawfuUy assume
any form of government, except in the name, by the authority,
and through the ordination of the King eternal, immortal, invisi
ble. The more precisely it can be shown what office bearers he
has ordained, and what government in their hands, the more un
questionable is the divine warrant for it and for them. But the
point now insisted on is that most peculiar to this divine society,
namely, that its officers are also officers of Christ, and its govern
ment in their hands is also the government of Christ. And how
ever clear and important may be the relation of all office bearers
and government to the Church as hers ; the relation of both to
Christ as his, is still clearer and more important. But all this con
cludes both ways to the divine authority of Church office bearers,
and Church government in their hands. For, first, if the Church
be related to Christ as his in the sense shown, then necessarily
her organization as has been shown at large, and by consequence
her officers and government in their hands, are his — and so are
divine. And, secondly, if in addition, these office bearers are his
Apostles, his Prophets, his Pastors, his Elders, his Deacons, not
only as they are exercising offices ordained by him, but as they
are also called and sent by him, in their respective places and
with their respective functions ; then if anything is of divine
authority, such office bearers and government are.

620 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
3. My space does not permit me to discuss of the nature of
the office bearers of the Church, anterior to the founding of
the Gospel dispensation ; nor, desirable as it would be, do I sup
pose it to be of absolute necessity here. Nothing, however, can
be more certain than that God called Abraham, and made the cov
enant of promise with him ; that he called Moses, and by him
led the Israelites out of Egypt, and made with them the covenant
in the blood of beasts in the wilderness ; and that under these
covenants, everything that existed in the Church of God from
Abraham to the day of Pentecost, was exactly ordered and estab
lished, and did appertain both to God and the Church, in the
manner I have already explained. The principles established,
namely the divine origin of all government in the Church and the
divine vocation of all who bear office in it, had been commensurate
with the whole existence of the visible Church, from its own origin
to the day when the Apostles received their complete unction from
the Holy Ghost, to execute in the name and by the authority of
the glorified Saviour, the whole power he had committed to them
concerning his Kingdom in this world. So far were those Apostles
from supposing that these fundamental principles were changed ;
they furnished in their own persons and office, an example not
less illustrious certainly than any that had gone before, of the un
alterable perpetuity of both of them, and of the foundation of
the Gospel Church State upon them. In which respects, those
great principles agree with all others that are fundamental in the
nature of God's Kingdom ; as I have shown with reference to the
Sabbath, the Sacraments, the associated ideas of sacrifice and
priesthood, and every other great ordinance of God which I have
had occasion to discuss. It took many years and unquestionable
miracles to make the Apostles understand, that the Gentile world
were to partake with the seed of Abraham of the blessings of the
Gospel ; and many more years and miracles to make them see,
that the Gentiles were entitled to partake of these blessings, free
from the yoke which more ancient covenants had imposed ; and
many more years, and the most wonderful interpositions of God,
to make the Jewish converts understand that Jesus had released
them also from the same bondage.1 Within these years the Gos
pel had been planted, and Christian Churches organized, and
numberless office bearers ordained, and Church courts constituted
1 Acts, xxi. 17-25 ; Gal, iii. passim.

CHAP. XXXI.J OFFICE BEARERS  GOVERNMENT. 621
in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and in Samaria, and according to the
order prescribed by Christ ; and the work for all the world which
was to follow, had already spread widely. The very question of
Gentile circumcision, to which I have already alluded, was decided,
by a synod of Apostles and Elders, before which Paul and Bar
nabas and certain other men appeared to represent the Churches
of Antioch. Already the government of the Church was fully in
operation, akeady its office bearers were determined and estab
lished everywhere, before a Gentile idea had found entrance into
its bosom, or those grand and long descended ideas of God's in
timate power and personal presence, had changed even their col
ouring in the Jewish mind. Nay, when we enter this Christian
tribunal which determined this question, in which was involved
the fate of the Church and of the Gentile world ; the very name
of the office bearers carries us back to Moses, back to the Patri
archs. Elders, who were rulers always, since God had a Church
visible on earth, whose title was always familiar where God had a
people : Elders sit, counsel, decide, with the Apostles.1 And it may
be added that this great tribunal of Apostles and Elders, citing the
example of Moses, reduced their decrees to writing that they might
be read everywhere, and sent them to Antioch by Judas surnamed
Bars abas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren, and chosen
men of their own company, along with Paul and Barnabas. These
written decrees, received with great joy by the multitude of breth
ren in Antioch, were delivered by Paul himself, accompanied by
Timothy, to all the Churches in the cities scattered throughout
Syria and Cilicia, Phrygia and Galatia, as decrees for to keep,
that were ordained of the Apostles and Elders which were at Je
rusalem ;2 which service immediately preceded his first entrance
with the blessed Gospel, upon the continent of Europe, about
the twentieth year after the crucifixion.
4. Here then are the two objects of our enquiry, set palpably
before us by the divine record ; office bearers, and a government
in their hands. Concerning the government itself, the most
important and fundamental truths lie on the face of the narra
tive. It is a government whose authority extends over the whole
> Gen.,17; Ex, iii 16-18; iv. 29-31 ; Lev, iv. 13-21 ; Numb, xi. 24-31 ; Psalm
cvii. 32; Joel, i. 14, 15; ii. 15-17; Matt., xvi. 21; xxvii 12; xxviii. 12; Acts, si
29, 30 ; xiv. 23 ; xv. passim ; xvi 4.
2 Acts, xv. 19-22, 30-41 ; xvi. 1-9.

622 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
Christian world. It is a tribunal whose decision has been sought
by the remote Churches of a great Gentile city ; which being con
vened, accepts the reference to it without hesitation, and delib
erates on the question as one proper for it to determine ; which
renders its authoritative decision in writing, and sends that de
cision in the form of a decree to the Churches immediately
concerned. The same written decree is immediately circulated
throughout all the surrounding nations, the great Apostle of the
Gentiles who had brought the question to the supreme tribunal,
being conspicuously active in delivering it to the scattered
Churches in many States of the East ; and it was everywhere
delivered, everywhere received, as a decree ordained, and as such
to be kept ; ordained by the Apostles and Elders who convened
at Jerusalem, to be kept throughout the Christian Church. It
had been determined long before, in the great case at Caesarea,
that Gentiles may be baptized : but the manner of that decision
is not formally recorded.1 Now it must be decided, and the con
duct of Peter himself at Antioch, and the supposed scruples of
James, and the teaching of certain men who came from Judea to
Antioch, obliged the Church to settle, whether or not a Gentile,
even though baptized, can be saved except he be circumcised
after the manner of Moses.2 And the Church by its highest tri
bunal does settle it, and the Church through all her borders re
ceives it as settled, and all succeeding ages accept the settlement,
that day made at Jerusalem ; that there never was such a Chris
tian doctrine, as that a Gentile could not be saved unless he kept
the law of Moses. We do not know precisely, how many Apos
tles sat in this Church court ; all, doubtless, who were at Jerusa
lem. Certainly Peter, who after much disputing by others, de
livered his brief and massive decision, ending with the words, We
believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall
be saved, even as they. James also sat in the body ; and after
hearing all, stated his judgment briefly, closing it with these words,
My sentence is that we trouble not them which from among the
Gentiles are turned unto God. Paul and Barnabas were probably
members of the synod ; at any rate they urged it to the conclu
sion it reached, by declaring what miracles and wonders God had
wrought among the Gentiles by them. As for the Elders pres
ent, we know only that Barnabas and Silas were two ; and that
i Acts, xi. 1-18. 2 GaL, ii 11-14; Acts, xv. 1, 2.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 623
the number of them was so great, as to be called a multitude.
The argument of Peter was, that this question had already been
decided by God, and that it was merely to tempt him, to treat it
otherwise. The argument of James was, that the prophets had
foretold the call of the Gentiles ; and that Peter's statement was
in accordance with their predictions. The argument of Paul and
Barnabas was, the actual miraculous demonstration of the will
of God. The result reached was unanimous, joyful, also, not only
to the Apostles and Elders, but to the brethren also, nay, to the
whole Church. Let it be added, that everything that was said and
clone, avowed or assumed that they were acting by, and under, the
authority of God, seeking to know his will, and when known to en
force it ; all has express reference to Jesus ; and the formal conclu
sion is, It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us1. I forbear to
urge farther, thatthe court decreed as well what the Gentile Church
must do, as what they need not do ; the very form of their words,
— To lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things,
— showing the, sense they had of the power of the synod, and of
the force of its decrees. But let us note in addition to what has
been said, that this tribunal had obviously no connection with
any authority civil or sacred, either of the Jewish people or of
the Boman Empire ; that it was manifestly constituted of a sin
gle body made up of Apostles and Elders, not of two chambers
or houses, of which Apostles composed one and Elders the other ;
that according to all the intimations of the narrative, as well as
all the probabilities of the case, the number of Elders present
far exceeded the number of Apostles present ; that as members
of this synod, the right to sit, to deliberate, and to decide, was
equally complete in both classes of its members ; and, finally,
that a clear and decisive example of this sort, in which James,
and Peter, and Paul were the chief actors, and such fellow labour
ers as Barnabas, and Barsabas, and Silas took part, and the body
of Elders, at Jerusalem sat as members, and the whole Church
of Christ approved, and the Holy Ghost endorsed : must be con
sidered conclusive. Conclusive that there was a government in
the Christian Church in the days of the Apostles ; that it was
in the hands of the Apostles and Elders ; that it was indepen
dent of all human authority, coextensive with the whole Church,
and had jurisdiction of the doctrine, the practice, the life, and
1 Acts, xv. 1-29.

624 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
the interest of the whole body considered as a spiritual society ;
and that the whole was in the name, and by the authority of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Leaving out the parts of the case which
were miraculous, extraordinary, local and transitory, the grand
and permanent truths which were settled by means of those ele
ments, remain perpetually. The government by tribunals,
the Elders, the jurisdiction, the multitudinous congregations, the
unity of the whole Church, the supremacy over aU of the tribu
nal which embraces all, the exclusive spirituality, complete sepa
ration from the world, and absolute authority of Christ : all this
abides, and has been constantly manifest in the Gospel Church,
exactly in proportion to its own fidelity to its divine Lord.
5. So far concerning the Government : next, briefly, concern
ing the office bearers in whose hands it is : and of the two
classes, the Apostles first. The Saviour near the commencement
of his public ministry, chose twelve of his disciples, who received
the name of Apostles, to be his constant companions. One of
them betrayed him, and then hanged himself. The hundred and
twenty Disciples who met in Jerusalem, chose another in his
place, sometime between the final ascension of the risen Saviour
and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost.
It is admitted on all hands, that the glorified Bedeemer miracu
lously added Paul to the company ; and many suppose that Bar
nabas was also of the number. Some allege that others, perhaps
many others, were also Apostles ; about which I shall not enquire
here, as it is not material to the matter before us. Whoever
were true Apostles of the Lord, had, of course, Apostolic power,
rights, and fitness, divinely bestowed on them. For they were
persons expressly and individually chosen by Christ, to be wit
nesses for him, concerning his life, his miracles, his doctrine, his
crucifixion, his resurrection, and his glory ; expressly chosen to
preach his gospel of salvation and cause it to be preached, to the
whole family of man ; and to make known and cause to be made
known in all nations, always, even unto the end of the world, all
things whatsoever he had commanded thein. To these men, even
during his own ministry, he gave miraculous powers, and bade
them freely use them, in confirmation of aU he bade them preach.1
He appointed unto them a kingdom, even as his Father had ap
pointed unto him :2 he gave them uuHmited authority to set it
1 Matt, x. passim. " Luke, xxii 24-30.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 625
up and to establish it — to open and to shut it: — to form and to
administer it :] he promised and he sent the Holy Ghost upon
them, to 'fit them every way for their divine work, both by his
ordinary and extraordinary work with and in them, and by his
continual work as the Comforter of all those who should believe
on him, and as the Beprover of the world itself :' and to crown
all, he promised to be with them himself in the plenitude of his
infinite power, always, everywhere, and to return again, personally
and in boundless glory, when the dispensation of his kingdom
committed to their hands, had reached the point for his second
coming, then hidden in the bosom of the Father." These are the
men. three of whom certainly, and possibly more, were connected
with the synod whose nature has just been considered ; to which,
by their participation and approbation, they gave, both as to its
substance and its form, its nature, organization, and acts, the
whole weight of Apostolical, that is of divine authority. It is
not, however, disputed by any, that the Apostles were completely
authorized and fitted to create a government for the Gospel
Church ; nor that whatever government they did create, was in
their hands, whoUy or in part. That Elders had part with them
in the government they actually established, is as indisputable
as the divine record. So that even if the Apostolic office is per
manent in the Gospel Church, the exclusion of Elders from this
participation with the Apostles, now existing, would be a gross
impiety. For if no such Elders exist to share the government
of the Church with these living Apostles, according to the man
ner ordained by God ; this is an immense and impious revolution.
But if such Elders do exist, and are excluded by these living
Apostles, this is an atrocious usurpation and tyranny united. If
added to one or both of these outrages, these living Apostles are
mere intruders into an office that has no longer any existence,
then whatever government may be in their hands, is doubly im
pious; for it exists by first dispossessing those to whom it
rightly appertains, and then giving it to those who are guilty
of imposture even in what they pretend to be. After that,
it was natural to ravage and pollute the Church which had
been betrayed — to deny and insult the Saviour who had been
1 Mark, xvi. 13-21 ; xviii. 15-20; John, xx. 19-25.
2 Acts, i 8 ; ii. passim ; x. passim ; Luke, xxiv. 44-53 ; John, xiv. ; xv. ; xvi.
* Acts, i 1-11 ; Matt, xxviii. 18-20 ; xxv. 31-46 ; xxiv. 36-41 • Mark, xiii. 32--3t.
vol. ii. 40

626 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
defied. That the Apostolical office was extraordinary, and
never designed by Christ to be permanent in the Church,
is every way clear : and even if it were not, it is every way clear
that those now claiming to be Apostles, are impostors. Because,
if they are Apostles they must be so either by a lawful vocation
of the people of God, like other permanent office bearers, which
vocation none of them have, or even pretend to have : or they
must be so by official succession from the original Apostles,
which none of them can produce the slightest evidence that they
possess, and which it can be clearly shown it is historically im
possible that they should possess : or they must be so by mirac
ulous vocation of God, to assert which, besides the imposture of
it, is, considering whom they are, equally an insult to the com
mon sense of men, and to the majesty of God. But, in effect,
the Apostolic office had no such succession as is alleged : because
whatever succession appertains to the Church is not by office
bearers but by the Church itself, which is the Body of him who
is the ruler of the universe. By the vocation of God, ascertained
in the manner I will disclose, the permanent offices ordained of
God, are filled from age to age. No perpetual succession apper
tains to the Church itself, in any other sense than that God has
always had, and always will have, a Church in this world ; but
where, amongst what people, and how connected with preceding
generations under the Gospel dispensation, is matter of sover
eign grace, and not of succession. Moreover the very nature of
the Apostolic office, namely, with plenary power and fitness to
set up and establish a new dispensation, of the Church of God ;
makes it as obvious that Peter had no successor, as that Abra
ham had none, and that Moses had none. And every Apostolic
duty is of that nature, that it requires for its discharge such ex
traordinary operations of the Holy Ghost, as have ceased from
the Church for nearly eighteen centuries : and the Scriptures
are not only profoundly silent touching any continuance of this
office permanently in the Church, but they assert that impostors
calling themselves Apostles will arise, and command us to reject
them, and praise those who had already before the death of the
last Apostle, tried some of them and found them liars.1 If
however, there could be any doubt to any sincere enquirer after
truth — the word of God has laid clown three marks of a true
' Rev, ii. 2; 1 John, iv. 1; Matt, xxiv. 3-5, 25, 26.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS  GOVERNMENT. 627
Apostle, by the union of all of which he who claims to be one,
must make that claim good. First, an Apostle must be a true
lover of the Lord Jesus, and his faithful disciple in good report
and ill report.1 Secondly, he must be able to verify his claim by
working miracles.2 Thirdly, he must have personally seen the
Lord Jesus, so as to be personaUy, and of his own knowledge, a
witness of his resurrection.3 If now it be alleged, that inas
much as the government was in the hands of Apostles and El
ders, the ceasing of the Apostolic office would abolish the gov
ernment, by putting an end to the chief element of it ; the
answer is very easy. The government, whatever it might be,
was created by the Apostles ; that they took part in its admin
istration during their lives, has been proved ; that they intended
to perpetuate the Apostolic office, has been disproved : the
two remaining solutions are, first that they designed the govern
ment to be temporary and to cease with their office — which is
absurd in itself, and wholly unsupported by the word of God ;
and secondly, that they designed the permanent government of
the Church to be by courts composed exclusively of Elders. This
is precisely what they did intend, and what they actually did :
which I will prove in its place. The Greek words for these El
ders and those courts composed of them, are as nearly as possible,
transferred into English, in the ordinary words used to express
them. The permanent government of the Church is by Presby
tery, composed of Presbyters* That the Apostles should take
part in the administration of this government formed by them
selves, designed to be perpetual and universal, rapidly extend
ing itself over every quarter of the earth, and embracing Jews,
Samaritans, and Gentiles, a vast heterogeneous multitude of peo
ples, differing in all things but their common discipleship to
Jesus ; seems to me to offer the only assurance of its successful
establishment, unless the first generation of believers had all
been inspired. That their office justified what they did, can
hardly be questioned. If it should be questioned, however, it
could avail nothing, because it would be further necessary to
show that the Apostolic office was inconsistent not only with
such a use of it, but also inconsistent with the actual holding of
1 John, xxi. 14-17 ; Luke, xxii. 25-29.
a Acts, ii. 42 ; Rom, xv. 16-20 ; 2 Cor, xii. 11-13.
3 Acts, i. 8, 21-26: iv. 33; John, xv. 26, 27 ; 1 Cot., xv. 1-10 ; ix. 1, 2.
* TlpeapvTEpiov — ¦n-peoj3vrepoc.

628 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
the additional office of Elder at the same time. But that never
can be shown ; for two at least amongst the most eminent of
them, have declared that they were Elders themselves ; and aU
may have been. Peter says, The Elders which are amongst
you I exhort, who am also an Elder, and a witness of the suffer
ings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be re
vealed.1 John commences two of his Epistles bycaUing himself,
The Elder.2 For my own part, however, I consider it past dis
pute that the Apostolic office embraced unlimited Church power ;
and nothing can be more certain, than that the Apostles exer
cised it all, from the highest to the lowest.
6. I wiU now examine the nature of the office held by the
Elders who, along with the Apostles, constituted the synod met
at Jerusalem, which has been examined. As in the preceding
portions of this enquiry, so here a clear case made and stated
through divine inspiration, shaU guide us. If any one ever knew
what a Christian Elder was, the Apostle Peter certainly did. His
First General Epistle, towards the close of his eventful and glo
rious life, is thus dedicated, Peter an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to
the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God
the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ ; Grace unto you and
peace be multiplied. In the latter part of this Epistle he ad
dresses the Elders of these widely scattered saints, and equally
all the Elders on earth to the end of time, in the manner follow
ing : The Elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an
Elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a par
taker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God
which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by con
straint but willingly ; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ;
neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to
the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall
receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.3 These state
ments hardly admit of being misunderstood. The predominant
ideas are, the chief Shepherd, his flock, and the office bearers
specially exhorted : it is Christ, and his widely scattered Church,
and his under Shepherds who are her Elders. This flock of Christ
are called the elect of God, they are said to be redeemed by
' 1 Peter, iv. 1. ' 2 John, 1 ; 3 John, 1. s 1 Peter, i. 1, 2 ; v. 1-3.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 629
Christ, to be sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and to walk in new
obedience : they are the flock of God, the heritage of God,
Christ being the chief Shepherd, and the officers whom Peter ex
horts being, according to the force and sense of the terms he
uses, Elders, that is Presbyters of the flock, a title shared with
Peter, Shepherds of it, a title shared with Christ, and as such
Bishops of it, teachers of it and rulers of it under the great
Teacher, the great King Jesus. They feed the flock ; they
have the oversight of the flock ; they are its teachers, its rulers,
its pastors, its bishops, all under the one name — Elders.* They
were not appointed of God to lord it over his heritage, but
to be examples to his flock. They must not take the oversight
of it through any constraint upon the flock, but by its willing
consent : the great doctrine of Vocation. They must not enter
upon this work for filthy lucre, but from zeal. And the second
coming of the Lord, and their crown of unfading glory to be re
ceived at that time, are the motives suggested for their fidelity.
If, therefore, we may rely upon this Apostle, a Christian Elder,
to whom the permanent administration of the government of the
Christian Church belongs, is a Presbyter, who by his connection
with the flock is Pastor and Bishop, and whose functions are to
teach and rule ; who is forbidden to lord it over the flock, or even
to intrude into it, but is commanded to be an example to it.
Peter's words do not admit of any other sense : and what he
teaches corresponds with everything taught elsewhere by the
Holy Ghost : insomuch that it may be confidently asserted not
an intimation can be found throughout the Scriptures, that any
one who is not a Presbyter, has any power of rule, since the
Apostolic office ceased, in the Gospel Church. His generic title
is Presbyter — Elder — which is specifically significative of his power
of rule ; and the officer, the idea, and the mode of expressing
both, according to the various tongues, have been a part of the
inheritance of the Church of God under every dispensation, since
it had a visible existence. Being Presbyter he is ruler ; having
the cure of souls he is Bishop ; having charge of a particular
flock he is Pastor and Teacher. Thus, to take another example
from another Apostle, Paul as he went up to Jerusalem, proba
bly for the last time, passing from Macedonia, touched at Miletus,
in Asia Minor, and sent to Ephesus and called the Elders of the
* TlpeafivTEpovs — noi/iavare — notuvtov — emaconovvTec — aoxnroifievoc.

630 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
Church. His exhortation to them is preserved in the narrative
of the affecting transaction ; in the course of which he spoke these
words to them : Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the
flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed
the Church of God, which he has purchased with his blood.1
Now, here is a congregation of believers at Ephesus, whom God
had purchased with his own blood, to the aggregate body of whom
Paul applies two Greek words, translated by the two EngHsh
words church and flock.* The persons he sent for, are described
by two Greek phrases, one of which is rendered by the words, the
Elders of Church, the word for Elder being the only Greek word
for Presbyter ; and the other is rendered by the words, the flock
over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, the word for
overseer being the only Greek word for Bishop.f The charge he
gives them is, to take heed to themselves and to all the flock,
and to feed the Church of God. We learn, therefore, the same
things from Paul, as before from Peter. God had a Church in
Ephesus, which, like all his other Churches, had office bearers in
it, called Elders or Presbyters, who were Overseers or Bishops,
who were placed by the Holy Ghost over this flock or Church to
take care of it, and feed it ; that is, to be its Pastors, Bishops,
Teachers, Bulers. Without multiplying proofs of what seems to
be made clear and certain — -namely, the nature of the office held
by these Elders ; I will add one great and permanent peculiarity
of the office, not disclosed particularly in the passages I have cited,
but involved in them, and necessary to be clearly understood.
The Jewish Sanhedrim, called in Greek Sunedrion (2,we8niov)
and in English Synod, was established by Moses by the express
command of God, in the hands of seventy of the Elders of Israel ;2
and existed throughout the Jewish dispensation as the supreme
tribunal, both civil and ecclesiastical ; being in full exercise
during the ministry of Christ and his Apostles, till the total
destruction of the Jewish commonwealth. In the times of our
Saviour and his Apostles, the chief priests and scribes sat in this
body with the Elders, who were still its chief element :s the
whole matter, though frequently alluded to, being unnecessarily
obscured in our version by using the word council, instead of
1 Acts, xx. 17, 28. * EKlnoia — iroi/iviov.
\ Tovc npeapvTepovc enKAnoiac ; — ev (p Vfiac to -Kvevfia to ayiov edeTO emBitonovi.
2 Lev, xi. 16-30 ' Matt, xxvi. 29 ; Luke, xxii 66.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 631
synod. In the body of the Christian Elders, from their first ex
istence, all without exception were rulers, as I have proved. But
a new function manifested itself amongst these Elders, unknown
to those of the Jews ; the great function of preaching the cross
of Christ, as the power of God, and of a divine stewardship of
those mysteries of God which stand immediately related to the
great work of proclaiming the Gospel to every creature. To
meet this glorious exigency, many expedients presented them
selves. The one adopted by the Apostles was the simplest and
the most effectual. The whole body of Elders was divided upon
this new function into two classes, one of which should perform
it in addition to all other functions, and the other should unite
with them as before in the performance of all other functions of
the Elder's office. The designation of individual Elders to one
or other class, as well as the caU of them all, might at first have
been miraculous, or might have been personal by the Apostles as
theirs had been by Christ. Permanently, it must all be through
vocation of God's people, and by ordination ; the fact of such a
distinction as I have pointed out, being the main thing here.
The dispensation of Sacrifices had ended, and with it the cere
monial law on one side, and on the other the order of the priest
hood, the essence of whose office it was to offer sacrifice. But
the Church stood not only, but passed into a far higher state ;
and every permanent gift which God had bestowed on her, from
the foundation of the world, stood forth only the more distinctly
as all that was temporary disappeared. The Elders of the people
were one of these gifts, older than the call of Moses, which he
found and by the command of God organized ; which the Apos
tles found, and in like manner organized, as I have shown ; in all
instances the form of organization being responsive to the form
of each successive dispensation. In the Gospel dispensation,
Church power is subject to the profound distinction which both
the examples I have just expounded involve and suggest, namely
the distinction between ruling and teaching : which distinction
in the power, must exist also in those who hold the power ; or
else all of them must hold both forms of Church power, and the
inherent distinction in the nature of the power be liable to con
stant disregard. In effect, what happens by the ordination of
God is, that the distinction in the nature of the power is pre
served, and the whole body of Elders is divided into two classes,

632 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
of whom one hath rulers and teachers, while the others rule
only ; all being by order Elders — Presbyters. Therefore, says
the Apostle, Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of
double honour, especially they that labour in word and doctrine.1
That is, all Elders are Church rulers, and all as such should be
honoured ; and those who do this duty well should receive spe
cial honour on that account : but besides ruling well, there are
Elders who preach the Gospel, and these are particularly worthy
of being honoured. In the same chapter the Apostle charges
Timothy, to whom he was writing, that he should not rebuke an
Elder, but exhort him as a father ; and that, on the other hand,
in ordaining Elders in every city, to whom should be committed,
that they also might commit to others, the things in which Paul
had instructed him ; hands must not be laid in ordination sud
denly on any man.2 In another epistle this Apostle, more in
detail, commands generally that every one having any part in
the service of the body of Christ, should diligently use his special
office, received as a gift of the grace of God ; and then entering
into particulars, commands among other things that those who
are thus called of God to teach shall be occupied therein, and
those who are called to rule shall do it diligently.3 And to this
purport is the whole doctrine of the subject, whether the Chris
tian Church be considered in its relation to past dispensations, or
in its own special nature ; whether we examine the revealed form
of the government given to it, or the absolute nature of the of
fice bearers themselves, or the multitudinous statements relating
expressly or indirectly to every part of the subject, scattered
throughout the word of God. Touching the point I have now
discussed, the result is certain ; namely, that the permanent
government of the Gospel Church is exclusively in the hands of
Elders, and that there are two classes of Elders, of whom one
are both teachers and rulers, and the other rulers only.
II. — 1. There is then, by divine ordination, a spiritual gov
ernment in the Gospel Church, wholly distinct from all civil
government : the office bearers in whose hands this government
is lodged by God, are revealed : and the nature of the power of
the Church, to be exercised through this government, and these
office bearers, is taught us by God. I will now endeavour to ex-
i 1 Tim., v. 17. 2 1 Tim, v. 1-22 ; 2 Tim, ii 2 ; Titus, i 5.
3 Rom, xii. 4-8.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS  GOVERNMENT. 633
plain, from the word of God, as briefly as possible, the manner in
which this government originates and takes its divine form, in
which it acts, and in which its existence is every way involved
with that of the visible Church itself. And first of the particu
lar congregations and their tribunal. We have no means of
knowing to what extent men were regenerated under the per
sonal ministry of Christ ; no means of ascertaining what propor
tion of the seed of Abraham, were already true children of God
when Christ came, and joyfully received him as soon as he ap
peared. When we recollect that the Jewish people were the visi
ble Church of God, and that the profession of being a Jew which
was only outward and not inward, is distinctly repudiated by
Christ and by the Apostles ; and call to mind the signal examples
mentioned in the New Testament, of righteous Jews who were
waiting, when Christ appeared, for the hope of Israel ; we shall,
perhaps justly, conclude that we are prone to make too low an
estimate of the number of God's children who were ready to ac
cept their Messiah. On the other point, if we call to mind the
wonderful ministry of John the Baptist, and its wonderful effects;
and reflect on the overwhelming power of the teaching, the mira
cles, and the very presence of Christ, and consider what vast mul
titudes throughout Judea heard his doctrine from himself, as
well as from the twelve, and the seventy whom he sent out ; it is
not easy to believe that the number of true believers was small,
when the Lord was crucified. We know that the number of the
disciples met together in one place before Pentecost, who at the
suggestion of Peter substituted an Apostle for Judas, was about
a hundred and twenty;1 they being, probably, a select body of
the principal Christians then about Jerusalem. And Paul states
that Christ was seen after his resurrection, by about five hundred
brethren at once ; although Peter says it was only by witnesses
chosen before of God, that he was seen after his resurrection.2
To this precious, dispersed, and perhaps great flock delivered by
Christ to the Apostles, three thousand were added on the day of
Pentecost. The number was increased to five thousand a short
time after, and the Lord added to the Church daily such as
should be saved ; and in a single generation the Gospel seems to
have penetrated the remotest nations. At first, the Apostles ap
pear to have discharged every official duty ; very soon they caused
Acts, i 15. 2 1 Cor, xv. 6 ; Acts, x. 41.

634 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
the multitude of the disciples in Jerusalem to elect Deacons ; as
soon as we hear of particular Churches, we hear of their Elders :
and then of Presbytery, and ordinations ; and then of Synod,
and great questions discussed and settled. The office bearers of
the Church, are ascension gifts of Christ ; for, it is certain that
when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave
gifts unto men ; which gifts were Apostles, Prophets, Evange
lists, Pastors and Teachers. And these were given, for the per
fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify
ing of the body of Christ.1 And so far were the Apostles from
being at any loss, that the narrative of their reception of the Holy
Ghost, of their instantaneous proclamation of salvation by Jesus
Christ, of the conversion and immediate baptism of about three
thousand souls ; proceeds to add that these persons continued
steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in break
ing of bread, and in prayer.2 But this breaking of bread was the
celebration of the Lord's Supper, which has been shown to be a
sacrament involving a community, and not merely individual per
sons : and this fellowship* necessarily involves the same thing.
From Pentecost itself, therefore, the family of Christ, the Church,
the Christian commonwealth, already existed in its visible form ;
and was numbered by thousands ; possibly, as I have pointed out,
by hundreds of thousands. From the remotest antiquity per
haps, undoubtedly from the Babylonish captivity, fixed congre
gations of believers met to worship God. The Jews called these
fixed congregations synagogues, and held the worship of each at
a fixed place ; and that worship consisted in the reading and ex
pounding of God's word, and in offering up prayers to him. Each
one of these synagogues had a bench of these Elders, whom the
Scriptures mention so often, who jointly bore rule in it. During
the ministry of Christ and that of his Apostles, these synagogues
existed throughout Palestine, and were found in every city in the
world, wherever a small community of Jews resided. If the Babbis
are to be credited, Jerusalem contained nearly five hundred syn
agogues. Every Christian in the world, probably, for the first
eight years of the existence of the Gospel Church, was a Jew :
and whether by divine inspiration, by reason of the perfection of
the organization, by reason of their Jewish training, or by reason
of all combined ; the fact is certain that the fixed congregations,
' Eph, iv. 7-15 • 1 Cor, xii. 5-13. 2 Acts, ii. 42. * Koivuvia.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 635
the particular Churches, which the Apostles erected in the bosom
of the Church universal, were as near the model of the Jewish
synagogue as the respective natures of the two dispensations of
the Church of God allowed. The Apostle James, indeed, calls
the Christian congregation of his dispersed brethren to whom his
Epistle is addressed, your synagogue, which our version obscures
by using the word assembly.1 And the promise of our Saviour,
Where two or three are gathered together* in my name, there am
I in the midst of them :2 appears, from the peculiar word he used,
to intimate an organic gathering together, and that after the
manner of the synagogue. Now these fixed Christian congrega
tions are. the elemental particulars of which the whole structure
of Church government is constructed. To each one of these
Christ gives a plurality of Elders, two or three, ten or twenty,
according to its need. To each one of them he gives a Pastor or
Bishop — or two or three or more, if need require. And all these
Pastors, Bishops and Elders, are alike Presbyters ; and all jointly
rule, and the Pastors or Bishops besides this, labour in word and
doctrine. The tribunal, the court in that congregation, which
exercises all the power of rule appertaining to it, is constituted
of all these Presbyters.8 To this fixed particular Church, God
gave another class of permanent office bearers called Deacons, of
whom I have had no occasion to speak particularly as yet, because
Church government is not in their hands. They are mentioned
here for the purpose of adding, that every complete Christian
Church, has everything that every other one has, everything that
the Church universal has : Pastors, Elders, Deacons, members, a
tribunal, ordinances, worship, everything. If there was but one
on earth it would possess all that the universal Church would
possess, if it embraced the whole family of man : numbers only
would be increased, the government, the office bearers, the mem
bers, the tribunal, the nature of Church power being the same.
On the one hand the unity of the whole Church, on the other the
efficacy of every particular element of it, is perfectly secured :
and all that is lacking is some application of this wonderful
organization, by which a tribunal like that in the congregation,
shall exist for the whole of the Church considered as one, and tri-
¦ James, ii. 2. * Svvny/ievoi, ' Matt, xviii 20.
3 1 Cor, v. 4, 5 ; xii. 28 ; Matt, xviii. 15-20 ; Acts, xiv 23 ; 1 Thess, v. 11, 12 ;
Acts, xv. 2, 6; xx. 17, 28; Rom, xii 8 ; 1 Tim, v. 17.

636 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V,
bunals like both of these shall exist between the first and the
last, the smallest and the greatest, as necessity may demand.
This I will now explain.
2. The particular Christian congregations everywhere gathered
and organized, everywhere called the Church, the flock of Christ,
of which the mention is constant in those divine writings which
cover a period of about sixty years, from the crucifixion of Christ
to the death of the Apostle John ; varied greatly with respect to
members, both one from another, and each one in itself from time
to time. The organized congregation and its tribunal, might
exist singly in a city and be small : or might exist singly, and
the numbers be so great and the city so large, as to require nu
merous places for public worship, and numerous office bearers to
serve, to rule, and to teach, so great a multitude : or each one of
these various meetings might become fixed and organized with
its own officers and tribunal. It is an aspect of the subject which
presents no difficulty, either in theory or practice. That Presby
ters, Elders, Pastors, Bishops, were ordained in every Church, by
the Apostles or by their orders, is explicitly and repeatedly as
serted in the Scriptures ;l and I have already shown that they
constituted the tribunal, the court — the congregational or pa
rochial Presbytery. It is by the union of many of these particu
lar congregations, with their tribunals, and by the erection of a
tribunal over the united body, similar to the one that exists in
each of them ; that the Church preserves its outward unity, and
extends its government, as its own area enlarges, and its num
bers increase. It is immaterial what the number of these united
congregations may be, three, a hundred, or any convenient num
ber. The model of this application of the principles of the gov
ernment, already existed from the origin of the Church, probably in
every large city, certainly in Jerusalem, Antioch and others ; where
numerous unfixed congregations, although worshipping statedly
apart, belonged for a time to the same organized Church, under
the control of its single but numerous tribunal. So that the
transition to a similar union of numerous fixed and organized con
gregations, and the erection of a tribunal over them all which
should be exactly Hke the tribunal of each, indeed constituted by
uniting the whole of the particular tribunals or a select portion
of each one ; was a perfectly obvious mode by which the united
1 Acts, xiv. 23 ; xiii 1-3 ; xxi 17, 18 ; 1 Tim, v. 17-22 ; Titus, i 5 ; James, v. 14.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 637
congregations might have mutual counsel and assistance, might
more effectually preserve the doctrine and execute the discipHne
of the Church, might preserve the organic unity of the whole as
the body of Christ of which all are parts, and might augment by
union of counsel and effort the efficient working of the whole, in
perfecting and extending the Kingdom of God. What is as
serted is, that this part of the organization of the Church, which
seems to be so natural, so obvious, and so wise, is also Apostolical
and divine ; that this union of congregations is as thoroughly
according to the will of God, as the union of individuals into
congregations is ; and the control of the tribunal of the united
congregations as real over all the congregations and all their
special tribunals, as the rule of each particular tribunal is over
the congregation in which it is erected. Thus originating and
thus constituted, the members of this tribunal are the same per
sons who are members of the tribunals in the congregations ; not
only similar, but the same, beyond all doubt to the extent of
embracing them ; they are Presbyters of both classes, all of one
order, and according to that order all of equal dignity, rank, and
authority, as rulers in the house of God. The tribunal itself is
called in the Greek Scriptures Presbuterion (JlpeajivTepLov') Pres
bytery : the very same word being applied by Paul to the Jewish
and to the corresponding Christian tribunal ; but obscured by
rendering it the Estate of the Elders when applied to the former.1
So we have in the Jewish Church the Sanhedrim, the Presbytery,
and the Synagogue, and in the Christian Church the Synod, the
Presbytery, and the congregation : the very names of all the
Jewish courts being allowed by the Apostles, as being appro
priate to the Christian institutions ; and the things represented
by these names respectively, being as similar as the difference be
tween the two dispensations permits. It would prevent much
error, if we would more carefully distinguish between those parts
of our great inheritance which are peculiar to our own dispensa
tion, and those parts which are common to all dispensations. For
the detailed exposition of the three ecclesiastical tribunals so near
ly common to the Jewish and Christian Dispensations, a volume,
and not a single section of a single chapter, would be required.
I therefore content myself, upon this naked point of the divine
warrant for the classical Presbytery, that is a Presbytery over a
' 1 Tim, iv. 14 ; Acts, xxii 5 ; Luke, xxii. 66.

638 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
class of particular Churches, which is the tribunal next above
the congregational Presbytery or Church session ; with merely
adding to what has been advanced, the example of the classical
Presbytery in the Churches in Jerusalem, in Antioch, in Ephe
sus, and in Corinth ;l concerning all of which the numerous
statements of the Scriptures, when collected and duly consid
ered, make it fully apparent that they were just such courts as
have existed always, and as exist still, in the Church of Christ.
Supposing, in the next place, the Church visible to extend itself
beyond such limits, either in space or numbers, as may be con
veniently covered by the classical Presbytery just described ; the
formation of additional tribunals of the same kind, either by di
vision of such as exist, or the erection of new ones, puts these
classical Presbyteries with all the Churches composing them, in
a position similar to that occupied by the particular Churches
and their congregational Presbytery, before the creation of the
classical Presbytery. And the remedy and the result are the
same, as in the first case. The union of any number of classi
cal Presbyteries as such, three, fifty, a hundred, creates a synod
covering them all ; composed of the same office bearers, organ
ized in the same way, and with the same power and jurisdiction
over aU, that each had over part. By taking the members of
this third court, or synod, immediately from the first one, or
Church session, it may be made a very numerous body ; or by
taking them from the second court, or Presbytery strictly so
called, and applying the principle of representation of the whole
Presbytery by a small part of its members, the synod may be a
very small body. It is perfectly suitable, therefore, either to be
the permanent head of a denomination of Christians, or of a na
tional Church ; or to be one of a series of tribunals, the supreme
one of which shall be above it. The scriptural warrant for this
tribunal has been as fully set forth, and its nature as fully con
sidered, in the examination I have already made of the synod
constituted at Jerusalem concerning Gentile circumcision, as my
limits permit. And now supposing the extent of the Church
in any way, or its interests of any sort, to demand a tribunal
still higher than the synod, the same divine organization and
principles apply perfectly, and with the same result : and a uni-
1 Acts, xi. 27, 30 ; xv. 2, 35 ; xiii. 1-3 ; xx. 17, 28 ; iv. 35, 37 ; vi. 2, 3-6; 1 Cor,
i 12 ; iv. 15 ; v. 4-15 ; xiv 29 ; 2 Cor, ii. 6-9.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS  GOVERNMENT. 639
versal council of any number of Churches, can be constituted
for a special purpose ; or a General Assembly of any separate
Church, whether denominational or national, can be constituted
as a permanent tribunal, without departing in the least particular
from the divine model, or from the divine precepts. If the Gen
eral Assembly is to be numerous, that is effected by making the
Presbyters who compose it, the representatives of Presbyteries :
if it is to be comparatively small, that is effected by making the
Presbyters who compose it the representatives of Synods. It is
the tribunal of the whole Church ; it is the whole Church met
in one Assembly by its office bearers, exactly as a Church ses
sion is a particular Church met by its office bearers ; and the
jurisdiction and power of the supreme tribunal over all, are of
the same nature and have the same divine warrant, as the juris
diction and the power of the tribunals below it over the parts
which they respectively rule. The government of the Church,
therefore, is a free representative government : it is not a tyr
anny like popery, nor an oligarchy like Prelacy, nor a pure de
mocracy like Independency. It is in its conception perfect, no
matter how small : perfect, no matter how widely expanded :
perfect at every intermediate point between a small company and
the whole race of man. It cannot make Christians ; but it en
ables Christians to do with the highest efficiency, all that God
requires them to do, as his Kingdom. Its whole authority de
pends on the only head of the Church, who is Christ the Lord ;
in whose name every one of its tribunals perpetually constitutes ;
and all their lawful acts are worship of him. Its whole efficacy
depends on the Holy Ghost, and its sole rule is the word of God.
Its connection with the Church of God, which is the pillar and
ground of the truth, is so vital, that its permanent extinction is
totally impossible, except by means of the annihilation of the visi
ble Church. Nevertheless, while its existence depends on that of
the Church, the existence of the Church depends on it only in
the sense, that by the command of God she manifests the life
he gives her, through the gifts he bestows on her ; two of which
are these office bearers, and this government in their hands.
Great gifts : but she has others earlier and greater.
3. I have explained in another place, how it is that the inhe
rent power of making laws, which in the nature of society mani
fests itself in the very process of its organic life ; receives, in

640 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
this divine society, a very peculiar direction, and manifests itself
by the willing, nay, joyful acceptance of God as its only law
giver, and his laws as the only laws of his Church. Obedience to
the laws of God, together with the exposition and administration
of them, therefore, embraces the whole power and duty of the
government of that society called the visible Church. All its
officers, and the whole government in their hands, and the entire
tribunals appertaining to that government, are, as I have shown,
from God, and of the Church. This Church is the company of
God's elect now on earth, who are disciples of Jesus Christ, his
visible Body, a peculiar people purified unto himself, a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.1 To it, God has
given inestimable gifts, out of some of which its visible existence
originated, and by means of others its complete organization has
been produced ; and its continued existence and extension, as
well as its peace, purity and edification are secured by them all.
In a special manner the office bearers of the Gospel Church are
ascension gifts of Christ to the Church in its present form ; and
the government in their hands is of Christ, with special reference
to this dispensation. Nor does it impair, but rather adds to the
force of these statements, that the model of the office bearers
and of the government of the Church, is found in part under preced
ing dispensations ; just as the Sabbath, the Sacraments, the moral
law, the Gospel, nay. Christ himself, are found in them. The re
lation, therefore, between Christ, the Church, its office bearers,
and its government, all to each, and each to every one, is un
speakably intimate ; and on that very account we are the more
liable to err, in our weak attempts to apply the logical element
of the question of the Church, in such a manner as to settle and
bound acts and gifts of God, into which the supernatural element
of the question of the Church enters so profoundly. Whatever
power is in the Church or its office bearers, is in them by investi
ture from Christ, and is revealed in the sacred Scriptures. But
the whole power of Christ unto salvation is in him, under the
covenant of grace, and as Mediator of the Covenant ; and all his
power unto salvation as Mediator, is manifested in his offices of
Prophet, Priest, and King. Of his Priestly office, and power, he
delegates nothing to the Church ; except as it is a Kingdom,
every member of which is a royal Priest ; and except as that
1 Titus, ii. 14 ; 1 Peter, ii. 9.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 641
portion of its Presbyters who labour in word and doctrine, each
being a minister of Christ, an Elder, a Bishop, a receiver of gifts,
is a steward of the mysteries of God.*1 Of his Kingly office he
delegates to his Church, whatever power of rule he invests in the
Elders he gives her, and in the government he creates in their
hands. And of his Prophetic office he delegates in a wide sense
power to every disciple of his, to spread the glad tidings of sal
vation through all the earth, and to make the way of life known
to every creature ; but in a strict sense, he calls one class of the
great order of Elders, and delegates to them the preaching of
the everlasting Gospel, they being herein his special official ser
vants, ministers, and stewards of the mysteries of God. The whole
rule of the Church is, therefore, a delegation to a certain extent,
of certain parts of the Kingly power of Christ ; and is in Elders
as Elders, to be exercised by them in the tribunals ordained of
God. But to a certain class of this order of Elders, the great
function of the ministry in word and doctrine, and that of
stewardship of the mysteries of God, is divinely committed ; and
this is a delegation also, from Christ, and the most glorious of
all, but a delegation not of his Kingly but of his Prophetic
power as to the former, and of his Priestly power as to the latter.
The rule of the Church, I repeat, is a delegation- from Christ as
King, and is in the hands of Elders met in tribunals ; the ministra
tion of the Gospel is a delegation from Christ as Prophet, and is in
the hands of ministers who are Elders ; and the stewardship of
the mysteries of God is a delegation from Christ as Priest, and
is in the hands of the ministers of the Gospel. The ministers of
the Gospel, therefore, are rulers, not as ministers, nor as stewards,
but as Elders, Presbyters ; Presbyters on whom those great addi
tional honours are laid by God, and on account of those gifts and
callings of God, they become a separate class of Elders, not by
any means a different order. There is, therefore, as I said before,
a thorough and obvious distinction in the nature of Church
power itself ; which is ordinarly and justly expressed by caUing
one form of it, the power of rule, or government, Potestas Re-
giminis; and the other the power of teaching and of adminis
tering the mysteries, or from the nature of it, the power of order,
* tnepnTac Xpiorov, Kai oLKovofiovc /ivoTnptov Beov : — Trpea/SvTepovc — eiricKonov —
6eov oiKpvojiov : — xaPia/ta — oiK.ovop.oi — x"?1™? Beov.
' 1 Cor, iv. 1 ; Titus, i 4-7 ; 1 Peter, iv. 10, 11.
VOL. II. 41

642 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
Potestas Ordinis. The distinction is fundamental ; and the dif
ference in the use and exercise of the two powers is also funda
mental ; and not only the freedom and efficiency of the Church,
but its very nature as a society, depends on seeing that distinc
tion clearly, and observing it faithfully. The power of order is
a several power, never joint ; the power of regimen, rule, is a
joint power, never several. A Presbyter, who is a minister of
Christ, labouring in word and doctrine and a steward of the
mysteries of God ; preaches the Gospel, administers sacraments,
and the Hke, as a single person, ex or dine, by virtue of his being
what he is ; and nothing can be added to, nothing taken from
the lawfulness and efficacy of such acts, by the absence or the
concurrence of other office bearers like himself. As to his ruling,
it is widely different. No Presbyter has any several power of
rule ; the power itself is joint, and can be exercised only by a
tribunal, never by a single person, nor by any number of single
persons taken severally. The exercise of rule in Christ's Church
is not by the body of the brotherhood, nor by a diocesian Prelate,
nor by a Pope ; but exclusively by Church courts, constituted
of both classes of the one great order of Presbyters. The tri
bunals they constitute are courts, not legislative assemblies :
courts having power, in the name and by the authority of Christ
the eternal King and Lawgiver and Judge, to expound and ad
minister the laws of his Kingdom on earth ; which laws embrace
his whole will revealed unto salvation, as held forth in the Scrip
tures. And these courts, as has been shown, rise one above ano
ther, each embracing all below it, until that which is supreme
embraces all. Everything has reference to the preservation and
extension of the Kingdom ; to the gathering and perfecting of
the saints in this life, to the end of the world. Everything has
a divine authority : or no authority at all.
4 .In the practical continuance of the existence of the visi
ble Church, and the practical administration of its government,
and of all power whether that of Begimen or that of Order ;
everything depends upon the practical exercise of the vocation
of office bearers. Theoretically, the subject is no less vital ; for
the grounds, no matter what they are, upon which we decide it,
will be found to enter deeply into the whole conception we have
of the nature of the Church, its office bearers, and its govern
ment. If the Pope or the King appoints the diocesan Bishops,

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 643
and they appoint the Priests, and the Elder's office is abolished ;
it is easily seen that the idea of the Church, of its government,
of its officers, and of their vocation, is consistent throughout. On
the other extreme, if the idea of the visible unity of the Church
is swallowed up in the idea of the independence of each particu
lar congregation, the brotherhood of which is the sole power in
the Church of God ; here again, the idea of the Church, of its
government, of its office bearers, and of vocation, is consistent
throughout. In both cases it is seen how much of what I have
estabHshed, is destroyed ; and they show, also, that there must
be some idea of vocation of officers corresponding with the cohe
rent system of the Church, its government, and office bearers,
which I have explained. This I will briefly disclose. That God
has always established whatever offices have lawfully existed in
his Church, whether extraordinary or ordinary, and that, by con
sequence, none ever were or can be authorized except they are
established by him ; is, I suppose, already abundantly proved.
The manner in which individual persons are to obtain a lawful
right to these offices, established by God ; is itself, also, ordained
by God ; but variously ordained under successive dispensations.
Under the Jewish dispensation, none might be Priests but a
legitimate male descendant of Aaron, nor he, except on certain
conditions and in a certain way, ordained by God ; and none
might be High Priest, on the peril of his life, but male after male
in a direct line from Aaron ; so that when Aaron had but two
sons, God made the perpetuity of the Jewish dispensation depend
on this narrow point. Under the Gospel dispensation, the Apos
tles were chosen personally by Christ, and were anointed by the
Holy Ghost, and their divine vocation attested by miracles. The
offices and courts instituted by Christ, so far as the regimen and
order are concerned, have been already sufficiently proved and
explained. The personal vocation of each individual who occu
pies any office in the Gospel Church, is of God, both mediately
and immediately. As to the latter, even Christ glorified not him
self to be made a High Priest ; but he that said unto him, Thou
art my Son, this day have I begotten thee : as he saith, also, in
another place, Thou art a Priest forever after the order of Mel-
chizedek.1 No man, therefore, may take this honour on himself,
but he that is called like Aaron.2 Called, not after the same or-
1 Heb, v. 5, 6. " Heb, v. 4; vii. 11; Ex., xxviii ; xxix.

644 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
der as Aaron, but as really called of God. This inward caU of
God by his Spirit, is the immediate vocation of God ; and every
one who becomes an office bearer in the Church of Christ, is at
least as much bound to have an inward and satisfying convic
tion that he is thus called of God to the work he undertakes, as
every one who becomes a disciple of Christ is bound to have an
inward and satisfying conviction that he is called thereunto by
the Spirit of God. Of the two evils, it is more disastrous every
way, to intrude into an office of the Church than merely into its
membership ; and nothing can be more clear than that a body
whose officers and members are alike destitute of the immediate
calling of God's Spirit, is a synagogue of Satan. Whatever
remains after this immediate vocation of God, is not mere pru
dential rules established by men, but is the mediate call of God ;
the ordinances which he has established, whereby his Church may
ascertain that he has really and immediately called the particu
lar person, to the particular office. I will not deny that the
Apostles might have justly exercised, in the vocation of the first
permanent office bearers, powers equivalent to everything after
the inward and immediate call of God. That they did nothing
of this sort, however, may be fairly urged from the manner in
which the first Deacons were chosen :* and I have before shown,
that on the day of Pentecost, the doctrine, the ordinances, the
ceconomy, and the worship of the Church, are spoken of as already
existing. At any rate there was the Church of Christ, whose
vocation under two aspects, and at two stages, is that which con
stitutes the mediate call of God. No one is subject to be called
to any office, who is not already a member of the body of Christ ;
and the qualifications which every one must possess, before he
can presume to say he has an inward vocation of God, and before
the Church can lawfully call him to any office ; are plainly laid
down concerning each office, in the sacred Scriptures.2 Nor can
any one be lawfully called to a permanent and ordinary office,
except by the congregation he is to serve in the Lord ; nor can
any office bearer be set in any office in a congregation, except by
its own vocation. It is thus that God has guarded his Church
against intruders and impostors. It is thus that the Bride of the
3 Acts, vi. 1-7.
2 Titus, i. 5-9 ; 1 Tim., hi. passim ; v. 17-25 ; 2 Tim, ii 21-26 ; Eph, iv. 11-BS ; Acta
vi. 31 ; i 21-25 ;, xvi. 1-3.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 645
Lamb accepts the ascension gifts of her head and Lord. It is
thus that ultimate power is lodged by Christ, in that royal
priesthood which constitutes the holy nation, whereby the whole
government of the Church takes its start in the bosom of the
Christian congregation, and is perpetuated only by their perpetual
action. And the highest fidelity in the exercise of this great and
sacred trust is secured, by obliging each particular congregation
to receive as its own office bearer, every one to whom its vocation
is given. Nor is the mediate calling of God yet complete. This
vocation of the Church attests, on one side, to him who supposes
he has been called of God, and on the other side to the tribunal
which God has appointed to ordain him to his office ; her con
viction that God has called him, and her readiness te accept
him. Without this, I repeat, no Church court may lawfully
ordain any one, to any ordinary and permanent office. But
while the want of this seal of a divine vocation, is a defect
which ordination cannot cure ; the possession of it is not conclu
sive on the Church court. This tribunal, no matter which it is,
is composed exclusively of office bearers who have received the
vocation of God, outward and inward, mediate and immediate, to
be rulers in the courts of the Lord ; part of whom are always,
besides, ministers who labour in word and doctrine. It is for
this court of Christ, with the evidence of the vocation of God be-
fortfthem, which is furnished by the conviction of the person
who seeks the office, and by the call of the Church ratifying it;
to judge finally and by whatever other evidence, and under what
ever other divine guidance, in this solemn and important matter.
If there be persons competent to decide in such a case, these are
they. If any motives, human or divine, can be supposed to se
cure a just and righteous decision, they exist here. If, on their
souls, and as they will answer to Christ, they believe the Lord
has called the person to the office ; they ordain him to it, as
Christ has provided, by an irrevocable act in his name, calling
upon him by prayer, and with laying on of the hands of the
Presbytery.1 This, briefly, is the method pointed out by God
for the perpetuation of office bearers, and a government in his
Church. In a settled state of the Church, its operation is per
fectly simple and efficacions. Once erected, all the knowledge,
1 Titus, i. 5; 1 Tim, iv. 14-16; Gal, ii. 9 ; 2 Tim, i. 6; ii. 2 ; iv. 1, 2; Acts, vi-
6; i 25; xiii. 2, 3; Ex, xl. 12-16; Num., viii. 9-11.

646 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
piety, and zeal it contains are always free to act, and are neces
sarily in perpetual conflict with whatever error, ignorance, or in
difference may have gained entrance. The most difficult of aU
systems to derange, it possesses also in the highest degree of aU,
the forces which tend to readjustment. If by the most indis
criminate persecution it appears to be destroyed, the smallest
fragment that escapes the rack and the stake, is capable of re
producing all. If by the rich grace of God, boundless extension
is given to it, it might cover the whole world as easily as a single
province. The conditions of its endless triumph are few but ab
solute : and I have demonstrated them all. Its Faith must be
pure, its Life holy, its Worship acceptable to God.
III. — 1. Amongst the permanent office bearers of the Church,
who have the power of Begimen and Order, I have omitted any
separate mention of Teacher as one of them ; because it seems
to me to be very obvious that a separate office for permanent
teaching was never created by God in the Christian Church ; but
the Elder who was the minister of the word and steward of the
mysteries of God, was also teacher as well as Pastor of the flock,
just as every Elder who had the cure of souls was bishop, over
seer.1 There was but one order of permanent Bulers, and they
were all Presbyters, Elders, and as rulers all equal ; there was
but one class of ministers of the word and doctrine, and they
were all equal in rank and class, all Presbyters, Elders, to whom
various names are given, according to the various functions they
discharge, to teach being amongst the chief. Of the manifestly
extraordinary orders of office bearers, Apostles and Prophets, to
which perhaps teachers might be added, the former has been suf
ficiently considered ; and little need be said here concerning the
latter. Very frequent mention is made of Prophets, and occa
sional mention of Teachers in the New Testament ; as of persons
to whom the extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit of God
were vouchsafed.2 They are specially classed by the sacred writers
with the Apostles, miraculous gifts, and miracles :3 and the name
Prophet is applied repeatedly, and with emphasis, to Christ him
self.4 As inspired teachers of the true sense of all former reve
lations from God, as inspired teachers of what Jesus himself had
1 Eph, iv. 1 ; Rom, xii. 7 ; GaL, vi. 6
s Matt, x. 41 ; Acts, ii. 17 ; xi. 27 ; xiii. 1, 2 ; 1 Cor, xiv. 29-33.
3 Rom, xii 28-31 ; Eph, hi. 5, Matt, xiii. 57 ; xxi. 11, 46 ; Luke, xxiv. 19.

CHAP. XXXL] OFFICE BEARERS  GOVERNMENT. 647
taught, as inspired men who made known to the disciples the
wUl of God in the providences then existing or immediately im
pending, or revealed the more distant future ; we easily see the
relation they bore to Christ, to the Apostles, to the Church, and
to the early spread of the Gospel among men. They appear tg
have had no connection with the government of the Church : and
they ceased from it, when the extraordinary operations of the
Spirit ceased. The warnings of God against false Prophets, are
as emphatic and as suggestive as I have shown they are against
false Apostles.1
2. There is another office bearer who is ordinary and perma
nent in the Church, whom I have not mentioned particularly, be
cause he has no power of regimen or order, in the sense in which
I have used these terms. I mean the Deacon, whose creation,
qualifications, and duties, are explicitly stated in the Scriptures ;
and the election and ordination of the first seven Deacons, to
gether with their names, in the Church of Jerusalem, are handed
down to us.2 The office thus created at Jerusalem, was intro
duced into the Church everywhere : and special honour seems to
have been put on such as discharged the office well, while special
care was taken to fill it only with men of honest report, full of
the Holy Ghost, and wisdom.3 These officers are servants of the
Church, in things having more immediate relation to the manner
in which Christianity affords a remedy or solace under temporal
trials and sorrows ; in like manner as the ministers of the word
are servants of the Church, in things more entirely spiritual.
Their Greek name, which is nearly transferred into English, is
very widely applied in the Scriptures to many sorts of service,
and many kinds of officers who performed them. But this affords
no pretext for any mistake about this office ; much less for the
gross perversion of it ; as equally appears, whether we consider
the divine example so particularly given us, or the true relation
of the service to be performed, whether to Christ himself or to
the nature of his Kingdom. I will add a few words as to both.
As to the former, nothing can be more precise. The twelve called
the multitude of the disciples ; that is they convened a Church
meeting of the saints in Jerusalem, and desired them, for reasons
1 Matt, vii. 15 ; xxiv. 11 ; 2 Peter, ii. 1; 1 John, iv. 1 ; Rev, xvi. 13 ; xix. 20 ;
xx. 10.
2 Acts, vi. 1-7. 3 PhiL, i. 1 ; Acts, vi 3 ; 1 Tim, hi. 8-13.

648 THE EXOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
given, to make a careful selection from among themselves of seven
men of peculiar qualifications which are stated, whom the twelve
would appoint over the things they desired to separate from their
special work. The ministration being then constant and daily,
decided the number recommended ; — seven, one for each day. The
whole multitude being pleased, they chose, selected, elected, seven
such members of the Church as the Apostles had described ; one
of them was a proselyte — that is had been first a heathen and
then a Jew — and the bulk of the others, apparently not natives
of Judea ; whom they set before the Apostles ; and when they
had prayed they laid hands on them. That is, they ordained
them to be Deacons by prayer and the imposition of hands ;
which is the way all ordinary office bearers were set apart to their
office. The only matters about which the least uncertainty can
exist, is who prayed and who laid on hands. Probably the Apos
tles did both ; probably the tribunal in that Church did both ;
possibly the Apostles prayed, and the tribunal laid on hands, as
the Greek text seems rather to indicate — and as all the congre
gation of Israel did when the Levites were consecrated.1 The es
tablishment of the office by the Apostles, and the ordination of
the officers by prayer and the imposition of hands, in their pres
ence and by their direction, together with the free election by the
Church, and the full concurrence of whatever tribunal existed in
it, and the peculiar qualifications, and future duties of the persons
chosen : all these things are beyond question. Touching the
other point, the general nature of the office of Deacon, and its
relation on one side to Christ and his Church, and on the other
to those temporal duties which the miseries and misfortunes of
our fellow creatures and especially those of our brethren in Christ,
lay Christians under : far more ought to be urged, than is suita
ble in this place. The New Obedience which we owe and profess
to render to God, has for its rule the supreme love of him ; and
the Good Works which are such fruits of it as relate chiefly to
man, has for its rule the love of our neighbour as ourself. All
things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye
even so to them ; for this is the law and prophets. And these
words of Jesus are so enforced by his Apostles, that one tells us
our faith is dead if it is not manifested by works of mercy ; and
another that the love of God cannot dwell in him whose bowels
' Num., viii. 10.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 649
of compassion are shut up against his suffering brother.1 I was
a hungered and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty and ye gave me
drink, I was a stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed
me, I was sick and ye visited me, I was in prison and ye came
unto me : these are the actions proclaimed by the Son of man
from the throne of his glory, performed by those to whom he
will say, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And then,
identifying himself in glory with those who loved him in suffer
ing, his words are still more wonderful, Verily I say unto you,
inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren ye have done it unto me.2 Why then should there be
any marvel, that such a Saviour as this should make it a most
important part of his religion, that his followers should assuage
the miseries which he regards with divine compassion ; that they
should alleviate the sorrows which enter into his own heart ; that
they should share with him the felicity of making others happy ;
the blessedness of making sacrifices that they may be blessed
who have none to help them ? Why should not such a King so
organize his Kingdom, that the temporal results of the sin which
has defiled his universe, should be bounded and limited by the
very action and progress of his Kingdom, in its everlasting con
flict with sin itself ? He has done all this. How affecting is
the reproach to his Church, that she so obscurely perceives
it all !
3. The angels of God are all ministering spirits, sent forth
to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.3 Unto the
Son he saith, Thy throne, 0 God, is forever and ever ; and again,
when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith,
Let all the angels of God worship him.4 So close is the connec
tion between Christ, his angels, and his redeemed. The Greek
word which is nearly transferred into English, means first a mes
senger, and then the spiritual being who is the messenger of God.
The Gospel, the Evangel, the joyful Message, is of the same
coinage in Greek. And Evangelist* is another word of the same
family : the minister of Christ of a peculiar order, whose work
it was to bear his joyful message continually, and everywhere.

, ii. 1-13 ; 1 John, iii. 17. 2 Matt, xxv. 31-40.
3 Heb, i 14; Psalm civ. 4. 4 Heb, i. 6, 8.
* AyyeXog — Evayyefaov — EvayyvXiornc — Euayye/UfcJ.

650 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
This office bearer is expressly mentioned as one amongst the as
cension gifts of Christ :l being named between the obviously
ordinary and extraordinary officers of the Church. Philip, the
same who was one of the original seven Deacons as is expressly
said to distinguish him from the Apostle of the same name, is
called, about twenty-seven years afterwards, the Evangelist ; at
which time he resided at Caasarea, having four daughters who
were virgins which did prophesy. It was at his house, and on
this occasion, that Agabus, a prophet, showed to Paul who with
his company was there, that the Jews at Jerusalem whither he
was going, would deliver him bound into the hands of the
Gentiles.2 Some years after this, Paul writing to Timothy at
Corinth probably, and just before his own offering up, thus ad
dressed him : Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the
work of an Evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. What
the venerable Apostle understood by this, he had partly explained
before, with the most solemn earnestness ; Preach the word, be
instant in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all long-suffering and doctrine.3 These are the most unques
tionable mention I have found of this office : though the places
are very numerous which may imply it, more or less clearly ; and
this order of office bearers seems to have been numerous, at first.
A careful consideration of the labours and acts of these two great
Evangelists, as they appear in various scattered notices ; will show
that they were neither of the order of Apostles, nor that of Pro
phets, on the one side ; nor that of ordinary Presbyters on the
other, whether of the class of Ministers, or the class of Buling
Elders. But they were Extraordinary Officers, in so far as they
did not appertain, in an ordinary way to the regular administra
tion of the settled Church. On the other hand, they are officers
permanent in the Church, whenever the occasion demands their
employment. They constitute the link, so to speak, between
those officers, like Apostles, who have plenary power and are in
spired, and those like Elders, who are both ordinary and perma
nent : an officer excluded from interior work in a completely
settled state of the Church, but indispensable in the exterior
efforts of the Church to extend itself, and important in various
ways on occasions of great internal languishment or destitution.
The total disuse of this office is, therefore, without divine war-
1 Eph, iv. 11. 2 Acts, xxi. 8-15. 3 2 Tim, iv. 1-5.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 651
rant ; while its internal ordinary use, is contrary to the ordinance
of God, and subversive in various ways of the divine polity of
the Church.
IV. — 1. According to the doctrine I have taught, which I
think is plainly the doctrine of the Scriptures, civil society is an
ordinance of God ; and its actual formation produces inevitably
certain aggregate necessities and results, which with reference to
government in itself considered, are perfectly distinct, and capa
ble of an exhaustive scientific statement. It is in society itself
that aU power is naturally vested by God ; and it is by the naked
fact of the existence of society, that these powers manifest them
selves in an aggregate manner, as soon as society assumes a con
dition above that of its ancient tribal form. And these powers
thus aggregately manifested, and the functions of society pro
duced thereby, are not casual, in any sense whatever ; but besides
being by divine ordination they are of that ordination in such a
manner, as to be responsive to the nature of man as a being having
Beason, Conscience, and Will ; and also responsive to the nature
of God, as the Lawgiver, the Judge, and the Buler of the Uni
verse. What God leaves to the natural freedom of man, is the
shaping of the government of every particular society, according
to its own choice, and the creation of such particular institutions
under such government thus formed, as that society shall choose ;
respect being had, on one hand, to all truth and moraUty, and on
the other to the individual and social progress of the race. The
visible Church is an organized society of human beings ; and
supposing it could exist independently of divine revelation,
everything would be true of it, that is true concerning society
absolutely considered ; and supposing it to have a divine reve
lation, everything in which this society differs fundamentally from
all society absolutely considered, is the product of that revela
tion. The nature and the extent of the resemblance and the
difference between the visible Church and all other societies, and
the actual nature of the visible Church and its government, and
its institutions, as by divine revelation ; I have endeavoured to
explain and to demonstrate. As the result of all, I suppose this
divine government of this peculiar society, is capable of being
clearly exhibited in a few consecutive statements. Thus :
(a) The first principle of this government, considered as ac
tually exercised, is that the whole power of it is in the hands of

652 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [BOOK V.
office bearers, whose office is ordained, defined, and limited by God
himself, and every one of whom must have a personal vocation
of God to his office, attested by the election of some particular
congregation, and by ordination by a Church court. It is a gov
ernment in the hands of Presbyters — Elders.
(5) The second principle is, that this power and government
are in their hands, not severally and man by man, but jointly and
when they are met as a tribunal, and constituted as such, in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Head and Lawgiver of
the Church ; all authority being in and from Christ, and all effi
cacy in and by the Holy Ghost. As having such a government,
the Church is a commonwealth, and its government is by tribu
nals composed of a plurality of Presbyters, Elders.
(c) The third principle is, that these Presbyters, Elders, are
all of one order, all equal in dignity, rank, and authority as
Bulers ; but that order is divided into two classes, of which one
labour in word and doctrine and are stewards of the myste
ries of God, in which additional functions all of this class are also
of equal rank, authority, and dignity one with another, the class
to which each particular Presbyter belongs being determined by
vocation and ordination ; and every tribunal of the Church is
constituted out of some of each class of Presbyters, Elders. The
tribunals of the Church are neither clerical nor laic : they are all
Presbyterial. (d) The fourth principle is, that the whole visible Church of
Christ, is one Church, and might all be embraced under one ad
ministration. Its division into national and denominational
Churches, is a necessity arising under the actual course of Provi
dence, and is neither avoidable, nor of itself hurtful, under the
Gospel dispensation. The division of a particular denominational
or national Church into smaller parts, such as congregations,
Presbyteries, and Synods, is by the ordination of God, and so far
from breaking its unity or efficiency, consolidates both. The
congregations with their tribunals are the elemental particulars
of the government ; and each one possesses a part of all possessed
by the whole Church. Their union constitutes the Presbytery
with its tribunal over those composing it; the union of Presby
teries constitutes the Synod with its tribunal over those compos
ing it : the union of all constituting the universal council, the
General Assembly of the whole Church with jurisdiction over all.

CHAP. XXXI.] OFFICE BEARERS — GOVERNMENT. 653
The principle of representation begins with the vocation of the
office bearer by the congregation, and vitally pervades the whole
system. The government of the Christian Church is a strictly
limited Bepresentative Government, in the bosom of a free,
spiritual commonwealth.
2. The erection of such a government as this at the very dawn
of ancient society, and in the midst of Asiatic despotism ; the
perfect development of it in the heart of the Boman Empire, by
a portion of one of its conquered provinces ; the wide dissemina
tion of it through the earth, in utter disregard of every form of
human tyranny ; its perfect preservation throughout centuries
of gross darkness and universal oppression ; its reappearance
wherever it had been apparently extinguished ; and the august
spectacle it now presents throughout the earth : all combined
exhibits one of the most striking phenomena in the career of the
human race. It has withstood everything, through all ages,
from within and from without, before which everything else has
perished. It cannot perish as long as it is true to Christ, the Son
of the living God, who made it and pronounced it invulnerable
even to the gates of hell, so long as it is built upon him. All
that it has yet accompHshed, and all it may hereafter do, for the
temporal amelioration and the spiritual regeneration of mankind,
is due only to him who is over all, God blessed forevermore. Of
itself, and considered merely as the form through which the
Church acts, it appears to be capable of producing, in the highest
degree, those two opposite results which are the perfection of all
government ; namely, the highest individual development, and
the highest united efficiency. But what gives it its great glory
and power, is that God has made it the instrument of diffusing
through the Church, and of bestowing on men through her, the
benefits of those inestimable Gifts, to the explanation of which
this Fifth Book is devoted ; amongst which Gifts, Office Bearers
and the Government in their hands, must be ranked as not the
least.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD,
SUBJECTIVELY CONSIDERED.

ARGUMENT OF THE GENERAL CONCLUSION.

The general demonstration, according to the conception I have of the
Knowledge of God subjectively considered, and according to the method I
adopt in the statement of that Knowledge, seems to me to be concluded at the
end of the preceding Book. The following chapter, therefore, has two objects,
and is divided into two parts. The first object, to which the first large division
of the chapter is devoted, is to point out the fundamental nature of religion
and of salvation : to disclose the absolute and universal identity of Immanuel,
with true religion and with salvation : to explam the nature of the covenant
of Grace, and its relation to the nature of God, and to the possibility of true
rehgion in man : to disclose the manifestation of that eternal covenant, in the
creation and progress of the Kingdom of God in this world, from the first
proclamation of the covenant to the present time : and to exhibit the actual
point reached in the manifestation of the covenant, and in the progress of the
Kindom of God under it. The second object, to which the second large divi
sion of the chapter is devoted, is to disclose — in brief — the further manifesta
tion, and the consummation of the covenant of Grace, and the further progress,
final triumph, and eternal state of the Kingdom of God : which is attempted,
not at all in the way of prophetical interpretation, but wholly as matter of
Christian doctrme. In doing this, a general and condensed survey is attempted,
of the chief of those infinite future realities, which the Scriptures connect with
the person, and work, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ; and their relation
to the Godhead — their effects upon the created universe, especially upon this
earth — their relation to the Church in its Gospel, its Millennial, and its Eternal
state — their influence upon the mortal and the immortal existence of the human
race, considered as a whole and as individuals, considered as united to Christ
and as without Christ — and finally their relation to the second coming and
Millennial Reign of the glorified Redeemer — are all sought to be disclosed in so
far, as in the present state of Knowledge, light can be thereby thrown upon

656 ARGUMENT OF THE GENERAL CONCLUSION.
the future manifestation, and the consummation of God's eternal covenant.
The chapter closes with a short statement concerning the Son of God, and
saving Knowledge of him. Two ideas pervade the whole. The infinite
Grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord : — the end thereof, infinite Glory
to God, and eternal Blessedness to his restored universe and his redeemed
creatures.

CHAPTER XXXII.
GENERAL CONCLUSION: PROGRESS AND CONSUMMATION OP GOD'S
ETERNAL COVENANT.
I. 1. The Objective Knowledge of God— and its Statement: Relation thereof to reli
gion.— 2. The Subjective Knowledge of God: the Means and Effects thereof.—
3. The middle term between God and sinless man subverted by the Fall : Restored
by the Mediator between God and sinful men: Relation of Salvation by Grace to
the Nature of God. — 4. Relation of the manner of Salvation to the mode of the
Divine Existence : the Eternal Covenant of Redemption: special Relation of the
Son of God thereto. — 5. First Proclamation of this Eternal Covenant, and the
effects thereof: the Kingdom created by and under it : Messiah the Prince : Pro
gress of the Kingdom to the present time. — 6. The actual Posture of the Kingdom,
in the form of the Gospel Church : the Demonstration which has been attempted
of the Subjective Knowledge of God unto Salvation. — II. 1. Consummation of God's
Eternal Covenant, with Relation to Him and to all his Works. — 2. Future Pro
gress of the Gospel Church: Millennial state : Eternal state. — 3. Every Effect of
Sin upon the Universe retrieved : the consummation of the Covenant of Grace,
with Reference to this Earth. — i. Effect of that consummation upon the Human
Race, individually considered: Eternal Death of the Wicked: Eternal Life of the
Righteous. — 5. The Sum and Result of all, with Relation to God, and with Rela
tion to the Created Universe, especially the human Race. — 6. The second Coming
of the Son of Man — and his Millennial Glory. — 1. Jesus, and the Knowledge of
him, and the Life through him.
I. — 1. The objective treatment of divine truth depends for
its success upon our knowledge of God, who is both the author
and substance of it all. Even our knowledge of ourselves, of the
created universe, of the course and event of providence — indeed
' of all things — depends, when objectively considered, upon this
knowledge of God, the author and substance of all truth. In
total ignorance of God, there can be no possibility of any treat
ment d priori of his nature, his Attributes, his works — or the
relation of any truth to him : that is there can be no objective
treatment of divine truth, in our total ignorance of it. When
our d priori knowledge of God, therefore, is ridiculed by infidel
philosophers, and the ridicule is extended to all attempts to treat
divine truth objectively ; it is their own method, not ours, which ,
vol. 42

658 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
is justly amenable to their contempt. For if there is any such
thing as Beligion, its true nature is to be sought in the relation
of an infinite personal Spirit, to a finite personal spirit — that is
the relation of God to man : and the knowledge by man of this
relation, and the knowledge by him both of God and of himself
thus related, is the exact measure not only of the reality, but of
the possibility of religion. And if this knowledge could be im
agined to be perfect, religion would necessarily be perfect ; pro
vided we could conceive of the finite spirit arriving at such a
perfect intuition of the infinite Spirit, without involving a con
tradiction in terms, making the finite infinite, and abolishing the
relation on which the existence of Beligion depends. But this
mortal intuition of God, is strictly speaking, the only conceivable
form of strictly mortal knowledge, d priori, of God ; and it is
this, in so many empty and pretentious forms, which derides all
true religion ; this, which so far from asserting, I have proved, in
another place, to be absolutely impossible. God must manifest
himself to man, in order that man may know him ; and I have
demonstrated, in the former Treatise, in an exhaustive manner,
the fact of this manifestation, all the ways in which it is accom
plished, and all the methods under each way. The knowledge
of God thus obtained by man, is capable of distinct treatment
as a body of truth ; one, and the highest of whose aspects is re
ligious. God manifests himself to man in the works of Creation
and Providence ; in the whole work of God manifest in the flesh,
and that of God the Holy Ghost ; in the Inspired Word, and in
the self-conscious existence of the human soul, created, and re
newed in his own image. It is not of God simply considered,
therefore, that we treat d priori, upon the vain pretext that we
have of ourselves, an intuition of the infinite ; but it is through
Beligion, the relation between God and man, revealed to us on
the side of God in his manifestations of himself to us, that the
sum of our knowledge of God at every stage of its progress, is
capable of an exact objective statement. In proportion as our
Beligion is true, and our Knowledge of its elemental truths is
exact ; that is, in proportion as we understand the relation
between God and man ; must be the certainty and the com
pleteness of our statement of the Knowledge of God objectively
considered. 2. In the same manner, the subjective treatment of divine

CHAP. XXXII.] CONCLUSION. 659
truth involves d priori knowledge of ourselves, as really as it does
d posteriori knowledge of God and of Beligion. It is not to in
fluence God — but it is to influence man, that Beligion exists.
God is from eternity, and is the source of aU things : man is of
yesterday, the creature of God, the source of nothing that rises
higher than a second cause. How vain is it to speak of his hav
ing, of himself, such an intuition of God, as to guide him stead
ily along the line of the infinite relation which God bears to him ;
when he has no such intuition of himself as to enable him to
take a single step along that immeasurable line, except by the
light which shines from the divine source of light. Even this d
priori knowledge of himself, which he must possess before it is
possible for him to know what is, what ought to be, or what can
be wrought in him by God's truth and God's Spirit ; is not only
unreal, but is impossible to any created being, much less to a
fallen sinner, independently of his a posteriori knowledge of
God, and from God. We cannot know ourselves as creatures,
except as we know God the Creator ; we cannot know ourselves
as sinners, except as we know God as our Lawgiver ; we cannot
know salvation, except as we know the Saviour. It is God mak
ing himself known to us by means of those manifestations of
which I have already spoken, who at the same time, and by the
same means, — and perhaps I should add, to the same degree,
makes us known to ourselves. It is in him that we Hve and
move and have our being : and the very conviction of his exist
ence which leaves all men without excuse, and by means of which
his eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen and understood
through the works of his hands, is a manifestation of God in1
them made by himself, and a revelation of his wrath against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Step by step the
knowledge of God unto salvation is a revelation to us, and a rev
elation in us. We are the subjects of a sublime subjective work
of God's word and Spirit in us ; and at the same time, both God
and our own souls, and the relation between the two, are objects
of a sublime objective knowledge. Created at first in the image
of God — but fallible ; after our fall, restored indeed to the lost
image of God, but so restored that the Godhead has taken our
human nature into eternal union with itself, and has in addition
made human beings partakers of the divine nature by a divine
regeneration — thus securing them from all lapse forever. The

660 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
object of the knowledge is infinite — even God himself: the
means of it, his manifestations of himself : the result of it
knowledge of ourselves. The subject of the work, is lost sin
ners, — who being restored to the image and united to the Son of
God, are made partakers of the divine nature, and eternally ex
alted in glory and blessedness beyond all conception of the heart
of man. 3. In a certain sense, the middle term between God and man,
the relation between them, namely, out of which Beligion springs,
assumes a most wonderful aspect as soon as sin enters, and grace
and salvation are proclaimed. That middle term as between
God and polluted rebels, lost all its original significance by the
Fall of man : and what takes its place is the mediator between
God and sinful men — the Godman— the Saviour of the world.
Under the Covenant of Grace the formula is, God — Godman —
man. Of man the statement is brief and simple. First, life ;
then, immortality. Of life two possibilities ; first, pollution at
tended by misery ; secondly, purity attended by blessedness. Of
immortality, two possibilities : first, shame and everlasting con
tempt, as the conclusion of the pollution and misery ; secondly,
infinite glory and felicity, as the conclusion of the purity and
blessedness which grace produced. Of God, in whose light every
particular concerning man is seen, the statement notwithstanding
all his manifestations of himself, can never appear to the thought
ful mind, wholly divested of the difficulty which attends its over
powering nature. God, the infinite, the eternal, the unchange
able, in his being and in his perfections : perfections, infinite in
number, and each one infinite in itself — of which we know im
perfectly a very few in comparison of all, and even of these so
little that even a classification of them above cavil, has never
been suggested. This Hving and true God, our Creator, our Pre
server, our Lawgiver, our Buler, our Father, our Saviour, our
Judge and Bedeemer ; so exists that in his infinite Spiritual
Essence, there is absolute unity, and but one God ; and yet the
mode of that existence is such that of that Essence there are
three divine persons, as we express it in English, the same in sub
stance, equal in power and glory : namely the Father, the Son
and the Holy Ghost. In the matter of our salvation — it is the
Father, to whose Goodness, Love, Holiness, Justice, Truth, Wis
dom, Power, Will, the Scriptures constantly direct our thoughts.

CHAP. XXXII.] CONCLUSION. 661
It is to the Holy Ghost, as the Spirit that giveth life, as the
Spirit of aU truth, and as the Spirit of all Hohness, that they
constantly direct us ; the Spirit of the Father and of the Son
— the true author of all truth unto salvation, whether revealed
or only inspired — the true renewer and sanctifier of the human
soul — the true comforter of God's children and Beprover of
the world. Between these two, is the Son ; as between God and
men, he is the Mediator. That he may be Mediator, he is God
and man — Godman. As Mediator, he is Prophet, Priest, and
King : as all he executes the offices of all, in Humiliation and
in Exaltation. And that Word of Life, of which I have said
the Holy Spirit was the true Inspirer and Bevealer, is the only
infalhble rule to guide us in all knowledge of God unto salvation,
objectively considered ; as it is the only direct instrument used
by the Spirit in aU his subjective work in us, unto salvation.
From the moment that we find the Godman placed between God
and men, as the sum of every relation involved in the word Beli
gion, and the complete expression of everything that points to
wards salvation for lost sinners ; two ideas — with their opposites
— reign throughout all the word of God, and throughout all the
dealings of God with men. In this life, it is to penitent and be
lieving sinners Grace abounding — Grace triumphant : and in the
life to come, it is Grace swallowed up in glory. On the other
hand, it is in this life, to God's obdurate enemies, warnings, re
bukes, and threatenings, mingled with exhortations and entrea
ties to be reconciled to him : and in the life to come, the worm
that shall never die, and the fire that shall never be quenched.
4. The fact that there is any salvation for sinners does not de
pend more absolutely upon the nature of God, than the manner
of salvation does upon the mode of his existence. I have proved
in a great variety of forms, that supposing the doctrine of the
Trinity, as it is commonly called, to be plainly revealed in the
Scriptures, it is not conceivable that a way of salvation at all dif
ferent from that disclosed in them, could accord with that mode
of the divine existence ; and on the other hand, that if nothing
had been directly taught concerning the mode of the divine exist
ence, the way of salvation disclosed in the Scriptures would be
incomprehensible, upon any supposition of the mode of the divine
existence, except that mode revealed therein. I will add, that
seeing we know nothing concerning the peculiar mode of God's

662 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
existence developed in ihe revealed manner of saving sinners,
except in connection with that special revelation ; we have a
vast illustration of what I have just said in the fact, that every
false religion that has existed, has violated in some way the fun
damental convictions of human nature, in the manner in which
they have proposed to deliver men from the wrath of God ; and
I have proved that this result was absolutely unavoidable, be
cause upon the fundamental convictions of human nature a way
of deliverance for sinners, much more true salvation, was inscru
table upon any knowledge of God attainable without the revela
tion contained in the Scriptures. With that revelation, we are
carried back into eternity ; and the foundations of the revealed
way of life, which is so closely connected with the mode of God's
being, are laid bare in that very mode of being. The Scriptures
speak continually of the Counsel of God, of the Purpose of God,
of the Will of God, of the Decree of God. This created universe
in preference to all others — this plan of salvation to the exclu
sion of all others — this scheme of providence in the place of all
others : all are of God — all have as their chief end the illustra
tion of his own Glory, and the blessedness of the universe itself
in the highest degree consistent with that chief end. The Scrip
tures plainly reveal to us — nor is it conceivable that it could be
otherwise — that it is Jehovah, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
of whose counsel, purpose, will, pleasure, decree, they continually
speak ; and while all these acts and exercises of the Godhead are
always characterized by the same unity which distinguishes the
divine Essence, the manner of working is equally characterized
by the distinctness which belongs to the personal mode of the
divine existence. In a most particular manner is this true of
the Plan of Salvation, and of the Eternal Covenant according to
whioh that plan proceeds. Under it the office work, as it is com
monly expressed, of each Person of the Godhead, is perfectly dis
tinct from that of each of the other Persons ; and that of each
varies perceptibly within certain limits, under successive dispen
sations of it thus far disclosed, and will incur further variations
according to the revelations not yet accomplished, nor perhaps
fully understood. Both according to the counsel, purpose, de
cree, and will of God, considered in his infinite unity ; and also
according to the Eternal Covenant of Grace and Bedemption be
tween the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, wherein that

CHAP. XXXII.] CONCLUSION. 663
counsel, purpose, decree, and will of God are expressed according
to that manner which discriminates the peculiar mode of the
divine existence ; God considered absolutely, and again consid
ered with relation to his threefold personality, is revealed to us
concerning the whole matter of our salvation, and concerning his
own infinite glory therein. Each Person of the Godhead, accord
ing to his special office work in our salvation under this Eternal
Covenant, is a party to it not only with reference to the glory of
God thereby, and with reference to every result of it upon the
whole universe, but also, and very particularly, with reference to
the salvation of God's Elect, and the manner thereof. It is veiy
obvious, therefore, that the elect of God are from eternity parties
in interest to this Covenant ; and are so by and through every
Person of the Godhead, every one of whom in his participation
in the covenant had special relation to the salvation of the Elect,
according to the special office work of each Person under the
covenant. But the whole office work of the Second Person of
the Godhead under this covenant, is of such a nature, and iden
tifies him so completely with those whom he redeems and saves ;
that it is to him the Scriptures pre-eminently direct our atten
tion as representing the Elect of God in the covenant ; and it is
absolutely by means of our union with him through a divine re
generation, and as our crucified and risen Saviour, that we ever
become parties in fact to the covenant in his blood. Moreover,
there is a special reference to him in the office work of both the
other Persons of the Godhead : for the gift of him to be our Sa
viour is the crowning proof of the love of the Father, and it is for
his sake that we are both justified and adopted by him ; while
the entire work of the Spirit is with perpetual reference to him.
Our salvation, therefore, is absolutely through grace, absolutely
by covenant, absolutely responsive to the nature of God, abso
lutely decisive concerning the mode of his being.
5. The existence of this Eternal Covenant is first manifested
in the proclamation of the Saviour by God, as a part of his sen
tence upon Satan after the Fall of Man. That proclamation
changed the destiny of the universe, as completely as the Fall of
Man had before changed it. Instead of executing at once the
penalty annexed to the Covenant of Works, God pronounced
upon Satan; upon the man and the woman, and upon the earth,
what I have called an interlocutory sentence — opening up the

664 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
whole career of the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth, and adjourn
ing the cause, so to speak, till the earthly career of that King
dom should be accomplished, and the time come to pronounce
final sentence. The judge of quick and dead who will pronounce
that sentence in the great day, is he who was proclaimed at first
as the Seed of the woman : afterward as the Seed of Abraham
in whom God promised that all the nations of the earth should
be blessed. For the Kingdom itself is made up whoUy of his
brethren whom he has redeemed with his own blood, whom his
own Spirit regenerates, whom his own Father gave to him in the
Eternal Covenant, for whose sake he took flesh, and of whom he
is the Prophet, the Priest, and the King. The Word of God
contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, sus
tains toward this heavenly Kingdom, of which Messiah — Christ —
is the only Head and Lord, relations unspeakably glorious — as I
have attempted in various places to disclose. The Kingdom it
self under many aspects, and through successive Dispensations,
has survived through all time ; and the Eternal Covenant of
which it is the great outbirth, has received to the present moment
an accomplishment so exact and so universal, that every human
being who has existed, and every incident that has influenced
the career of the human race, has been a separate proof alike of
its divine reality and of its unalterable steadfastness. From the
Fall of Man through all time, what this world has exhibited and
what all generations have seen, is the development of that con
dition of all things produced by the proclamation of the Cove
nant of Grace by God, in pronouncing the interlocutory sentence
after that Fall. From the uttering of that sentence till the
Flood, everything remained in such a position, that the King
dom of Messiah would have been the only, and of necessity a uni
versal Kingdom, if the world had received him : instead of which
eight souls only of all living flesh escaped the Flood. From the
call of Abraham, the establishment of the visible Church, the
erection of human Kingdoms and thereby the visible and final
change of the relation of the world to the organized Kingdom of
Messiah ; all things were shaped with a more direct reference to
his advent, and to the posture of his Kingdom when he should
come. He came : and once more the world, which under the an
cient form of society had so steadfastly rejected him from Adam
to Abraham ; received under the new form of society created

CHAP. XXXII.] CONCLUSION. 665
under God's covenant with Noah, a distinct offer by Messiah
himself to save it under this new form. The last and greatest
of the universal world-powers, for answer, crucified the Lord of
life ; instigated thereto by the very race — the very Church — the
very commonwealth which, of all on earth, were most peculiarly
his own. Can it be possible, after this, for any world-power, any
commonwealth, any organized Church, any race as such, to in
herit the Millennial Glory ? The chosen kingdom, chosen com
monwealth, chosen people, chosen Church — all are guilty of the
blood of the Son of God ! Where are they now ? How will
they — and those of whom they were divinely-appointed types —
appear at the second coming of the Son of Man ? And now,
last of all, more than eighteen centuries of the Gospel Dispen
sation of the Covenant of Grace have passed over the world ;
and the living generation stands, for a little while, in its lot, to
accomplish its own probation, to behold the progress of the whole
creation groaning and travailing in pain together under the curse
of sin, but with God's promise of deliverance, and then to give
place to another generation. And what is the result of these
sixty centuries of probation for man, and progress for the King
dom of Messiah ? What is the result of these eighteen centu
ries of Gospel Grace during which the glorified Godman has been
exalted to the throne of the universe — and has sent the Spirit of
God to abide with his people as their Comforter — with the world
as its Beprover ?
6. We shall have no more sacrifice for sin, no more revelation
of the saving grace of God, no more incarnation of the Son of
God. When the glorified Bedeemer sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on high, the heavens received him until the times
of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth
of all his holy prophets since the world began. Until Jehovah
makes his foes his footstool, his place is at his right hand. And
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of
the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, and having shed it
forth on Pentecost ; those last days predicted so long before by
Joel, and now explained by Peter, are fully come, and God pours
out his Spirit upon all flesh. And while they last, and until
that great and notable day of the Lord which closes them shall
come ; it is the constant and unalterable doctrine of all Scripture
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be

666 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
saved. And for the very reason that God's Spirit is poured out,
and that these last days are not ended, and that they who call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved ; the Gospel Church is
transcendently bound to preach to every creature that Lord who
is able to save to the uttermost, that lost sinners may believe in his
name, and may call upon him, and may be saved. Now we see
not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was
made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,
crowned with glory and honour. Just so the great Apostle of the
Gentiles described the posture of the Kingdom, when these last
days had but recently commenced ; just in his own words, which
David had uttered in prophecy so many centuries before, we may
describe the posture of the Kingdom still. What I have at
tempted is to demonstrate upon the word of God, the Kingdom
of Messiah, exactly as it has stood since these last days began, as
it stands now, and as it will stand while they continue. What I
have sought is, to disclose the blessings and benefits of the Cov
enant of Bedemption as a present possession, now and here, of
inestimable grace ; and as a future and unfading inheritance of
eternal glory. In this endeavour the whole Knowledge of God
unto salvation subjectively considered, must of necessity pass
under consideration, be classified, be explicated. But the very
nature of the attempt demanded above all, two things ; first, the
just statement of everything according to the divine proportion
of faith : and secondly, the total omission, as far as possible, of
everything uncertain, and if, in the present state of Knowledge,
this should prove in any case to be impossible, then the, distinct
statement of the nature of the uncertainty. For my fundamen
tal conception is, that the knowledge of God unto salvation is a
science of positive truth, both inductive and deductive. And
according to the method by which I attempt to develop that
conception, the demonstration of the subjective aspect of the
knowledge of God, to which this Treatise is devoted, was ex
hausted at the conclusion of the Fifth Book. All that com
monly passes under the term Eschatology, or last Things, which
it has been usual to discuss separately, and at the end of works
on Theology ; I have considered it more proper to discuss in im
mediate connection with those topics in the body of the work,
from which they cannot be separated without a certain violence.
And in proceeding now to make some general statements with

CHAP. XXXII.] CONCLUSION. 667
regard to them, my object is not to repeat any discussion of them ;
but to indicate generally the consummation of the Covenant
of Grace, for all the future beyond the point now actually
reached ; in a manner somewhat analogous to that in which I
have just been exhibiting its progress through all the past, up to
the consummation it has now reached.
II. — 1. It is not possible to doubt that God has objects worthy
of himself, in all his works of creation, of providence, and of
grace ; or to doubt that those objects will be perfectly ac
complished. What those objects are, he has informed us in his
blessed word, to a certain extent ; and what he has there said,
accords with all we are able to gather from every other manifes
tation of himself to us. He purposes, by all his works, to make
known his own being and perfections to all his intelligent uni
verse, for the glory of his own great name ; and in doing this,
to bestow the highest blessedness on his creatures which can con
sist with that chief object. In the Plan of Salvation these two
objects are identified in the highest degree, which the infinite
wisdom of God could suggest, and his infinite power execute.
Concerning it, therefore, he has revealed to man the knowledge
of his counsel, purpose, will and decree, and also the knowledge
of his Eternal Covenant relating thereto : with a distinctness and
fulness, out of all comparison with the knowledge of him at
tainable by man, concerning anything else. So that the perfect
consummation of that Covenant of God, and the complete ac
complishment of everything embraced in it, are invested with the
highest conceivable certainty.
2. The existence of the Kingdom of God is the immediate
result of the proclamation by him of his Eternal Covenant. The
perpetuity of that Kingdom, is as certain as the perpetuity of
the Covenant ; as certain as the perpetuity of the existence of
God. The accomplishment of the mission of the Church of the
living God is as certain, as that the will of God cannot be resist
ed ; as certain as that each person of the Godhead will continue
to perform, as each has performed since the foundation of the
world, the mutual stipulations between them all for their own
eternal glory. And the eternal triumph, glory, and blessedness
of the Church cannot be called in question, without impeaching
the immaculate truth of God, which has a thousand times de
clared it all ; without impeaching the infinite power of God, who

668 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
has pledged his very life for it all ; without impeaching the
infinite fidelity of God to his own glory, to which that Church is
the eternal witness, and his infinite faithfulness to the Church
herself, whose endless renown and felicity depend on her endless
service and enjoyment of him. In the accomplishment of her
mission of gathering and perfecting the saints to the end of the
world, the vicissitudes she may incur, the persecutions she may
endure, the perils she may encounter, the struggles she must
make, before she can enter upon her Millennial glory ; may far
transcend her own habitual expectations, and would probably
appal her if she saw them clearly. But all these things, like aU
things besides, will work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. What
is certain is, that her mission of Evangelization must be accom
plished in her present Gospel form. It is this Gospel Church,
founded upon the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief corner stone, once crucified, now made of God
both Lord and Christ ; which constitutes the visible Kingdom
of God from the day of Pentecost to the second coming of the
Son of Man. How much this Church accomplished during the
first age of its existence — -we know, to a certain extent, from the
statements and intimations of the New Testament Scriptures.
What it has accomplished since — -what it is capable of accom
plishing in its present condition — what it has endured without
being extinguished — what is required for its complete deliverance
from the polluting contact of the world, and its thorough extri
cation from the horrible incumbent mass of merely nominal
Christianity ; all these are topics which, alas ! it is easy to over
look, but which lie very near to the heart of every one that sighs
and that cries for all the abominations that be done in the midst
of Jerusalem — every one that takes pleasure even in the stones
of Zion and favours the very dust thereof. Concerning the com
ing glory of the Church, and the consummation of the Covenant
of Grace with respect to her ; the Scriptures appear to me to re
veal, as yet future, two states very distinct from each other :
namely, her Millennial state and her Eternal state. The former
I judge to be upon, and connected with this earth delivered from
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children
of God ; — as the Apostle Paul expresses it, explaining at the
the same time that we ought to hope with confidence, and wait

CHAP. XXXII.] CONCLUSION. 669
with patience, for that glorious manifestation of the sons of God.
That Millennial glory seems to me to be a dispensation of the
Covenant of Grace, as distinct and as real as any preceding dis
pensation under that Covenant ; and that it can no more be con
sidered merely the perfection of the Gospel Church, than that
Church can be considered merely the perfection of the Jewish
Dispensation. The whole analogy of the past dealings of God
with his Kingdom, the whole economy of the Covenant of Bedemp
tion, and the explicit revelation of God concerning the Millennial
state of the Church ; appear to set that glorious state distinctly
forth, as a separate dispensation of the Kingdom of Messiah.
Besides this, there are two considerations, one of which enters
vitally into the nature of the present, and the other into that of
the coming state, both of which seem to be decisive. Concern
ing the coming state, there does not appear to be the least rea
son to believe, that any part of its object is to offer grace and
salvation to impenitent men ; while to offer grace and salvation
to every creature is the pre-eminent characteristic of the pres
ent dispensation. On the other hand the condition of glory
and blessedness, of perfection and felicity, which is absolutely
characteristic of the Millennial state ; is one historically, prac-
ticaUy, dogmatically and ethically superior to the condition which
is attainable either by the Church, or by individual Christians in
this Hfe, under the present Dispensation. I do not, however,
understand that the Millennial state is the final state of the
Kingdom of God ; nor that this earth is the final theatre of its
glory ; nor that its organization and its ordinances, will adhere
to it forever. Its Eternal state is still higher, still more glorious ;
and its entrance upon it will be prepared by the Millennial state,
according to its manner, in a way analogous to the preparation by
its Gospel state for its Millennial state. It is the second coming
of the Son of Man, which initiates the Millennial glory of his
kingdom. It is at the delivery up of the Kingdom by the Son to
the Father, upon the Lamb's Book of Life, after he shall have put
down all rule and aU authority and power — all his enemies under
his feet, and death the last of them destroyed ; that the Eternal
Glory of the Church begins — all things subdued unto the Son —
the Son himself subject unto him that put all things under him—
God all in all. Concerning the Millennial Glory, one apostle has
said, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet

670 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
appear what we shall be ; but we know, that when he shall ap
pear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is. And
another has said, When Christ, who is our Hfe shall appear, then
shall ye also appear with him in glory. And concerning all the
blessedness that awaits the redeemed forevermore, Isaiah has said
and Paul repeated, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath pre
pared for them that love him. Blessed is the man who can add,
with the Apostle, But God hath revealed unto us by his Spirit !
— I speak with great hesitation upon topics so sublime, so remote
from human thinking, and upon which the mind of this generation
of God's true children seems to be at once so anxious and so un
settled. What I insist on is, the consummation of the Covenant
of Grace with reference to the Kingdom of God, first in the Mil
lennial Glory, and then in the Eternal state of immediate fruition
of God ; both of which await the Church of Christ.
3. It is impossible to follow the chains of thought perpetu-
aUy suggested in the Scriptures concerning the origin, career,
and consummation of the Kingdom of God under the Covenant
of Grace ; without perceiving that at one point or another, and
in one way or another, everything in the universe is implicated
in the result. God's work of creation is the basis of all his other
works ; and the extent to which the entrance of sin, first amongst
the angels in heaven, and then into our world through the seduc
tion of Eve by a fallen angel, deranged the created universe ; and
the manner of retrieving, restoring, and avenging that fearful de
rangement, by means of this Eternal Covenant ; draws within
the pale of Christian doctrine, or at the least of Christian spec
ulation, the whole creative work of God. In like manner the
Covenant of Works which God in boundless mercy entered into
with Adam after his creation, has failed in nothing except that
its breach rendered man incapable of life by it ; and every cre
ated thing, and every living soul, can find refuge from its just
and fearful penalty, only by means of the Covenant of Grace.
So also God's work of Providence, wrought out under those com
plications which seem to us so stupendous, of the Law of Nature
indelibly fixed by creation itself, the Law of covenanted perfec-
tiorwwhose penalty is incurred every instant of our mortal exist
ence, and the Law of infinite Grace through the blood of Christ ;
must shape itself with a boundless wisdom, power, justice, good-

CHAP. XXXIL] CONCLUSION. 671
ness, and truth, so that the nations which forget God shall be
turned into hefl, and the people whose God is the Lord shall be
blessed forevermore, and death and hell shall be cast into the
lake of torment, and Messiah the Son of God, and the Saviour
of the World shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be
satisfied. It is to our faith that everything is revealed — to our
curiosity nothing : and all is so revealed that our faith must
stand in the power of God, and not in the wisdom of men.
Simple, brief, and direct, are all the words of God ; topics the
most overwhelming to us, treated in the same manner as topics
which we esteem the most humble ; the smallest thing that im
mediately concerns our salvation carefully explained, and things
the most august which do not immediately concern it, passed
over with a notice as incidental as their relation to our destiny.
And that is the measure of our knowledge, concerning the man
ner in which the consummation of the Covenant of Grace, will
affect the universe and every particular existence in it. Of the
whole effect of the sin that entered heaven, upon the universe
of God, we only know so much as concerns the angels that fell,
and so much as involves our ruin through theirs ; but we know
that the retribution of their sin — is the vengeance of eternal fire.
Of the effect of the Fall of Man upon the created universe, be
yond the range of our own planet, many very remarkable state
ments of the Scriptures exist,' — which it would be unprofitable
to discuss in a cursory manner, here : but we know that what
ever they were, they will all be retrieved. The earth we inhabit
was cursed for our sake, and the whole creation thereof groaneth
and travaileth in pain together under that curse. And we know
that the whole will be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the sons of God ; that there shall be
new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness shall dwell ;
and last of all, that the earth, and all the works that are therein
shall be burned up, and the heavens being on fire shall be dis
solved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. And my
understanding is, that this period of the New Heavens and the
New Earth, so distinctly stated by Isaiah and Peter, and de
scribed with so much detail by John, is the period of the Millen
nial Glory of the Church ; and the commencement of her state
of Eternal Glory, is the Day of God, synonymous with that dis
solution and passing away of the heavens and the earth, so dis-

672 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
tinctly stated by the blessed Saviour, and so often mentioned
throughout the Scriptures.
4. But it is our individual relation to these vast subjects, their
relation to our personal destiny, which so deeply concerns us ; and
it is in this aspect of them that God has taken so much pains to
inform us, and to excite our interest in them. It is not easy, — ¦
perhaps not possible — to conceive what more God could have
done, that he has not done, to accomplish in us both of those
merciful designs : to explain which, would only be to recapitu
late, in brief, the chief contents both of the present Treatise and
of the one that preceded it. In one aspect of the case of each
human being, it is precisely like that of every other human being :
for all are born in sin, all put off their mortal existence, all incur
in another state of being a resurrection, an eternal judgment, and
a just recompense of reward. But in another aspect, the case of
each human being is deeply affected by the condition of all
things, and especially of all divine things, in the midst of which
his own mortal probation is cast by the sovereign disposal of God.
Whether we would exist at all, and under what circumstances,
are matters which could never be submitted to our consideration.
And as they are matters which put our destiny, both for time and
for eternity, absolutely in the hands of God ; one would suppose
that the last thing that would occur to us, would be any attempt
to evade or to resist his boundless dominion over us ; and that
the last thing which would become us, would be voluntary igno
rance of him, and deliberate disobedience to him. This sovereign
disposal of God concerning the fact and the circumstances of each
individual existence, proceeds, so to speak, in a double manner.
For a whole generation, or many successive generations, are
brought into existence, for example, at a certain stage of the pro
gress of God's Kingdom, under the Gospel Church for instance :
and besides this aggregate discrimination, there is a strictly per
sonal discrimination by God, in the exercise of which each indi
vidual in every generation, is born to the peculiar lot and makes
his mortal probation under the personal circumstances, which dis
tinguish him from every other being. Besides these things, over
whelming as they are, other two must be added, which ought
to stop every mouth forever — except to make confession of God
unto salvation. The first of these is the constitutional peculiari
ties, physical, mental, and moral of each particular being, which

CHAP. XXXII.] CONCLUSION. 673
affect his destiny ; and the second is the special dealings of God
both providential and gracious, with each particular being, after
he has been launched, in the sovereign manner I have attempted
to portray, upon a mortal existence which can have no issue but
in immortality — of glory and blessedness on one side, or of shame
and contempt on the other. The generation that now is, finds
itself in living contact with the work of God's infinite grace, ad
vanced to a certain point of its sublime ceconomy, considered with
reference to each individual, to the human race, and to the Eter
nal Covenant. We ask ourselves, what relation have we as sepa
rate existences, and what as composing the present mortal portion
of a race so wonderfully and fearfully made, to the awful future,
and the infinite consummation of the Eternal Covenant ? As to
the whole race of man, nothing seems to me to be more certainly
revealed, than that its mortal existence, both individual and ag
gregate, will be utterly extinguished' — and that the personal ex
istence of every individual of it, after his mortality is done, will be
immortal. An eternal judgment awaits every human being ; but it
awaits us, not in our mortal state, but after death and after the
resurrection of the body ; if we except those who may be alive at
the second coming of the Lord, among whom the righteous will
incur an instantaneous change, and the wicked will be accursed,
and go away into everlasting punishment. Whatever may be
the Millennial glory of Christ and his Church in other respects,
the enemies of God can have no part therein. Whatever may be
the nature of the eternal judgment in other respects, it is impos
sible for sinful men who are without God, without Christ, and
without hope, in all things concerning which they will be judged,
to be acquitted as sons of God and brethren of Christ. What
ever may be the nature of the heavenly and eternal state of the
ri°-hteous who have followed Christ in the regeneration, and
reio-ned with him in Millennial glory ; they whose names are not
written in the Lamb's Book of Life can form no part of the glo
rious host, which he delivers to the Father in its perfect state,
• upon that Book of Life, It is manifest, therefore, how the whole
progress of the eternal covenant, and how the complete consum
mation of it, alike involves the perdition of ungodly men. The
endless existence of the wicked, and their utter perdition, are just
as certain as the endless existence of the righteous, and their
great glory and blessedness. And the certainty on both sides is
VOL. II. 43

674 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
such, that to natural reason and conscience it is perfectly una
voidable, according to all the knowledge we have of God and of
ourselves. Besides which, all the spiritual insight we obtain of
divine things, in the whole progress of God's work of grace within
us, settles more and more deeply in every pious soul, that this
is the result, on one side and the other, manifested in the entire
dealings of God with man ; that it is declared times without
number in his blessed word ; that it is involved in his very na
ture and ours, as well as in the relation between the two which
itself involves the possibility of religion ; and that the result
flows from the nature of that relation whether it is considered in
its original form, or in the form created by the Covenant of Grace.
With regard to the hope of eternal life so deeply seated in the
human soul, and the assurance of it which is so thoroughly the
Essence of the Gospel of God ; nothing need be urged here in
vindication of the truth that the realization of that hope, and the
possession of that blessed immortality, are possible only through
the Lord Jesus Christ — possible through him only to such as are
made conformable unto him. I have traced as clearly as I could,
the common progress of every human being, to the point at which
God's distinguishing mercy makes the lost sinner an heir of sal
vation ; and then I have traced with the greatest care the indi
vidual career of each child of God in the progress of the work of
grace within him, and the manifestation of that work by him in
the great offices of Christianity ; and then the creation, and
gifts, and life, of the Gospel Church composed of these children
of God. And now we ask ourselves, what more concerning these
heirs of the infinite inheritance, individuaUy considered, wiU the
further progress, and the complete consummation of the Covenant
of Grace, bring forth ? The most comprehensive answer is, that
whatever awaits them will always exalt them — always increase
the glory of their Lord and their own conformity unto him. Tem
poral death will release them forever from mortality and sin, and
exalt them to companionship with Jesus in Paradise. The res
urrection of the body will exalt them still higher, and bring them
to a still closer conformity to the glorified Bedeemer. The judg
ment of the great day will inconceivably magnify the glory of the
Lord and of his grace ; wherein they will be openly acquitted and
acknowledged as reigning together with Christ in infinite bless
edness, and the place of each one in the host of the glorified saints

CHAP. XXXII.] CONCLUSION. 675
be proclaimed. And then when the whole work of grace is com
pletely accomplished, and the whole work of glory resulting there
from arrives at the point, where the Kingdom in its absolute
completion is handed over to the Father, into its eternal heavenly
state ; the final exaltation pointed out by the Scriptures, is
reached by every child of God, in that immediate fruition of
God, and the glory and blessedness and eternal increase spring
ing therefrom. The eternal covenant of God is consummated as
to the elect of God ; and this eternal heavenly state is the result
as to them, of grace condescending so low that God became man,
rising so high that man partakes of God. Exactly what we shall
be — and what it all signifies — the two mortals, who of all that
ever lived perhaps could have best answered, have answered. To
the first question, John has answered, it doth not yet appear what
the sons of God shall be : but we know that when he shall appear
we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is. To the second
question Paul has answered, it means that — God giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ : it means that everything
has reached that consummation, that God may be all in all.
5. There can be but one supreme will in the universe : there
can be no salvation for sinners, except through grace. The rela
tion of these two propositions to each other, and to the infinite
Spirit who is the true and living God, becomes comprehensible
to human reason as soon as the mode of God's being is known.
The eternal purpose of that supreme will to save sinners, finds
expression in a way responsive to the inscrutable nature, and the
inscrutable mode thereof: and the consummation of the will,
and of the grace, and of the way of manifesting aU three, as
completely illustrates the infinite God, as mortals are capable of
understanding him. The Eternal Covenant of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, expresses with reference to the three
fold personality which is the form in which the unity of the divine
essence subsists, the same infinite purpose, will, decree, which are
expressed by the mere use of such terms with reference to that
infinite Spirit, considered in the absolute unity of its essence.
And so the consummation of the Eternal Covenant brings us
back to that infinite Spirit in its unity. As for the sons of God
— what we know is that when the glorified Bedeemer appears,
they will see him as he is, and be forever like bim. But as to
God himself, what will occur when his will, and his grace, and

676 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
his covenant concerning the salvation of sinners, shall have re
ceived their infinite consummation ; is that he will be all in all.
God the infinite Spirit whose essence is one : God, the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, three Persons in one Substance : God will
be all in all, with reference to the consummation of this Eternal
Covenant — and to all the effects of that consummation. It has
been worked through with reference in a special manner, to the
personal mode of the divine existence : its consummation is, in a
special manner, unto the infinite unity of God. The Son deliv
ers up the Kingdom — not in the sense of separating himself from
it— but in the sense of having absolutely accomplished and per
fected every part of the divine will, purpose, decree — every stip
ulation of the Eternal Covenant ; more especially everything
relating to God's elect who had been given to him in that cove
nant — of whose names there is the record in the Book of Life,
which is delivered up with them. The covenant has perfectly
accomplished that which it was the will of God it should accom
plish ; what remains is, that God is all in all — and that all his
sons are like him : which, as to them, is going so high — that
nothing seems to be higher, but the Godman. And herein, the
glory of the Being, Perfections, Counsel, and Work of God, are
complete. The Fall of man is retrieved : the Bride of the Lamb
rejoices eternally : the universe receives from innumerable hosts
of redeemed souls — true witness of God : all created things are
purged from all defilement, delivered from all travail under the
bondage of corruption, freed from the curse of God, and exult
ing under his blessing : all the enemies of God are shut up in
hell forever. The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
have perfected grace, and caused it to be swallowed up in glory :
and the end of all God's counsel and work in the promotion of
his own declarative glory, and the highest blessedness of his cre
ated universe, is eternally accomplished. From eternity it was,
God is all in all : to eternity it will be, God is aU in all. Glori
ous manifestations of God are scattered all along the track of
these eternal ages. Somewhere in the midst of them, begins
this fearful episode of sin. Far along in their course, is this
divine solution of it, with its threefold effect, of eternal glory to
God, of boundless increase of the knowledge of him throughout
,his universe and everlasting blessedness thereby, and of endless
perdition of Devils and damned spirits !

CHAP. XXXII.] CONCLUSION. 677
6. We must return, for a few moments, to sum up as well
as we can in the present state of divine knowledge, the special
relation of the divine Bedeemer to that portion of the future
career of his Church, which lies this side of that complete con
summation of the covenant of Bedemption, of which I have
already spoken with reference to the chief matters involved
therein. It is not as a question of prophecy, — but as a matter
of Christian doctrine, that I make any statement here, upon the
subject of the immediate connection of Christ with the future
progress and coming glory of his Kingdom. As a question of
mere doctrine, no reason can be assigned which tends to limit
the period of the struggle between good and evil in this world,
or to determine any positive issue of it. It is only by express
revelation we could know that the Kingdom of God will triumph
completely and possess the whole earth ; and I have already said
that the Scriptures seem to me to teach, that in order to this
triumph that Kingdom must assume a new form, and exist under
another dispensation. Whoever will assert that the Church of
God — independently of some divine change in the elements of the
problem which it has been working out, under its Gospel form,
for more than eighteen centuries — can have a future very mate
rially different from her past history ; or that the human race can
have a future spiritual history essentially variant from that which
is past — without some further and marvellous interposition of
God ; will, in each instance as it appears to me, contradict the
whole current of divine revelation, and disregard the absolute
ceconomy of the Plan of Salvation. The augmentation of the
present saving operation of the divine Spirit- — is not that super
natural change in the elements of the problem, is not that further
interposition of God, which will extinguish sin and misery in
this world, and give to the saints their Millennial glory and reign
with Christ. It is the second coming of the Son of Man, which
is that change in the elements of the problem, that further inter
position of God, which wUl give the victory. As to the fact that
the glorified Bedeemer would return again ; he declared it as dis
tinctly as he did the fact that he would ascend to the Father, or
the fact that he would send the Comforter : and not even his
resurrection from the dead, is more thoroughly wrought into the
system of Salvation disclosed in the Scriptures of the New Tes
tament, than his second coming in infinite glory is. It is com-

678 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
monly alleged that this assured coming of the Lord is in his
glory, and all his holy angels with him : and this is true, for it
is repeatedly so declared in the Scriptures. Moreover, that the
resurrection of the dead will occur at that time ; which is true,
but not exactly in the sense generally understood : for it is ex
pressly declared by the Apostle John that none but such as he
describes will reign with Christ a thousand years, or have any
part in the first resurrection — and that the rest of the dead live
not again until the thousand years are finished : while it is as
expressly declared by the Apostle Paul, that every one whose life
is hid with Christ in God, shall appear in glory with Christ, when
he appears, and that this appearing of Christ is his descent from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trump of God — at which the dead in Christ shall rise. Again,
that the instantaneous change of the saints then alive, will im
mediately foUow the resurrection of the righteous dead — at the
appearing of the Lord : which is true, according to the direct and
repeated statements of Scripture. With regard to the wicked
found alive at the coming of the Lord, the declaration is express,
that when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his
mighty angels, in flaming fire, not only shall all kindreds of the
earth wail because of him, but he will take vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ : who shall be punished with everlasting destruc
tion from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his
power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be
admired in all them that believe. Thus every class of men is
disposed of: the righteous dead rise, and the living saints are
transfigured— and all reign with Christ : the living wicked are
destroyed — and the wicked dead live not again, till the thou
sand years are finished. And when Jesus was asked by the dis
ciples, as he sat upon the mount of OHves, to tell them when the
things of which he had been speaking in the Temple, should
happen, and what should be the sign of his coming, and of the
End of the World : he answered them as recorded by Matthew,
at considerable length— and then pointed out particularly that as
the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man
be — and then illustrating the condition of his Kingdom at his
coming, by the parable of the ten virgins, as before the condition of
the world by the case of Noah, he closed the wonderful discourse

CHAP. XXXII.] CONCLUSION. 679
by a statement of his actual coming, and the actual gathering of
all nations, and his treatment of the righteous and the wicked.
I take this full and remarkable statement of the Lord, to be
perfectly intelligible and conclusive upon many points which I
need not recapitulate ; and, as it seems to me, it settles all ques
tion as to the whole race of mortals, good and bad, who are alive
at his coming — and in the light of other Scriptures settles the
question of the extinction of the mortal existence of the human
race, during that Millennial Kingdom which flesh and blood can
not inherit, any more than corruption can inherit incorruption.
It is after this glorious appearing of the Lord that he will judge
the world in righteousness : and pronounce that final Sentence,
which the promise of the Seed of the woman suspended. He
will judge the quick and the dead. I suppose that what has just
been stated, relates especially to the quick or living. Of the dead,
all will rise — and all be judged. But as stated by Paul, every
man will rise in his own order ; and the order is given. First
Christ — the first-fruits ; more than eighteen centuries ago. Af
terward they that are Christ's at his coming ; the day and hour
of which coming, Christ repeatedly told his disciples, no man,
not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son — but only the
Father, knew ; and distinctly bade them, for that very reason,
to watch and pray. Next in the divine order, is the end : before
which is the reign of a thousand years— declared by John, which
cannot end according to Paul, till Christ has put all enemies
under his feet — the last of whom that shall be destroyed is death ;
and at the end of which John assures us that Satan shall be
loosed from the bottomless pit in which he had laid bound during
the thousand years ; and the wicked dead shaU rise to shame and
everlasting contempt : and they and the Devil that deceived
them, shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the
beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and
night forever and ever, which is the second death ; which judg
ment and perdition of ungodly men, delayed since Messiah was
first proclaimed, is the event and period as Peter asserts, unto
which the heavens and the earth are kept in store, reserved unto
fire — that day of God, after which the eternal heavenly state of
the glorified saints will begin — and God be all in all. Surely
there can be no doubt that the judgment of the just and the un
just, is directly connected with the second coming of the Son of

680 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
Man, whose resurrection is the assurance given by God to all
men, that he will judge the world by him. I do not see that the
Scriptures leave us any alternative, but to identify the judgment
of the world by Chrst, with the Millennial reign of Christ : the
resurrection of life — the resurrection of the just — the judgment
of the saints and their reign, being altogether distinct from the
resurrection of damnation — the resurrection of the unjust — the
judgment and perdition of ungodly men. The judgment of the
saints is not to ascertain their salvation, but to disclose and to
proclaim the special grounds upon which each crown is given —
the special manner in which each crown was won ; all, to the in
finite glory of the Lord — the unutterable joy of the redeemed.
The Scriptures call it a day — but seem to declare the duration
of it, to be a thousand years : I do not know whether literally,
or whether each day of all those years, is a year itself, according
to the prophetic manner. Along the line between the Gospel
and Millennial dispensations — all those great and intricate ques
tions, so hard to be satisfactorily and harmoniously expounded,
will have 1>heir solution : the question of God's ancient people,
the question of the great Apostasies of Bome and Mahomed, the
question of heathenism, the question of the world-powers — and
the like : concerning which it would be out of place to enlarge
here. And as the resurrection, judgment, and reign of the saints
with Christ — fill up the period of the New Heavens and the New
Earth, so the resurrection, judgment, and perdition of the wick
ed, the passing away of the heavens, the burning up of the earth,
and the melting of the elements with fervent heat — all lie along
the line which separates the Millennial reign — from the eternal
and heavenly state of the saints. The Word was from eternity
and had an inbeing with God, and was God. But though he
thought it no robhery to be equal with God, when he was in the
form of God ; yet being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, and took the form of a servant, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God highly
exalted him, and gave him a name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth ; and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father. Nay God so exalted the risen Sa
viour as to seat him in his own throne, at the right hand of the

CHAP. XXXII.] CONCLUSION. 681
Majesty on high, gave him all power in heaven and on earth,
and made him head over all things, as head of his Church which
is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. But Jesus
himself called the throne on which he will sit, at his appearing,
the throne of his glory ; and speaking from heaven, after his ex
altation, said, To him that overcometh will I grant to sit down
with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down
with my Father in his throne : and his promise is express to make
all his followers kings and priests unto God. Yet it is written
that the Son himself becomes subject unto him that put all things
under him, when the Kingdom is delivered up perfect, and God
is all in all ; and the throne he has after that, is the throne he
had as God, before his incarnation. It seems to follow, beyond
doubt, that this Millennial throne, is the proper throne of the
Mediator ; the one that he called my throne, when he was seated
in the Father's throne — after his ascension ; the one he promised
to share with every one that overcometh. In every point of view,
therefore, the glory of the Messiah seems to be immediately and
transcendently involved in his second coming and Millennial reign.
And his loving and trusting children, ought to beware of dis
honouring him and deadening their own high and spiritual hopes,
by low and carnal allegorizing about these sublime mysteries ; as
well as of deluding themselves by vain and shallow dogmatizing
concerning them, as if they were perfectly simple and elemental.
For myself, I speak concerning them after many years of anxious
meditation, as one who would prefer not to speak, and who feels
assuredly that they who will follow us, will get a clearer insight
as they draw nearer to them. The grand and leading ideas which
belong to the future progress and glorious consummation of God's
eternal covenant, seem to me to be perfectly clear. Around these
are other ideas, carrying with them apparently, the highest prob
ability of truth, but not a satisfying assurance that we compre
hend them justly. And then around these in circles perpetually
enlarging, are topics vast and numerous, involving God, and
man and the universe, and questions the most intricate and
overwhelming concerning them all ; in which a single inspired
word misunderstood, or even a shade of thought wrongly con
ceived, may involve us far beyond our scanty knowledge and feeble
powers. And how could it be otherwise ? It is the infinite and
eternal thought of God, not yet realized in its actual accomplish-

682 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. [CONCLUSION.
ment, which mortals are striving to penetrate and disclose. Above
all, they who conceive of the knowledge of God unto salvation,
as a science of positive truth, are the last who ought to assert as
of faith, anything which does not appear to be positively certain ;
the last who ought to be willing to be held accountable for more
than it is yet given to mortals to know — much less for the infi
nite breadth of knowledge which may still He hid in the Word of
God, and the infinite possibilities which may be realized in ac
cordance with it.
7. The Son, as a Person of the Godhead, stands between the
Father and the Spirit. With reference to the created universe,
he so stands between it and the Father and the Spirit, that the
existence of all created things is ascribed in a special manner to
him. With regard to the infinite dominion and providence of
God — his position is the same, and all power in heaven and in
earth is given to him, as head of the Church. Touching the hu
man race this position becomes so special, that a new name — .
Immanuel — is given to him, a new office — Mediator — is created
for him — a new kingdom is erected for him as the Messiah — the
Christ. The redeemed come to God, only through him as their
Saviour : the damned perish forever under his sentence. Knowl
edge of this Saviour, is the immense want of humanity ; conform
ity to him, its immense necessity. Considered in this light, two
convictions have grown upon me, throughout the whole of my
Christian profession. The first is, that the extrication of the
simple, living and glorious truth concerning Jesus and eternal
life through him, and the presentation of it in its own perfect
revealed proportion ; is the supreme means of all the good which
the Church of God can accomplish on earth. The second is, that
this is actually accomplished now, and probably has been ac
complished in all ages, in the inward life of God's unknown chil
dren, and so in the aggregate life of his Church ; to a far higher
degree, than is exhibited in the teachings of those who, in all
ages, have appeared to men to be the instructors of the saints.
If these convictions are just, how immense are the explanations
they afford — the results to which they point !

INDEX,

The Numbers refer to the Page and the Paragraphs.
A.
Ability, Our natural, 124, § 3.
Adoption, The Scriptural account of, 182, § 1.
" An act of the Father, 184, § 2.
" Relation of, to the outward act, and inward work of God, 185, § 3.
" Definition of, 187, § 4.
" Our relation to sin changed by our, 188, § 1.
" Our relation to the Law of God changed by our, 189, § 2.
" Our relation to aU earthly things and God's providence changed by, 191, § 3.
" The relations of our inner life to God changed by, 192, § 4.
" Sanctification compared with, 206, § 4.
Agreement, Points of, between the Covenants of works and of grace, 84, § 2.
Almsgiving, 312, § 1 ; 529, § 3.
Ajjalogy between the two Sacraments, and the two conditions of Salvation, 70, § 2.
" between the two Covenants, 1'i, § 1.
Apostles, Authority and organizing work of the, 385, § 6.
" The Baptism of, during Christ's personal ministry, 543, § 4.
" The practice of, in baptizing, 518, § 1.
" The Doctrine of Baptism, deduced from the practice oi, 591, § 5.
Armor of Light, 341, § 6.
Assembling, Stated Congregational, 529, § 3.
Assistance, Salvation only through Divine, 74, § 3.
Assurance, 237, § 1.
of Faith, 267, § 2.
Attributes, Analogy between their treatment and that of. the Graces of the Spirit,
178, § 1.
" The treatment of the, 179, § 2.
Authority, Administrative, 409, § b.
" Judicial, 410, § c.
442, § 3. B.
Backsliding, 237, § 7.
Baptism, Institution of by the risen Saviour, 544, § 5.
" Relation of the outpouring of the Spirit to, 545, § 6.
" Relation between it and the Blessings sealed, 548, § 1.
" Relation between the title to the Blessings and the seal of, 549, § 2.

684 INDEX.
Baptism, The right of Infant Seed of Behevers to, 549, § 3.
" Effect of the neglect, and of the exercise of, 561, § 4.
" Effect of the Mode of, on the validity of, 562, § 1.
" Exposition of the Scriptural Doctrine of, 566, § 3.
" Various Scriptural Senses of the Term, 568, § 4.
" The Authority of Christ to fix the sense and mode o£J 568, § 4.
" Proof of the Mode of, intended by Christ, 570, § 5.
" Apostolic Practice of, 578, § 1.
" On the Day of Pentecost, 578, § 1.
" The First Gentile, 585, § 3 ; 586, § 4.
" The doctrine of, deduced from Apostohc Practice, 591, § 5.
Believers in covenant with God, 43, § 5.
Bonds, nature of those involved in the church, 377, § 3.
Bread, representing the Body of Christ, 605, § 5.
c.
Calvin, the Institutes of, x.
Censures, The infliction of by the church, 530, § 5.
" wholly spiritual, 534, § 3.
" Administration of against the Enemies of God, 535, § 4.
Charity, 309, § 4.
Chastenings of the Lord, 334, § 9.
Children, What God purposes concerning his, 293, § 1.
" What God requires of his, 293, § 2.
" What God is preparing them for, and how, 294, § 3.
Christ, The willingness and sufficiency of, 25, § 6.
" FeUowship with, 118, § 1.
" Communion with in Grace, 119, § 3.
" Communion with in Glory, 120, § 4.
" Recapitulation of the Work of, 164, § 3.
" The Death and Resurrection of 224, § 5.
" The Satisfaction of 284, § 2.
" The Love and Faithfulness of 291, § 3.
" The Mediatorial work of 366, § 9.
" His absolute relation to his saints, 378, § 4.
" The Advent of, 385, § 6.
" The broken body of, 602, § 2.
" The Body and Blood of, 603, § 3.
" Efficacy of the Body and Blood of, 607, § 6.
Christ's Crown, as exclusively his as his cross, 422, § 3.
Church, The Idea of the, 376, § 2.
" not commensurate with the Human Race, 379, § 5.
" under its various forms, 384, § 5.
" The new form of the, 385, § 6.
" The Future of the, 387, § 8.
" The perpetuity of the Ordinances of 389, § 1.
" A Kingdom exclusively Spiritual, 392, § 1.
" An everlasting Kingdom, 393, § 3.
" To be a universal Kingdom, 394, § 4.
" Its nature and end, 398, § 8.

T N D E x . 686
Church, The Sole Law of the, 412, § 5.
" Judicial and Executive Functions of, 413, § 6.
" The, 414, § 1 ; 415, § 2.
" The Life and Unity of, 433, § 3.
" The Vital Test of, 453, § 7.
" Symbolical Statements of the, 455, § 2.
" The true Life of, 479, § 1.
" The Relation between Christ and the, 494, § 4.
" The Condition ofj as possessing Christ, 495, § 5.
" The witnessing work of) 498, § 8.
" Appreciation of, as possessing God's supreme Gifts, 515, § 6.
" The actual origin of 632, § 1.
" The Holy Catholic, 496, § 6.
Church Government, Summary of the fundamental principles of, 651, § 1.
Origin, Development, and progress of, 653, § 2.
Church Power, The nature of, 639, § 3.
" Relation of, to Christ's offices, 639, § 3.
Church State, The Gospel, 387, § 7.
Church and State, Distinct nature and separate Mission of) 417, § 6.
The impossibility of confounding the, 419, § 8.
Church Visible, The organization of, 379, § 1.
Position of false professors and sects in, 400, § 11.
" Relation of the Infant Seed of Behevers to, 401, § 12.
" Definition of, 413, § 1.
Relation of the Glorified Redeemer to. 420, § 1.
" Recognition of 441, § 1.
Churches, Corrupt and apostate, 456, § 3.
Circumcision, Effects of the sacrament of 380, § 2.
" Origin and nature of 539, § I.
" Relation of, to Christian Baptism, 541, § 2.
Communion, with Christ, fruits of are, 119, § 2.
" with Christ in Glory, 230, g 1.
" with Christ in all states, 241, § 3 ; 243, § 5.
" of saints, 375, § 1.
" of the Body and Blood of Christ, 604, § 4.
Commonwealth, Relation of Christian duty to the, 416, § 3.
Condition op Man, Combined result of the Covenants of works and grace upon,
24, § 4.
Conscience, Peace of, 240, § 2.
" Self-condemnation of the natural, 281, § 5.
" Sense of Blameworthiness of the renewed, 281, § 5.
" Healthfulness of, 282, § 6.
Consciences, Tender, 322, § b.
Councils, Spiritual authority of, 323, § d.
Counsel of God, 91, § 3.
Covenant op Grace, The essence of, 83, § 1.
Covenant op Redemption, The disclosure and precise conception of, 27, § 1.
" The Mediator of, 28, § 2.
" The result of the eternal purpose and counsel of God,
29, § 3.

INDEX.
Covenant of Redemption, known only by Revelation, 31, § 1.
" The form of, 32, § 2 ; 33, § 3.
" The Primary and Secondary Conception of, 45, § 6.
" Importance of a practical appreciation of, 46, § 7.
" Hlustrated, 54, § 4.
•' Special conditions of, 67, § 1.
Gradual Disclosure of 90, § 1 ; 90, § 2.
" First Proclamation of, 663, § 5.
" Consummation of, 667, § 1 ; 670, § 3.
Covenant op Works, Revealed WUl of God anterior to, 4, § 2.
" The Penalty thereof, 4, § 3.
Covenant, The Abrahamic, 96, § 6.
Covenants, Fundamental points of agreement in the two, 84, § 2.
" Fundamental points of difference in the two, 86, § 3.
" Advantage of a comparison between, 89, § 4.
Creature, The dependence of the, 55, § 5.
Creed, The Apostles', 110, § 1.
Cup, The Blood of Christ, 605, § 5. D.
Deacons, Divine authoritj', nature and permanence of their office, 647, § 2.
Death, Relation ofj to the saints, 242, § 4.
" Relation of to the triumph of the Mediatorial Kingdom, 242, § 4
" Eternal, of the wicked, 672, § 4.
Demonstration, Order of the General, xv.
Devil, Our warfare with the, 340, § 5.
Difference, Fundamental points of between the Covenants of Works and of Grace
86, § 3.
Difficulty in the treatment of Effectual Calling, 123, § 2.
Discipline, Nature and Efficacy of, 531, § 1.
" Manner and Object of the administration of, 533, § 2.
Disoipleship, Conditions of our, 227, § 1.
Dispensation, The Adamic, 94, § 3.
" The Noahic, 95, § 4.
" The Abrahamic, 96, § 6.
" Of Christ and the Gospel Church, 100, § 9.
" The Future, 101, § 10.
Distrust, 236, § 6.
Dominion op God, Infinite certainty, rectitude and completeness of, 9, § 4.
'' State of the fallen universe under, 9, § 5.
Dominion op Christ, Freedom and Blessedness of the church in, 421, § 2.
Doubt, 236, § 6.
Duty, Summary of all, 296, § 3.
" Relation of Truth to, 359, § 4. E
Earth, God's sentence upon the, 20, § 6.
" The promised Deliverance of, 20, § 6.
Effectual Calling, Significancy and relations of, 122, § 1.
" The work of the Spirit in, 129 § 2.

INDEX. 687
Effectual Calling, Analysis of, 131, § 4; 133, § 1.
" The Root and Substance of Divine and gracious, 134, § 2.
" Inefficacies of man's endeavours after, 136, § 5.
" Relation of the New Birth to, 139, § 1.
" Compared with Sanctification, 206, § 4.
Elders, Church Government exclusively in the hands of, 628, § 6.
Elect, Relation of the Father, Son, and Spirit respectively to, 34, § 4.
" They only born again, 147, § 4.
" Defeasance of Satan's claim and power over, 162, § 1.
" Consummation of the Redemption of, 163, § 2.
" InfaUible certainty of the Justification of, 165, § 4.
" God's Justice in the justification of) 165, § 5.
Element, The Historical, in the question of the church, 427, § 1.
" The Logical, in the question of the church, 431, § 1.
" The force of the Logical, 432, § 2.
" The Supernatural, 434, § 1.
" Supremacy of the Supernatural, 480, § 2.
Elements of the Question of the True Church, 427, § 2.
Enemies, Our spiritual, 335, § 1.
" Our spiritual aU resolved into Three, 336, § 2.
" Our spiritual vanquished by Christ, 336, § 2.
Essence of the Covenant of Grace, 83, § 1 ; 91, § 3.
Estates of Man, Relation of the Two Covenants to the Four, 80, § 1.
Eternal Life, The true God and, 497, § 7.
Eternal State of the church, 667, § 2.
Evangelization, An ordinance of God, 536, § 1.
'• Obligation of the church in respect to, 536, § 1 .
" Appreciation of the church's endeavour towards, 537, § 2.
Evangelists, Divine Authority, and peculiar nature of theh office, 649, § 3.
Evidence, of fitness for the enjoyment of God, and hfe everlasting, 234, § 5.
" of things not seen, 259, § 3.
Existence, True end, and mode of attaining, 354, § 1.
F.
Faith, One*of the conditions of salvation, 68, § 3.
•• The double office of, 69, § 1.
" Saving, summarily explained, 71, § 3.
" Salvation impossible without, 72, § 5.
" Means proposed by God to lead men to, 76, § 5.
" Proportion of, 160, § 3 ; 200, § 1.
" Relation of Sanctification to, 212, § 4.
" A manifestation of the New Life in man, 256, § 4.
" Divine Definition and Illustration of, 257, § 1.
" A Grace of the Spirit, 260, § 4.
•' A scriptural, 261, § 5.
" The threefold aspect of, 262, § 1.
" Nature, use and effect of, 263, § 2,
" The objects of, 264, § 3.
" Neither an efficient nor a meritorious cause, 265, § 4.
" Relation of, to the Word of God and the means of Grace, 266, § 1.

INDEX.
Faith, Boundless compass of, 271, § 5.
" Competent only to restored sinners, 272, § 2.
" Implicit, 322, § b.
" Revelation the infallible Rule of, 357, § 3.
" Relation of Righteousness to, 359, § 4.
" Relevancy of God's work and Institutions to, 362, § 6.
" Purity of 447, § 4.
" The infalhble Arbiter of, 447, § 1.
" The regulative Power of, 454, § 8.
" Our Judgments concerning, 454, § 1.
Pall of Man, Statement of the case, 11, § 2.
" What God did after the, 23, § 3.
Fallen Man, His Condition, 54, § 4.
" Requirement made of, 134, § 3.
Divine Guidance and Support necessary to, 352, § 7.
Fallen Universe, Modified State of the, 9, § 5.
Family, The, 414, § 1 ; 41 5, § 2.
Fasting, 299, § 6.
" Public, 530, § 5.
Fatalism, 40, § 4.
Feeling, Moral Judgments and, 278, § 2 ; 279, § 3.
Flesh, Our Warfare with the, 337, § 3.
Free Church, Relation of aU States to Christ's, 424, § 8.
Freedom, Human, 40, § 4.
" Distinction between the Church's inward and outward, 419, § 8.
" Root of our inward, 422, § 4.
" The Church's true, 423, § 5 ; 423 § 6.
" Condition of the visible Church possessed of| 424, § 7.
Free Will, nature and limitation, 125, § 4.
" of Adam, before his Fall, 126, § 5.
" of all men, since the Fall, 126, § 5.
G.
Gentiles, CaU of the, 385, § 6.
Gifts of God to his church, 491, § 1.
Glory, Communion with Christ in, 228, § 3 ; 229, § 4; 231, § 2.
" Origin, growth and reality of the First Fruits of; 231, § 3.
God, Display of his infinite nature, 61, § 3.
" Grounds of separation between man and, 67, § 2.
" As Creator, 194, § 4.
" As Saviour, 197, § 5 ; 356, § 2.
" The mutual love of, and his children, 203, § 1.
" Inward enjoyment of, 233, § 4.
" Rejoicing in hope of the glory of, 240, § 2.
" Duty towards, 296, §2.
" Infinite righteousness and grace of, 366, § 9.
" Concatenation of the Providence and Grace of, 406, § 3.
" The universal Lawgiver, Judge and Ruler, 410, § 3.
Godhead, Peculiar relation of SanctiScation to the, 219, § 1.
Godliness, Unity of the mystery of; 478, § 6.

INDEX.
Good Works Defined and classified, 307, § 1.
" Considered with reference to our natural man, 308, § 2.
" Their influence upon the performer 314, § 2.
" Considered as a means of usefulness, 315, § 3.
" Considered with reference to the General Judgment, 316, § 4.
" Necessity of, 319, § 7.
" The Sole rule of, 320, § 1.
And New Obedience, 324, § 3 ; 326, 1.
Gospel, A free, 41.
Gospel Call, Residts of; with natural abihty and Free WiU to help, 128, § 1.
Gospel Church, The Special Mission of, 395, § 5.
" And civil State, fundamental distinction, 411, § 4.
" General Career of, 429, § 3; 430, § 4.
" Different from every other Institution, 435, § 2.
" Positive Exposition of, 436, § 3.
" 665, § 6.
" Future Progress of, 667, § 2.
Gospel Offer, Infinite freedom and fitness of, 397, § 7.
Government, Divine origin and authority of, in the church, 620, § 3.
" Progress and Development of in the church, 636, § 2.
Grace, Everything depends on, 25, § 6.
" Relevancy of, to the Mode of the Divine Existence, 29, § 4.
" Salvation for sinners through, 50, § 1.
" Effectual only through personal Redemption, 56, § 6.
" Perpetual development of, 82, § 4.
" Perpetual sufficiency of, 82. § 5.
" Man's perpetual necessity for, 108, § 2.
" And Man's alienation combined and apphed, 108, § 3.
" Communion with Christ in, 228, § 3.
" A supernatural work in Man, 255, § 3.
Graces, The greatest of all Christian, 310, § 5.
Graces of the Spirit, Paul's treatment ofj 180, § 3.
H.
Heart, kept, hardened, 304, § 1.
Heaven, Saints have a foretaste of; 238, § 1.
Heir, The lot and crown of each, 201, § 2.
Heirs of all the promises, 193, § 2.
" of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, 194, § 3.
Heirship, Our, 193, § 1.
Hidings of the Lord's face, 334, § 9.
History, Church, uninspired, 428, § 2.
Holy Ghost, Joy in the, 240, § 2.
" The Gift of the, 499, § 1.
" and the Son, their bestowment and manner of operation, 499, § 2.
Holiness, Efforts of the renewed soul after, 214, § 5.
" Its relations, 471, § 2.
" Connexion of, with Blessedness, 475, § 3.
" Inward aspect of, 476, § 4.
" Its unity as a mark of the church, 477, § 5.

690 INDEX.
Holy Spirit, Common operations of 42
" Work of effectual calling by, 130, § 3 ; 137, § 6.
DetaU of his work within us, 136, § 5.
Human Nature, Religious element of, 462, § 5.
Human Race, The church not commensurate with, 379, § 5.
" Divisions of SpirituaUy considered, 405, § 1.
I.
Illustration of the need of Divine Assistance in order to Salvation, 76, § 4.
Immersion, As commemorative of the burial of Christ, 564, § 2.
Impotence of fallen man, 53, § 3.
" Nature of, as produced by sin, 73, § 1.
Imposture, Of an earthly faUible Judge, 451, § 5.
Independence, Necessity of the Church's, 418, § 7.
Indifference, 236, § 6.
Infants, The salvation of, 154, § 3.
" Right of, to Christian Baptism, 649, § 3.
Infinite Ruler, The existence ofj 7, § 2.
" Nature of his boundless Dominion, 8, § 3.
Inheritance of the heirs of God, 199, § 6.
Insight, Spiritual, 200, § 1.
Instituted Worship of God, 527, g 1.
Interposition, God's gracious, 402, g 1.
" Practical result of God's, 403, § 2
J.
Jerusalem, The Apostolic Synod of, 620, g 3 ; 621, g 4.
" Office-bearers in the Synod of; 624, g 5.
Jesus, The knowledge of, 682, g 7.
" The Life through, 682, g 7.
John, Mission and Baptism of, 542, g 3.
Judge of controversies, 449, g 2.
" God the infaUible, 450, g 4.
Justification, Position in the Proportion of Faith, 160, g 3.
" The office of, in Salvation, 161, g 4.
" Has reference to our Union with Christ, 167, g 7.
" The meritorious Cause of, 168, g 8.
" Definition of 168, § 1.
" Has reference to our State, 169, g 2.
" Relation of, to the Covenant of Redemption, 170, g 3.
" An infinitely gracious Act of God, 170, § 4.
" The practical personal effect of, 171, § 5.
" The Ground of, 171, g 5 ; 173, § 6.
" Sanctification compared with, 206, g 4.
K.
Kingdom op Christ, Historical means of appreciating, 390, § 2.
" Practical means of appreciating, 391, g 3.
" Prophetical means of appreciating, 391, § 4.
" Ethical means of appreciating, 391, § 5.

INDEX. 691
Kingdom op Christ, The manifold aspects of, 405, g 2.
" Separate from the World and Organized, 406, § 3.
" Its progress to the present time, 663, g 6.
" Actual posture of 665, § 6.
Kingdom op God constituted of the Heirs of God, 197, g 5.
" The Nature of, 228, § 2.
Knowledge op God, Transition from the Objective to the Subjective, 78, § 1.
" Grandeur and efficacy of, 102, § 11.
" Objective, 657, g 1.
" Subjective, 658, § 2 ; 665, § 6.
" The three aspeets of, xiii.
L.
Law, 409, § a; 345, g 2.
" of God, 284, § 1 ; 347, g 3 ; 366, § 9 ; 471, § 1.
" of Nature, 3, g 8.
Lawgiver, The infinite, 347, § 3.
Liberty of conscience, 321, § a.
" Christian, 321, g a.
Life in God, 65, g 3.
" Need of divine assistance in order to, 66, § 4.
" Relation of Righteousness to, 204, g 2; 275, g 6.
" Of God in the soul, 205, g 3.
" eternal, nature and extent of fitness for, 233, g 4.
" Relation of the Divine Word to the Divine, 344, § 1.
" eternal, of the righteous, 672, § 4.
Lord's Death, Relation of the continual showing of; to his Second Coming, 611, § 8.
Lord's Supper, Relation of to the Passover, 594, § 1.
" Institution of 595, g 2.
" General nature and ordinary use of, 597, g 3.
'' Matter and elements of, 599, § 4.
" Relation of; to the worship, word, and Sphit of God, 609, g 7.
¦' Relation of Christ's sacramental word and action to, 612, g 1.
" Relation of, to the Question of the Church, 614, § 2.
Love, Redeeming, 62, § 4.
" Consummation of, 204, g 2.
" Relation of Sanctification to, 212, g 4.
'¦ A Sense of God's, 240, g 2.
" Relation of aU Christian offices to, 311, g 6.
" 309, g 4.
Luther, His conception of Theology, x. M.
Magistrate, Power of in things Sacred, 322, g c.
Man, Origin, career, position and destiny of, 5, g 4; 6, § 5.
" Moral constitution of 7, g 1 ; 280, g 4.
" God's sentence upon, 14, g 4.
¦' His alienation from God, 107, g 1.
" Perpetual shortcoming of, 107, g 1.
" Natural, Spiritual helplessness of) 269, § 3. _

692 INDEX.
Man, Natura], Moral bondage of, 270, g 4.
" Knowledge of Good and Evil in, 276, g 1.
'' Universal Brotherhood of, 308, g 3.
Marks of the Nature and End of the church, 399, g 10.
" Of the visible Church universal, 441, g 2.
" Nature of the church's infalhble, 445, g 2.
" Divine Statement of the Three, 458, § 1.
Mediator, Jesus Christ, 28, § 2.
" Divine Grace through the, 81, g 3.
" Between God and Man, 660, g 3.
Middle Term between God and Man, 660, g 3.
Millennial State of the Church, 667, g 2.
Millenniai Glory of Christ, 677, § 6.
Mode op Divine Existence, Relation of, to the Covenant of Redemption, 30, § 6.
Morality, Regulative principles of; 348, g 4.
Moral distinctions, 472, g 1; 473, § 2.
Moral Sense, Supremacy of, 350, g 5.
Moral Law, Supremacy of, 350, g 5.
" Relation of to the matter and form of Salvation, 351, § 6.
" Divine Restatement of; 361, g 5.
" The Sum and Scope of 365, g 8.
Moses, The Institutions of; 98, g 7 ; 100, g 8 ; 382, g 4.
Mystical, The body, 114, § 2.
Mysteries, Certainty and Sum of the, 547, g 7.
" Relation of, to the Doctrine of God and Salvation, 547, § 8.
" Of Grace, 501, g 3. K
Nature, Law of, 3, g 8.
" Human, 63, § 1.
" The Spirit works without violence to, 137, g 6.
Neighbour, Duty to our, 296, g 2.
New Brora, Jesus' Explanation of, 141, g 3.
" The Ground and Manner of, 143, g 4.
" Relations of the Doctrine of; 143, g 5.
New Creature, Positive consideration of the, 201, § 2.
" Relation of Faith to the, 254, g 2.
New Obedience, Relation of Faith and Repentance to, 273, g 4.
" Relation of Good works to, 294, g 4; 296, g 3.
" Relation of Christian Warfare to, 294, g 4.
" Inward nature of, 295, g 1.
" Special Fruits of, 297, g 4.
" Things pertaining to, 305, § 2.
" Human nature under the influence of 305, § 3.
" Summary statement of 324, g 3.
" Conflict involved in, 326, g 1.
" The Word of God the infalhble Rule of, 359, g 4.
New Testament, The Blood of the, 600, g 1.
Noah, The connecting link between Adam and Abraham, 96, g 5.

INDEX. 693
o.
Oaths, Lawful, 302, g 8.
Obedience to God, 65, g 3.
" Need of special Divine Assistance in order to, 66, g 4.
" Nature of that, performed in sin, 73, g 1..
CEconomy op Grace, General appreciation of, 79, g 2.
" Method of the treatment of, 80, g 3.
" Dispensations of, 92, § 1.
Offices, The two great, 253, g 1.
Office-bearers, and the Government in their hands, 616, g 1.
" Relation of, to society and the church, 617, g 1.
" As appertaining to the Church and to Christ, 618, g 2.
" Divine origin and authority of, 620, g 3.
" constituting the Synod of Jerusalem, 624, g 5.
Ordinances, as means in our Sanctification, 218, § 3.
Organization op the Church, None before the CaU of Abraham, 380, g 2.
" Obligatory force of 398, § 9.
" Fundamental principles of, 407, g 1.
P.
Parties to the FaU, 10, § 1.
Passover, Giving of the, 381, g 3.
" Relations of the, 381, g 3.
Paul, His treatment of the Graces of the Spirit, 181, g 4.
Pentecost, Day of, 504, § 6.
" Baptism administered on, 578, g 1 ; 579, § 2.
Perfections, Illustration of God's, 61, g 3.
Perpetuation of office-bearers and government, 642, g 4.
Perseverance, 237, g 7.
Pollution, Efforts of the soul against, 214, § 5.
Posture, Our, in the Dispensations, 93, g 2.
Power, Exercise of, in Sanctification, 221, g 3.
" of Regimen, 639, g 3.
" of Order, 639, g 3.
Grayer, 298, g 5.
Prerogatives of the Believer, 112, g 2.
Probation of Man, 313, g 1.
" of the race, 403, g 3 ; 404, g 4.
Problems to be solved after the FaU, 10, g 1.
Promise of the Father, 504, g 6.
Prophets, Inspired and temporary, 646, § 1.
Public Will, 409, g a.
Purity of Faith, Relation of the true Church to, 450, § 3.
" Relation of all Christian Graces to, 452, g 6.
" Vital test of, 453, g 7. E.
Reason, 442, § 3.
Redeemed, The Covenanted Head of, 37, g 1.
Redemption, Work of the Sphit in, 58, g 7.

694 INDEX.
Redemption, The Eternal Covenant of, 661, g 4.
Reformation, Theology of the, ix.
Reformed Theology, Causes of the failure of x.
Regenerate, Prerogatives of the, 110, g 1.
Regeneration, Posture of the Doctrine in the time of Christ, Z40, g 2.
" Definition of, 144, g 1.
One of the benefits of the Covenant of Redemption, 145, § 2.
" Wrought by the Holy Ghost, 145, g 3.
" Confined to the Elect, 147, g 4.
" The Efficient Instrument in, 148, g 5.
" The meritorious Cause of 150, § 6.
" Our nature renewed in, 151, g 7.
" State of the Soul in, 152, g 2.
" Restatement of the ELnowledge touching, 155, g 4.
" The Certainty, Necessity and Efficacy, of 156, § 5.
" compared with Sanctification, 206, g 4.
Religion, The possible forms of the idea of, 437, g 2,
Remedy, for the condition of sinners, 52, g 2.
Repentance, Means of leading men to, 76, g 5.
" A condition of Salvation, 68, § 3.
" The double office of, 69, g 1.
" Summarily explained, 71, g 4.
" Salvation impossible without, 72, g 5.
" Relation of Sanctification to, 212, g 4.
" Connexion between Faith and, 272, g 1.
" Competent to Believing Sinners only, 273, g 3.
" Its relations, 275, g 5.
" Definition of, 288, § 5.
" Perpetual necessity of, 289, g 1.
" The great peculiarity of, 290, g 2.
" Wide connexion of the Doctrine of; 291, § 4.
" Simplicity and certainty of the Doctrine of, 291, § 4.
Responsibility, Our personal, 492, g 2.
Restoration, Divine means, 64, g 2.
Revelation, The InfaUible Rule, 447, g 1.
Reward, The idea of, belongs only to Grace, 318, g 6.
Righteous, The Work and Institutions of God relative to, 362, g 6.
Righteousness displayed in Justification, 166, g 6.
" of Christ imputed, 174, § 7.
" Relations of, 275, g 5.
Royal Priests, The kingdom of 462, § 1.
Rule, The Infallible in Faith and Practice, 366, g 8 ; 366, g 9.
" of Faith, 449, g 2. s.
Sabbath, Relation of to the Moral System of the Universe, 518, g 1.
" Its connexion with God's Work, 519, g 2.
" Unspeakable importance of, to man, 521, g 3.
Sanctification of the, 529, § 3.

INDEX. 695
Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, 385, g 6.
" The true idea of the, 522, g 1.
" Nature and use of the, 522, g 2,
' Descriptive Explanation of the, 523, § 3.
" Ends subserved by the, 524, g 4.
" The Efficacy of the, 525, g 5.
" The number of, 525, § 6.
'• Relations of the, 525, g 6.
" Administration of the, 530, § 5.
Salvation, The actual process of; 54, § 4.
" Our personal, 58, g 1.
" Not universal, 59, g 2.
" Relations of, 176, g 8; 31, § 6; 661, § 4.
" Special — Determinate — Effectual, 109, § 4.
" Unity of the Way and Method of 81, § 2.
'' Only possible as proposed in the Scriptures, 74, g 2.
" Dependent on the Headship of Christ, 38, g 2.
Sanctification, Description of, 206, g 5.
" A benefit of the Covenant of Redemption, 207, g 1.
" A work of Divine Grace, 209, g 2.
" Unequal in different persons, 210, g 3.
" Imperfect here, 210, g 3.
" Means of Grace in our, 216, g 1.
" The Author of 219, § 1 ; 220, g 2.
" The Work of the Godhead in, 223, g 4.
" Definition of, 225, g 6.
Saints, Universal FeUowship of, 308, g 3.
Satan, God's irrevocable sentence on, 11, g 3.
Saviour, The central object of all Truth and Duty, 364, g 7.
Scholasticism, A Failure, ix.
Scriptures, The Word of God, xiv.
Second Coming of the Son of Man, 677, g 6.
Seeds, The two, 25, g 5.
Self-delusion, 237, g 7.
Sentences, After the Fall, 16, g 5.
Separation between God and man, removal of, 67, g 2.
Sin, Punishment and Pardon of, 159, g 2.
" Grief and hatred for,' 285, g 3.
" Effects of, retrieved, 670, § 3.
Sins, Forgiveness of 496, § 6.
Sinners, The condition of 61, g 2.
The Friend of, 158, g 1.
Society, the Functions of 408, g 2 ; 410, g 3.
Son of God, A Gift to the Church, 493, § 3.
Soul, The natural and regenerate states of the, 135, g 4.
" Career of each saved, 202, g 3.
" Acts of the penitent, 285, g 3.
" States of the penitent, 288, g 4.
" Divine Regeneration of the, 361, § 5.
" The renewed, 446, § 3.

696 INDEX.
Sovereignty of God, 55, § 5.
Spirit, The Graces of the, 178, g 1 ; 179, § 2.
" Earnest of the, 238, g 1.
" Relations of the, 502, g 4.
" Attestations by the, 503, g 5.
" Difference in the manifestations of the, 505, g 7.
" Saving and extraordinary manifestations of the, 507, § 8.
" Vital nature of the Doctrine of the, 507, g 9.
" Outpouring of, 545, g 6.
Spirituality, The Church's, 393, g 2.
State, The, 414, g 1 ; 415, g 2.
" Tendency to engulph the Church in the, 416, § 4.
Statement, Need of a truer method of 39, § 3.
Substance of things hoped for, 258, g 2.
Suffering, Our, with Jesus, 331, § 6.
Sum and Result, 675, g 5.
Susceptibility of fallen man, 53, g 3.
Synods, Spiritual authority of, 323, g d.
Synod of Jerusalem, 620, § 3. T.
Thanksgiving, 301, g 7 ; 530, g 5.
Theology, Progress of, in the East and West, ix.
" Modem, x.
'¦ Strictly a Science, xi.
" Nature of a proper treatment of; xv.
Tribunals, Divine authority of; 636, g 2.
Trinity, Doctrine of the, 31, g 6. ,
Truth the Effectual Instrument in Sanctification, 217, g 2.
Truths, Particular, 200, g 1.
True Church, Infallible certainty concerning, 436, g 1.
" AUeged difficulty of knowing the, 441, g 1.
" Majesty and glory of 482, g 3.
u.
Union, Communion and, with Christ, 113, § 1.
" With Christ, 115, § 3 ; 117, g 4.
" Of Church and State, 417, § 5.
Universe, Posture of with and without the Word of God, 21, g 1.
" Posture of, with and without the Idea of Divine Grace, 22, g 2.
" Participation of, in Covenant Blessings, 44.
V.
Victory, The, 342, g 7.
Vows, 302, g 8. w.
Warfare, Our spiritual, 327, g 2 ; 328, g 3.
" SubUme efficacy of our, 332, g 7
" Cause and manner of, 332, g 7.

INDEX. 697
Waepare, Relation of the Means of Grace to, 333, g 8.
Watching, 299, § 6.
Way of Salvation, 49, g 3.
Weakness, Spiritual, 236, g 6.
Will op God, The Rule of duty to man the creature, 48, g 1.
" The Rule of aU Good Works, 321, g 2.
" Relation of, to Salvation, 353, g 8.
Wtll of the Saviour, The Rule of duty to those having a Saviour, 49, g 2.
Witness-bearing, Our perpetual, 328, g 4.
" The immediate object of the Church's, 396, § 6.
Woman, The sentence upon the, 14, § 4.
Word op God, the means in Sanctification, 217, g 2.
A Gift to the Church, 508, g 1 ; 514, g 5.
Relation of to the visible Church, 508, g 1 ; 609, g 2.
Relation of to the Gospel Church, 511, g 3.
Efficacy of the, 512, g 4.
World, Our indefeasible title to, 196, g 4.
" Our warfare with, 338, g 4.
" Complete rejection of, 382, g 4.
Working together with God, 329, g 5.
Works the measure of final Reward and Punishment, 317, § 5.
WoRSmp, The Sole object of, 459, g 2.
" True Conception of 460, g 3.
" Relation of the Word and Life of God to, 461, g 4.
" Obligation and perpetuity of, 464, g 2.
" The Plan of Salvation relative to, 465, § 3.
" The idea and organism of the Church relative to, 465, g 3.
" Relation of Christ's Sacrifice and Priesthood to, 466, g 5.
" Relation of Christ's Ascension Gifts to, 466, g 5.
" Relation of to Religion and to God, 467, g 6.
" Congregational, 468, g 7.
" God's Revealed WUl concerning, 528, g 2.
" Particulars of revealed, 529, § 3.
" Particulars of Stated Public, 530, g 4.
z.
Zutnglb, His Conception of Theology, x.

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