"¦-J ,->*. M. 1 f if II w "Igiuefik^e JBibiii, for tie founding of a. College in this Colony"\ 'Yi&LH-WMlMil&SEirY' • jLiiim&iEir • J90j As/Sir 1* OUTLINE STUDIES THEOLOGY. REV. SAMUEL GRAVES, D. D., Atlanta, Ga., 1892. BOSTON : C. H. SIMONDS & CO., PRINTERS. 47 Franklin Street. hp-nn T, Gc72 COMMENDATIONS. From Rev. G. C. Baldwin, author of "Representative Men and Women," and "Forty-one Years' Pastorate," Troy, N.Y. Rev. Dr. Graves : Dear Brother : — I have had the MS . of your ' ' Outlines in Theology" read to me, and it has left on my mind three distinct, strong impressions : One is that your work is "well done," not merely intellectually and biblically, but spiritually. Another is, that it is admirably adapted to the special object you have in view, viz.: To advance the study of Theology in our Semina ries in the South ; and to be a Hand-book for our colored brethren in the Ministry. The other impression is that it will supply a need in our Sunday-School. I don't know of a single Sunday-School library which has a condensed work on this subject, written in a popular style, giving results of latest thought in a carefully-considered manner. Such a book ought to be in every one of them, that inquirers might readily learn what Christianity teaches ; and why. It ought also to be in every Baptist family ; and parents would do their children great service, if, taking one topic at a time, they should have it read aloud in their homes. I believe that the Master hath need of your book. Fraternally yours, GEO. C. BALDWIN. Troy, N. Y., August, 1892. Rev. Samuel Graves, D. D., Professor of Theology in the Atlanta Baptist Seminary. Dear Sir : — Believing that the Course of Lectures, which for the past years you have given to your pupils in Christian Theology, should be published for the benefit of a larger circle of ministers and Christians in general; we, the undersigned, do respectfully requesfthat you would favor us with their publica tion at your convenience. Your interest in advancing the cause of Ministerial Education and the general enlightenment of our people in Christian knowledge, is so deep that we confidently look forward to your compliance with this request. Signed: Rev. C. S. Wilkins, Augusta. Prof. W. E. Holmes, Atlanta. Rev. E. R. Carter, Atlanta. " W. H. Tilman, D.D., Atlanta. " W. J. White, D.D., Editor Georgia Baptist, Augusta. " M. W. Gilbert, D.D., Jacksonville, Fla. " C. T. Walker, D.D., Augusta. " E. K. Love, D.D., Savannah. " S. M. Simmons, Eatonton. " A. B. Murden, State Missionary. " A. J. Allen, Cuthbert. ',' R. L. Darden, Marietta. " J. B. Davis, Atlanta. " Willis Jones, Atlanta. " W. H. Tilman, Jr., Atlanta. " E. J. Fisher, Atlanta. " M. W. White, Atlanta. " CO. Jones, Atlanta. J. S. Brandon, Atlanta. Rev. James Willis, Atlanta. Prof. G. A. Goodwin, Atlanta. Silas X. Hoyd, Editor Augusta Sentinel. D. G. Gullins, Atlanta. Rev. J. M. Jones, Atlanta. " H. G. Roby, Savannah. " S. S. Broadnax, Thomasville. " J. R. Hall, Atlanta. " S. A. McNeal, Americus. " N. B. Williams, St. Missionary. Prof. L. P. Pinckney, Dublin. Rev. N. G. McCall, Dublin. " H. W. Russell, Greenville. Dea. Willis Murphy, Atlanta. " N. Holmes, Atlanta. Prof. Benjamin F. Smith, Macon. " Charles A. Dryscoll, Augusta. Rev. W. G. Johnson, Augusta. " P. J. Jenkins, Augusta. " C. H. Brightharp, Milledgeville. " W. R. Forbes, Columbus. " A. J. Irving, Hepzibah. " R. B. Sweet, Jacksonville, Fla. Prof. G. W. Hill, Thomasville. M. W. Reddick, Shellman. Rev. J. C. Dawes, Jamaica, W. I. INDEX. Page Adoption 83 Agnosticism .... 10 Angels . . . 132 Atheism ..... 9 Atonement, Theories of 58 Atonement, Remarks 62 Attributes of God, Natural 23, Attributes of God, Moral . ¦ 27 Advent, Second .... 112 Assurance ..... .84 Apocrypha .... 16 B Baptism ..... IOI Bible, Origin and Make-up 13 Bible, The Word of God 15 Bible, Methods of Study 5 C Christ, Time of Birth . 5i Christ, Relation to Humanity ¦ 5° Christ, the Judge 120 Christ, Mission of 55 Church, Origin of IOO Church, Officers .... 102 Councils .... 102 Canon of Scripture 13 Communion . . . , IOI Crucifixion" .... 53 Conviction of Sin 70. D Death, Natural and Spiritual 41 Depravity .... 47 Demons ..... • 134 Decrees 34 Deism ..... 7 Dualism .... 8 Devil ..... • 154 Deaconess .... 102 Divorce ..... • 39 Discipline (Church) 103 J£ Page Election .....•• 34 Evolution ..... 37 F Fall of Man . . . . . • 4° Faith • 71 Feticism . . .... 8 Freedom .... • 5° G God, Conceptions of -9 God, Existence of . . • • • IJ Guilt and Misfortune . . . • -47 H Heaven .....•• I22 Hell . .... 127 Hades .107 Holiness and Innocence . . . • .40 Holiness of God ..... 3° Heredity .... -44 Holy Spirit,— Person, Work . 93 I Inspiration ... 19 Inspiration and Revelation ... 22 Intercession . . . . . .81 Intermediate State ..... 107 Influence .... .120 Image of God . ..... 38 Inerrancy of Scripture . . . .24 J Judgment . .... 118 Justice and Righteousness . . .27 Justification ...... 81 L Life, Future . . . . . .105 Love .... . . 30 Lying ....... 29 M Man, his Creation ..... 37 Man, his Lordship ..... 38 Manuscripts ...... 14 Mediation of Christ . . . 67 Marriage . . 39 Millennium . . . . . .110 o Obedience ... . . 72 Ordinances ....... 101 Parousia . Probation Pantheism Punishment, Future Punishment, Objections Prayer, its Nature Prayer, Availing Prayer, Objections to PerfectionPurposes of God Polytheism Pastor's Authority . Repentance Resurrection of Christ Resurrection, Doctrine of RegenerationRevelation and Inspiration R Page 112 89 IO 127 130 95 96978734 7 104 70 54 114 74 20 Sanctification Sin, its Nature Sin, Original Sin, in Act and State Sin, Unpardonable Soul, Origin of Soul and Spirit Scripture Discrepancies Soterology Sacred Books SheolSeptuagintSources of Theology Spirit, Advent of Spirit, Office of Spirit, Baptism of 8641424294 4548 23 5i 12 107 16 8 9i9294 Temptation of Christ, its Nature Temptation of Man TrinityTheism Woman, her Creation Will, Doctrine of Wicked, End of W 52 40 31 7 38 49 127 DEDICATION. I take the liberty, and find pleasure in dedicating this unam bitious volume: First, to my pupils, both those who are in, and those who have graduated from The Atlanta Baptist Seminary. Your interest in these Lectures, as we have together studied the great things of which they treat, has been to me an inspira tion ; and the fidelity which so many of you, who have passed from the lecture-room to the pulpit and the parish, have shown in your work, the gratifying success with which God is crowning your labors, have been a grateful compensation for all that I have done, both within and beyond the limits of the Seminary, for its enlargement and for your profit. Secondly; To the ministry in general, among the colored people — the men who as a class have done, are doing more for their race than any other body of men ; hoping that they too may find help in these pages ; and, Thirdly ; To the generous and trusted friends whose ready and opportune aid has brought such encouragement to me in what has been so largely a "work of faith, and labor of love." This dedication I make with the prayer and in the hope that God ma3r make the volume a help to the people in whose progress, prosperity and piety you all take so deep an interest. S. GRAVES. Atlanta, Ga. PREFACE. The many excellent Schools in the South for colored people, have advanced those students who have availed themselves of their aid, and who are preparing for the Christian ministry, beyond the mere rudiments which were formerly taught them ; and the difficulty experienced in finding any work on theology between an elementary and the more elaborate treatises, which are still beyond so many of those who are already in the ministry or about to enter it ; are the chief apology for the appearance of this volume. And attending it will go the hope and prayer that it may prove by the blessing of God, helpful, not only to pupils in theology, but also and especially accepta ble to many pastors who have not enjoyed the benefits of study in these schools. It is intended, therefore, to be an intermediary or stepping-stone between the two kinds of volumes alluded to. In this the author means no reflection upon the native ability of the colored student, many of whom have won distinction among white pupils, but the most of whom for years to come will find greater help from some such intermediary work as this. These Lectures' are based upon the old and tried Calvinistic Theology ; modified by the religious thought of more recent times, as the results of Christian scholarship. All human thinking is subject to change, as the history of theology and also that of science and philosophy abundantly proves;' by new light, from better interpretations of the scriptures and of nature ; in both of which God is revealing himself. New light does not change old truth ; nor any truth, though it may give it a new setting — a change of emphasis. In these Lectures I have touched upon the live issues of the day, at the risk, perhaps, of criticism. But I take the risk. For to make men of our pupils, we must teach them to think — think for themselves. Indeed they do and will think. The only hope of progress among them is in this line. The scores of schools established for them, many of University grade, which have been in operation since "Emancipation," are quickening thought among them ; and all questions which agitate the age, social, civil, political, economical, scientific and religious, will soon be under discussion by them ; and the leaders in thought among them should be able to guide the random thinking of the masses. The author, from his experience, believes it is better to present these subjects carefully and in their true light, than to leave the pupil without the guidance and cautions which may be judiciously given him in his -course of study. S. G. OUTLINES IN THEOLOGY. There are three ways of studying the Bible : — i . For personal, spiritual benefit. This is the chief pur pose for which it has been given, and by far the most impor tant ; — to bring the mind and heart into contact with the great, helpful, saving truths of Revelation. For this method of study the form in which it has come to us, is specially adapted ; not in abstract truths, but in the experience of living men, which find an echo in that of us all. The Bible is a revelation of God made largely through human experience. And this makes it the Book of humanity. 2. The Analytical or Exegetical method of study ; for the purpose of ascertaining more carefully and accurately its deeper and more connected meanings. This is the work chiefly of Biblical scholars ; and the results of their labors are the Commentaries which we have. 3. The Classification of the Doctrines which the Bible teaches, and the harmony and proportion which exists among these doctrines. This method gives us in its results Biblical Theology. The third method of study depends for its accuracy and value upon the thoroughness and candor in which the former methods have been pursued. This volume is an attempt in the third method of study ; and will embrace in general, the teaching of the Bible respecting God and Man. 1. God in his person, works and attributes. 2. Man in his origin, his moral and religious relations, and the duties which these require of him. 3. The Provisions made for the salvation of men, and how these may be secured. 4. The final Destinies which await us. 5. The origin, organization and order of the Christian Church. — Or in more technical language: — Theology (in a restricted sense) , Anthropology , Soterology , Eschatology , and Ecclesiology . Theology as so considered, is chiefly a science, and deals mostly in facts. The schoolmen, as they have been called, i. e. the theologians before the Reformation, made it a philosophy, and dealt largely in theories and speculations. Science is clas sified knowledge. No science is complete ; because it embodies only our present limited knowledge of the subjects considered. Both science and philosophy have undergone great changes, and will, no doubt, continue to be modified as our knowledge of the subjects discussed becomes more full and definite. Theology as a science, based as it is upon our knowledge of divine things, is therefore liable to change ; though the divine realities themselves do not change ; as in the case of Astron omy, Geology, and the various other sciences, which are the subjects of human investigation. i The Sources from which we draw our knowledge in this study are somewhat broader than the Bible. They will take in the various revelations which God has made of himself, and which in general are four : a. The natural world. Ps. 19: 1; Rom. 1 : 19 ; Isa. 40 : 21, 22. b. Man, as made in the image of God. Gen. 1 : 26 ; 5:1; 9:6; Ps. 100 : 3 ; Eccl. 7 : 29 ; Acts 17 : 28 ; Eph. 4 : 24 ; Col. 3 : 10 ; Jas. 3:9. c. Human History, which is the unfolding of God's thought and purpose ; and so far forth reveals God. Isa. 44 : 25 ; Dan. 4:45; ist Chron. 5:26; Acts 17:26; Isa. 44:28; 46:10; 48 : 14 ; Eph. 1:5; Phil. 2 : 13 ; Ps. 75 : 7 ; Dan. 2: 21. d. The Bible, chiefly as a record of special revelations of God to men ; and especially in the person, works and teachings oi Jesus Christ as God manifest in the flesh. John 1:1; 14:22; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3; ist Tim. 3 : 16. From these several sources we derive the knowledge out of which we shall endeavor to construct this series of studies. A subject of so high and sacred a character requires a heart in sympathy with God and divine things ; a mind docile, sub missive and obedient to the will of God,, and prayer for divine enlightenment. John 7:17; Ps. 25 : 9 ; Hos. 6:3; Isa. 66 : 2 ; Ps. 91 : 16. Otherwise the highest good and the largest profit we shall fail to gain from this study. LECTURE II. THE BELIEFS MEN HAVE ENTERTAINED OF GOD. Men are so made as to have some idea of a Supreme Being. This idea has been held in various degrees of dimness or clear ness in different ages and by different races. The following are among the principal notions held : a. Atheism: which is a denial of the existence of a God or of any First Cause. It holds that the universe has always existed, and always will, so far as we can know ; that man dies, and this is the end of him. It denies any obligation on the part of man to a Superior Being, simply because no such being can be known to exist. We find more such belief avowed in Christian lands than anywhere else. There is among men a great deal more practical than openly-avowed atheism. b. Deism : which is a belief in a First Cause ; but denies to Him any special providence over the world or in the affairs of men. It regards the world and all its concerns as a sort of clockwork, which God has set up and which goes on of itself, by reason of inherent laws or forces. c. Theism : which is belief in God, not only as the great First Cause, but as the Ruler and Governor of the universe. It denies, however, any special revelation of God to men ; denies that the Bible is his word, and accepts only natural Religion ; or what may be learned of God and human duty from the light of nature. d. Monotheism is the belief in only one God!; an' T-5'-9\ Gal. 2:6; Rom. 2:11; 10 : 12. And God will not tolerate sin in any one of his elect, any more than in one not elected. 3. Election does not interfere with the exercise of human freedom; nor of personal responsibility or accountability ¦. This is everywhere assumed in the Bible ; and is also a matter of human consciousness and experience ; as it is assumed in the enactments and execution of human laws. As in all other things, men who accept of Christ and are saved, do it freely ; as do those who reject or neglect his salvation and are lost. The influences ofthe 36 Holy Spirit on the one, and of evil agencies on the other, do not cancel or interfere with the freedom of action, nor lift from off either the weight of responsibility. Matt. 11:29, 3° ; John 5 : 40 ; Rev. 22 : 17. This doctrine, when rightly interpreted, does not stand in the way of salvation to any man who hears the Gospel ; or of our proclaiming it to all men. 4. Men are not so much elected to salvation, as to the use of means, by which they will insure salvation. Men are chosen to an end, through the use of means, and not otherwise. This accords with the law of life. Eph. 1:4; 2:5; 2d Thess. 2: 13 ; ist Peter 1 :3. (See Strong, pp. 172, 9. h.,176 A. B.) 5. This doctrine is by some carried to an unreasonable and unscriptural extreme, which worldly professors ,of religion often make the ground of a very doubtful and often I fear deceitful hope. Carried to this extreme it becomes hyper-Calvinism, and has led to the doctrine of particular atonement, infant damna- , tion and fatalism and reprobation. It has arrayed Christian churches against missions, and held back ministers of the Gos pel from preaching to the impenitent, as in the case of the Primitive^ aptist. * 6. Election does not save any one. It is Christ alone who saves ; and faith in him is the one and prime condition. The non-elect might be saved if they would accept Christ, which they may do ; and they are lost, not because God has not elected them, but because they do not use the appointed means of salvation. Any view or theory of election which does not take these foregoing facts into account, must be false ; because at variance with the general teachings of the Word of God and the common sense with which God has endowed the human race. 7. Did God- decree sin? Not directly. He decreed a uni verse in which there is sin. The liability to sin would seem a necessary incident in a moral universe. Over against the pos sibility of virtue there stands, — must of necessity stand, the fearful possibility of vice. For what is virtue ? And how does virtuous character originate? It is not a made commodity, made and put into a person. It comes from the free choice of the right, instead of the wrong. And moral freedom implies and 37 involves the power, the liberty, the possibility and liability of choosing either. Deut. n : 26; Josh. 24: 15 ; John 5 :4c Thus, the gift oifree moral choices, becomes at once the most ennobling and the most hazardous bestowment possible ; without it, there could be neither man nor angel, and the possibility of abuse has, alas ! been realized — has become actual, in the ranks of both angels and men. And yet God is not the author of sin — James 1:12; nor did he directly decree it. This whole matter of the divine decrees, as we have said, must be interpreted in the light of the Gospel, which declares, without reservation, that God desires and is seeking the salva tion of all men, that Christ died for all, and that the provisions of grace are as broad as the race of man. Any interpretation of God's decrees, or of election, at variance with these Gospel provisions and declarations, must be false and misleading. ANTHROPOLOGY. LECTURE XIII. THE CREATION OF MAN. , The Bible gives the only historical and reliable account of the origin of man. The old pagan writers have left a multitude of myths upon this subject, which seem, with the addition of many superstitions, to have sprung originally from the Bible account. [See Lenorm^nts' Beginnings of History.] In recent times a theory has been advanced by certain scientists, led chiefly by Mr. Charles Darwin and Herbert Spen cer of England, that man has been evolved or has sprung from the lower animals, especially as to his physical nature. This belongs to what is called the development or evolution theory. How much truth, if any, there may be in this theory, I do not undertake to say. It is yet too new, and rests upon too little evidence to be regarded as anything but a theory. It is claimed, however, not to be at variance with the Bible account ; which declares these four things regarding man's creation, viz.: (a) That God made man. (b) Made him out of the dust of the earth, (c) Made him in his own image, (d) And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. 38 These last two statements separate him widely from all the lower animals. The original account is very simple and well befits the nursery of our race. See Gen. 1:26, 27; 2:7; 9:6; Ps. 100 :3 ; Eccl. 7 : 29 ; Acts 17 : 26, 28, 29; ist Cor. 11:7; Eph. 4 : 24 ; Col. 3 : 10 -r James 3 : 9. Man was thus the last and loftiest of God's creative work on earth. Ages of preparation had elapsed before this world was adapted to receive him. All things were to serve him. He was to be lord of all. Gen. 1 : 28, 29, 30. He is a being of two worlds ; kindred alike to the angel and the worm ; a mortal with all the possibilities of a glorious immortality. The image of God in which Adam was created, I think, was his intellectual and moral natures, which separate hiiri so widely from all inferior animals and fit him for rulership over them, and over the forces of the world, and by which also ' 'he became a living soul." These qualities give him a dignity and worth which make fit the great purpose and work of redemption which in due time brought from heaven the Son of God ; the unfolding and appli cation of which are the great theme of the Bible ; and make it the one unique book of the world, — the book of humanity. LECTURE XIV. THE CREATION OF WOMAN. See Gen. 2- 18, 20. She, too, was made of the dust of the earth ; but after it had been wrought into the substance of Adam's body, as the account states. Dust refined, we might well say. And therefore woman is of a more delicate make and texture than man. Whether we are to intrepret this account as literal, or as veiled under a figure, it seems designed to teach the relation of the sexes. In representing the woman as taken from man, there is the idea of dependence ; and as taken from his side, that the dependence was to be associated with companionship respect, confidence and love. She was not taken from the head nor from the foot; but from the side; nearest the heart. The man was made to do the rougher work of life; to carry the weight and responsibility of authority ; the woman the helper, 39 the sympathizer, the counsellor and inspirer to all that is noblest in human life. Gen. 2:18; Eph. 5:23, 33; ist Peter 3 : 7 ; ist Cor. 3 : 39 ; Eccl. 9:9; Prov. 9 : 14 ; Mal. 2 : 14. Marriage is the union of one man with one woman, during the life of both. A union, indissoluble but by death, and for one other cause only — adultery. Gen. 2 : 24 ; Ps. 45 : 10 ; Matt. 19 :5 ; Mark 10 : 7 ; ist Cor. 6: 16 ; Eph. 5 : 31 ; Rom. 7 : 2, 3. Marriage is the basis of the family ; which is emphatically God's institution ; and he has surrounded and hedged it about by the most solemn sanctions, and cemented it by the sweetest and divinest ties of reciprocal love. It is a profanation to enter it without this love, as it is a sacrilege to break from it till death or adultery rend it. Pure, virtuous, intelligent families are the strongest bulwarks to a nation's safety and the most inspiring and assured hope of its growth and perpetuity. Emphasize, by word, influence and .example, the value, worth and sacredness of the virtuous family. Divorce. This was allowed in Old Testament times under certainconditions, as only the less of two evils. Deut. 24 : 1 — 4; Matt. 5 : 31 ; Jer. 3:1; Mark 10 :\, 5. But Christ, and after him the Apostles, taught that a complete divorcement was not allowable except for adultery. Matt. 19:7, 8; 5:31, 32; Mark 10 : 2 — 12 ; Luke 16 : 18 ; ist Cor. 7 :io; Eph. 5 : 28 ; Rom. 7 : 2. Parties may separate, if they cannot live together ; . and obtain a divorce, so far as to protect by law the injured party from the violence or annoyance of the other ; but no Bible sanc tion is given for the marriage of either to another party. If, however, one of the parties die or be married to some one else, the other party may marry ; because the marriage of the first party is adulterous. Discourage in every proper way, all such unchristian unions among your people. 40 LECTURE XV. THE TEST. The first human pair, as created, were perfect; i.e., with out fault or blemish. They were innocent, sinless. Their home was Paradise. Where located, Gen. 2 : 8. They seemed to have had free access to God. Innocence, as we have seen, is not holiness ; it is a negative quality ; while holiness is a positive quality — upright, righteous character. Character is an attain ment. It is not created and conferred upon a man. It comes not by a fiat of God. It is the result of moral volition, choice, action. (See Lecture XII.) It comes by the perception of right and wrong ; followed by a voluntary choice of, and persistence in the one over against the motives to the other. This, I un derstand, to be the genesis or birth of character. Adam was created with a moral nature ; but this must be put to a test, before he could properly be said to have a moral character. He must meet an issue upon which, in the use of his moral freedom, he should exercise a moral choice. This would give him character, especially when carried out into action. By such a choice and act, he would become positively virtuous or vicious, according as he did the right, as pleasing to God, or the wrong, as pleasing to self. And every moral agent in the universe, save God only, it would seem, must, sometime in his history, have passed such a test. We read of elect and fallen angels, ist Tim. 5:21; Jude 6. And every subsequent act of the same sort will more and more confirm the type of character so begotten. The test to which our first parents were brought is recorded, Gen. 3: 1. See also Matt. 10: 16; 2d Cor. 11:3; Rev. 12:9; 20 : 2 ; ist Tim. 2 : 14 ; Acts 26 : 18. It mattered not how sim ple the form of trial, since it was a test of their obedience. It must, however, have been a real test ; one that they could un derstand. Whether it was by literal trees and their fruits and a literal serpent ; or a test veiled under this imagery, so simple and easy of apprehension to the reader, is not material to the essential truth of what occurred. The fact, the sad fact is recorded. They disobeyed the requirements of God and sinned and became guilty. Placid lake on a highland. Their relation 4i to God and to the world they lived in, was changed. They lost the divine favor ; drew upon themselves the penalty due to their sin, — death. Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5:12, 17; 6:23; Heb. 9:27. LECTURE XVI. THE PENALTY OF SIN. Death is the penalty of sin. Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5 : 12; 6 : 23. The death here denounced involves both natural and spiritual death ; spiritual first, natural after. The denouncement of death was not so much a threatening as a solemn and faithful warning of the consequences that would necessarily follow their disobedience. What is death ? It is separation. Natural death is separa tion bf soul and body ; the vital principle from the organic matter of the body. Spiritual death is also separation, between the soul and God who is the true life of the soul. God, in happy and adjusted relation to man is life, in the highest and Bible sense of the word. It was literally and sadly true that the day they ate of the fruit, they died, — died in the higher sense of the word. And at the same time the principle of natural death began to take effect. The harmony in their nature was broken, and that intestine strife began, which would and finally did end in physical death. There are these two forces constantly at work within us, — the life and death forces ; the one building up, the other tearing down. (St. Peter's Church.) Death is the lot and portion of all; for all have sinned or are sinners. Rom. 5:12; James 1 : 15 ; Heb. 9 : 27. The sentence then was executed as soon as our first parents had sinned. They separated themselves from harmonious relations to God. This is spiritual death. And at that moment, and by that act, began the sad processes in their physical natures, which finally ended in natural death. OF SIN IN GENERAL. The temptation and fall of man, suggest a subject which as yet we have not referred to in these lectures, viz. : the existence and activity of an agency of evil ; a malign and powerful being or beings, who lead others into sin ; represented by the serpent. 42 This has brought a tragic element into the universe. The con sideration of this subject, however, we must pass for the present. The subject of this lecture is sin. What is sin? The word is used to denote both a state and an act. i . As an act. It is disobedience to a moral law ; whether that law be found written in our nature, or in the word of God. Rom. 4 ; 15 ; ist John 3:4. The act need not be an overt act, it may be in the cherished thought or purpose of the heart. Matt. 5 : 21, 22, 27, 28 ; Mark 7 : 22 ; Luke 11 : 29; Ps. 58 : 2 ; Prov. 24 : 9. 2. As a state. Sin is the lack or want of conformity, ordis- formity to the character or law of God. This sin of state marks the condition of our whole race, and makes us all sin ners. Into this state of sin we are born. Eph. 2:1-3; Ps. 51:5; Rom. 5 : 14 ; Job 14 : 4 ; Ps. 58 : 3 ; John 3 : 6. , In its essence, sin is departure from God, disloyalty to God; and issues in rebellion against God ; treason to his government. Rom. 1 : 20; 8 : 7 ; John 15 : 25 ; Job 21:14; Ps. 2:3; Isa. 1 : 2; Jer. 5 : 23 ; Ez. 2 : 7, 8. Sin is not to be measured by the act committed, but by the nature of the act, the spirit of the act ; what it would do were it not restrained. Had it the power, sin would dethrone God and wreck the universe. Mark the growth and terrible history of sin, since the Jail. Look at the world as it is to-day ! As it has been through the ages ! LECTURE XVII. ORIGINAL SIN. By original sin is meant the sin of our nature ; — sin as a state in which we are born. The Scriptures teach this as a fact, and all human experience confirms it. Gen. 6:11; Ps. 14 : 1; 51:5; Job 15 : 16 ; Rom. 1 : 28 ; 5 : 12 ; 2d Cor. 5: 14; Eph. 2 : 3; ist Tim. 2:6; Col. 2 :i3. How has this come ? All agree that it is somehow con nected with the sin of Adam ; and various theories have been devised to account for it. 1 . The Augustinian. This was elaborated by one of the Latin 43 fathers who lived in the fourth century. He taught that the whole race of man was in Adam, at his creation, and when he sinned and fell, the race also sinned and fell in him. As the oak is in the acorn, and all the forests of subsequent oaks that spring from it, so the total life of humanity, with all its undevel oped experiences, was in Adam; and so complete was this identity, that Adam's act was the act of all the race, and his sin, the sin of us all. Rom. 5:12. The Vulgate, or Latin translation of the Bible, erroneously rendered this passage, Rom. 5 : 12 : "For as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men in whom all sinned." [See Dr. Strong and his defence of this theory, p. 308. J The chief objections to this theory are, (a) That a fair inter pretation of the proof texts and the general scope of Scripture teaching do not sustain it. (b) That it is more philosophical than scriptural, and is required more by the demand of logic than by the teachings of the Bible, (c) That the race, in fact, was not in Adam. It did not exist, and so could not have been there. It is only ideally that it was there ; a mere philosophi cal fiction ; which would make the race, on this theory, only ideally sinners. This theory, therefore, we do not accept. 2. The Pelagian Theory. Pelagius was contemporary with Augustine. Pelagius virtually denied the existence of original sin, and taught -that men are born essentially as Adam was before he fell. And he accounts, or attempts to, for the fact that the lives of all men develop into sin, by reason of the bad example which they come under from their early life ; and by the weakness, not sinfulness of our moral nature, by reason of our parentage ; and that death as a penalty, was inflicted alone upon our first parents ; and is but the operation of a natural law in the case of his posterity ; as in the case also of the brute creation. We object to this theory also : — (a) Because the bad example of others does not reasonably account for the universal sinful ness of men. (b) Because, though death may be the result of a natural law, yet, that since God is the author of law, death may be none the less a penalty of sin, because he has chosen to inflict it by the form and certainty of a law. 44 3. The Representative Theory. Cocceius, the founder of this theory, lived in the seventeenth century. This theory holds that Adam, by appointment of God, was made our representative to act for us; and that in virtue of this relation, we become and are held responsible for his act, and are so treated in God's dealings with us. As the heir to an" inheritance is held responsible for all the encum brance, so weare held responsible for Adam's sin. There are three objections to this theory : (a) How could we, in justice, be responsible for the act of a representative, in whose appoint ment we had no voice? (b) Sin and debt, as in the case sup posed, are essentially different, in this : that a debt, or pecuniary obligation, is transferable ; but sin is not. (c) The theory is destitute of all Bible support. Nowhere do we read in the Scriptures of such an appointment. 4. Arminian Theory. Arminius, the founder of this theory, lived about the time of Cocceius, viz. : the seventeenth century. He taught that by reason of our relation to Adam we are born destitute of original righteousness ; and consequently are exposed to misery and death ; and that we are unable, without divine grace, to extricate ourselves from this condition, and to live a godly life. But this grace, he taught, is given to all ; and with this help, men have the power to repent and believe ; to live a godly life and so to be saved. This theory is held generally by the Methodists, and in. a modified form by many in our own Baptist Churches, especially in the North. It has much support from both reason and the Bible, and in the experience of men. But as carried out by Arminius, and most of his followers, it makes too much of the doctrine of opposite choices ; too little of the doctrine of election, and teaches that some true believers do actually fall from grace and are lost. LECTURE XVIII. SUBJECT CONTINUED. 5. The theory of Heredity. This is based on the great law which exists and is operative everywhere in both the vege table and animal kingdoms, viz.: That like produces like. This 45 law, with slight variations is universal so far as our knowledge extends ; and the likeness so begotten, extends not more to the physical than to the intellectual and moral natures. The child is like the parent or progenitor in all these respects. Now, bythe operation of this law, we are, in virtue of our relation to our ancestors — Adam chiefly, born with a depraved or damaged moral nature, with a bias to evil. And although this bias is so strong that it actually leads us astray, it is not our Jault or blame that we are born with this bias ; — but our misfortune. We are no more guilty of Adam's sin, than of the sin of any other of our ancestors. We have had no agency in producing the nature we have ; and neither reason nor a fair interpretation of Scripture, as I conceive it, makes us responsible for this, in any blame worthy sense. Jer. 21 :2g, 30; Ez. 18:2, 3. These are the general theories which have been proposed to account for the original sin of our nature. The Bible is silent as to any theory. I incline to the last named, as offering the simplest and most reasonable explanation of the facts in the case, (a) Because it conforms to a universal law which God has appointed, (b) Because it lies along the trend of Scripture teaching. Ex. 20:5, 6; Job 14:4; Ps. 51:5. * Sin, as a stale, is predicable of us all ; sin as an act, of those only who have knowingly and wilfully transgressed ; and this latter is a sin that involves personal guilt, and which we must repent of and forsake or be lost. Certain theologians speak of a race sin, because, as they affirm, the race-was, in Adam and sinned in Adam. This, as we have seen, is speaking in figure, and not in fact. There is no such person or thing as "the race," apart from individuals, except in thought as an abstract idea. Human nature, as such, never sinned. Only a person can sin ; and " human nature " is not a person. It is but a generalization, which exists only in the conception of the mind. Our individual natures are depraved by our individual connection with Adam as one of his descendants, and bythe law of heredity. Intimately connected with the doctrine of original sin, is that of the origin of the human soul. There are three views held upon this matter, (a) The pre-existence of the soul, with a history of its own, before it came into this state of existence. This view 46 was taught by some of the early Christian fathers, who received it from the Greek philosophy. And on this supposition they sought to account for the diversities of character and conduct observable among men, as rewards or punishments for the life previously lived. Of this former life they acknowledged that we have but the most shadowy, if any remembrance at all. The ancient Egyptians and the modern Buddhists hold this view. (b) Immediate creation, viz.: That God by special act creates a soul and infuses it into the body of the unborn child. This view which was held by the Pelagians is held by few at the present. That God should create a depraved soul seems unreasonable. (c) Tradutional Theory, viz.: That, in the mystery of genera tion, the soul as the body of the offspring is produced by the parents. This view is adopted by those who hold the Augus tinian and Heredity theories of original sin. This seems, ?from various considerations, to be the most reasonable. How else can we account for what we so often see, that the child resembles the parent as much in mind as in body, — in disposition, in ten dencies, in tastes, as in features ? «Vvo This is a subject upon which the Bible throws .certain light. 2d Cor. 5 : 19. This service which Christ is rendering for us sinners, what ever its precise nature may be, is very fully set forth in the Epistle to the Hebrews under the symbolism of the Jewish priest hood and the altar service. At his ascension, Christ is here represented, after the manner of the High Priest, as having entered into the heavens, of which the Holy of Holies in the ancient tabernacle was the type ; with his-own blood, which he continually offers for sins, as did the Jewish High Priest the blood of bullocks and goats for the sins of the people; Heb. 5:6, 10; 7 :i7, 21, 24; 9:11—24; 10: 12—14, i9> 21. How fully this altar service of the Jewish worship, which was typical of Christ's work, was understood by the people, or 68 even by the priest, we do not know. It could never take away sin. Indeed it was never designed to. Heb. 9 : 7. The Jewish law made a distinction between sins of ignorance, Lev. 4:2, 13, 22, 27, and sins of presumption. These sacrifices were designed to atone for breaches of the former, — the Ceremonial Law ; and not the violation of the Moral Law. Heb. 7:18; 10:3, 4; 9:9, 13. The Ceremonial Law, however scrupulously observed, could not take away sin. Heb. 10:34; 7:18; 9:9, .13. The most spiritual and enlightened among the Jews did not look for for- givenesss of sin by these rites. Ps. 51 : 15 — 19; 40: 6 ; Micah 6:6. The Prophets who called the people, their kings and even their priests to repentance and moral reformation, had little to say about the ceremonials of worship ; and severely condemned excessive sacrifice ; and even the priests themselves. Isa. 1 : 11 — 20; Ps. 50:9; Amos 5 : 21.. These rites of sacrifices were helps, — object lessons, as it were, — in that dark and spiritually immature age, and had in them a prophetic element, pointing to the way of salvation, which must have been discerned by the eye of faith in order to become spiritually helpful. Heb. 11:4. In reference to all of this, Christ declared ori the cross : " It is finished." John 19:30. And significantly in the same line, the veil of the temple was rent in twain. Matt. 27 151 ; Mark 15 : 38 ; Luke 23 : 45. , He then, after this, the one Great High Priest of our profession, entered upon this official work, and became a priest forever. Heb. 7 : 17 — 24. The nature of this priestly or intercessory service it is not easy to understand. We are not of course to suppose that there is any vocal pleading of Christ with the Father, or the offering of his blood, or the showing of his hands. _ Such representa tions are to be taken in a figurative sense. But there is some activity on the part of Christ, to secure the result of his atonirig work on earth to all true believers. We understand from the Bible that in some sense the inter cessory office of Christ was exercised, both bejore and during, as well as after, his incarnation and ascension. Prov. 8:31; Gen. 24:7,40; 48:6; Ex. 23 : 20, 23 ; 32:34; 33:2; Num. 20:16; Isa. 53 : 12 ; ist Cor. 10 -.4. 69 We have examples of Christ's intercession while on earth. John 17 : i ; 14 : 16 ; 11 : 41, 42 ; Luke 22 : 32 ; Rom. 8 134. The Jorm of these intercessions may be changed, since he has entered the heavenly state, but the spirit and efficacy, we may suppose, continue the same. John 14: 16; Isa. 53; 12; Rom. 8 : 34. How helpful and assuring to our faith is this truth. Heb. 4:16; 10:19; x3:6; ist John 2 : 1 ; Heb. 7:25; John 14 : 6 ; 15 : 16. It is thought by some that the intercessions of Christ con sist in the silent influence and power of the Atonement, as it is felt in heaven as well as on earth. [See Dodge.] Its recon ciling effect upon both God and man, as they meet in Christ. 2d Cor. 5: 18, 19. Christ, as man, represents our fallen human ity, which in him is reconciled to God ; and as God he reaches the Father, who becomes our gracious and forgiving God. Job felt the need of such a mediator. Job 9:33. See also Gal. 3:19, 20; ist Tim. 2:5. Christ as the God of providence, having and exercising all power, which he is using for the up building of his kingdom on earth ; and as mediator and inter cessor, is "reconciling all things unto himself." Col. 1:20. Making ' ' all things work together for good to them that love him." Rom. 8:28; Eph. 1:22; 4:15; Col. 1:18. The Holy Spirit, as the present Christ, makes intercessions. Rom. 8 : 26, 27. See Abraham's Intercessions. Gen. 17 : 23. Christ is called an advocate, ist John 2:1. Make more of this in your own experience, and seek, as pastors, to give this blessed and helpful truth a larger place in the experience of your people. LECTURE XXXI. CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. It is sometimes said that the freeness of salvation does away with conditions. So it does with all hampering conditions. Sal vation is free — free as the air we breathe ; as the light of day. Isa. 55 : 1 ; Matt. 1 1 : 28 ; Rev. 22 : 17 ; John 7 : 37 . The Gos pel is set forth in the parables of our Lord as a Jeast. Luke 14:15; Matt. 22 : 2. The idea of a feast is fulness and free- 70 ness. Nothing can be freer than the salvation of God in Christ. On our part, however, there are conditions ; not as limiting its freeness as a gift, or as considerations which we are to offer to God for bestowing it. But conditions which, in the nature oj things, must be complied with in order to our receiving and enjoying it. e. g. The air is free, but we must inhale it ; light is free, but we must come into it ; water is free, but we must drink ; no good will come to us from all these free gifts of God's providence unless we accept or receive them. Salvation has these three conditions, viz. : i. Repentance. John Baptist and Christ both came preaching repentance. Matt. 3:2; 4 : 17; Mark 1 : 15 ; Luke 13 : 3 ; 16 : 30; 17 : 3. So too did the Apostles. Acts 2 : 28 ; 3 : 19 ; 8 : 22 ; 17 : 30 ; 26 : 20 ; 2d Cor. 7:8; Rev. 2:5; 3:3, 19 ; 2d Peter 3 : 9. What is repent ance ? It is turning from a worldly, sinful, selfish life, to God and his service. It is preceded usually by conviction of sin ; more or less pungent. This conviction is called "godly sorrow." 2d Cor. 7:9, 10; 2d Sam. 12:13; Matt. 26:75; and this, in turn, is generally preceded by serious thought. Ps. 119:55, 59 ; 51 : 1 — 4; Luke 15 : 17 ; Mark 14 : 72 ; Luke 22 : 62. These are the steps which usually lead to repentance. Endeavor to lead men along these steps. The New Testament word for repentance means after thought. It denotes rather the result of afterthought ; of serious, intelligent reflection upon one's past life, one's present condition, in view of the past ; produced and deepened by the Holy Spirit. Ps. 39:3, 4; John 16:8. It is the waking up of one's better nature which condemns him ; and this experience issues, by the grace of God, in a new and amended life. It is coming to one's self. Luke 15:16. Taking the right view to life, and leads to the carrying out of these convictions. The great need in our day in dealing with men, is conviction of sin. Men know they are sinners ; — out of proper relations to God ; but they care little or nothing for it. John came preach ing repentance ; his baptism was "unto repentance." Matt. 3 : 13; Mark 1:4. Jesus and the Apostles preached the same. Luke 14 : 49 ; 15 : 1 ; Acts 2 : 38 ; 3:19; 17 : 30 ; Mark 1:15; 6:12; Luke 13:3; Rev. 2:5; 2d Peter 3 : 9. 7i This condition of mind and heart must, of necessity, precede and accompany any true receiving of the Gospel ; as the un tilled ground must first be broken up by the plow, to prepare it for any fruitful reception of the seed. Jer. 4:3; Mark 4:7, 18 ; Luke 8:7, 14; Joel 2 : 13. Preach on sin ; its nature and consequences. How God regards it. Preach the Law of God, as antecedent to the Gos pel. The Law when spiritually understood leads to conviction, and conviction to repentance. Rom. 7:9. LECTURE XXXII. CONDITIONS OF SALVATION — CONTINUED. 2. Faith. This is a prime condition of salvation; and so important is it that it is often put in the Scriptures for, or as including, all the other conditions. Mark 1:15; Acts 20 : 21 ; 17:31; Luke 8:12; John 1:7, 12 ; Rom. 3 : 28 ; 5 : 1 ; 4 : 16. Faith in general is belief or confidence in a person. Evangeli cal faith is the trust of the heart in, and the committing of the life to the Lord Jesus Christ, in view of what he has said and done and is, as the one Saviour of men. (a) Faith differs from the more general word belief, which may be in an event, or a truth, a proposition. Much of what passes for faith, is I fear little more than assent to a statement of religious doctrine with no surrender of heart and life to God. Important as are the facts and doctrines of religion in their place ; and as soundness in them is, — yet faith as a condition of salvation is more than this. It must go below the head; it must reach the heart. Rev. 10 : 10. (b) Faith is a working force in a man. Rom. 16 : 26 ; Gal. 5:6; ist Thess. 1:3; 2d Thess. 1 : 1 1 ; ist Tim. 6:12; James 2 : 14, 17, 22. Read Heb. 11; and mark this quality, the working force, in the men of faith. We read of " the righteousness , of faith." Rom. 10:6; 9:30; Heb. 11:7; — i. e., a faith which produces righteous ness. Faith is a receiving of Christ. John 1:12. It is the victory which overcometh the world, ist John 5:4. Not merely a victorious power, but itself the victory ; the calm, the quiet, the triumph, the essence of victory. ' 'They who believe do enter into rest." Heb. 4: 10; Rom. 15 : 13. (c) Faith is sometimes said to be the gift of God. In a sense this is so; though Eph. 2 :8, is misquoted to prove it. Jesus Christ is said to be ' 'the author and finisher of our faith. ' ' Heb. 12:2. He is the object and end of faith. As a subjective act, faith is the person's own experience ; as love, hope, fear, joy are. Yet true faith is prompted by the Holy Spirit, awakened in the soul by a proper view of Christ. Faith, I think, is an inspiration, which arises in the man when the proper object is properly presented. The presence and words of a skilful physician inspire the faith of his patient. The presence and voice of Gen. Sheridan, after his historic ride from Winchester, inspired the faith of his broken columns and gave them the victory. So when Christ is presented to the man who has been brought to see his need of him, — presented as only the Holy Spirit can set him forth, — faith in him is inspired. (if) Faith, as an attitude of the soul, is pleasing to God. Heb. 11:5; ist Peter 1:7. As an act it does not merit salvation. It is not faith that saves. It is Christ, whom faith embraces. It puts one on the side of God ; brings one to %ee and feel, in his measure, as God does. It is the first act of true obedience. John 6: 29; 14:1; ist John 3 : 23. And so is more than the hand that takes the offered gift. (/) We see then that faith is not an arbitrary condition of salvation ; not as limiting but as insuring salvation. Faith as an act, an attitude of the soul, grows into character and becomes fidelity, trust-worthiness. God trusted Abraham because his faith had crystallized into character. "I know him," said God. Gen. 18 : 19. So of Job. Job 1 : 8, 12. The question, more curious than practical, is sometimes asked: Which precedes in the experience of a man, faith or repentance ? In the language of the Bible, repentance is gen erally put first. Mark 1 : 15 ; 6 : 12 ; Acts 2 : 38 ; 13 : 24 ; 20 : 21 ; 26:20; Isa. 55:7; Ezek. 33:11; Acts 3:19. In a wheel, which spoke moves first when the wheel begins to revolve ? In God's view faith and repentance may be simultaneous. 3. Obedience. This, too, is a condition or rather an accom paniment of salvation. From what we have learned of faith, in the previous Lectures, we see that from its nature, obedience follows as the proper fruit of faith. And yet, from the danger 73 we are in, of taking up with a false and barren faith, we need to insist also upon this test — obedience. While we are not saved by works, we cannot be saved without works, — the works of right eousness. Matt. 7 : 21—24 ; Luke 6 : 46 ; John 14 : 21 ; ist John 2 : 4. 17. 29 ; James 1 : 22—25 ; Rev. 22 : 7. We are not saved for doing, but in doing the will and word of God. Luke 17 : 14. Faith, wrought out in a life of obedience, so consummated and crowned, is salvation. The working element in faith is, practically, the saving ele ment in it. Acts. 15:9; ist Peter 1:22; Phil. 2:12; Gal. 5:6; 2d Tim. 1:5. The purity which faith works out in the life, through obedience ; the character which faith builds up in us, — this is salvation. The righteousness which God's law requires, is the very righteousness which faith enables us to attain to. Rom. 3:31; 8:3.4- There are not two kinds of righteousness, — one of law and one oi faith, as has been sometimes erroneously represented. Righteousness is one and the same thing, viz. : rightness, uprightness. This, "the law of righteousness" requires; and this law can never be set aside. The Gospel comes, not to do away with this law of righteousness, but to enable us to keep it, to conform our lives to it, by inspiring love in our hearts, which is essentially the " fulfilling of the law." Matt. 22 : 40; Rom. 13 : 10. So that faith in Christ takes one out from servitude under the law which could only condemn, and gives us that lib erty under the law which love enables us virtually to fulfil. A life of faith becoming a life of uprightness , of good and pure morals, ist John 2:6; 3:6. Religion does not consist in get ting happy and shouting ; — these it is true sometimes attend it; but in a life of obedience to the will of God ; in making one an upright man, a good father, a kind neighbor, a faithful com panion ; honest and true in all the relations of life. Insist, in your preaching, more upon this test than upon all things else. Oux feelings, however highly wrought up, may be deceptive; but this test will never deceive. John 15:8, 16. True faith works these in the life of the believer, and so he "works out," as the Apostle calls us to do, " our own salva tion." Phil. 2 : 12, 13. 74 This is what we need emphatically to preach and ourselves to become, as examples among our fellow men, in private and in public, ist. Cor. n : i ; Phil. 3 : 17; ist. Thess. 1:6; Heb. 6 : T2. LECTURE XXXIII. REGENERATION . This word occurs but twice in the New Testament. Matt. 19:28; Titus 3:5. In neither of these places does it refer directly to the experience known in theology as Regeneration or the New Birth. In the first passage, it does not refer at all to a personal change, experienced by individuals; but to that renovated condition of the world .and of human society, to which our Lord looked forward, and which the Gospel is slowly but surely affecting, and which is to be consummated in the Millennium ; as referred to in Acts 3:21, called the ' 'Restitution.'1 ' Dan. 9 : 24 ; Ps. 132:17; Jer. 23 : 5, 6. The second passage above referred to evidently points to Christian baptism, as a symbol of regeneration. See John 3:5- 1 . The doctrine of Regeneration is taught and its necessity declared by our Lord in his discourse with Nicodemus, John 3, under the figure of a birth; the passing from one state or condition of being to another ; as really decisive to the subject of it as that of natural birth to a human being. The analogy is striking. Before birth there is life ; but not until one has been born is there any free, full, conscious, intelligent living. So, before regeneration, before the new birth takes place, there is life ; intellectual, social, moral life. Men know right from wrong ; they know there is a God and can apprehend in gen eral their relations to him ; conscience exists and its voice is often heard. But "life " in its large, free, higher, spiritual sense is held down ; is dormant like the life of a tree in winter. Life is there ; the tree is not dead ; but the life forces are paralyzed. It requires the sunshine and showers of the spring to quicken this life into activity and vigor. So sin has chilled, has paralyzed, the true life of man. He lives in a world full of God, of his presence and power and 75 goodness and love ; a world of spiritual beauty and truth ; but he perceives these things, is moved and controlled by them hardly more than is the unborn infant by the living, throbbing world around him. This figure of birth is elsewhere and often used by the sacred writers to denote this change. John 1:12, 13 ; James 1:18; ist John 3:9. It is also rcproociited— as- a begetting, to denote the Author, ist Peter 1:23; ist John 2:29; James 1 : 21. 2. A still more forcible figure is used to denote this experi ence, viz. : a change from death to life. Eph. 2:1, 4, 5 ; John 5 : 24, 40 ; 10 : 10 ; ist John 3 : 14 ; Col. 2:1353:10. This figure, — for we must remember it is a figure, — must not be pressed too far ; or it takes away the responsibility, and denies the moral ability of the unregenerate, both of which are assumed and affirmed by the Bible, as also in the consciousness of men. Conversely : true believers are said to be dead to the world. Rom. 6:2, 8; Col. 2 : 20; 2d Tim. 2:11. 3. Still another figure is used, viz. : Passing from darkness into light. Col. 1 : 12, 13 ; Acts 26 : 18 ; Eph. 5:8, 11 ; 2d Cor. 4:6; ist Peter 2 : 9. Darkness in the Bible is the emblem of ignorance and sin ; light, of knowledge, spiritual knowledge and purity. And regeneration as a passing from the realm or king dom of the one into the" kingdom of the other. It is a change of citizenship. Isa. 5 : 20 ; Luke 22 : 53 ; Eph. 4:18; 6 : 12 ; 2d Peter 2 : 4, 17; Jude 6; ist Thess. 2 : 4, 5. 4. Even the figure of a creation is used to denote this great change. Ps. 100 : 3 ; Isa. 19 : 25 ; 29 : 23 ; Eph. 2:10; 2d Cor. 5 : 17 ; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 4 : 24. Nor is this figure to be pressed too far, as we shall see hereafter. No new powers or faculties are added to or taken from the man by regeneration. The change is spiritual. It is a change in the direction of the man's original forces or powers. 5. Regeneration is also a change of heart. The word "heart" being used in the Scriptures to denote the moral affections of the soul, in which is to be found the true life of man. Ez. 11:19; 18:31; 36:26; Heb. 10:22; Ps. 51:10; Mark 7 :6 — -21 ; Matt. 15:18, 19. The word heart is used in all languages to express the moral centre of a man, his real 76 worth or worthlessness. As the heart is, so the man is. Regen eration is making the heart, setting its aspirations, its forces in the right direction ; along the line of God's law, so that the life flows God- ward. 6. The regenerate man is said to be in Christ. Eph. i : i, 4, 6, io, 13, 20; 2:6, 10, 13. This is a most expressive and significant declaration as descriptive of a regenerate man. En compassed, as it were, in Christ as a life and sphere of action and being. 7. The difference between the regenerate and the unregen erate is also indicated by the words spiritual, and carnal or natural. ist Cor 2:14, 15; 15:46. Also as being in the spirit and in the flesh. Rom. 7 : 5 ; 8 : 1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13 ; Eph. 2:11; Gal. 5:17; 2d Peter 2 : 10. 8. From the foregoing, we may learn how radical a change regeneration is ; a change at the moral centre, and in the gov erning forces of the man. It is not in any way a physical change. In all such respects, the man is the same after as before regen eration. No new faculties are added, no change in the laws of mental or moral action. The change is in the currents of action ; in the direction of the supreme choices of the soul. A change, so to speak, in the centre and orbit of moral revolution. Before, it was self, the world ; but now Christ, his glory, the world to come. There may be perturbations in the orbit along which he moves; as there are in the planets, which mar the true curve ; but these do not change the centre of revolution, nor the general sweep of the orbit. This change may also be compared to the uplift of a tract of country which should caus"e the rivers to flow in opposite direc tion. The waters still obey the law of gravitation. Or to the reversing an engine on the track. There is no change in the structure of the engine ; only in the direction. Regeneration then is (a) a work of God; (b) a permanent and abiding change, and yet (c) the change is of such a nature that we cannot carelessly or presumptuously rest upon it. We are to "keep ourselves in the love of God." Jude 21. "Keep the body under." ist Cor. 9:27. "Keep the unity of the spirit." Eph. 4:3; ist Tim. 5:22; 2d Tim. 1:14; James 77 1:27; ist John 5:21. "To work out our salvation." Phil. 1 : 12. We are to make " our calling and election sure." 2d Peter 1 : 10. To "persevere unto the end. Matt. 24 : 13. (d) Humanly speaking there is danger of apostasy. The many and solemn warnings which we find in the word of God are a clear indication of danger lest we fail of the grace of God. Salvation involves both a divine and human element ; and the human is not infallible. Matt. 10 : 22 ; ist Tim. 5:12; Heb. 4 : 12, 14; 6:4; 10 : 35 ; ist Cor. 9 : 27 ; 2d Peter 1 : 8 — 12 ; ist Peter 4 : 18. God keeps his people by moral and not by physical power ; and moral power may be resisted. Phil. 4:8. 9. The nature of Regeneration. When we come to consider it as a human experience, it may be stated thus : Sin has deranged our moral nature. The passions, appetites, lusts and natural affections which are the earliest to develop, but which should be kept in subjection, and which when so kept are all right ; — these in our unregenerate state have obtained the mas tery ; have over- ridden the higher faculties, — reason, conscience, judgment, the will; broken the harmony of our nature, and brought it into a state of anarchy. Regeneration is the initial removal of this discord ; the rein statement of the higher moral and spiritual forces of our nature, in their place of control, and so restoring the balance and harmony which are essential to our well-being. Regeneration then will take place at that point in a man's experience which he passes, when, by the force of truth and the agency of the Holy Spirit acting within him, the higher powers of the soul become con trolling, and the man becomes henceforward the Temple of God. ist Cor. 3 : 16, 17 ; 2d Cor. 6 : 16. "Christ in him, the hope of glory." LECTURE XXXIV. AGENT AND MEANS OF REGENERATION. 1 . The nature of the change produced.in regeneration shows clearly that none but God can work it. No amount of culture or mere moral reform will bring about this change. You can not, by cultivation, change a thistle into a rose/ or the whelp of a lion into a lamb. The Bible uniformly affirms that God is 78 the Author of Regeneration. Particularly, God the Holy Spirit. John i : 13; 3:5,6; 6: 63; Rom. 8:2 — 11 ; ist Cor. 12 : 3, 9, 13 ; 2d Cor. 4:6; 5:5; Col. 3:10; James 1 : 18 ; Zech. 4:6; Ez. 11 : 19 ; 36 : 26 ; Jer. 24: 7 ; 31 : 31 ; ist John 4:755:1. Does man so cooperate with the spirit of God in the act of regeneration, that it becomes a joint act of God and man? While man is not passive in the process connected with regen eration, there is no evidence from the Bible of any real coopera tion in the stupendous, and I may say solitary, act of regeneration. Nor does our consciousness afford us any light on this matter, since the change takes place in a region of our nature which lies below consciousness. Regeneration then is different from reformation, which is implied in and always follows regeneration. There are those who teach that regeneration is the natural outcome of moral culture; and men and children are received into the church, in order that they may become regenerate. The Romish Church, the Greek Church, the High-Church Episcopalians, and indeed all ritualistic churches, teach that baptism, when adminis tered by one duly ordained, regenerates the soul ; that God'in and by the act of baptism regenerates the subject, infant tho' it be. But neither the practice nor belief finds any warrant in the word of God. 2d Cor. 4:6; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2 : 10 ; ist Peter 1 : 26. 2. As a divine act, regeneration is instantaneous. In the nature of the case, as we view it, this must be so ; else in the process there would be a period during which the person would be partly regenerate and partly unregenerate. There can be no doubt that there are processes which lead up to it ; and which the divine Spirit employs. These approaches may be of a longer or shorter continuance, as we find them in the experience of men. All moral cultures and spiritual agencies, in the family, in society, in mutual Christian friendships, in listening to the word of God, in solemn hours of thought, — are constraints and persuasives to this end ; but of themselves they can never pro duce this change. These are means, not the agent. There is dawn before the rising of the sun, of longer or shorter duration, according to one's latitude; but there comes an instant whenthe sun's disk glorifies the horizon. We may not always know in 79 our own experience when this great change takes place within us; very few do; but we come to find the burden gone, and a joy in our souls, our wills subdued, which give evidence that we have passed from death unto life. The sun sometimes rises in a cloud; so, too, is the experience of many in regeneration. The work of the divine Spirit so blends with the acts of our own mind that it is difficult if not impossible to distinguish between them, in this experience. For while regeneration is a supernatural act, it is yet wrought so in accordance with the laws of our intellectual and moral natures that there is no feeling of force put upon us ; no shock felt. We are "made willing in the day of this power." Ps. 110:3; Phil. 2: 13. And as we do the willing in the whole process, it is done freely and naturally. 3. Regeneration, therefore, is not a miracle. It is an event of constant occurrence ; with its normal antecedents and con ditions ; no more really a miracle than the opening of the rose. The one is God working naturally ; the other is God working supernaturally. And the one is as mysterious as the other. 4. The instrument or means of regeneration. Thisis "the truth, as in Jesus." Many of the older and more intensely Calvinistic divines deny this, and teach that regeneration is a sovereign and arbitrary act of God ; as was that of creation, when God simply spake and it was done. The view which I hold, and which seems more consistent, both with what we know of the divine method in general and with Bible representations, and also with human experience, is that God makes use of appropriate means in regenerating the souls of men, as he does in their sanctification. So far as we know, this is- the only method of the divine working since the final act of creation. There seems to be a divine fitness and aptitude in the truth, in the hands of the divine Spirit, to effect this change ; — the love of God as seen in the gift of Christ. We know indeed that where the word of God is not preached, men are not regenerated ; and where it is most clearly and faithfully, wisely and pungently preached, there follows or accompanies it the work of regeneration. Indeed, it is questionable whether the soul of man ever acts intelligently, except as it is plied by motives ; or whether the innate freedom of choice, with which God has so hedged it about, 8o can be kept inviolate, except through motives addressed to it. Christianity is eminently a religion of j motives, as distinguished from rites ; and in this chiefly it is separated from all other forms and systems of religion. It is only thus that it can deal with man as an intellectual being and hold him responsible. The instrumentality of the truth is clearly taught in the Scriptures. ist Peter 1:3, 24 ; James 1:18; ist Cor. 4:15; Rom. 10:17; Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:15, 16; Eph. 6:17: 2d Cor. 4:4,6; John 1:13 — 16; 6:63; Isa. 55:10, 11; Jer. 23:29; Acts 14: 1. And yet, it is not the truth that changes a man from nature to grace. It is a power beyond, above, below, and mightier than the truth. The power of truth is moral power. This cannot regenerate. It is spiritual -power which does this; and spiritual power is the power of personality. It is this power of a divine personality, in the use of the truth; pervading, vitalizing the truth which produces regeneration. As in the case of a man of strong personality in presenting and urging his views, there is something beside the words he utters ; behind the arguments he uses ; it is himself, the man in it ; penetrating, magnetizing the words and thoughts with the force of his own personality. Here lies the secret of his power. Else the printed page would be as powerful as the living voice. So in regeneration ; it is through the truth ; by and with the truth ; but back of and all through it is the quickening power of the Spirit. Evidences of Regeneration : (a) An amended life. Rom. 6:6; Eph. 2 : 13 ; 4:22; Col. 3:9. (b) A new attitude towards God. John 15: 14; Rom. 8:17; Acts 26:18; Gal. 4:5, 6; ist John 1:3. (c) The fruits of the spirit. Gal. 5:22; John 14:21. (d) Love for Christians. John 13:35; ist John 3:14; 4:16; 5:8. (e) Insight into spiritual things, ist Cor. 2:6, 16 ; 2d Cor. 5 : 17. LECTURE XXXV. JUSTIFICATION. This is a chief doctrine of the New Testament ; the cen tral and formative principle in the writings of Paul, especially in the Epistle to the Romans and to the Galatians; and was the great doctrine of the Reformation. It is not, however, peculiar to the New Testament, but is the ground- teaching of the Old Testament as well ; and gives the only answer to the question of all the ages : " How shall man be just with God? " Micah 6:6, 7 ; Job 9 : 2. 1 . Its nature. Justification and pardon are closely connected. Every pardoned sinner is justified ; and every justified sinner is pardoned. When God regenerates a man he at the same time pardons, justifies and adopts him. These three terms are used to express the different relations into which the regenerated man is conceived to be brought to God. In our criminal courts, however, there is this difference: pardon only remits the penalty due. The pardoned man still bears the stigma of his crime ; while justicfiation acquits oi guilt; or rather declares that the man has not been found guilty . So it is in the administration of human justice, where the finding of courts must coincide with the testimony given. Gospel justification, as set forth in the Bible, accounts a man just, not on the ground of innocence or of unproven guilt, but on the ground of grace. He is brought by faith into relations to God and the divine law which excludes condemnation, by removing both guilt and penalty. Rom. 5:1; 8:1. The believer is taken out from law relations in which he before stood to God, and is brought, under grace, into favor with God. Rom. 7:6; Gal. 1:6; 3:8, 11. In law relations to God all men are in a state of condemnation ; because the law, when once violated, can only accuse and condemn. Rom. 5 : 16, 18 ; John 3:19; 2d Peter 2 : 6. But when one is brought into the grace or favor of God he stands acquitted of guilt. "God justifies the ungodly." Rom. 4:5, pronounces the believer forgiven or freed from condemnation, and accounted 82 and treated as though he were just or righteous ; i. e. , -Tightened;, not merely accounted so, but in a sense made so ; his faith be coming in him an element of righteousness. 2. The Ground of Justification. This was laid in the Atone ment. [See Lecture on Atonement.] Rom. 3:24, 25; 5:9; ist Cor, 6:11; Eph. 1:6, 7 ; Col. 1:4; ist Tim. 2:6; Heb. 9 : 11, 12. 3. Method oi Justification. By or through Jaith. This is the only way of justification. The Old Testament saints were so justified. Heb. 1 1 sets forth this view most fully and clearly. See also Rom. 3 : 26 ; 4:1; 5 : 1 — 3 ; Gal. 3 : 6. The Old Testament saints received and rested in the promise which God had made of a coming Redeemer ; and in the faith fulness of God; and in and by this faith they were justified. Their faith indeed embraced only so much as God had. revealed ; but this confidence in God controlled them; shaped and gov erned their lives, and so was " imputed " or reckoned for right eousness ; — made them the righteous men they were. Rom. 4 : 20 ; James 2 : 22 ; Heb. 11:13, 39. And as we have already- seen, [Lecture on Faith,] it was the cementing quality of faith, uniting them to God ; the working element of faith which pro duced in them obedience, and so "wrought righteousness in them. ' ' James 2:22. Not complete righteousness ; but like corn in May, corn, notwithstanding its incompleteness. This, I think, is the right view of the doctrine of Imputation; which was formally made so much of as applied both to sin and to right eousness in our relation, on the one hand, to Adam, and on the other, to Christ. It is not putting to one's account a righteous ness which he does not, in some real sense, possess ; nor is it a transjer, real or igmaginary, of qualities from one person to another; which is impossible. Imputation is nbt a legal fiction, as theologians have made it appear. Whenever God imputes either sin or righteousness, it is because the person to whom it is imputed possesses it in some degree, and really so. Believers are called in the New Testament saints (Hagioi) , holy ; because faith has brought them into such union with Christ that they have in them germinal holiness. Their re newed natures have become, and are more and more becoming, Christ-like. And so far they are righteous. And so John declares, 83 "He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is right eous." John 3:7. This view is confirmed by James 2 : 21. And this is not at all at variance with Paul, who as pointedly affirms that we are justified by faith. It is the working element in faith, — the quality which sets men upon a life of holy endeavor to work out their own salvation, even with fear and trembling. Phil. 2 : 12, 13, 15. It is this work, that has its life and inspiration in faith, which forms character, — righteous character, in men. We need to emphasize the side of salvation presented by James as much as that presented by Paul ; both are essentially involved in righteousness. 4. The Author of Justification is God. Rom. 3 : 26, 30 ; 4:5; 8 : 33. The believer is justified, not only from condemna tion of the law, but from the law itself, as a way into the favor of God. Rom. 10:3; Gal. 3:8. The law, however, remains, not in ' 'the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit." Rom. 7:6. Faith begets in the soul- the spirit of obedience, and so established the law, Rom. 3:31; which be comes to the believer the rule of life. Matt. 3:15:5:17; Rom. 13:8; Gal. 5 : 14. 5. Results oi Justification. Peace with God; access to him; confidence, assurance. Rom. 5:1; Col. 2:2: ist Thess. 1:5; Heb. 6:11; 10:22; John 14:27; Isa. 32:17. The fruits of the spirit follow and are evidence of justification. Gal. 5 : 22. These grow in our experience as our faith grows ; and faith grows as other things do, by exercise. A weak faith, if genuine, secures justification even though it yield but little fruit. 6. Justification, like regeneration, is an instantaneous act on the part of God, and in our experience, though we may not at the moment realize it. A person cannot be partly in and partly out of a state of justification, any more than in the experience of regeneration. LECTURE XXXVI. ADOPTION AND ASSURANCE. Adoption differs from justification in its conception of the relation into which the believer is brought to God. Virtually 84 they are one and the same thing. Justification regards God as a. Judge, and the believer as standing at his bar, acquitted. Adoption regards him as a Father, — a_ foster father, — and the believer as brought into his family. All the large, free, loving relations of "The household of Faith," are his to realize and enjoy "as a son, a daughter of the Lord Almighty." Rom. 8 : 14, 17, 29, 32 ; Eph. 1:5; 2:13; 1st John 3:1; Gal. 4 : 5, 7 ; Jer. 3:19; Heb. 1 : 14 ; 12:7; Rom. 5:11. This is the most tender and endearing relation into which the believer can be brought to God. Mark further from this, our relation to all believers : "Fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God." Eph. 2 : 19 ; Gal. 6 : 10; Heb. 3 : 6. Also the rela tion into which it brings us to Christ— joint- heirs hip . John 17:21; Col. 3:11; ist Cor. 14:11; Gal. 3:28; 5:6; Acts 26 : 18 ; Rom. 8:17; Gal. 4 : 7. The office of King, Master, Saviour, Redeemer, are all merged in the more tender and familiar relation of brother. Heb. 1:2; Matt. -28 : 10; Rom. 8 : 29 ; Ps. 22: 22, 25. The be liever is, in a sense, made doubly a child of God ; (a) by birth, John 1:12; 3:6; ist John 4:7; 3 : 1, and (b) ,by adoption. It is much as if a child were taken from the street and its slums, a poor homeless waif, by some man of wealth and station, and adopted into his family, lifted into the society in which he moves, and given his name and made heir to his estates ; and then afterwards discovered to be a lost son who had been mourned for as dead. More should be made, in our personal experience and in our preaching, of this precious doctrine of adoption. It would do much to steady and confirm the faith of many a weak and wavering believer ; and embolden us to return to God, when in heart or life we may have back-slidden from him. Let us walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. Phil. 2:15; Eph. 4:1; ist Peter 1 : 14. And so put away the fear and half slavery by which so many believers are hampered ; and come into that liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Rom. 8:21; Gal. 5:1, 13 ; Heb. 10 : 19 ; James 1 : 25 ; 2:12. ASSURANCE. This is a clearly-affirmed and important doctrine of the Bible. It is an experience which the true believer grows into. It is 85 the fruit of a tried and established faith, and of confirmed habits of obedience. 2d Cor. 5:1; Rom. 8: 14; 2d Tim. 1 : 12; ist John 3:14, 19; 5:10; Heb. 6:11; 10:22. Assurance is an attainment which few Christians make in any very high degree. It is a duty which rests upon us, and a privilege we may and ought to enjoy. Our own happiness, our steadfastness in the Christian life, our confidence in God, our influence as helpful to others, and our general usefulness, depend so much upon this attainment. The world needs so much the sunshine and joy, the steady power, the glowing testimony of an assured faith. Doubt is a weakness that we should be diligent and earnest to rid our selves of for the sake of others as well as for ourselves ; espe cially we who are to lead and inspire others. A gloomy, despond ent religion is repulsive to the world and a slander upon the Christian faith, ist Chron. 16 : 8 — 1 1 ; ist Sam. 2:1; Ps. 9 : 14 ; Phil. 2 :i7, 18 ; ist Thess. 1:5; James 1:9, 10 ; ist Peter 1 : 6, 8. — How, brethren, can we preach and give the Gospel trump that " certain sound," so necessary to the greatest power and good, unless we can speak from the fulness and joy of a personal assurance of the truth in our own experience? Mark how often we meet the ' 'I know; we know "in the Bible. Job 19 : 25 ; Ps. 20 : 6 ; 56 : 9 ; Isa. 50 : 7 ; Phil. 1 : 19 ; 2d Tim. 1:12; John 3:11; Hos. 6:3; Rom. 8 : 28 ; 2d Cor. 5:1; ist John 2:5; 5:2, 14, 24; 5:2, 15, 19. Assurance, as I have said, is a growth. It comes by a devo tional study of God's word ; by observing the spirit of the word in ourselves; the fruits of the spirit in our experience, — Gal. 5 : 22 ; arid by the witness of the Spirit with our spirit, Rom. 8 : 16 ; 120 : 5, 6. It comes by walking with God, as did Enoch ; who had this testimony that he pleased God. Heb. 11 : 5. It comes by the faithful performance of Christian duty, though at the time it may seem irksome ; by denying self and abiding in Christ. There is a Jalse assurance which many, I fear, are cherish ing ; and which comes often of ignorance and wrong and un warranted views of the doctrines of grace ; especially of election, perseverance, regeneration ; or by putting forms and ceremonies in place of vital godliness. Matt. 7 : 22 ; 25 : 1 ; Luke 13 : 25, 26 ; .2d Tim. 3:5. It is to be feared that there are many in our 86 churches, and even in the Gospel ministry, who are indulging in a false and most dangerous assurance. They have been through the forms of ordination ; they preach with fluency and fervor ; are flattered by friends ; are successful in getting persons into the churches ; and are much sought after as popular preachers ; and they rest their assurance mostly upon things like these ; — when alas ! they are living in sin and self-indulgence, and know little or nothing of the power and sanctifying influences of the Gospel they preach. Alas ! alas ! for such to be unmasked at the Judgment when every hidden thing of the life and heart shall be revealed ! LECTURE XXXVII. SANCTIFICATION . The ordinary meaning of sanctify in the Bible, is to set apart or consecrate a person or thing to a sacred use or purpose. God is said to have sanctified the seventh day. Gen. "5:3. The Tabernacle aud Temple and all the vessels and utensils were sanctified. Ex. 28 : 41. The Altar is said to "sanctify the gift" laid upon it. Matt. 6:9; 23 : 17. The purification of the people in view of some marked manifestation of God was called a sanctifying of the people. Ex. 19:10, 22, 23; Josh. 3 : 5. Christ is said to have "sanctified himself." John 17 : 19. We are called upon to ' ' sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. ' ' ist Peter 3:15. Christ is said to be made unto |ts sanctifica tion. ist. Cor. 1 : 30. All true believers are, in this Bible sense of the word, sanctified. They are set apart; have, by their profession, set themselves apart from the world to God and to his service. Hence called saints, i. e., the sanctified 'ones. This is the uniform meaning of the word in the Scriptures. As a theological doctrine, however, the word has come to be used in a somewhat different sense, viz.: to denote that gradual process in the experience of believers, by which they attain more and more to the high standard of Bible character and living. 2d Cor. 7:1; Eph. 5:25,26; ist John 1:9; John 17:17; Gal. 6:1. It is going on "unto perfection." Heb. 6:1. Sanctification includes the whole person of the believer, 87 body, soul and business. Rom. 6 : 12, 13, 14 ; 12 : 1, 2 ; ist Cor.- 6:13, 15, 19; 9:27; 10:31; 1 sf Thess. 5 : 23 ; Eph. 5 :23- Is this process ever completed in this life ? Two answers are given : yea and nay. Those who affirm it, make a distinction between human and angelic or divine perfection ; between that which belongs to the earthly and that which is reached in the heavenly state. They do not include in their idea of sanctification, perfection in knowledge or judgment, nor do they exclude unwise and imprudent actions as the result of ignorance, or of a biased judgment. These, and such like infirmities, they hold are not inconsistent with a state of earthly and present sanctification. Job 4: 18. They affirm that Christians can, that many have, and that it is the privilege of all Christians tb live thus far, a perfect and sanctified life ; without the commission of any known sin ; and so to maintain a conscience void of offence toward God and man. Phil. 1:6; 3:15; Col. 3:9, 10; Acts 2 : 47 ; 2d Peter 3:18; Gal. 5 : 16 ; ist Cor. 1:18; Eph. 4 : 15 ; ist Thess. 3 : 12. The advocates of this view insist much upon such passages as the following : Matt. 5 : 48 ; 19:21; John 17 : 23 ; ist Cor. 2:6; 2d Cor. 13 : 11 ; Phil. 3:15; Col. 1 : 28 ; 4 : 12 ; ist Thess. 3 : 10 ; 5 : 23, 24 ; 2d Tim. 3 : 17 ; Heb. 13 : 20, 21 ; Luke 6 : 40. It is quite evident that many of these Scriptures, when rightly interpreted, do not teach the doctrine of sinless perfection. The Bible, it is true, speaks of many perfect men. Job 1:1; 8 : 20 ; 9 : 22 ; Ps. 37 : 37 ; 64 : 4 ; Ezek. 28 : 15 ; ist Cor. 2:6; Phil. 3 : 15. It is evident that in passages like the above, the per- Jection spoken of is not to be understood as absolute or sinless ; but that it was applied to men whose purpose and life were in the main correct. Matt. 19 : 21 ; James 3:2. To men of in tegrity ; much as we use the term "good" of a man. The Plymouth Brethren hold that the new principle in the believer cannot sin ; ist John 3:9; unduly pressing, as I think, the word "cannot." It is a moral cannot, like that of Joseph's brethren. Gen. 37 : 4. .That certain persons have claimed for themselves perfection, does not prove that they were perfect ; because we know how 88 fallible men are in their judgments, both of themselves and of others. The well-nigh universal experience of Christians is certainly against this view ; as also the teaching of the Bible, as we under stand it, — Jaines 3:2; Prov. 20 : 9 ; ist Kings 8 : 46 ; Eccl. 7 : 20 ; ist John 1:8. The experience of men who have made the Bible standard the rule of their life, have confessed with grief their many deficiencies, and have never got beyond the need of the prayer, "Forgive us our debts." Matt.. 6 : 12 ; Col. 5:17; Phil. 1:6; 3:12; ist Cor. 9 : 27 ; Eph. 4 : 22, 23. Our aim, however, should he perfection ; and we should con tinually be pressing on toward it ; and not allow ourselves in any thing at variance with or that hinders us in this endeavor. 2d Cor. 3 : 15'; Phil. 3 : 13, 15 ; Heb. 6:1. The saddest defect in the Christianity of to-day, its weakness against the world, is the lack' of consecration in those who pro fess it ; and their contentment in the low stages of attainment which so mar the lives of the majority of professing Christians. Hold up in your preaching, and by your example, the high standard of the Bible. Urge your people to reach as near to it as possible. Eph. 4:12; Phil. 3 : 14. That some have attained to a state of rest in Christ, where temptations, in a great .measure, have ceased to assail them, and have lived in habitual communion with God and divine things, we need not question ; and that the grace of God, especially by the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit and the devout and faithful use of the word, supplies ample means to all believers if they only use them, to win and hold the victory over the world in allits forms of evil, cannot be reasonably doubted. Bunyan's "Land of Beulah " is not a mere conceit ; Eph. 3 : 19. "I've reached the land of corn and wine." Nor need we wait till we have nearly reached the "cross ing ' ' of the river, before we may enter this , delightsome land. Agent oi sanctification is the Holy Spirit. John 14 : 17, 18; Rom. 15 : 16 ; Heb. 9 : 13, 14 ; 2d Thess. 2 : 13 ; ist Peter 1:2; Jude 1. We are to seek the Spirit's guidance; yield ourselves to be led by the Spirit; keep our ears open to his gentlest whispers, and our conscience sensitive to his lightest touch. And yet, God, his will ; Christ, his blood, are all represented as working this process in the believer. Gal. 1:4; Heb. 10 : 10; Heb. 5:9; 13:12; 20:21; ist John 1:7. The instrument of sanctification is the word of God. John 17 : 2d Sam. 7 : 28 ; Ps. 119 : 142, 151. The means which we are to use, are prayer, watchfulness, meditation, resisting the flesh, walking in the spirit, keeping ourselves in the love of God. Titus 2:12; Rom. 15 : 16 ; ist Tim. 4:5; 2d Tim. 2 : 22 ; Jude 21. LECTURE XXXVIII. PROBATION. This word is not found in the Bible, but has a prominent place in works on theology, and once held a prominent place in the pulpit. It means, as so used, a time or season of test or trial during which men, especially under the Gospel, determine their future destiny, by either accepting, rejecting, or merely neglecting Christ and his salvation. Hence, human life, as a whole, has generally been regarded as the season or day of probation. It so appears largely in our hymns : " Life is the time to serve the Lord; The time to insure the great reward ; And while the lamp holds out to burn The vilest sinner may return." — Watts. "There is a line by us unseen, That crosses every path, That hidden boundary, between God's mercy and his wrath." — Alexander. Prov. 1 : 24; Luke 13 : 8 ; 19 142 ; Rev. 2 : 21 ; Jer. 8 : 20. There is a sense in which this is true ; — solemnly, momen tously true. And that our life and conduct here have a vital and causal relation to the life hereafter, should be often and earnestly pressed home by the pulpit, upon the thoughts and consciences of men. ' Yet, strictly speaking, none of the human race, save our first parents, have had a probation. They were, for a time, on trial. We are not ; we are "condemned already." John 3 : 18 ; 90 Eph. 2:1. A time of reprieve is granted to men, and given to the world under the grace of God, in view of the redemp tion of Jesus Christ. But how long this may last, in the case of each individual, no one can tell. That it lasts through a life time is an assumption for which neither the Scriptures nor human experience give any clear warrant. Under the hearing or the opportunity of hearing the Gospel, there comes to men, no doubt, a last time ; a last call, which if neglected, the neglect will be fatal ; and beyond which no subsequent opportunity will be availing. Instead, however, of calling life a state oi probation, I think it is more scriptural and better accords with the fact, to consider this life as a season of moral discipline; during which God is employ ing the various agencies of his providence and grace, to do the best for every one of us, under the circumstances and within the limits of human freedom and the requirements of a right eous government. Like the training of a family or of a school. Isa. 5:14; Luke 13:6, 7, 8; Matt. 23:37; ist Tim. 2:4; Rom. 9 : 22, 23 ; 2d Peter 3:9, 15 ; Isa. 1 : 18. The Spirit of God is not confined to the Christian age or dis pensation. It accompanies the truth of God, whether revealed in the Bible or in nature. And how much of the Spirit's influence may be felt where but little of divine truth is known, even in Pagan lands, we cannot tell. He strove with men even in antediluvian times. Gen. 6:2; Job 32 : 8. Pagans who receive the truth of God as revealed in nature, and yield to the will of God and the leadings of the Spirit, — by such disciplines, are they not saved; as Job, Melchisedek, Socrates? You will be very likely in your reading to meet with the idea, now held by some as probable, of a second probation ; or more properly speaking, probation continued beyond this present life into the intermediate state, for those who may not in this life have heard of Christ and the way of salvation. This idea has been held and advocated by certain theological writers since the third century. [The discussion of this will be reserved for later lectures on Eschastology.J Human life is certainly a discipline ; the circumstances in which we are here placed — health, sickness, afflictions, pros perities, adversities, temptations, business, letters, science, the 9i family, society, the Bible, the Church, — are all of them disci plinary in their nature and results upon us ; and as we use, neglect or abuse them, we are forming character and fixing destiny. And by these agencies, which God has appointed, and to which we are subjected in the providence and grace of God, we are being fitted — are fitting ourselves — for the world to come. Rom. 9 : 22 ; Acts 1 : 25 ; Col. 1 : 12. LECTURE XXXIX. THE ADVENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. In the lecture on the Trinity we discussed the Deityhood of the Holy Spirit. We are now to consider the Office and Work of the Spirit in human redemption and salvation, as revealed in the Bible. 1. The Otfi.ee of the Spirit. As God, he is everwhere present in the world; — present and active, confined to no age or dispen sation. The first mention made of him, — Gen. 1 : 2, — is that he brooded * Setose Jalic'1' over the original chaos ; gave life to it and brought order out of it. We next read, by implication, of his "striving" with men. Gen. 6:5. All through the Patriarchal ages we have intima tions of his presence and activity ; — Gen. 41 : 38 ; Num. 27:18; 11 : 25, 29 ; Job 32 : 8 ; in teaching, guiding, enlightening and restraining men ; the Author of all life and light, where there was opportunity, even among pagan peoples. Whatever of truth that was elevating and improving ; that could lead men to right living and to better views of God, and wherever it was found, there we may believe the divine Spirit was, applying the truth in all helpful ways ; as in the case of Melchisedek, Job, Balaam, Saul, Samson. Num. 24 : 2 ; ist Sam. 10 : 10; 19; 20, 21, 23 ; 2d Chron. 15 : 1. We may also believe that such men as Plato, Socrates, Zoroaster, Confucius, Buddha, these great teachers of the race, owe to the enlightening influence of the Spirit, the truth, though partial, which they taught, and which added to the spiritual progress of the race. Especially was the Spirit active during the Prophetic Ages of Israel ; enlightening the minds of the seer ; revealing to the 92 prophets things to come, and moving them to give those utter ances which have so largely made the Old Testament the word of God. ist Peter i : io ; 2d Peter 1:21 ; Heb. 1:1; 2d Tim. 3 : 16. He was present also and active in renewing men, in quickening all right impulses, in building righteous character in men during the earlier ages of the world's history. Zacharias was filled with the Spirit. Luke 1 : 67. So too, was John Baptist. Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. Luke 1 : 35 ; Matt. 1:21. He appeared and lighted upon the head of Jesus 'at his baptism John 1 : 32 ; Matt. 3:16; Mark 1 : 10. And afterward led him into the wilderness to be tempted or tried of the devil. Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:1; Mark 1:12. And all through his ministry the Spirit was given him without measure. John 3 :34. And it was "through the eternal Spirit" that he offered himself to God. Heb. 9 : 14: But the great era of the Holy Spirit, in his manifestations, has been during the Christian age, after the ascension of Christ and his assumption of power in heaven. Pentecost with its marvels marks his Advent, as the successor of Christ to take up and carry forward, with a power unknown before, the work of human salvation. Then began, and still continues, the dispen sation of the Spirit. Joel 2 : 28, 29 ; Zech. 12 : 10; John 7 : 34 — 40; 14:16; 15:26; 16:5; Luke 24:45. The reason for the larger manifestation and power of the Spirit during this age is doubtless due to the completer outfit so to speak, of the Spirit ; the means and material at his com mand, by which to do his work ; — provided as these had been, in ' the great facts which constitute the Gospel ; — the person, teach ings, life, death, resurrection and intercessions of Jesus Christ ; — in this altered condition of the religious world. These great truths of redemption constitute the well furnished and inex haustible arsenal whence, so to speak, the Spirit draws his weapons. The truth is the instrument of the Spirit. Hence he is called "The Spirit of truth." John 16: 13. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12; Rev. 1 :i6; 2: 12; 6:4; 19: 15. There was the knowledge of God, of sin, of retribution among men in old pagan times, as we learn abundantly from the classic writers. But these had no such effect to produce con- 93 - viction for sin, in the consciences of men, as when illuminated by the teachings of Christ and applied and made living by the Holy Ghost. LECTURE XL. THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. i . The Spirit enlightens the mind ; Heb. 6:4; ist Peter 1 : 1 1 ; John 14 : 26. He lights up by means of the truth the dark recesses of the heart ; sets the truth in full blaze before the mind ; as to a man in a dark and loathsome dungeon who sees nothing of the hideous and revolting objects around him until the light is let in; so it is only by the Spirit that men are shown their true spiritual condition. It is only by the Spirit that the truth is so lighted up in our minds, made radiant, glorious, personal, that we as ministers of Christ can preach it as we ought. The fatal defect in so much of our preaching is not that we do not preach the truth, as in the lack of the Spirit which sets the truth on fire in our own souls and sends it molten into the hearts of our hearers. See ist Cor. 2 ; Acts 2 : 37 ; 5 : 32, 33 ; 6 : 10 ; 10 : 44, 45 ; 14:1; 2d Peter 1 : 21. It is by so presenting the truth that we put, as it were, into the hand of the Spirit, the proper instrument with which to do his work. The Spirit must incarnate himself in the preacher, the Christian worker, and use him and so the truth by him ; not dead, cold, unvitalized truth; but truth made living in the man's own experience. John 3:11; ist John 1:1; 4 : 16 ; 2d Peter 1 : 16. 2. The Spirit convicts of sin ; guides into truth. John 16 : 8 ; Acts 2 : 22, 27, 32 ; 26 : 18 ; Luke 10 : 18. He applies the truth to the individual conscience of men ; and in its light and under its heat causes them not only to see but to feel the true nature and demerit of sin, to Which men are so blinded and hardened by sin itself. Heb. 3 : 13 ; Eph. 4 : 22 ; 2d Thess. 2 : 10. 3. The Spirit regenerates, sanctities. [See previous lec tures.] 4. The Spirit helps our infirmity. Rom. 8 : 26. He is the ' 'Paraclete ; ' ' the Helper ; Advocate, ist John 2:1. Comforter, 94 John 14 : 26, as the word is variously translated. In all our Chris tian work , in all the trials of life , in temptation , when we ha ve been led astray from the path of right and duty, — He, the blessed Spirit, is present to help. We should beware how we think or speak of the Spirit as a mere influence. He is a person ; as real and distinct in his personality as the Father and the Son. We are told of the love of the Spirit. Rom. 15 : 30. Observe: The" Spirit may be grieved \ Eph. 4:3; quenched, ist Thess. 5:19; resisted, Acts 7:51. 5. The Spirit since his advent in power on the day bf Pentecost has been, in a sense, the acting Deity in the world. The present is the dispensation of the Spirit. A long step in advance of all former dispensations, even that which was marked and made glorious by the personal presence of Christ. John 16:7; 2d Cor. 3:9. Do -we pray to the Spirit as often as we ought? Do we put that honor upon him that we do upon Christ, upon God the Father? 6 . What are we to understand by being ' filled with the Spirit ? ' ' The "baptism of the Spirit?" Eph. 5:18; Acts 1 : 5 ; 4 : 8 ; 9 : 17 ; 13:9, 52; Luke 1:41, 67; Acts 2:4. Is this an experience peculiar to apostolic times ? I think not. The power to work miracles, to speak with tongues, I think was incidental and temporary ; but in itself it is an experience which I believe may be erijoyed by believers now. Why may we not "be filled with the Spirit," come as completely under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit, as a business man, a politician, an artist, a poet, come under the spirit which rules in these spheres ? The many exhortations we meet with, to be filled with the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, led by the Spirit, allowing him to dwell in us richly, — show clearly our duty and our privilege. 7. What are we to understand by the sin against the Holy Ghost? Matt. 12 : 31, 32 ; Mark 3 : 29 ; ist John 5 : 16, 17 ; Heb. 10 : 26 ; 6 : 6, 7, 8 ; 2d Tim. 3:8; Jude 4:12, 13 ; 2d Thess. 2:11; John 12 : 40 ; Eph. 4 : 30. It seems from these passages,. that the sin against the Holy Ghost is the final or culminating act, in a course of rejecting the offers of grace ; and which results by a law of our moral being in a state of apathy and hardness of heart, or of bitter and malignant opposition to Christ and his salvation, as these 95 are presented by the 'divine Spirit ; through which the moral sensibilities become deadened to such a degree as to put the man outside of and render him proof against all wholesome and saving influences of the divine Spirit. Like a field whose soil is so utterly worn out that the ordinary agencies of sunshine and#rain and dew will not quicken it to fruit-bearing ; and though the energy of these agents were doubled or quadrupled, the field would still be barren. Or like timber so decayed that it has no strength of fibre to hold the spike driven into it, however strong or perfect the iron. It is not that God, by any arbitrary decree, withdraws his Spirit from them ; but - this hopeless condition the man has brought upon himself, by his own course. "Having eyes they see not, and ears they hear not." Fish in the Mammoth Cave are without eyes. Why? Matt. 12:44; J3 : I2, 15; Rom. 1 124 ; ist Tim. 4:1. This sin may be committed, or our Lord certainly would not have uttered these warnings against it ; and every step in sin, especially every known sin, — but particularly by rejecting or mis-using the truth as presented by the Holy Spirit, leads toward its commission. Jude 12. This sin is perhaps purposely left somewhat loosely defined, yet in sufficient and appalling outline ; darkly and ominously shadowed, as if to warn men from any approach to its doomful commission. Many persons have felt great alarm and despondency, in the fear that they have been guilty of this sin. But such feelings are evidences rather, that whatever their sin may have been, they have not committed this sin. The evidence that one has committed this sin is rather indifference, an utter apathy ; which betokens the torpor of death — spiritual death. LECTURE XLI. PRAYER AND ITS ANSWERS. Prayer is petition, supplication, confession, adoration, thanksgiving. It is the soul going out to God in any, or in all of these exercises combined. See directions for, and examples of prayer. Matt. 6:5; 27 : 39 ; Luke 11:2; ist Kings 8 : 22 ; Acts 9:11; John 17 : 1. 96 The frequency of prayer is nowhere specified in the Bible. We are, however, exhorted to "pray without ceasing," ist Thess. 5 : 17, — which we are to interpret, I suppose, as an exhortation to maintain, at all times, the spirit of prayer. Daniel prayed "three times a day." Dan. 6 : 10. David, seven times, i. e., often. Ps. 119:164. "As ye pray, or when ye prpy," Matt. 6:7; Luke 11:2, are directions of our Lord. In this matter, there is the freedom of faith and love which belongs to the Christian life and the Christian dispensation ; at the farthest possible remove from ritual. There are various kinds of prayer; e.g., secret, family, social, public. Matt. 6:6; is1» Sam. 20 : 6 ; Jer. 10 : 25 ; 2 : 42 ; 12:5; 5 : 12. These are determined by the occasion; and should be marked by the proprieties of the occasions. Prayer is the great power of the Christian, whether for his own advancement in piety, as a protection from the evil one, or in efforts to build up the kingdom of God. Prayer brings God to our aid; and "one, with God, is a majority," whatever the odds against us. Remember that. 2d Kings 6:16. All things needful are possible to the man of prayer. Acts 4 -.23, 31. United prayer has a special promise attached to it. James 5:17; Matt. 18 : 19 ; Acts 12:5. The character oi the suppliant, God especially regards. James 5 : 14, 17 ; ist Kings 17 ; Acts 14 : 15 ; Job 42 : 8 ; Jer. 15 : 1—23 ; 14 : 14. Availing prayer^ must be (a) consistent, John 5:16; (b) per sistent, Luke 18 : 1 ; 11:5; (c) insistent, Num. 14: 11 ; Gen. 32 : 24 ; (d) and in the use of appropriate means, Gen 32 : 13. Our Lord has fixed the conditions of availing prayer. John 14: 13, 14; 15 -.7; 16: 23, 24. The true spirit of prayer is, (a) trust in God. Heb. 11:6. (b) Submission to the will of God. Matt. 26 : 39. (c) Coopera tion with God. James 5 : 14, 15. We are not warranted in expecting that the very thing we pray for will always be granted. This would be to assume that we knew better what is for bur good than God does. 2d Cor. 12 : 8; Ps. 106: 15. Nor does this at all make against the true answer to prayer ; since the true spirit of prayer is submission to the will and wis- 97 dom of God. If this be absent our prayer is not prayer, but a demand upon God. Nor does this view make against the most importunate prayer. We may be assured that God will grant to every true prayer either the very thing we ask, or withhold it for our good, and grant us something better in its place. LECTURE XLII. OBJECTIONS TO PRAYER. Objections have been raised to the answer of prayer on the grounds : («) Of the persistence of force, the fixed laws and order of the universe, in which, as science teaches, the forces of nature act. (b) On the ground of God's immutability and the unalterableness of his decrees, which have determined all things from the beginning. It is therefore objected that answers to prayer, if real, involve a break in this fixed order, and change- ableness in God and in his purposes; and that prayer, therefore, except as it reacts upon the man who prays, is unscientific and unreasonable. Prof. Tyndall of England proposed some years ago to the praying people of London this test of prayer : Set apart two wards in a hospital ; place in each the same number of patients, of the same type and stage of disease as far as possible. Let prayer be offered exclusively for those in one ward. If the patients in this one recover, and those in the other do not, thus would the doctrine of answer to prayer be scientifically and sat isfactorily proved. The answer to this and all such like proposals is that God does not put himself before men to be experimented with. Such an attitude nullifies the spirit of prayer. In reply to the other objection, I would say, that those who make it fail to take into account the relation of God to the universe ; the affairs and ongoings of which are not a matter of fate, but of Providence. The universe is not governed by law, but by God. Laws are but the method which God ordinarily employs, and whose action he can modify or vary without violence to them. The universe is not as science has too often conceived of it — a piece of clockwork which God has set running 98 and left to go on, independent of himself, by its own inherent laws. Back of law is force, and back of force is God. The natural universe, so the best results of science show, is rather a system of means ; — a series of second causes, by which God as vitally connected with it does his will, and is carrying out his purposes. We are not to think of God as out side the universe and apart from it ; as an engineer is to his engine; but as its indwelling and informing life. Something as the mind of man is to his body ; the force and intelligence that use the body ; while the body is but a wonderfully-constructed piece of machinery, whereby the mind, i. e., the indwelling man himself, works out his purposes here. And the very fact that the bones are so articulated, and the muscles so attached, with capacity to contract and relax at his will ; that they work in certain fixed ways or by eertaPa. fixed laws ; the bone as a bone, the muscle as a muscle, the nerve as a nerve, and never other wise; — this fact adapts them to all the various and multiform uses that the man may choose to put them to, — the hand in working, so that the man can do whatever he wishes ; the feet in walking, so that he can go whither and how he chooses ; and yet, the mechanical laws which pertain to them are in no way whatever interfered with, but are subservient to these ends. Much as if on a vogage to Europe by a steamer bound direct for Liverpool, but for some reason that I might make effective with the captain, I wish to be left at some intermediate port. Without any derangement in the machinery or violence done to any part of it, — every function of the engine working normally ; he can yet change the course of the ship, and grant me my request. Again, while the Decrees of God are fixed, they are fixed [See Lecture on Decrees] in accordance to the means and sub ordinate causes which are to be employed in bringing them to pass. And the faith and prayers and efforts of his people are among these agencies involved in the decrees themselves; and enter vitally and efficiently and essentially into them. So that neither the decrees of God nor their unchangeableness, nor the fixed order nor the laws of nature, nor yet the freedom of the human will, oppose any barrier, when properly considered, to the answer of prayer. 99 Finally: the requirements, inducements and the many record ed answers to prayer which we find in the Bible assure us of the reality of answer to prayer. The Bible stands committed to the doctrine of answers to prayer. Ps. 50:15; 91:15; 145:18; 65 : 2, 4; Joel 2 : 32 ; Matt. 7:7; ist Peter 3:12; James 5 : 16 ; ist Kings 18:36, 42; ist Sam. 12:18; 2d Kings 6:18; Ps. 18:6; 34:4. Answer to prayer is a matter oi personal experience . ist Sam. 12:18; ist Kings 18:37; 2d Kings 6:18; Ps. 18:6; 34 : 44 ; Dan. 9 : 27 ; 10 : 12 ; Acts 12 : 5. Nor do such experiences belong only to Bible times and Bible personages. Believers of every age can testify to the fact in their own experience. And a fact of experience is as truly ajact as one of science, of business, or of any other practical matter. And "facts " — as the adage goes — " are stubborn things." A fact established will stand against all the objections and argu ments that can be marshalled against it. Pray more. Your power and success as ministers depend more directly and vitally upon prayer than upon all your learning, zeal or eloquence. Mary, Queen of Septs, in the troublous times in Scotland, when she was fighting forthe crown, was told that the gre,at reformer, John Knox, was opposed to her, — and is said to have exclaimed: "I fear that man's prayers more than I would an army of ten thousand men." ECCLESIOLOGY. LECTURE XLIH. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. The discussion of Ecclesiology belongs properly to Church History, and I pass it briefly. As we find it in the New Testament, the church is a society or brotherhood, exceedingly simple in its organization, and practical in its purpose ; the farthest possible from the great Ecclesiastical Hierarchies which have grown up and assumed such ghostly power and proportions, and arrogated to themselves the claim to be The Church of Christ. IOO The exact date of its origin, the organizing act, it may be difficult, perhaps impossible, to fix. It had no existence before Christ ; though the underlying principle, — faith in God and obedience to him, — existed from the first; and were largely developed among Old Testament believers. I am not referring now of what is sometimes spoken of as the "Church invisible or universal, ' ' which terms include all true believers before and since the coming of Christ, both in heaven and on earth, but of those organized bodies of believers which appear in the New Testament, and which multiplied and extended so rapidly under the preaching of the Apostles'. The materials for organizing the church were being pre pared during the preaching and ministry of John Baptist, and greatly increased during the ministry of our Lord ; in the repentance, faith and baptism of believers. But the origin of church itself, like the beginning of many great organizations, is somewhat in obscurity. My own opinion is that the final organizing act, so to speak, — if indeed there was one, — is to be found in the institution and first celebration of the Lord's Sup per. Matt. 26 : 26, 27 ; Mark 14 : 22 ; Luke 22:19; lst Cor. 1 1 : 23, 25. And that when the Eleven went out from that upper room, they were a church, — the church, though not yet fully equipped. Thus the church was founded by Jesus Christ himself, and stands upon the person, teachings, life, death, resurrection and living head-ship of Jesus Christ our Lord. Matt. 28: 18; 1st Cor. 11 13 ; Eph. 2 : 22 ; 4: 15; 5:23; 1 : 10; Col. 1 : 18, 24; Heb. 2:8. We may speak of the church as follows : 1. Its Membership. The church is properly composed of men, women and children who give credible evidence of having experienced regeneration ; riot these and their infant offsprings. This latter is Judaism, and not organized Christianity. The Greek word [Ecclesia] translated church, is used one hundred and fifteen times in the New Testament. Its meaning is a select body of individuals [called-out] ; and is applied to the visible organization of those whom God has called out of the world, or out of a worldly life, to the faith and obedience of believers in Christ. And except by violence to the meaning and use of IOI the word church, as found in the New Testament and early church history, the church can be composed of only such. In the Christian church the uniik is the individual believer, and not the Jamily, as in Judaism. In this mistake pedo-bap- tism had its origin ; and a door was opened into the church, through which an unregenerate and corrupting element has entered the so-called church and wrought untold evils. 2. The Ordinances ofthe Church. There are two : (i) Bap tism, which is the immersion of a professed believer, in water, into the name ofthe Trinity or of the Lord Jesus. Matt. 28 : 19; Mark 16:16; Acts 19:5; Rom. 6:4. In proof of this, we have (a) the meaning of the word used, [Baptizo] — which always, literally or figuratively, means to immerse, to dip, or plunge into. (b) The uniform practice of the Christian church for more than a thousand years, (c) The practice of the great Eastern or Greek Church up to the present time. The occasional de parture from immersion to sprinkling in what were known as clinic or sick-bed baptisms, arose in the third century, and were strenuously opposed as irregular and invalid ; and were tolerated in view of that most mischievous error which early became rooted in the church, viz. : baptismal regeneration. (d) And finally ; the unhesitating avowal of the most learned and candid Bible scholars and church-historians in the various denominations of Christendom, that immersion is the original and only authorized method of Christian baptism. (2) The Lord's Supper, which is the partaking of bread and the fruit of the vine, after the example and in compliance to the command of Christ and in remembrance of him. Matt. 26 : 26 ; Mark 14 : 22 ; Luke 22 : 19; ist Cor. 11 : 24. Both of these are symbolic acts ; and were appointed by our Lord evidently to set forth in object-lessons the central and saving facts of the Gospel, viz. : the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and so by implication his death for us sinners ; and also that Christ is the bread, the sustenance of the true life of man, on which the soul of man must feed or starve. And to realize in symbol the fellowship between Christ and his people, as also among them selves as well ; which was anciently made so expressive by the breaking of bread together. And any change in these ordinances even in form, so far as to mar or vitiate the symbolism imbodied 102 in the ordinance, must not be allowed, or we empty them of their significance. Baptism does not mean cleansing or mere consecra tion, but death, burial, resurrection. Rom. 6 : 3. -Since baptism is the initial ordinance into the Christian church ; and the Sup per an ordinance within the church, it follows that only those who have been baptized can come in an orderly way to the Lord's Table. This is all there is in reality to what is called close-com munion. Query : How 'should evangelical churches of other denom inations be regarded by us ? As Christian churches, I think ; though not in full Gospel order. Christian courtesy and the love which Christ has enjoined among all true believers, and which ranks above ordinances, seem to require such a recognition ; though we mUst protest against their irregularity. 3. The Administration of the Ordinances. The pastor, who has first been ordained, is the proper administrator. In his absence, any ordained minister of the same denomination; and in the absence of such a person, the church may designate one of its members to administer either baptism or the Supper. The validity of both ordinances depends" upon the recipients. 4. Officers of the church are Pastor and Deacons ; and the latter may, and I think should, generally include some of the sister-hood. Rom 16:1; where Phebe is called a deacon or deaconess, ist Tim. 3:8: where we should read not — "their wives," but "the women;" i. e., the women in the deacon's office. The office of Deaconness is apostolic. LECTURE XLIV. CHURCH DISCIPLINE. The church is not a legislative body, but an executive body. It has no law-making power, but is to carry into execution the requirements which Christ, as Head over all things to the church, and his inspired Apostles, have enjoined in the sacred Scriptures. All rules and regulations other than these, or not legitimately growing out of them, are null and void. It is the duty therefore of the church to maintain a whole some discipline, according to the teachings of the New Testa ment, Matt. 28: 18, 19, as becomes the sacred character of the 103 church as the Bride, the Lamb's wife. Eph. 5 : 25, 27 ; 2d Cor. 11:2; Rev. 21 :g. (a) Discipline should be applied to those who walk dis orderly, ist Thess. 5 : 14 ; 2d Thess. 3 : 6— 11 ; those who de part from the faith, ist Tim. 4:1; 5:8; those who cause divisions, Titus 3 : 10. A "heretic," in the New Testament sense, is one who causes strifes and divisions in the church, and so introduces disorder into the body of Christ, and weakens it as the pillar and ground of the Truth. Col.- 1 : 24 ; Eph. 1 : 23,; 2 : 16 ; ist Tim. 3 : 15. (b) Discipline should be administered in the spirit both of love and faithfulness ; and have regard to both the spiritual welfare of the individual and the purity and good name of the church. The general law laid down by our Lord in Matt. 18 : 18 ; 5 : 23, 24, should be closely adhered to. See also Luke 17:3; James 3:1; Gal. 6:1,2. In cases of gross offence, and where the guilt of the party is unquestioned, the offender should be summarily separated from the church, and efforts be made to bring him to repentance, afterward, ist Cor. 5:1. (c) Authority of the Church. Within its own sphere, it is independent of other churches and of the civil power. John 18 : 36. Though its members as citizens, are subject to the civil law. Rom. 13 : 1 ; Titus 3:1. In the exercise of its spiritual and ecclesiastical rights, it is amenable to Christ alone. Eph. 1 : 20, 21. The church has the right to receive, discipline, dismiss arid exclude its members ; to settle and dismiss a pastor. But this authority must be exercised according to the principles laid down in the New Testament, ist Cor. 14 : 40. (d) There are, moreover, certain inter-dependencies among churches, especially of the same faith and order, which impose certain obligations upon them ; and these should be recognized and met, in the spirit of true Christian fellowship and helpful ness. The apostolic model, for the churches is, — "One Lord, one. faith, one baptism. ' ' Eph. 4:5. Churches exist for one and the same purpose, — tlie conversion of the world to Christ, Matt. 28: 19, 20, — the same experiences, the same hopes. On these are based those inter- dependencies spoken, of, which are so 104 helpfully enjoyed in Associations, Conventions, Councils and the various Missionary organizations which have sprung up. (e) The church, moreover, is to be outspoken on all ques tions of pure morals ; and pronounced in its condemnation of all that is evil in the community. The pastor, above all others, should be an example, in his public and private life, of all that is required of the church. John 13 : 15 ; Rom. 15 : 5 ; ist Tim. 4:12; James 5 : 1.0 ; ist Peter 2 : 21. He must watch for souls as one who must give account. Heb. 13 : 17. And be more anxious for the quality than for quantity in the membership of the church. 2d Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:7; Col. 1 : 22, 28 ; 2d Tim. 4 : 5. (/) Serious difficulties, which the church itself is unable to settle, may be submitted to a Council composed of delegates from neighboring churches of the same faith and order. The Council should be mutually called, if possible ; and its findings be accepted unless -very special and weighty reasons exist for rejecting them. The council also ordains and deposes ministers, when duly called by a church for these purposes. (g) The Pastor has authority ; and it is his duty to use this authority to declare all the counsel of God. Acts 20 : 27 ; ist Tim. 5 : 20 ; 2d Tim. 4:2; Titus 1 : 13. The authority, how ever, is not in his person, but in his office ; and should be exer cised in all tenderness and love, yet with firmness. Heb. 13 : 17- He has no power, civil or ecclesiastical, to enforce his authority against the declared judgment of the church ; and is forbidden to exercise lordship over God's heritage, ist Peter 2 : 24 ; 5:3; Matt. 20 : 25, 26 ; ist Thess. 2:7. If the pastor go beyond this, he transcends his calling, and must account to the chief Shepherd. Let pastors of Baptist churches keep these things in mind. If pastor and church cannot agree, it is a clear indication that he should resign. i°5 ESCHATOLOGY. This division of Theology treats, as its name implies, of the Last Things, viz. : Death, the Intermediate State, Millennium, Second Coming oj Christ, Resurrection, Judgment, Heaven, Hell. LECTURE XLV. DEATH. Death is an event which comes to us all. Job 21 : 26 ; Eccl. 8:8; Rom. 5:12; Gen. 3:19; Heb. 9 : 27. It is an event cer tain, not to men only, but to every thing on earth that has life, — animals, insects, vegetables. Death reigns here beside life. Life itself is a mystery ; we cannot solve it. We know its man ifestations ; something of its powers and processes ; but its essence God only knows. Death ensues when the vital principle, — the soul or spirit, — leaves the body ; the material organization. The former departs, we know not whither, but for revelation ; the latter decomposes and returns to the earth as it was. Gen. 3:19; Eccl. 12:7; Job 34: 15; Ps. 90:3; Isa. 57 : 16; Zech. 12: 1. Death is declared in the Bible to be ihe penalty of sin. Rom. 6 : 23 ; 5:12; Gen. 2:17. It thus seems to have been at first an arbitrary infliction ; and yet, as we experience it, death seems to come about in the order of nature ; which, however, does not in any way make it less a divine appointment. If man had not sinned, it is not probable that he would have lived here always. How his departure from this world would have been, we do not know. Possibly, we have a hint in the translation of Enoch and Elijah. Gen. 5:24; Heb. 11:5; 2 Kings 2:1. The life and death processes are continually going on in our bodie^s. 2. The Result oj Death. Is it the end of the man, of the beast, of the plant ? In reference to the latter we have no knowledge whatever. And the same is affirmed of man also^ by certain sceptics ; especially by materialists ; who hold that life, thought, emotion, character, are all the result of material organization and the inter-action of material forces ; as motion io6 in the watch, music in the harp or viol ; and that when the human organism is dissolved, the soul or spirit, as it is called, ceases to exist, as motion in the watch or music in the harp when they are destroyed. This, we deny for the following reasons : (a) In view of what is called the Teleological Argument. We find that every other form of life — animal and vegetable — reaches its full maturity here. This life furnishes ample scope for it, — the horse, the ox, the dog. The bird, the bee, the beaver, build their first nest, or comb, or dam, as perfectly as they do the last. They make no progress after they reach maturity. Instinct by which they act is as perfect in its first as in its last action. Whereas with man, how marked the difference ! He acts from reason. And long as he may live, and though under the most favorable circumstances, he is ever learning ; and the incom pleteness of his knowledge becomes more and more apparent the longer he lives. His intellectual faculties and moral powers do but open here, and hardly get beyond the bud; and if this be his only existence, the promise of blossom and fruit which is thus given can never be fulfilled. This puts him out of har mony with all the other works of God around him, and stamps the noblest work of God's hand that we behold, as a most sad and conspicuous failure. {ti) The Ethical Argument, viz. : Men do not here receive their full and just deserts, in either good or evil. Thoughtful men in all ages have marked this. Ps. 73 : 1 ; Matt. 25 : 14. Human life seems much like what a man might observe in the transactions of business, where cash payments and custom or trust are practised. The inequality of dealing presupposes a subse quent settling and adjustment. Rom. 1 : 20, 28. (p) The Traditional Argument, viz. : The belief of all nations and tribes in a future state of existence. Their ideas respecting it have been vague and often absurd ; but the belief itself exists nevertheless ; and must, therefore, rest on solid ground. It seems to be an intuition, — the voice of God in man, that he was not made to perish, like the dumb brute which he owns and drives. (d) We turn to the Word of God. Eccl. 11:9; 12: 14; Matt. 10:28; Luke 16:22; 2d Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9 : 27 ; Acts 7 : 59 ; J7 : 31 5 24 : 15 ; Rev. 20 : 12 ; 2d Tim. 1 : 10. 107 (e) The dead, as a matter of fact, have returned to this world, ist Kings 17:17 — 22; 2d Kings 4:33; Luke 10:51 ; 7 : 14, 15 ; John 11 : 43 ; Acts 9 : 40. The case of Rev. William Tennant, — which see. LECTURE XLVI. THE INTERMEDIATE OR MIDDLE STATE. Is there such a state of existence after death ? I do not now speak so much of place as of state. Do men at death pass directly to the fixed and final condition of happiness and woe? I think not. The Intermediate State is that condition of being between death and the final judgment. Men have conjectured much about this state, and sought in many ways to pry into its mysteries ; from the necromancy of the ancients, to the spirit- {prapping and seances of to-day. But nothing trust-worthy has been learned from these sources. The Bible reveals very little upon this matter ; and what it does are but hints that address the imagination rather than facts that enlighten the understanding. The Bible is divine in its silences, ist Sam. 28: 11. Perhaps these things are so much beyond us that they would distract our minds and unfit us for the pursuits of this world in which our present duties lie ; and so are wisely withheld from us. In the rather dim light which the Bible throws upon this question, we learn, I think, the following, viz. : («) That there is such a state. Acts 2 : 34 ; Luke 16 : 23 ; Rom. 8: 22, 23 ; ist Peter 3: 19, 20; 4 : 6. This state was conceived of by the Old Testament writers, as closely connected with the grave. They gave to it the name Sheol. This Hebrew word the Seventy translated by the Greek word Hades; which means properly, the unseen world; where, as they conceived, the spirits of the departed go; — a word in both the Greek and Hebrew of indefinite and shadowy meaning. Gen. 37 : 35 ; 42 : 38 ; ist Sam. 28:11; Job 3:22; 14:9; Hos. 14 : 13 ; Ps. 6 : 5 ; 86 : 13 ; Eccl. 9 : 10 ; Isa. 14 : 9 ; Ps. 9 : 17 ; 16:10; 49:15; Matt. 5:29; 10:28; 11:30; 16:18; Luke 16:23; Acts 2:31; Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:16, 14. These io8 words have been translated in most of our English versions, sometimes by grave, sometimes by hell. It is to be remembered that the old English word hell, in its etymology, is kindred with our word hole, — the grave. Neither the words grave or hell, as these words are now understood by us, are an accurate translation of either the Greek or Hebrew word ; nor have we any single word that does translate them. Dr. Conant translates them : "the under world," — where all were supposed to go at death, and where they were supposed by the Old Testament writers to exist in a kind of torpid or dreamy life. See Isa. 14; Job 3: 13. The New Testament writers, following the classic use of the word, conceived of it as having two apartments ; one for the good and the other for the bad. Luke 16 : 22. (b) We learn, concerning this state, that it is one of con scious existence. Isa. 14:9; Ezek. 32:21; Luke 16:22, 23; 23:42,43; Phil. 1:22; Heb. 12:23, 24; Matt. 22:32; ist Peter 3: 19; 4:6. [See Bapt. Quarterly, April, 1888.] The represention we so often meet wi.th in the Bible, of the dead as sleeping, is not to be interpreted literally ; as we know from John 11 : 11. The figure finds its justification in the resemblance of death to sleep ; and in common use in all languages. Dan. 12:2; ist Kings 1:21; ist Thess. 4 : 14 ; Matt. 9 : 24. Those who deny the conscious state of the dead, insist upon a literal rendering of this word sleep; (which^ as we see from the foregoing passages, is chiefly applied to the righteous dead ; ) and also because they are more or less tinctured with materialistic ideas of the soul. (c) The intermediate state will be in character what the man is when he dies. Death has in it no power to change the moral bias of a man. Rev. 22 : 11 ; Prov 14 : 32. Moral character is quite independent of our bodies or place of abode." {d) It will be a state of intensified experiences, to both the good and the bad. The good will be better off ; the bad worse off. Luke 16 : 23'; 2d Cor. 5 : 14 ; Mark 9 : 44 ; Phil. 1 : 23 ; 2d Tim. 4 : 6. The surroundings and associations of the two states will, we may presume, be in keeping with the characters of the per sons who are there. Acts 1 : 25 ; 2d Peter 2:9; Heb. 12 : 22, 23. (e) Will this be a disembodied state? Different views are 109 held. Of course, this mortal body will be dropped ; but is there some temporary clothing prepared for the spirit, during this period of its existence, or does the spirit receive the resurrection body at death? All these views have advocates, but we are not warranted in affirming anything upon this matter beyond the teachings of Scripture. Keep to them. 2d Cor. 5:1; Heb. 12 : 23 ; ist Peter 3:19; Acts 7 : 59. The fact that the dead are so often spoken of in the Bible as spirits ; and also seems to teach that the resurrection body is in some way essentially connected with the body that is laid in the grave, and to be raised hereafter, seems to' imply that the spirit in the inter mediate or hades state, is disembodied. (/) Will believers enter this state with the moral imperfec tions they have at death ? Why not ? unless a miracle be wrought at death ; which would be out of all congruity with the dealings of God with men here. Death itself certainly has no power to work such a change, so far as we know. "As the tree falleth." Eccl. 11 : 3 ; 2d Cor. 5 : 3, 4 ; Rom. 8 : 23 ; Phil. 3:11; 2d Peter 2:9; Rev. 6 : 10. May we not cherish the thought that the regenerate, by reason of their environments in that state, will be brought under spiritually sanitary influences ; that they will throw off all that is out of harmony with their renewed nature, and rapidly attain to a state of higher spiritual life ? Something perhaps as convalescing invalids do, when they are removed from fetid dis tricts to a seaside or mountain residence. The Church of Rome has carried this thought to an utterly unscriptural length, in its doctrine of purgatory. (g) Will probation or any of the moral cultures which the mercy of God has so graciously provided here in this life to recover the lost, be extended into the Intermdiate State ? You will be very likely to meet this question, which has been revived of late from an earlier age. This belief was avowed by Origen in the third century, and has found advocates in different ages since. For myself, I do not find sufficient ground in the Scriptures upon which to base such a beliej. Nor, on the other hand, do I find in the Bible, as I read it, or in reason, anything that for bids one from cherishing the hope that some knowledge of Christ no and the great salvation, and the opportunity of accepting or rejecting it, may, in. the abounding grace of God, be given to those who have never heard of Christ and his salvation, — before they shall meet the Judge face to face, and their eternal destiny be sealed. This, however, is but a hope. Our ignorance of the infinite things of God ; the sweep of his government ; the depths of his counsels, should chasten our thoughts, and abate our specula tions ; and keep us close to the word of God as the basis and warrant of all our beliefs. To all who hear the Gospel and come under the influence of the Spirit and grace of God in Christ, and reject or neglect these, and die in this sin, the Bible gives not a ray of hope. John 8 :2i, 24 ; Heb. 12 : 25 ; 10 : 28, 29; Matt. 12.: 31, 32. As to the heathen, our duty is plain. Matt. 28 : 19, 20; John 17 :i8; 20:21. And we have reason to fear for ourselves if we refuse or neglect the requirement of our Lord to carry to them the Gospel. Matt. 28 : 18. Those among them who die without the Gospel, we must leave to the righteous but tender mercies of God, who is not indifferent to them; who is no respecter of persons ; who is not willing that any should perish. Acts 10 : 34; Rom. 2:11; Eph. 6:9; Col. 3 : 25 ; ist Peter 1 : 17; 2d Peter 3:9. LECTURE XLVII. THE MILLENNIUM. The word Millennium is Latin, and means a thousand years. The Greek word Chiliad, which is sometimes met with, denotes the same thing. As used in theology, these words refer to a period in the future, when peace, great prosperity and blessed ness will extend over the-earth. Both the Old and New Testa ments give assurances of such a period, as the outcome of the Messiah's reign. Ps. 72:6; 86:9; Isa. 2:2; 25:6; 32:15; 60:18; 11:9; 55:13; Zech. 14:20; Jer. 31:34; Micah 3:4; Dan. 2 : 34 ; Rom. n : 25 ; Rev. 20 : 4, 5 ; Acts 3:21. Christ has redeemed the world ; has commanded his people to preach his Gospel to ever creature. In the issuance and ful filment of this commission, and the promise, — " Lo, I am with you always," we have a pledge of the Millennium. Two views have been held of the Millennium. One teaches that the second coming of Christ will precede the Millennium, and the other that it will Jollow the Millennium. The former are -called /Vtfmillennarians, and the latter /Wmillennarians. i , The Premillennarians teach that this world will never be converted by the mere preaching of the Gospel, even though attended by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was never so designed. The Gospel is to be preached rather as a witness, Matt. 24: 14, andlargelyasatestimonyag-am^wickedmen. That the world is to grow worse and not better ; and the elect are to be gathered out of all nations by the personal appearing of Christ. That the wicked are to be consumed by the brightness of his coming ; the righteous dead raised, and Christ, in his glorified humanity, to reign here on earth for a thousand years, ,or a period of indefinite length. During this time Satan is to be bound. Rev. 20 : 1. They further teach that there are to be two distinct resurrec tions; — one of the righteous, at the beginning, and the other of the wicked, at the end, of the thousand years. These views they base largely upon the interpretation which they give to ist Thess. 4 : 15 ; 2d Thess. 2:1, and especially Rev. 20. 2. The Postmillennarians, on the contrary, hold that (a) by the preaching of the Gospel, attended by the Holy Spirit, the world is to become thoroughly Christian. Men and their institutions are to be brought into accord with the teachings of Christ. That this is the purpose of the Gospel and of all Chris tian endeavor, (b) That the world under this agency is growing better and not worse; that the truth, so accompanied, is more than a match for sin ; that the Gospel is gaining power and winning conquests as never before, and by this gradual but accelerated progress the Millennium is to be ushered in and realized by the spiritual reign of Christ in the hearts and lives of men. (c) That the binding of Satan is not a literal act, but to be effected by the restraint put upon him through the greater prev alence of righteousness. The world-forces, which had always heretofore been largely under his control, will be converted, and work toward righteousness. 2d Thess. 2:3; Zech. 14 : 20 ; Isa. 60 : 17 ; Rev. 20: 1. (d) And that there will be but one gen- eral resurrection ; when both the righteous and the wicked will appear before God. John 5: 28; 11:23,24; Acts 4:1; 17:31, 32; 24: 15; 2d Cor. 5 : 10. The objections, then, which I make to the Premillennarian view are : — 1. The Scriptures, when most soberly interpreted and taken in their fullest scope, do not teach it. 2. It has never been a doctrine of the historic Church. . 3. The doctrine, whenever preached and accepted, has always tended to fanaticism, as the history of the Church shows. 4. It seems incongruous, and out of harmony with the order of things which God has here established, that there should be living at the same time, here on the earth, immortal, glorified men and women together with mortal men, born and marrying and dying. LECTURE XLVIII. THE SECOND ADVENT. This event is called the Parousia, which means ihe personal appearing ox presence of our Lord on earth. He himself often spoke of it, as also did the Apostles. Matt. 24:3. 27, 37, 39; 25:31; Mark 13:26; 14:62; 8:38; Acts 1 : n ; ist Thess. 4 : 16 ; 2d Thess. 1 : 7. The event is sometimes spoken of as near. James 5:8; Phil. 4:5; Heb. 10 : 25 ; ist Peter 4 : 7. Possibly this event may have seemed near, and was so spoken of, by a kind of mental optical illusion, by which objects of great magnitude, as mountains, though at a great distance, are still looked upon and spoken of as if they were near. So the magnitude of this great and imposing event may, for this reason, have impressed the mind as near at hand. The Apos tles did not know or pretend to tell the time. There are, how ever, various comings of Christ spoken of in the Scriptures. (a) At the death of each individual Christian. John 14 : 2 ; 16: 16. {ti) The great national calamity which befell the Jews. Matt. 10:23 ; 16: 28 ; 24: 14, 30; John 21 :23. H3 (c) Any great calamity, befalling a community, or a nation, as a manifest judgment of God, may be called a coming oi the Lord ; — as pestilence, famine ; the wars of Europe in the eighteenth century, that broke the power of the Roman Church and removed the obstacles to the spread of a purer Gospel; the Revolution in France ; our own Civil War. All power and judgment are committed to the Son. John 5: 22, 27; Matt. n : 27 ; 28: 18 ; Isa. 2 : 19 ; 26 : 9; Jer. 5:9; 14: 10. {d) Times of great revival in the Church, — Pentecost ; the Reformation ; awakening of the missionary spirit, and its mar vellous spread during this present century. But these are only signs and foretokens of what is properly the Second Coming of Christ, — the true Parousia. This will be at the end of this present dispensation. As the first coming of Christ terminated the Jewish or Old Testament dispensation, the second coming in like manner will end the present or Chris- tion dispensation. So the Scriptures seem to teach. Matt. 13 : 40, 41, 49 ; ist Cor. 1 : 7, 8 ; 15 : 23, 24 ; Heb. 9 : 28 ; James 5 : 7, 8 ; ist Tim. 6 : 14 ; 2d Tim. 4:1; ist Peter 1:7; 2d Peter 3:3,4; Titus 2:13; ist John 2 : 28. {e) This coming of Christ will be personal ; in his glorified human body. Acts 1 : 10, n ; Phil. 3 : 20, 21 ; ist Thess. 4 : 16 ; Heb. 9 : 26, 28 ; Mark 8 : 38 ; Rev. 1 : 7. {J) The Purpose of his coming will be to judge the world, and to adjust the affairs of men according to the principles of eternal rectitude, as modified by the grace of God in the Gospel. Matt. . 25 : 31 ; Rom. 2:16; Acts 2 : 16, 17 ; 2d Thess. 1:7; Rom. 14 : 10 ; 2d Cor. 5 : 10 ; 2d Tim. 4:1; Titus 2 : 12, 13 ; ist Peter 4:5. (g) The coming of Christ will be a surprise to the world. ist Thess. 5:2,3; Matt. 24 : 27, 37, 39 ; Luke 17 : 28 ; 2d Peter 3 : 4, 10. We are admonished not to be taken by surprise when this event shall occur. James 5:8, 9; Luke 12:39, 40; Rev. 3: 11 ; Phil. 4:5. {h) The definite time of this event is not revealed. Matt. 24:36; Mark 13:32. And all attempts to fix the time have been in vain, and in many cases worse than vain ; for they have produced unnatural and unhealthy excitements which have led men to neglect the duties of life ; and moreover, by forced and 114 unwarrantable interpretations of Scripture, have induced a spirit of scepticism in the Bible itself, as the word of God. (z) There is a sense in which this event is always near, and may be looked for without surprise. The very element of uncertainty as to time makes it so. Like death, it is always near us. " Leaves have their time to fall ; And flowers to wither, at the north wind's breath ; The stars to set ; but all, — .Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O death." — He-mans. A man walking along the verge of a precipice is continually within a step of the chasm, ist Sam. 20 : 3. (7) Is the time of the second coming of Christ so absolutely fixed that it cannot be hastened or delayed ? I incline to think not, humanly speaking. 2d Peter 3:11, 12. Like the "set time to favor Zion." Ps. 102:13, J4- The conversion of the heathen world may be hastened or delayed by the faithfulness or remissness of Christians. Yet, in the mind of God, times and season are all fixed. We may shorten or prolong our own lives, as we observe or violate the laws of health. {k) The second coming of Christ is a doctrine that has been dear to the church in all ages, and one which our faith ought more earnestly to embrace and hold ; and to have a larger place in our thoughts and preaching. One reason why it does not, I think, is due to the false and extravagant notions which have been held of it, and which have had the effect to bring this doctrine into disrepute. How few, alas, of those who profess to be Christians desire this event, and would not be mortally alarmed should it come to-morrow ! LECTURE XLIX. THE RESURRECTION. The doctrine of the Resurrection is one purely of revelation. We find in nature some hints, some partial analogies, but no proof of the Resurrection. The grub, which seems dead in the chrysalis, from which it comes forth as the gay butterfly ; vege- ZI5 tation, which seems to die in the autumn, but reappears in the spring; these both, however, retain a dormant life, which the spring-time quickens. There was something which almost sug gests the doctrine of the resurrection in the belief of the ancient Egyptians, known as metempsychosis; i. e., the passing of the human spirit into different forms of life when it leaves the body. It was the hope which this belief inspired, viz., that in some future period the soul might return to its earthly tenement, that led them to embalm the body. The Greek Philosophy rejected the idea of the Resurrection, holding as it did that mat ter is intrinsically vicious ; and that to be freed from the body is the only escape from evil ; and, therefore, should be the chief desire of " the good and true." Acts 17 :32. The doctrine of the Resurrection, as taught in the New Testa ment, was slowly unfolded in the Old Testament. We meet no certain reference to it in the Books of Moses. We have the hint, the hope, the expectation of it, in the later Old Testament books. Indeed, the Resurrection of our Lord's body was foretold by David, as declared by Peter, Acts 2 : 24, 31 ; quoted from Ps. 16 : 8 ; perhaps also 2 : 7 and 17 : 15 ; Acts 13 : 33, 34, 37 ; Heb. 1 : 5 ; 5:5J Job 19 : 25 ; Isa. 26 : 19 ; Dan. 12:2; Hos. 13 : 14 ; ist Kings 17 : 22 ; 2d Kings 4 : 33. The doctrine had come into general belief in the time of Christ. John n : 24 ; Matt. 22 : 28 ; Mark 12 : 18 ; Acts 23 : 8 ; 24: 15- This doctrine in its fulness and joyousness is one especially of the New Testament ; of Christ, who, by his own resurrection and the raising of others from the dead, demonstrated its reality ; but only by his own, as a final fact in human experience ; since his resurrection was the first, full and complete triumph over the power of death. 2d Tim. 1 : 10. The most instructive and important passages bearing upon this subject are ist Cor. 15 ; 2d Cor. 5:1 — 10 ; ist Thess. 4:13 — 17; Rom. 8: n — 23; Matt. 27:52, 53. From these we learn the following : — (a) The Resurrection is to be general ; i. e., will include the whole human race, both righteous and wicked. John 5 : 28, 29 ; Acts 24 : 15 ; Dan. 12 : 2 ; Rev. 20: 13 ; 2d Cor. 5 : 10. (b) The Resurrection will be the resumption of the body, or n6 of a body ; uot this identical body of flesh and blood which we lay off at death and which return to the dust. Gen. 3 : 19; Eccl. 1:13; ist Cor. 15 : 50. Yet a body, in some way identi fied or so related to the present body as to be, in some real sense, our body, ist Cor. 15 : 51, 54; Phil. 3:21. Many of the Christian Fathers believed that the identical body is to be raised, with all its deformities, especially so in the case of the wicked. How can it be the same in any sense, and yet so different? Diamond, Coal, etc. {c) The resurrection body will be spiritual, ist Cor. 15 : 44, 50 ; i. e. , will be adapted to the spiritual state and to spiritual uses, as these material bodies are to this present earthly state of existence. They will still be composed of matter, I suppose ; but of some highly-attenuated form. The resurrection body will be like that of Christ's, after his resurrection, his ascension and glorification ; as it appeared to John on Patmos ; Rev. 1:12; and to Paul on his way to Damascus. Acts 9:3; 22:6; 26: 12. {d) Of the method of the Resurrection we know nothing ; as it is not revealed. Whether it will be by a stupendous miracle, or by processes so analogous to those which are here taking place, as to make it, in a sense, natural on the large scheme of the divine working, it does not become us to say. " The soul or animal life," says Dr. Dodge, "determines our natural bodies ; the spirit will determine our resurrection bodies ; and the bodies of both the righteous and the wicked will reveal, and be suited to, their conditions." We know that in both the animal and vegetable worlds, the life forces possess the power to build a body suitable to express its life ; the vital element in a kernel of corn takes from the soil by the process of what we call growth, and builds a stock suit able to it. And so of the dog, the horse, the man. How far, if at all, some process like this may be used by the Great Worker to form the resurrection body, we do not know. . There is but little ground for such speculation, however, when we are informed that the change which those will under go who are alive when the Lord appears, will be instantaneous. ist Cor. 15 : 51 ; ist Thess. 4: 15 ; Phil. 3:21. (e) The resurrection body will be incorruptible, ist Cor. 15 : 117 42. Whether it will require nourishment or not, we do not know. The ancient pagans believed that the departed spirits, and even the gods, had need of food. The reference to eating and drinking in the kingdom of God, — Matt. 26 : 29 ; Lev. 14 : 15, — more probably refers to spiritual communion among the glori fied and with Christ. Being immortal, the body will never be come subject to decay. The flight of years will have no effect to mar its beauty or waste its strength. In the Resurrection, we are told, we shall be like, or equal to, the angels. In what way, we do not know. Matt. 22 : 30 ; Luke 20 : 36. (_/) How far the attending circumstances of the Resurrection, as represented in the Scriptures, are to be taken as literal, and how far as figurative, it may be difficult to determine ; and is a matter largely of interpretation. We are not to suppose that a literal trumpet is to be sounded to wake the dead. No mere noise could do that. This I take to be figurative, and borrowed from the ancient custom of summoning the people together by the blast of the trumpet ; or as during the exodus from Egypt, and also among the Greeks. (g) There is to be, so the Scriptures seem plainly to teach, but one general Resurrection ; and that will include both the just and the unjust. John 5:28, 29; ist Cor. 15:52; Isa. 26:19; ist Thess. 4:16; Dan. 12:2; Acts 4:2; 24:15; 26:8. The first and second Resurrections spoken of in Rev. 20, are, I think, to be understood as figurative ; the first Resurrection being the appearing, in subsequent times, of men of the spirit which the old martyrs possessed, as John Baptist is called Elijah. Matt. 17 : 12. The book of Revelation is in many parts highly figurative ; and to apply the principles of interpretation to it that we do to plain, literal narrative ; or to calm, logical statements of doctrine, — is to violate not only the first law of exegesis but of common sense as well. It were better, then, to understand by the Resurrection there spoken of, the re-appearing on earth of men, who, in char acter, were a copy of the ancient worthies and martyrs of the faith. It becomes us to cherish this great and blessed doctrine of the Bible and of our faith, as did the Apostles and early Chris- n8 tians. Whether near or distant, its certainty, solemnity and glory make it fit to hold a higher place in the thoughts of God's people and in the ministrations of the pulpit. LECTURE L. THE JUDGMENT. This great and solemn event is to signalize — so the Scriptures represent — the end of the world; and close the drama of human history. In some of our Lord's parables it is called the "Harvest of this world," or of this age. Matt. 13 : 30. Men and the characters of men are here maturing, like the growing fields of husbandry in the summer. Under the providence of God, the Gospel, the Holy Spirit and the whole train of circumstances under which we are now living, and by the use we make of them, men are ripening to their final des tiny ; — the wheat into the full and precious ear ; the tare into its vile and manifest worthlessness. And when all the successive generations of men have thus ripened, then will come the Judgment, — the harvest of the world. The coming of such an event is made sure by the word of God. John 3 : 18, 19; Acts 17 : 31 ; 24 : 25 ; Heb. 9 : 27 ; Rom. 14: 10; 2d Cor. 5 : 10 ; 2d Tim. 4:1; 2d Peter 2 : 4, 9 ; 3:7; Jude 6 ; Rev. 20 : 12 ; Dan. 7:9- 1 . These solemn and positive assurances of the Bible find an echo in the convictions of men, the world over, and the ages through ; accord with that sense of justice which is innate in men, and which find also in the conscience an answering response. The literature of all antiquity is proof of this. The fact is obvious to all who think, that this world is not one of equal and impartial justice, and thereby suggests that there must be somewhere, at some time hereafter, an evening-up of things, or our moral sense suffers an inevitable shock. Ps. 73 ; 58:11. 2. There axe partial judgments constantly occurring in the world under the providential dealings of God with men and nations which suggest and make reasonable ; — indeed are divine voices lifted up in tones of awful warnings of a full and final judgment to come, Adam's expulsion from Eden ; the Flood, Sodom ; ii9 the Plagues of Egypt ; the overthrow of Babylon ; Nineveh ; Jerusalem ; Rome ; Reformation ; French Revolution ; our Civil War. These are indices, along the way the generations of men have travelled, of a "Judgment to come." Clirist has declared, "Now is the judgment of this world." John 12:31. Each day would become a day of Judgment if we but took in its full meaning. The words and character of Christ are continually judging men ; the conscience, in its approvals and disap provals, — these all are pointers to and premonitions of the Judgment which shall adjust all human affairs, and award not partial, but full and eternal, justice. 3. This event is designated sometimes as the day of Judg ment. Matt, n : 22, 24; 12 : 36 ; 10 : 15. The day of the Lord. ist Thess. 5 : 2 ; 2d Cor. 1 : 14 ; 2d Peter 3 : 10, 12 ; Jude 6 ; Rev. 6:17. That day. Mal. 3:17: Matt. 7:22; 24:36; Mark 13 : 32 ; Luke 10: 12; ist Thess. 5:4; 2d Tim. 1:12, 18 ; 4:8. Day of wrath. Rev. 6:17; Rom. 2 : 5. LECTURE LL THE JUDGMENT — CONTINUED. 4. How long this day may be we do not know. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years." 2d Peter 3: 8. We must not think it a day of twenty-four hours ; for it will be at the end of time, when the sun shall have ceased to rise and set and to measure days and seasons. Some hold — Drs. Dorner and Dodge — that the judgment begins at death, and is con tinued through the intermediate state ; which will be one proc ess of judgment, wrought in the consciousness of each individual, in self-condemnation or self- approval ; and not the less, in being so, will it be divine, — God's judgment; and that this process will reach a climax, and become final and fixed at the close of that period. 5. The Judgment will be universal. The whole human race will come before God to judgment. 2d Cor. 5 : 10 ; Matt. 25 : 32 ; Rev. 20: 12 ; John 5: 28, 29; 12: 37 ; Eccl. 12: 14; 2d Thess. 1 : 6 — ro. 120 This seems but manifest justice. And the Judge of all the earth will do right. Gen. 18:25. None can escape that day; in whatever obscurity they may have lived, or in whatever out- of-the-way place they may have died and been buried ; all will be there. Job 34: 22. Adam and all his posterity. 6. The judgment will be individual. Eccl. 11:9; 12:14; Rom. 2:5,6, 15, 16; 14:12; ist Cor. 3:13; 4 = 5; 24 Cor. 5:10; Matt. 12:36; Luke 12:2, 3, 8, 9; ist Tim. 2 : 24, 25; Rev. 20 : 12. Thus not only the open and public acts and words of men will be reviewed, but their thoughts as well and secret purposes will all come to light and into judgment ; because these all go to form and mature character. And more ; — our influence upon others, in shaping their lives and forming their characters. Gen. 4:9. Yes, we are our brother's keeper. And more still, the judgment will take in and sum up the entire sweep of our influence to the end of time. In a sense, we just begin to live when we die. Our influence lives after us, in the lives of others, who have been in any way affected by our lives for good or ill. No man is therefore in a condition to be judged till the end of time, when all these intricate and interwoven threads of influence will be disentangled, and traced back to their sources, and the exact measure and weight of responsibility laid at the door of each man. How solemn, how perilous, a thing it is to live! " 'Tis not the whole of life to live, Nor all of death to die." 7. Christ, the God-man, will be the Judge. Matt. 25 131, 34, 40 ; John 5 : 22, 23 ; Acts 17:31; 2d Tim. 4:1. The very man who was born the babe of Bethlehem ; the very man of Nazareth, of Gethsemane and Calvary, who "came to seek and to save that which was lost, ' ' who went about over the hills and through the valleys, by the sea-side and by-ways of Galilee and Judea ; — this same man, who passed through all our human experience, save only that of personal sin; this same man, — and because he is a man, — "the Son of man," John 5 : 27, is to o'ccupy the judgment seat. Power to raise the dead, to summon all before his tribunal, to decide and fix the destines of men, — all this is given into his hands. Then, after this, the Son shall himself becom^subject to God the Father, ist Cor. 15 : 24 — 28. He will always be the Head of the ."Church," the King of his people ; and possibly the one medium of access to the infinite, invisible and ineffable God. 8. Associated with Christ, in some way, will be the saints, in the judgment. Matt. 19 : 28 ; Luke 22 : 28 — 30; ist Cor. 6:2, 3 ; Rev. 3:21. How censoriously and bitterly has the world judged the saints of God ! Condemned and subjected them to all kinds of cruelty and shame and death. Then the tables will be turned. 9. The grounds or standard of judgment will be, (a) the law of God, as written in the consciences of men, which will then be quickened into the most vigorous action. Rom. 1:18; 2 : 14, 15. {b) The revealed will of God, to men who have it. John 12 : 48 ; Mark 16 : 16. {c) The relation in which men stand to Christ, as will appear in the life of each. Matt. 25 : 40, 45. Every man will stand self -revealed. His own record will be his condemnation or his approval. Rev. 20: 12; Rom. 2 : 12, 15, 16 ; 2d Cor. 5 : 10. The "Books" will be the record which each has made upon the tablets of his own soul. 10. The judgment will be a complete vindication of the char acter and government of God from all the aspersions which wicked men and demons have cast upon it. There will be no atheists, infidels or scoffers at the bar of judgment. Every mouth will be stopped. Rom. 3 : 19 ; Matt. 22 : 12. And the throne of God, in its absolute purity, will be seen to be ' 'the great white throne." Rev. 20 : 1 1 ; Rom. 1 : 20 ; 3 : 19 ; Ps. 107 : 42 ; Ezek. 16 : 63 ; Gal. 6 : 7 — 10. 1 1 . The most tragic event of that day, it would seem, will be the trial of the devil and his angels. Jude 6 ; 2d Peter 2:4; Rev. 20 : 10. Think of the silence and solemn awe that will fall upon the countless multitudes of the earth's inhabitants, when (continuing the figure under which the judgment scene is set before us in the Bible) the mighty angel, the High Sher iff of the universe., shall conduct the arch-fiend and traitor in chains, blackened with all his guilt and crime against God and the human race which he has ruined, to answer to the indict ment brought against him. What a moment va. the annals of time ! 122 LECTURE LH. THE HEAVENLY STATE. The word heaven is really a past participle from the verb to heave, and means something heaved or lifted up. We speak and conceive of heaven as above us. So it is, morally and spiritually. But, literally and physically where, or in what direction is it, — what shall we say? As the earth revolves on its axis every twenty-four hours, the words up and down are mere relative terms, whose direction is continually changing. The Bible representations of heaven are chiefly as a state. Its essence will be a personal experience, into which we shall come by the abounding grace and riches of God and our own prepa ration for it made in this present life, and will consist largely in the following experiencies : viz. {a) Eternal Life. Matt. 25 : 46 ; Mark 10:30; John 3 : 15; 6 : 54 ; 10 : 28 ; 12 : 25 ; 17 : 23 ; Rom. 6 : 23 ; Tit. 1:2; 3:7. {ti) Glory, honor, exaltation. 2d Cor. 4:17; John 17:22; Rom. 2 : 10; 8: 18 ; 9 : 23; ist Cor. 15 : 43 ; Eph. 1 : 18; 8:11; Heb. 2 : 10. {c) Rest. Matt, n : 28, 29 ; 2d Thess. 1:7; Heb. 3:11, 18 ; 4:3- {d) Knowledge, ist Cor. 13 : 8 — 12 ; Eph. 4: 13 ; Phil. 3:8; Col. 1:9; 2:3; 2d Peter 1:5. {e) Worship. Rev. 19:1; 9: 22; 7:9; 21: 22. (/) No Night. Rev. 21 : 25 ; Isa. 60 : 20 ; Zech. 14 : 7-1 1 ; Rev. 22 : 5. Responsibility. Matt. 25 : 21. These descriptions are put in contrast with many of our experiences here. 2. Heaven will be a. place as well as a state. John 14 : 2, 3. Whether Christ's words here refer to the Intermediate state as the temporary abode of the redeemed, or to the place of final exal tation, is not clear. But it assures us that the resources of Christ, who has all power in heaven and earth, will be used to prepare a fitting abode for his redeemed people. Since our glorified bodies are to be composed no doubt of matter, as is the divinely human body of Christ, they will occupy space ; and space implies place. 123 Many theologians have held that the final abode of the saints is to be this world, when it shall be purified. Great cosmic changes have, in the ages past, taken place in the condition ofthe earth, as shown by geology, which have fitted it successively and progressively for the abode of an increasingly higher order of life ; and that other changes may occur which shall fit it for a still higher order of life, is not unreasonable to suppose ; aud so to become at length an appropriate abode for glorified saints. There are certainly forces within the earth, and more or less active, which if so directed may make it such an abode. Rev. 8 : 19 — 23 ; 2d Peter 3 : 12, 13 ; Rom. 8 : 19, 20, 21. The whole earth made habitable, the sea converted into dry land, Rev. 21:1, we can hardly conceive the number it could contain. It has been computed that thirty miles square would contain, easily, all the present inhabitants of our globe. Then, how much space the celestial body may require ; or what may be the texture of the new heavens and the new earth, it is be yond our present power to conceive. It seems to me reasonable that the earth, thus redeemed and new-fashioned, may become as it were, our homestead; while we have access, by appliances we know nothing of, to all parts of the universe of God. The telegraph, telephone, phonograph, are already affording hints that set the imagination aglow. John 14: 2, 3, seems, however, to make against this view. [See Dr. Dick's Speculations.] These, however, are but speculations, not improbable, to be sure, but not to be built upon. The symbolic representations of heaven as a city, of such glory and magnificence and vastness, is an address to our im agination, in order to give us some idea of what it is like. Rev. 21. 3. Heaven will supply all the conditions of a home. John 14:2. Monai, the Greek word here used, means permanent abodes. The home-feeling, so strong with us here, and so large an element in our life, will be fully and completely enjoyed there. While, however, heaven will be our home, yet not every place in it may be equally our home. The limitations which belong to personality may there operate as here to make some particular place or set of circumstances our true home, as fur nishing completer satisfaction. While our home here is in 124 America, not every place in America is home. Heb. n : 13 — 16. Our hymnology abounds in very delightful allusions to heaven as our home. LECTURE LIU- THE HEAVENLY STATE — CONTINUED. 4. Heaven will be a place of social enjoyments. This, the word ' ' home ' ' would suggest ; for what a barren word home would be without such enjoyments ! The saints are a family, a household. Eph. 2:19; 3:6; Phil. 3 : 20 ; Heb. 12 : 22, 23 ; ist Cor. 1:9; ist John 1 : 3. Heaven is alsp represented as a city ; which suggests the same thing. Rev. 29 : 9 ; 21 : 10, 16, 18,19; 22: 14. How much of the happiness of heaven may be due to such association with the pure, the cultured, the refined, we have a hint of by what we find in such associations here ; and think what life would here be without them ! 5. The question is often asked, and more frequently occurs to the mind : — Shall we know each other there ? Why not ? Will our powers be less acute or their action more hampered there than here? This is not reasonable. But how shall we know each other ? We are not told in the Bible ; though I think the fact is implied. If we are to possess bodies, and essentially these bodies, why may we not know each other there in something the same way we do here ? — by the lineaments and expression of our faces, and those thousand subtle and impalpable means, by which we recognize each other here. To one who can read faces, even here a man's character and identity are known. Our prevailing thoughts and feelings, those most cherished, en grave themselves upon the face, which becomes the tablet of the soul, by which in a measure we are "known and read of all men." And if so here, on the gross material of which these bodies are made, how much more on the finer and more impres sible yet imperishable material of the spiritual face ; — as be tween a piece of sculpture in coarse sandstone and in the finest and purest marble ? But exactly how we may recognize each other, we do not know. Moses and Elijah were known, when they appeared. Matt. 17 : 3 ; Mark 9:4; Luke 9 : 30, 33. And the rich man and Lazarus are so represented, ist Cor. 13 : 12. 125 We are assured we shall be satisfied. Ps. 17 : 15. And if these earthly recognitions are needful to this, they will be granted. 6. Heaven will be a place and condition of ever increasing knowledge and activity. We are created with active powers, and our happiness here depends almost wholly upon their proper exercise. To these powers there seems no limit either in activity or in growth, both for acquiring and using knowledge. The more we acquire, the more our powers are disciplined, the larger become our means and the greater our ability to acquire more and more. Like interest on money, the more one has, the more it accumulates. In that world of truth and clear vision, with all the multiplied and multiplying helps, what heights of knowledge in all the infinite realms of thought may we attain to ; and what noble uses will it be put to! ist Cor. 1:9; 13: 11 ; Rom. 11: 33; 15 : 14 ; Col. 2:3; 3 : 10 ; 2d Peter 1:5; 3:2; Phil. 1:9; Cor. 2 : 14. " There shall be no night there." Rev. 21:25. No weak ness of body or mind, or cessation from activity. Change, even here, is rest. The activities and responsibilities of heaven that we shall be called to, are suggested by the words of Christ to the faithful servant. Matt. 24 : 47 ; 25 : 21, 23 ; Luke 19 : 17, 19 ; 22 : 29. What may be the nature of these services and responsibilities, we do not know ; but something worthy of the heavenly state and of Him who assigns them ; and along the line of our tastes and talents. It will not be a constrained, but a voluntary, service. Each no doubt will choose in perfect freedom the line and nature of service. There may be his torians in heaven. And what a field to range over ! Poets, and what themes to inspire ! Musicians, and what oratorios and anthems for the choirs of heaven ! Philosophers, astrono mers, inventors ; and what an amplitude of material the uni verse will afford for such pursuits ; all leading to larger knowledge and vaster conceptions of God, — of his wisdom, his power, his goodness, love and grace ! 7. Heaven will be the place and condition of perfect joy and blessedness. Ps. 16:11; 36:8, 9; 84:11; Isa. 51:11; ist Cor. 2:9; ist Peter 4:13. No sore trials, no temptations, no falling into sin, no repenting, no regretting. We shall have joy in ourselves. Prov. 14 : 14. Joy in each other, joy espe- 126 daily iu God, — the ocean source of all joy. " Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Matt. 25 : 23. What is this joy of Christ? The joy of redemption. Isa. 53 : 11. The joy of conquest, victory. "He that overcometh." Rev. 2 : 7, 11, 17, 26; 3 : 12, 21 ; 21 : 7, 8 ; 2d Tim. 4 : 7. This joy of heaven will ever be on the increase. Isa. 9:6, 7. If this be so, what must our experience at length become ! The chief joy, I think, will be the full, blissful sense and consciousness of being holy, — what God would have us be. Nothing in ourselves or in each other to mar our joy, and nothing but what will give joy to God himself, as he sees in us the perfect likeness of his own adorable and well-beloved Son. Eph. 5:27; 2d Peter 3:14; Rev. 7 : 13. 8. This progress of intellectual and spiritual -attainment may be by great stages ; one stage fitting us to enter upon another and higher one. We read of "principalities and powers and dominions." Eph. 1:21; 3:10; Col. 1:16; Phil. 2:9, 10; Heb. 1:4. Something like ranks in military promotion; or perhaps like our experience during the ante-natal, the present, the inter-mediate states ; each preparing us for the next higher and more glorious state. 9. And this, to go on forever and ever! This life which we here, have in Christ is eternal life. Rom. 2:7; 6 : 23 ; John 3:15; 5 :24; 4: H; ist John 1:2; 5:11, 12. Whatever view we may hold of the natural or conditioned immortality of man, — this life which we have in Christ is con firmed and made sure. It is God's life in us, the life of Him who only hath immortality, ist Tim. 6 : 16. Eternity, never-ending, ever-increasing life ! with all that can enrich it. Oh, what shall we at length attain to ? " A f ar more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2d Cor. 4: 17. Ever, ever, ever and forever, living, growing, nearing, but never reaching the measure and glory of the Godhead ! What are the prophecies, the possibilities of such a life, and the his tory that its records will make during the countless ages ? 127 LECTURE LIV. FUTURE STATE OF THE WICKED. This will in every way be the very opposite to the state of the righteous, inasmuch as their characters are opposite. We draw all definite knowledge of what this is to be from the Word of God. For though reason, observation and experience, so far as these go, look in the same direction, yet the Word of God furnishes the only reliable knowledge we have on this sub ject. All pagan literature has recorded forebodings of evil for wicked in the future ; and their religions have consisted largely in rites and ceremonies, often of self-torture, to appease the anger of their gods. As men have advanced in knowledge and civilization, the idea of future retribution has become more pro nounced and permanent. " I am convinced," said Socrates, in his last conversation in the prison, "that there is something good in store for the good, and evil for the wicked." The future state is but the present, with its tastes, tenden- dencies, habits, moral forces, and spiritual affinities, projected into the future, intensified and made permanent. "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness." Prov. 14: 22. 1. As the saints are to occupy a place hereafter, so too we learn from the Scriptures, are the wicked. That place is in Scripture called Hades, Sheol, translated hell ; Gehenna of fire. Ps. 9:17; Matt. 5:29,30; 23:15,33; Luke 16:23 — 28; Acts 1 : 25 ; 2d Peter 2 : 4. [For meaning of Hades and Sheol, see Lecture on Intermediate State. ] 2. This place was prepared originally not for men, but for the devil and his angels. Matt. 25 : 41 ; 2d Peter 2:4; Jude 6. [Concerning these beings, see Lecture on Angels.] Though prepared for another order of beings, it is fit that those of the human race who have become morally like Satanic beings, have allied themselves with them in opposition to God, — should share their fate. . 3. The place does not cause the punishment. This comes directly and inevitably from the character oi the wicked. Sin is its own punishment. John 2:19; Hosea 3:9; Ps. 34 : 21, 22 ; 128 James i : 14, 15 ; Rom. 6 : 23. We see this result showing itself in this life. Sin tends to ruin ; and unless restrained, is sure to end in ruin. We see it in drunkenness, licentiousness, fraud, falsehood, laziness. All forms of vice and immorality are self- inflictive. Prov. 1 131. The prison, chain-gang, the gallows, street-broils, family discords, suicides and many of the diseases which prey upon men, are the immediate and inevitable results of sin; and are so many pointers to the final result which sin will reach. The hell which the wicked go to, they carry with them ; in themselves. The penalty inflicted upon the wicked will be largely the sin in the man himself ; bringing forth its natural fruit. Gal. 6 : 7, 8. Sin, with the pleasure gone, and only the sting remaining. 2d Cor. 5 :io; Rom. 1 : 28, 29; 2 : 8, 9 ; Rev. 20: 13. 4. The sufferings of the wicked will be largely mental — " Son, remember." Luke 16 : 25. And what a source of suffer ing will memory be, and the condemning consciousness that one has brought all this upon himself, and that whatever blame he may lay to the charge of others, he can find no excuse for him self ! "I did it ; I knew better ; I was warned again and again ; I shut my eyes to the consequences and hardened my heart, — threw off restraint, stifled my conscience. I, /am the sinner. God's judgments are just ; I suffer righteously. Too late ! " Prov. 1 124. Sin is not of the body, it is not a quality or property of mat ter. It defiles the body, uses the body ; but its seat is in the soul ; it is of the soul, and is carried by the soul, when it leaves the body which it has defiled, into the world of retribution. "The mind is its own place, and can make A heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. Which way I fly is hell ; myself am hell." —Milton. 5. What may be the kind of bodies the wicked will have in that world, we do not know. But if the resurrection restores to the righteous, materially the same body, we may presume it will be so in the case of the wicked. And as the bodies of the one will be a source of enjoyment, will not those of the other be a source of misery ? Matt. 5 : 29 ; 10 : 28. 129 LECTURE LV. STATE OF THE WICKED — CONTINUED. 6. The place of punishment is represented as dark ; — outer darkness. Light denotes knowledge, truth ; darkness denotes error, falsehood. Matt. 8:12; 25 : 30. The place will no doubt be in keeping with the character of those who are there. It will be their own place ; as in the case of Judas. Acts 1 : 25. As their life here has fitted them to destruction, (Rom. 9 : 22,) so the place itself will be fitted to their character and deserts. A prison, ist Peter 3: 19; Rev. 20:7. A confined, restricted, ever-narrowing life. The mind, made to soar into the immensity of God, and to find ever new delight; shut in as by prison walls ; shut out from the light, which is its true element — what, alas, must be its state ! 7. The companionships of the lost. As those of the saved will minister to them ever new, enlarged and enlarging exper iences of joy ; so, on the contrary, the companionship of the lost, will be debasing, degrading ; will call out the viler passions of the soul — hate, envy, malice, revenge. Learn from the compan ionships of the wicked in this world, — saloons, gambling-hells, brothels. 2d Tim. 3:13. 8. The elements of punishment are represented as the most severeand intense— fire . Matt. 13 : 42 — 50 ; 18 : 8 ; 25 : 41 ; Mark 9 : 40 ; ist Cor. 3:13; 2d Thess. 1:8; Jude 7 ; Luke 16 : 24. The language here, no doubt, is figurative, and is to be so interpreted ; but this does by no means empty the awful sym bol of its significance. As fire is to the flesh, so the raging passions will be to the soul. 9. This punishment, the Bible teaches, is to he forever. Matt. 25:46; Luke 13:25; 2d Peter 2:17; Rev. 20:10; 14:11. Mark 3 : 29 tells us of an eternal sin. Matthew and Luke speak of a sin which hath never forgiveness. Matt. 12:31; Luke 12:10. Also Heb. 6:4; 10:26,27. Suffering and sin are inseparable in the nature and necessity of things ; as effect and cause. God cannot make it otherwise, unless he should unmake the human soul and reconstruct it on 13° some other plan than the existing moral constitution of things. And this would involve a change in the moral government of God, — a change in God himself. LECTURE LVI. OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. Objections have been taken to this doctrine : i . By Universalists , who claim that the Fatherhood of God will not admit of any such view, or allow of any such suffering as this ; that men are punished here in this world for their sins, and that when they die, all go to heaven. But Christ, who came to reveal, and who did reveal in the most tender way, the fatherhood of God, the love and compas sion of God, — taught in the most explicit manner, and by the most appalling words, this doctrine of future punishment. God's fatherhood does not cancel his sovereignty, nor does his love set asidehis justice. Nor is it in accordance with the teachings of the Bible or the experience of men, that sin is duly punished in this world. The inequalities which mark human life in this respect have always been observed by reflecting men, and made the occasion of doubts and questions respecting the justice of God and the rectitude of the divine government. Indeed, what wicked men suffer for their sinful deeds in this world, is largely of the nature of discipline ; or resembles more the pains and dis abilities which the criminal suffers, before the due penalty for his crime is inflicted. 2. The Restorationist, who holds that those who die in im penitence are punished hereafter, but that all punishment is corrective ; and when the corrective results are wrought out, the punishment will cease ; and restoration to the favor of God will follow. It may require, they acknowledge in the case of some, ages to effect this restitution ; but what are ages, the longest conceivable, to eternity? They quote Acts 3 :2i ; Eph. 1 : 10 ; Col. 1 : 20 ; Phil. 2:9, 10, 11 ; Rom. 11 : 26. But ultimate penalty is not inflicted upon men for the purpose of reforming them. The judge in our criminal courts condemns the culprit to suffer the penalty of the law, because he is guilty and deserves punishment. The judge as the minister I3i of justice, is not in this attitude a reformer. Law is not enacted or administered to reform, but to restrain and punish. Rom. 13= i—7- In our prison discipline there are two agencies at work, — the legal and the gracious; the one to punish, the other to reform. But not so after the final judgment. 3. Those who hold to the final destruction of the wicked deny, of course, their eternal punishment. They claim that the fol lowing Scriptures, if they do not directly teach it, strongly suggest the final destruction of the wicked. Rom. 6 : 23 ; James 1:15; 2d Thess. 1:7; Isa. 1:28; Ps. 73:27; 37:20; Mal. 4:1, 3 ; Phil. 3:19; ist Tim. 6:9. They insist upon a very literal interpretation of these pas sages, and especially in rendering the words "death, destruc tion," etc. They also deny the natural immortality of the soul ; and maintain that ' 'eternal life" is the gift of God ; and is found only in Christ. Rom. 6 : 23 ; ist John 5:11, 12 ; John 1:4; 4:9; 3 : 36 ; 5 : 24 ; 15 : 6. They point to very strong sugges tive analogies in the natural world, viz. : blossoms on our fruit trees; which, unless they are impregnated hy pollen, come to naught. Immortality, the Bible affirms, belongs to God. ist Tim. 6 : 12, 15, 16 ; John 5 : 26, 40 ; Heb. 6:2; Rom. 2 : 7. In reply to the above I would say : {a) That it is question able if the literal rendering of the words "death," "destruction," etc. , is the true one. Death is not annihilation. Our bodies die, but are not annihilated. A thing is destroyed when it is so marred as to be useless; and fails of the purpose for which it was designed, {ti) "Eternal life," as used in the Bible, means not so much existence eternally prolonged, as such an existence , enriched by all those experiences that can make it an eternal joy and blessedness to live, {c) Immortality, also, 'as used in the Bible and as the original Greek word signifies, — means rather incor- ruptibleness, than an eternal existence. In this sense, none of us have natural immortality, for we are all naturally corrupt. 4. Degrees in Punishment. There can be no doubt that there will be degrees in the punishment of the lost. This is reasonable and scriptural ; and would accord with the different degrees of guilt. Luke 11:31, 32; 12:47,48; Deut. 25 : 2 ; John 9:41; 15:22; Acts 17 : 30 ; James 4:17; Matt. 10 : 15 ; 132 n : 21 ; Mark 6 : ii. If sin be its own punishment, the greater the sin and the light against which it is committed, the greater should be the punishment. John 19 : 11. But punishment may be greater in degree, though equal in duration. The conclusion, then, of our study of this sad subject, in the light of the Bible and of human reason and experience, as far as these latter go — is that for those who die in rejection of the Gospel, there is no hope. They are doomed ; they doom them selves ; in spite of all that God has done to prevent it. The Bible, reason, nature of sin, the final setting of char acter into an unchangeable mould, Rev. 22:11 ; — the wasting out of all the germs of goodness, 2d Tim. 3 : 13 ; — these considera tions take away every reasonable ground of hope for the finally lost. Oh, brethren, dealing with such awful and momentous realities, how you ought to preach ; with what fidelity, earnest ness, tenderness, tears, we should exhort and warn men to "flee from the wrath to come!" Acts 20 : 31 ; 2d Cor. 5:11; Matt. 3:7; Rom. 5:9; ist Thess. 1 : 10. Knowing as we do, that every negligent hearing of the Gospel on their part, or faulty presentation of it on our part, makes less and less probable their salvation. Jude 23. "Who is sufficient for these things !" 2d Cor. 2 : 16. LECTURE LVII. THE ANGELS. Of those beings we know but little, though so often spoken of in the Bible, and acting so important a part in its narratives. 1. We know .nothing of their origin; whether in some former epoch of the ages past they were created and afterwards propa gated as the human race has been, and have passed through a probation and been exalted to their present state of dignity and glory, — as the designation "Elect angels," ist Tim. 5:21, might lead us to suppose ; or whether they were created, essen tially as they now are; — nothing of this has-been revealed to us, nor have we ground for any reasonable speculation in the case. The Gnostics believed that all intelligent beings were emana tions from God, " in endless genealogies," to which allusion seems to be made in Tit. 3:9. 133 2. They are holy beings. Matt. 25 : 31 ; Mark 8 : 38 ; Luke 9 : 26. They are spiritual beings. Heb. 1:7; Ps. 104 : 4. Though a later rendering of both the above passages is, per haps, " Who maketh the winds his messengers," i. e., God uses the powers of nature in the execution of his will. 3. They are attendants upon God, as his ministers; are mighty beings. 2d Kings 19 : 35 ; Rev. 5:2; 18:21. They were present and active in the giving of the law. 2d Kings 19 : 35 ; Ps. 103 : 20 ; 68 : 17 ; Deut. 33 : 2 ; Acts 7 : 53 ; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2 : 2. 4. They are able to assume various forms, especially the human form. Gen. 22 : 11 ; 19 : 1 ; Judges 6:12; John 20 : 12. 5. There are multitudes of these beings. Dan. 7:10; Ps. 68:17; Luke 2:13,15; Matt. 26:53; Heb. 12:22; Rev. 5 = ii- 6. There seem to be among them various ranks, or orders ; called "thrones, dominions, principalities, powers." Col. 1:6; Eph. 1 : 20, 21 ; Rom. 8 : 38; ist Peter 3 : 22. 7. There are being, also called cherubim, seraphim. The former word denotes strength, courage, intelligence ; the latter, splendor; as a flame of fire. Gen. 3:24; Ezek. 10:5, 16, 19; Ps. 8:1; Isa. 6:2, 6 ; Heb. 9:5. Of these we know nothing further; whether they are real beings, or symbolic, like the living creatures, or "beasts," — Rev. 4:6; 5:8; 7 : 11, — we do not know ; most likely the latter. 8. The Ministry of Angels. Twice they ministered to Christ. Matt. 4:11; Luke 22 : 43. They were present at his resurrec tion and ascension. Luke 24 :4 ; John 20 : 12 ; Matt. 28 : 2 ; Acts 1 : 10. They perform a service of ministry to believers. Luke 10 : 12 ; Heb. 1 : 14 ; Matt. 18 : 20 ; 2d Peter 2:11; Acts 1 : 10, 11; 12:7; 27:23. 9. They are to be the attendants of Christ when he comes to judge the world. Matt. 13:41; 25:34; 2d Thess. 1:7; Rev. 18 : 1 ; 20 : 1. The names of two of the angels are known to us, viz., Gabriel, the messenger angel. Dan. 8 : 16 ; 9 : 21 ; Luke 1 : 19, 26. And Michael, who is also called the Archangel. Jude 9:1; ist Thess. 4 : 16. And who seems also to be the warrior angel. Dan. 10 : 13, 21 ; 12 : 1 ; Rev. 12 : 7. 134 io. They seem sometimes to have acted an important part in the political affairs of the world. Dan. 9:21; 10 : 12. We have here perhaps a little rift in the veil of mysteries that every where involves the ongoings of Divine Providence over this" world, and in its connection with spiritual agencies. 11. We are told that the saints are to judge angels, ist Cor. 6 : 3. LECTURE LVIII. FALLEN ANGELS. 1. Some of the angelic beings are fallen. Luke 10:18; 3d Peter 2:4; Jude 6 ; Rev. 12:7; Matt. 25 : 41. The chief of these is called the Devil in the New Testament, Satan in the Old Testament. These words mean slanderer, traducer. Also Apollyon, Rev. 9:11, destroyer. The Old Serpent, ihe Dragon, in allusion to the temptation in Eden. Rev. 12 : 4. Christ was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Matt. 4: 1; Mark 1: 12. He tempts God's people in this world. Eph. 4:27; 6:11; ist Tim. 3:6,7; 2d ~ Tim. 2 : 26 ; James 4:7. He afflicts men with grievous diseases. Job 1 : 12 ; Matt. 15 : 22; 17 : 18; Luke 9 : 42 ; 11 : 14 ; John 6: 70; 8:44. 2. There are inferior evil spirits, called demons ; and when ever the plural, " devils," is found in the New Testament, it should be rendered demons. These demons seem to have been some way associated with the idolatries ; — the pagan gods in the Old Testament. Lev. 17:7; Deut. 32:17; Ps. 106:37; ist Cor. 10: 20, 31 ; ist Tim. 4:1. The number of these beings we have no means of knowing ; a legion is said to have possessed one man. Mark 5: 9. Milton represents Satan as leading into apostacy one- third of the angels in heaven. He doubtless gets this from Rev. 13:4, — a highly poetical passage, of doubtful interpretation. 3. These beings are represented as beyond all hope, doomed to eternal woe and bent on mischief. Mark 1 : 24 ; Luke 4 : 34 ; 8:31; 2d Peter 2:4; Jude 6. 4. The great warfare in this world is between Christ, the captain of salvation, Heb. 2 : 10 ; and Satan, the god of this 135 world, 2d Cor. 4:4, prince of the power of the air; — the rulers of the darkness of this world. Eph. 2:2; 6:12. Christ came into the world to destroy the works of the devil. Heb. 2 : 14 ; ist John 3 : 8 ; John 12:31; 2d Thess. 2 : 8. Into this conflict we, my brethren, are called as leaders ; and we need specially to take the whole armor of God, that we may stand. Eph. 6 : 10. To bewatchful unto prayer, ist Tim. 3:7; 2d Tim. 2 : 26 ; ist Peter 5 : 8. The battle is within and with out, and all around us. But the devil is not omniscient nor omnipresent nor omnipotent. He is within the power and con trol of God. Col. 2 : 15. Yet his power is great and beyond our conception. 5. Consider his resources. He has an experience that ante dates creation. He has made man his study from the begin ning, and knows him and all his weak points. He is always on the alert. He has associated with him, as we have seen, myriads of fallen spirits, inspired by the same devilish hate and zeal. Eph. 6 :i2. And further : all wicked men go to swell his forces. The great organic vices of the world, — idolatries, skepticisms, infi delities, drink, gamblings, licentiousness. Thewealth, business, politics and fashions of the world are as yet largely in his hand, and held under tribute to work his will. And with these there is no doubt a regular and shrewdly-laid plan of campaign which covers the ages ; but which, nevertheless, will end in utter and irretrievable defeat and ruin. For wise and inscrutable reasons, God suffers all this, and yet so holds this array in check, or guides its issues, as in the end to work out his own great purpose, to subserve the interests of Christ's kingdom and the high est welfare of the universe. Ps. 34 : 21 ; 7:16; Rev. 19 : 6. And with God's Word on our lips, and his Spirit in our hearts, and armed in the panoply which he has provided, Eph. 6:13, we can boldly meet all this array of the devil, and conquer. 2d Kings 6:16. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7; ist Peter 5:9. Evil is the ' ' lost cause ' ' in the uni verse. 136 This completes our course. And may God bless it to you, and by it make you more able ministers of the Word ; and be with and bless you in preaching it ; that you may be received among the blessed angels and to a state of glory above them, even to that which the benediction of the Lord Jesus shall call you to, as those who "have been faithful in few things." Matt. 25 :2i, 23, 34. And to share with those who have been wise in turning many to righteousness, who shall shine as the stars for ever. Dan. 12 13. If, in the treatment of these great themes which so transcend our present powers to grasp, anything has been unadvisedly written or taught, may God forgive ; though I have sought, by earnest prayer and the best light within me, to know and teach the truth. But more light, be sure, is to break forth from the Word of God, and better and truer interpretations of what it contains. Keep your hearts and minds in an attitude to receive the light ; — for God is, from whatever quarter it may come. And now, brethren, " I commend you to God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. ' ' Acts 20 : 32. Amen. 137 EPITOME OF BELIEF. The following is an outline of what we believe the Bible teaches as fundamental to Salvation, to Church order and to intelligent piety. WE BELIEVE: i. That there is one God, who is eternal, all powerful ; per fect in all wisdom and goodness ; who is the Maker and Ruler of all worlds ; and who is made known to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 2. That the Bible is the Word of God. 3. That all mankind are in a depraved'and sinful condition. 4. That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into this world and suffered and died for the sins of men; and that we are saved by faith in him and obedience to him. 5. That we must be born again, or regenerated by the Holy Spirit. 6. That it is the duty of all regenerated persons to be bap tized and come into church fellowship with the people of God. 7. That baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 8. That the Lord's Supper is an ordinance committed to the church, to be observed by all its members, as a symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for our sins ; and in remembrance of him. 9. That a church, in true Gospel order, is a company of baptized believers, united in covenant, to maintain the faith and ordinances, as Christ gave them ; to promote the piety of its own members, and to be ever working out for the salvation of men. 10. That the first day of the week, or Sunday, is the Christian Sabbath, to be observed in rest from ordinary labor, in worship and in acts of mercy. 11. That the dead are to be raised, and all men to be judged by Jesus Christ ; that the wicked are to suffer everlast ing punishment, and the righteous to enter into everlasting life. ERRATA. Page jf for storks, read stocks. 16 " contents essentially ; read is, etc. 32 " longer, read larger. " " the different ; three different. 36 " and fatalism, omit and. 46 " throws certain light ; read no certain light. 50 " his responsibility, read our. 54 "so the resurrection, so was. 62 " As a sinless guilt, omit as. 91 " brooded "dove-like," omit dove-like. 85 " "The spirit," read Spirit. 64 " suffering penalty, read suffering ofa penalty. YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 08867 7530 mmmmm&mmp m ¦¦¦¦'. ¦ '¦ : 0,0 ¦¦¦ •- ¦;¦ ill ¦¦F £hh