The consistency of the Divine conduct in revealing of the doctrines of redemption : being the Hulsean lectures for the year 1841. To which are added, two sermons, preached before the University of Cambridge

Part The Second. Being The

HULSEAN LECTUEES

For the Year 1842.

HENRY ALFORD, M.A.

VICAR OF WYMESWOLD, LEICESTERSHIRE, AND LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE.

CAMBRIDGE:

PRINTED FOR J. & J. J. DEIGHTON;

MDCCCXLIII.

CAMBRIDGKr

GEORGE AECHDALL, D.I).

WILLIAM WHEWELL, B.D.

MliVSTER OF TRINITY COLLEGE, AND

RALPH TATHAM, D.D.

MASTER OF ST. JOIIn's COLLEGE,

THESE LECTURES,

ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY

THE AUTHOR.

SUBSTANCE OF CERTAIN CLAUSES RELATING TO THE HULSEAN LECTURESHIP.

In the Will of the Rev. J. Hulse, M.A., the Founder of that and other offices in the University of Cambridge.

He founds a Lectureship in the University of Cambridge.

The Lecturer is to be a " Clergyman in the University of Cambridge, of the degree of Master of Arts, and under the age of forty years," He is to be elected mmually " on Christmas-day, or within seven days after, by the Vice-Chancellor for the time being, and by the Master of Trinity College, and the Master of St. John's College, or any two of them." In case the Master of Trinity, or the Master of St. John's, be the Vice- Chancellor, the Greek Professor is to be the third Trustee.

The duty of the said Lecturer, as stated in the Will, is " to preach " so many as " twenty sermons in the whole year," as well as to print them in the same period; and it having been found, in consequence, that few were willing to undertake the office, application was made to the Court of Chancery, with a view the better to carry into effect the intention of its Founder. The result was, that by an order of that Court (dated 21st December, 1830), the number of the Sermons was reduced to eight, and the time allowed for printing

Vm CERTAIN CLAUSES IN MR. HULSE S WILL.

them extended to the term of one year from the delivery of the last of them.

The subject of the Lectures is to be, " the Evidence for Revealed Religion ; the Truth and Excellence of Christianity ; Prophecies and Miracles ; direct or collateral Proofs of the Christian Religion, especially the collateral arguments ; the more difficult texts or obscure parts of the Holy Scriptures ;" or any one or more of these topics, at the discretion of the Preacher. The subject of the Lectures is 7iot to be " any particular sects or controversies amongst Christians themselves ; except some new and dangerous error, either of superstition or enthusiasm, as of Popery or Methodism, or the like, either in opinion or practice, shall prevail." " And in all the said twenty sermons," now eight, it is stated that " such practical observations shall be made, and such useful conclusions added, as may instruct and edifv mankind."

Preface

The following Lectures form a continuation of those preached on Mr. Hulse's foundation in the year 1841, and already before the public. As in that course my object was to shew that the dealings of God with His Church, before the manifestation of Christ in the flesh, were eminently consistent with His announced future purposes by the Gospel ; so in this, I have endeavoured to derive evidence for our holy religion, from the consistency of the Gospel revelation itself with its own announced and proclaimed characteristics.

1. Such an argument naturally divided itself into two parts : one, in which the religion of Christ should be shewn to be admirably fitted for its professed work of renewing and sancti- ■ fying the nature of man ; and the other, in which the Scripture record of its Founder's

X PREFACE.

life, and the acts and writings of those who followed Him, should be brought in proof that its great spiritual objects were ever and consistently kept in view during that part of its history which it has pleased Divine Providence to deliver to us under the impress of Inspiration.

2. In my treatment of the first of these, I have asserted the tendency of the Gospel of Christ to enlighten, renew, and develope towards the highest ends of our being, those faculties wherewith w^e have been endowed by our heavenly Father. Of these, I have especially treated of the Reason, the Affections, the Moral Judgments, and the Understandmg : not as comprehending in them the whole spiritual being of man, but because they were by far the most important, and in their most pregnant meaning might be considered as involving the rest.

3. It will be seen that I have here also asserted, as necessary to any such argument as that which I have undertaken — the ^\idc and important distinction between the Reason and the Understanding of man ; viewing these

PREFACE. XI

as two separate faculties, conversant with different matters, and under different conditions : so distinct indeed, that, if regarded in their bearing on questions like that before me, the former may properly be called the highest, the latter the lowest, of the spiritual faculties. The Reason lays down the necessary conditions of thought, admitting of no variations in them ; the Understanding is compelled to follow these rules, and acquires knowledge in accordance with them. The Reason overawes and constrains the Understanding ; so that our whole active being is continually found engaged in the service of the Reason, in matters of which the Understanding takes no cognizance.

4. And it appears to me that the neglect of this distinction, so prevalent even at this day among English writers, cannot but prove a fertile source of confusion in mental philosophy, and in religious matters, of misapprehension and unbelief. It is easy to trace many errors and heresies (I would name as an instance the whole Socinian system) to the undue exaltation and idolatry of the Understanding. Our most holy faith was never better described

Xll PREFACE.

than as 'Reason leaning upon God;' i.e. Reason convinced by adequate evidence that it is God who speaketh, and then performing her high office in accordance with that Almighty voice. In the subjection of our nature to the teaching of God's Holy Spirit, the Understanding may be dormant, or it may be active; the great work of man's salvation proceeding, not"\vithstanding its inertness, and not beholden to its activity.

5. But if the Understanding is not to be idolized, neither is it to be set aside. If our whole man is to be renewed after the image of God, so vast and admirable a faculty cannot but bear its part, and partake of its share, amidst the work of renovation. And I have, therefore, traced not only the exquisite adaptation of the Gospel to the requirements of our Reason, but also its merciful provisions for the illumination of the subordinate faculty, the Understanding.

6. Dependent on such an arrangement as tliat here insisted on, will be found my treatment of the other two great classes of faculties wherewith we are endo^^•ed — our Affections and

PREFACE. XIU

our Moral Judgments. Both these are subservient to the dicta of our Reason, but independent of the researches or advances of the Understanding, and often baffling its endeavours altogether. Both these are in fact but the actings of the rational faculty, the one in our social, the other in our moral being; and these reacting mutually on each other, jointly produce the decisions of the mind, which, through the will, stir our physical and spiritual capacities into action. And I have endeavoured to shew that the influence of the Gospel of Christ upon man proceeds in accordance with the constitution of his spiritual being : exalting the Reason and restoring to it its legitimate rule, against which our lower faculties have rebelled in the corruption of our nature ; stirring into action the reasonable Affections, of Avhich in our corrupt state the passions have usurped the place ; rectifying the Moral Judgments, which through evil desires and practices have become perverted ; and raising us to higher degrees of knowledge, by the enlightened, chastened, and diligent researches of the Understanding.

XIV PREFACE.

7. On my treatment of the second great division of my subject, a few remarks must be premised. Here the proposition which it has been my object to establish is the follomng : If the Gospel of Christ be indeed destined to accomplish such high ends, then in the history of the world and the Church must such its purpose appear — over-ruling events, and presiding over the words and actions of its Founder and His Apostles.

8. I have therefore devoted one Lecture to a summary of the popular evidence by which it is shewn that a remarkable preparation was made for the appearance of the Gospel, in God's providential arrangements. The more immediate part of this preparation, in the history of the Patriarchal and Jewish Churches, has already been detailed in my former course of Lectures. It remained to trace in the general process of events in the Gentile world, a correspondent fitting of the state of the nations for receiving the Gospel of tlic promised Redeemer.

9. To trace the spirit and design of the Gospel in tlic life of Christ, the actions and

PREFACE. XV

writings of His Apostles, has been my endeavour in the three remaining Lectures. In this latter part of my argument, it became necessary to assign a determinate place and office to Tradition, as affecting the progress and ultimate state of development of the doctrines of the Gospel in the knowledge and practice of mankind. All that will be found on this head in the following pages, is grounded on the historical fact, that the traditional behef of the Christian Church was at a set time summed up, and is contained, in a statement of doctrines implicitly asserted in Holy Scripture, educed from it, and to he proved by it ; but nevertheless stated not hypothetically but authoritatively, forming an integral part of the great progress of Christian truth ; and as such raising us to an advanced ground, which we are not at liberty to desert at will, but are called upon to maintain and defend. To say that Holy Scripture is the rule of Faith, seems to me to be using words without meaning; but Holy Scripture is the source of that rule, and has furnished it to the Church: and as it is our duty not to insist on any rule of Faith which cannot be proved by

XVI PREFACE.

certain warrants of Scripture, so on the other liand is the traditional rule of Faith, when grounded on Scripture, binding on Christian men. I have ventured to compare this unfolding of the conditions of Christian faith to the correspondent process in the histories of natural and intellectual philosophy, where, however much advance may be made by the announcement of general laws, men are still ever referred for the proof of those laws, to the original documents themselves, — the book of nature, or the book of the human mind.

10. On resigning the office of Hulsean Lecturer, I must express my sense of the kindness of Mr. Hulse's trustees, who have been pleased to accept my services for a second year : and my hope that these my labours may justify the confidence which they have reposed in me, by tending to the glory of God and the good of His Church.

Wymeswold, January 11, 1843.

?1

JSi-«i>

Contents

LECTURE T.

THE SHINING LIGHT.

1 John ii. 8. — The darkness is past, and the true light note shineth.