The mysteries of Christianity

Preface

The following Lectures, with the exception of the Tenth and Eleventh, were delivered in the course of this winter — first in Blythswood Church, Glasgow, and afterwards in St George’s Church, Edinburgh,— being the Second Series of the Baird Lectures, recently instituted by the munificent liberality of James Baird, Esq. of Auchmedden and Cambusdoon. They are now published in terms of his trust deed.

Lectures X. and XI. were not delivered orally, the matters discussed in them being, in the author’s judgment, much less fitted for the pulpit than for the press. They are inserted, however, in this volume, inasmuch as any work on “ The Mysteries of Christianity” might not unreason¬ ably be regarded as defective, if it did not spe¬ cially refer to the deeply mysterious subjects of Predestination and Election.

VI

PREFACE.

The author begs it to be understood that his aim has been, not to attempt a solution of the mysteries connected with some of the great doc¬ trines of revelation, but to show that the myste¬ riousness of these doctrines, however inexplicable, is no sufficient reason either for excluding them from the place they occupy among the articles of the Christian faith, or for discrediting the Chris¬ tian system as containing them.

University of Edinburgh, 20 th April 1874.

Excerpt from the Deed of Trust by James Baird, Esq. in favour of the Trustees of the “ Baird Trust.”

And whereas, at the meeting of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland held in May 1872, I declared my intention to found a Lectureship, to be called “ The Baird Lecture,” for the illustration and the defence of the vital truths hereinbefore referred to, as well as for the promotion of Christian knowledge and Chris¬ tian work generally, and for the exposure and refutation of all error and unbelief, under which foundation the Very Reverend Robert Jamieson, D.D., lately Moderator of the General Assem¬ bly, was the first Lecturer, and that for the spring of the year 1873 : Therefore and for the endowment of the said Lectureship, I appoint my said Trustees to hold an annual sum of £220 out of the revenue of the funds under their charge for the purposes of said Lectureship, and I direct that the following shall be the con¬ ditions and terms on which my said Trustees shall carry out my foundation of said Lectureship : —

1. The Lecturer shall be a Minister of the foresaid Church of Scotland who shall have served the cure of a parish for not less than five years, or a Minister of any other of the Scottish Presby¬ terian Churches, who shall have served as pastor of a congregation for a similar period in his own Church ; and in making the ap¬ pointment, care shall be taken by the Trustees to choose a man of piety, ability, and learning, and who is approved and reputed sound in all the essentials of Christian truth, as set forth in the statement hereinbefore written of what is meant by sound religious principles.

2. The Lecturer shall be appointed annually, in the month of April, by my said Trustees, and the appointment shall be made at

Vlll

EXCERPT FROM DEED OF TRUST.

a meeting of the Trustees to be called for the purpose, and held in Glasgow.

3. The Lecturer shall deliver a course of not less than Six Lec¬ tures on any subject of Theology, Christian Evidences, Christian Work, Christian Missions, Church Government, and Church Organisations, — or on such subject relative thereto as the Trustees shall from year to year fix in concert with the Lecturer.

4. The Lectures shall be duly advertised to the satisfaction of the Trustees, at the cost of the Lecturer, and shall be delivered publicly, at any times during the months of January and February in each year, in Glasgow; and also, if required, in such other one of the Scottish University towns as may from time to time be appointed by the Trustees.

5. The Lectures of each year shall be published, if possible be¬ fore the meeting of the next General Assembly, or at latest, within six months of the date when the last of the course shall have been delivered. Such publication to be carried out at the sight and to the satisfaction of the Trustees, but by the Lecturer at his own cost and risk, and to the extent of not less than 750 copies, — of which there shall be deposited, free, two copies in the Library of each of the Universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and St Andrews ; two copies in the Library of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; and one copy in each of the Theological Libraries connected with the said Universities ; and twenty copies shall be put at the disposal of the Trustees. The price of the publica¬ tion to be regulated by the Trustees in concert with the Lecturer.

6. The sum of One Hundred Pounds shall be paid to the Lec¬ turer on the completion of the delivery of such course of Lectures, besides a sum to be fixed by the Trustees in name of travelling expenses, if such shall have been incurred.

7. That annually, on the publication, as above, of the Lectures within the time specified, the free balance, if any, of £220, after deducting all expenses and prepayments, as made up by the T rustees, shall be paid to the Lecturer.

EXCERPT FROM DEED OF TRUST.

IX

8. The Trustees may, notwithstanding what is hereinbefore written, at any time or times, if they choose, omit for one year the appointment of a Lecturer, retaining in their hands the funds hereby specially appropriated for said Lectureship ; and in the year succeeding, the said Trustees shall devote the funds for that year, together with the funds for the year in which there was no appointment — videlicet , the sum of ^440 — to the purposes of the Lectureship of such succeeding year. And failing the Trustees making an appointment of Lecturer after a lapse of two years, and when and so often as they shall so fail, the Moderator for the time being of the General Assembly of the foresaid Church of Scotland, and the next last ex-Moderator thereof alive at the time, shall have full power, and they are hereby authorised, to insist on an appointment of Lecturer being made, and that with the least pos¬ sible delay.

Contents

PAGE

LECTURE I. Subject of discussion stated, ... i Mystery defined ; misconceptions of it rectified, . 2-9

Order of discussion proposed, . . . 10-11

Appendix

Note A. Believing and disbelieving, . . . 394

Note B. Things above reason distinguished from things

against reason , ...... 395

Note C. Mysteries in mathematics, . . . 397

NoteD. Physical theory of life, . ... 399

Note E. The unity of God, .... 402

Note F. Attempted explanations of the Trinity, . . 403

Note G. Moral suasion, ..... 407

Note H. Permissive purposes of God, . . . 412

Note I. Purposes of God respecting the non-elect, . 414

THE

MYSTERIES OF CHRISTIANITY,

LECTURE I.

MEANING OF THE WORD “MYSTERY” — MISCONCEPTIONS RECTIFIED — REVEALED DOCTRINES WHICH HAVE MYS¬ TERY CONNECTED WITH THEM IN RESPECT OF THE ABSENCE OF INTERNAL EVIDENCE BY WHICH THEY MAY BE VERIFIED, APART FROM THE AUTHORITY OF THE REVELATION.

“If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.” — i John, v. 9.

The question which I propose to consider in this and some succeeding Lectures, is one of un¬ doubted interest and importance — namely, whether the mysteriousness of certain doctrines can of itself be deemed a sufficient reason either for excluding them from the articles of the Christian faith, or for discrediting the Christian system on account of them , as unworthy of the divine origin and author¬ ity which it claims to possess ?

A

Lect. I.

THE MYSTERIES OF CHRISTIANITY.

Lect. i. In entering on this subject, it does not seem Meaning of necessary to dwell on the various senses in which * Mys°ery , the word mystery is used in Holy Scripture. Its general signification as there employed appears to be, “ something that is wholly or partially con¬ cealed,” — such as a secret confided to some select persons, but not as yet openly published to the world at large — or a revealed truth which, though now made manifest, was hid from former See Camp- ages and generations. It sometimes denotes, bell on the the covert moral of a parable, or the latent

Gospels,

Diss. ix. reference of a type or symbolical ordinance.

Part h Suffice it to say, that in the question we are now

concerned with, the word is taken in a somewhat different sense from those which in Scripture are ordinarily assigned to it. By “ a mystery,” in our present discussion, we understand some matter pertaining to the divine character or procedure, which, even when revealed, is not fully compre¬ hensible by us ; something which is only revealed to us in part , and which, so far as it is unrevealed, transcends the limits of human knowledge ; some¬ thing as to which the testimonies of Scripture extend only to the reality and certainty of it, while the reasons , grounds , and explanations of it, and the relation which it has to other kindred truths, have not been disclosed in the oracles of God, and cannot be satisfactorily ascertained by any independent exercise of our own faculties.

THE MYSTERIES OF CHRISTIANITY.

I. You will see from what I have now said Lect. i. that there is a broad distinction between a mys- The ‘mysterious doctrine and an unintelligible statement.

These two things are often confounded together guished by those who would reject the mysterious truths ^^ntemof Christianity. Such persons represent us, when £ible-' vindicating these truths, as claiming their assent to a class of propositions to which no intelligible meaning can be attached ; and they seek to fore¬ close all discussion of the subject by laying it down as an obvious and indisputable maxim, that “no man can reasonably believe what he does not understand In a certain sense this maxim is undoubtedly true. We cannot give a reasonable assent to any statement, the terms of which are utterly unintelligible by us ; as, for example, to the announcement of a doctrine in some unknown tongue, or in the technical language of some un¬ known science. We may, indeed, even in such a case, believe, on the authority of any credible person who makes the statement, that it contains some truth or other. But we cannot, in such a case, believe the precise truth which, to one who understands the terms of the statement, it is known to convey.

In another sense, however, the maxim is not true. It is not true if it be held to mean that we cannot believe a statement, expressed in perfectly intelligible language, respecting some fact which

THE MYSTERIES OF CHRISTIANITY.

Lect. I.

we find ourselves unable fully to comprehend, or satisfactorily to account for. Because, if it were true in this sense, it would exclude us from the belief of many of the most familiar facts of daily experience, of many of the surest discoveries and deductions of science, and of many of the funda¬ mental truths of natural religion. All men, for example, understand and believe the statements, that the heart beats and the blood circulates without our will, and that our limbs move or cease to move at our will and pleasure ; though no man is able thoroughly to explain, and few men have the faintest conception of the manner in which these well-known processes, voluntary and involuntary, are conducted. In like manner, to one who is wholly unacquainted with the terms and definitions of mathematics, the proposition, that a certain curve called the hyperbola , and a certain straight line related to it and called its asymptote , continually approach nearer and nearer to one another without the possibility of ever meeting, is unintelligible, and beyond the province of rational conviction ; while to him who can define the terms in which it is expressed, the same proposition, though perfectly intelligible, and capable of being rationally believed and de¬ monstrably established, is yet in a very high de¬ gree mysterious. The case is similar with the elementary truths of natural religion relative to the existence, attributes, and providence of God. Lect. i. These can be set forth in plain and perspicuous language, the meaning of which a very child may apprehend, although there are things unsearch¬ able connected with them which far exceed our powers of comprehension. It is idle, then, to think that the mysterious doctrines of Christianity are at once to be set aside by the sweeping asser¬ tion, that “we cannot believe what we do not understand for in the only sense in which this assertion is true, it has really no application to the question before us.

It is somewhat strange, moreover, that those very persons who tell us that they cannot believe the Christian doctrines on this account, have no insuperable difficulty in disbelieving them. Not content with merely suspending their judgment on the ground of their alleged incapacity to under¬ stand the things which are submitted to them, they pronounce unfavourable judgment upon these things without the slightest hesitation or uncertainty. And yet, one should think that, if men cannot believe a doctrine because of their in¬ ability to understand it, the same reason ought to prevent them from disbelieving it ; or at least to make them somewhat less confident, and less dog¬ matical, than they often are in their denial of it.1

The truth is, however, that, as I have already

1 Appendix, note A.

THE MYSTERIES OF CHRISTIANITY.

A ‘myste¬ rious doc¬ trine’ and a * revealed mystery ’ are inaccu¬ rate expres¬ sions.

observed, there is a mighty difference between “ the unintelligible ” and “ the incomprehensible.” A doctrine is “ unintelligible ” when we cannot attach any meaning to the terms in which it is expressed, and are on this account precluded from forming any decision, either favourable or adverse, as to the truth of it. On the other hand, a doc¬ trine is “ incomprehensible ” when, however clearly it may be expressed, and however fully its im¬ port may be apprehended, it relates to matters of a very deep and unsearchable nature, and gives us only a partial knowledge of these matters, so that outside of its teachings with respect to them, there are still some “ secret things” connected with them which we cannot explore.

2. Very much akin to the remark I have just made is another consideration which we ought to keep in view with reference to the subject of our discussion. It is this : that when we speak of a “mysterious doctrine,” or of a “revealed mystery,” we are using phrases which, however convenient and serviceable as means of avoiding circumlocu¬ tion, are yet not strictly accurate, and without certain qualifications are apt to be misleading. A “doctrine,” or “thing taught,” cannot properly be called “mysterious.” The mystery belongs not to the doctrine, but to the subject of the doctrine. It lies, as it were, outside of the doctrine , in some-

THE MYSTERIES OF CHRISTIANITY.

what pertaining to, or connected with, the subject thereof, respecting which no doctrine , or teaching , has been imparted to us. In like manner a “ re¬ vealed mystery ” is a somewhat incongruous ex¬ pression, inasmuch as a thing cannot properly be said to be “ mysterious ” in so far as it is revealed. The revelation, so far as it extends, removes the mystery in which the subject of it was before en¬ veloped. Strictly speaking, there is no mystery in the revelation. There may be mysteries connected with the things revealed, unless all truth respect¬ ing them be communicated to us, and mysteries involved in our speculations, and inquiries about them, when pushed beyond the limits of the rev¬ elation. But these mysteries form no part of the revelation, properly so called. The revelation goes no further than to the announcement of cer¬ tain truths or matters of fact which are stated in plain and intelligible language. The mystery, again, belongs exclusively to the reasons, grounds, or explanations of these truths, or the relation which they bear to other truths ; that is to say, the mystery belongs only to points which are not included in the revelation, — points in regard to which no knowledge has been communicated to us, — and, I may add, no faith is required of us, fur¬ ther than that recognition of their mysteriousness, which ought to restrain us from seeking too boldly or too curiously to pry into their hidden depths..

Lect. t.

THE MYSTERIES OF CHRISTIANITY.

Lect.

Job,

xxxviii.

Mystery ' is a relative term.

Take, for example, that “great mystery of godliness ” implied in the assumption of human nature by the Son of God. It is simply the fact of this wonderful incarnation that is set forth in Scripture as the object of our faith. The mannev or explanation of the fact is left unrevealed. God has merely told us, what doubtless it concerned us to know, that divinity and humanity were united in the Saviour s person. How they were united is a question which does not so much con¬ cern us, and probably a question involving matters which, in the present state of our faculties, could not have been made plain to us. At all events no light is thrown upon it in the Scriptures. Enough is there disclosed to certify us of the fact, and enough also to warrant us in negativing cer¬ tain speculative theories with respect to it, that are palpably at variance with the revealed fact which they attempt to explain. But nothing is there disclosed which can entitle us, while nega¬ tiving these unscriptural solutions of the mystery, to substitute for them an y affirmative theory of our own devising. In the silence of Scripture we needs must be silent also, lest, by intruding into things which are not revealed, we “darken counsel by words without knowledge.”

3. Another remark, which may in some degree contribute to a right apprehension of the question

THE MYSTERIES OF CHRISTIANITY.

before us, is that the word “ mystery ” is a relative term — a term, that is to say, which has reference to the mental capacity, or means of information, of those persons to whom the subject of it is mys¬ terious. When using this expression we do not mean to say that the thing denoted by it is ab¬ solutely and in itself a mystery, so that no intellect can possibly comprehend it, but only that it sur¬ passes our comprehension, and that of other crea¬ tures of the like measure of intellectual power. To minds of a higher order of intelligence, those things which are darkest to us may be clearly apparent. Even to our own minds it may be hereafter given more fully to know things which are for the present hidden from us ; “ for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face ; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.” Nor let it be forgotten that there is One Supreme Intelligence “ dwelling in the light which no man can approach ; ” “ in whom there is no darkness at all,” and from whom no secrets are hid.

This consideration is fitted to dispel much of the prejudice with which the subject of our pre¬ sent discussion is often regarded. For while, as formerly observed, the mysteriousness, which has frequently been urged as an objection to some of the Christian doctrines, pertains not at all to these doctrines as revealed , but to somewhat re-

Lect. i.

i Cor. xiii. 12.

i Tim. vi.

1 6.

i John, i. 5.

THE MYSTERIES OF CHRISTIANITY.

Lect' l Iating to the subjects of them that is unrevealed, it now further appears that this mysteriousness is attributable, not to anything- inordinately dark or inordinately deep in the subjects of a revela¬ tion from the unsearchable God, but rather to the limited reach of the human intellect, by reason of which the knowledge of these subjects is “too

Ps. cxxxix. wonderful for us,” so that we “ cannot attain to it.”

Having offered these explanatory remarks on the question before us, we now proceed to the dis¬ cussion of that question ; and, in doing so, I may observe that there are six respects in which a revealed doctrine may be considered as having mystery connected with it — namely,

First, in respect of the absence of internal evi¬ dence by which the doctrine might be verified, apart from the authority of the revelation which assures us of it ;

Secondly, in respect of the profound, obscure, or transcendental nature of its subject, relatively to the finite compass of the human mind ;

Thirdly, in respect of the limited extent of its disclosures, as embracing only the reality of the things revealed, apart from the reasons, grounds, or explanations of them ;

Fourthly, in respect of its seeming inconsistency either with other doctrines contained in the revela¬ tion itself or with the dictates of our rational and moral faculties ;

THE MYSTERIES OF CHRISTIANITY.