Plan of the creation : or, other worlds, and who inhabit them

Front matter

WORKS OF PERMANENT VALUE

H

E

Preface

this volume may be found in the studies of such men as Warburton, Owen, Watts, Locke, Fuller, and some others.

Sects and persons not deemed evangelical have also, in the singular providence of God, strayed near the truth upon these subjects.

To assemble these dispersed rays of truth, and to trace them to the great orb to which they belong, must be a valuable service to the world.

Astronomers, it may be further observed, have re¬ vealed to us the existence of other worlds ; but they have not taught us their uses, nor the principles higher than gravitation which govern them. When these are comprehended, our general knowledge of the Plan of Creation will be complete.

It may also be remarked, for the information of the reader, that the first half of this book is occupied with a general outline of the subject and evidence ; and that in the latter half, beginning at the fourth part, which comprises more than half the volume, the subject is completely exhibited and proved. The reason for this arrangement will sufficiently appear in the sequel.

Contents

Introduction, . 9

PAET I.

THE SUBJECT.

CHAP. I. Origin and State of the Question, . . . 33

“ II. Plurality of Worlds ; or, the Province of Astronomy, and

the Province of Revelation, . . . 38

“ III. Infancy of the Creation, . 45

Part II. The Mission Of Christ As Related With The Subject

CHAP. IV. Relations of the Mission of Christ with the Plan of the

Creation, . 63

** V. The Evidence of the Case, . . . 69

PAET III.

PROGRESS OF THE SCHEME ; OR, INDICATION OF THE PLAN OF THE CREATION IN THE COMMENCEMENT OF HUMAN HISTORY AND OF THE WORLD.

CHAP. VI. Existence of Evil.

VIII

CONTENTS.

CHAP. Vn. Indication afforded in the Saviour’s Humanity of the

Beneficial Design of Evil, . . 106

“ VIII. The Bearings and Analogies of the Case, . Ill

“ IX. General View of the Primitive Condition of Man, . . 118 “ X. A Particular Account of the First Period of Human History ; as showing the Origin of Moral Evil, and the Relations of this Subject with the Extent and

Designs of the Creation, . 145

XI. Duration of the System of Evil, or of the Probationary

System, . 179

Part IV. The Direct Argument, And The Result

CHAP. XH. Were the Apostles Deceived? . 195

“ XIII. The Saviour’s Prophecy of his Second Coming, .... 229

“ XIV. Subjects included, . 261

“ XV. The Resurrection, . 287

“ XVI. Duration of the World, . 837

“ XVII. The Wisdom of God in the Concealment of these

Subjects, . 849

“ XVHI. Termination of Evil. — Solution of the Problem, . . .863

Conclusion. — The Destiny of Man,

. 384

THE EXTENT OF OUR RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE.

Robinson’s Charge to the Pilgrims of the Mayflower. — Declaration of Franklin. — Conclusion to be derived from the Sectarian Divisions of Christians. — Little Progress in Religious Discovery since the Reforma¬ tion. — Persistency of Sectarian Characters. — The Idea of Ortho¬ doxy. — Reasons for Believing that some Errors have been admitted into our Systems of Religion. — Manner in which the Bible has been Written. — Dependence of Religious Studies upon the Clerical Pro¬ fession. — Theological Instruction. — Historical Causes which are known to have produced a Misapprehension of Religion. — The Reformation. — The Association of all Great Religious Reformations with some New Development of Divine Truth. — Wicklifie, and other Reformers. — Two Facts, which will <jompletely settle the Question whether Discoveries in Religion are Practicable.

‘^When the Pilgrim Fathers/’ observes Sir Charles Lyell,* ^^were about to sail in the Mayflower from Ley¬ den, a solemn fast was held before they embarked, and their pastor, Kobinson, gave them a farewell address, in which these memorable words are recorded :

‘‘ ‘ I charge you, before God and his blessed angels, that you follow me no further than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has more truth yet to break out of his Holy Word, For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the Reformed Churches,

* “A Second Visit to the United States.”

(Vi)

-who are come to a period in religion, and will go at present no further than the instruments of the first Reformation. •The Lutherans are not to be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw. Whatever part of his will our good God has imparted and revealed unto Calvin, they will die rather than embrace it. And the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things. This is a misery yet to be lamented ; for though they were burning and shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God : but, Avere they now living, they Avould be as Avilling to embrace further light as that Avhich they first received. I beseech you to remember it ; it is an article of your Church covenant^ that you will be ready to receive Avhatever truth shall be made known unto you from the written Word of God. Remember that, and every other article of your sacred Covenant.’ ”

We may add, from Robbins,"^ another sentence from this address : ‘‘ But I must herewithal exhort you to take heed Avhat you receive as truth, — examine it, consider it, and compare it with other Scriptures of truth, before you receive it ; for it is not possible the Christian Arorld should come so lately out of such Anti-Christian darkness, and that perfection of knowledge should break forth at once.”

It Avould be singular, if this sagacious prediction should be realized by the Church, or its offspring, Avhich was so faithfully and intelligently exhorted. And it reminds us of the dying declaration of Franklin, that, in his apprehen¬ sion, Christianity did not now exist in the same purity as that in which it came from the hands of its Founder.

The unpriyudiced judgment of every person, upon the

* “ Historical Vie^v of the First PI inters of New England.”

Introduction

variety of the conflicting sects in Christendom, must be, that the truth has not been universally nor fully attained. There must have been mistake, where men of the greatest capacity, and of unquestionable purity of motive, have arranged themselves upon opposite sides; and have de¬ fended their respective opinions so earnestly as to show that they deemed them essential to the purity of the Christian faith.

The observation of Robinson is manifestly worthy of attention, that it is not possible that the Christian world should have so recently come out of the darkness of the Papacy, and have attained to the light all at once. This observation will appear to the reader to be more important, since there has been really little progress made in religious discovery since the earlier periods of the Reformation. This may be accounted for partly in the fact that more atten¬ tion has been paid to the development of religion in the heart ; which the Reformation, in the enthusiasm of its dis¬ coveries, comparatively neglected. Nevertheless, the dis¬ cussions and progress which have since taken place, with a fe w exceptions, have related to forms of government, and to the philosophical adjustment of religious doctrines with each other. Some very eminent examples of refutations of scep¬ tical doctrines have occurred ; and the subject of the Chris¬ tian life, and the necessity of earnestness in religion, have been very ably exhibited. But much time has been spent and wasted in endeavoring to ascertain the philosophy of regeneration, and the reconcilableness, by metaphysical methods, of the decrees with the freedom of man, and with the Divine goodness. The study of Biblical criticism has indeed been pursued with remarkable success. The intel¬ lectual labors of the Christian world have, therefore, hot been barren ; but it is obvious that they have been labors

PLAN OF THE CREATION.

upon the ground- work of the Reformation, without extend¬ ing its base.

Nor does Mr. Robinson unfitly allude to the disposition of Lutherans not to go any further than Luther ; and to that of the Calvinists to stick fast,’ ^ as he expresses it, where Calvin left them. This spirit has frequently risen to the actual character of a resistance to original investiga¬ tions. Seemingly forgetful of the benefits of free inquiry, in producing the Reformation, and of the development of Christian doctrine by other laborers besides Luther, all parties have seemed disposed at dilBFerent times, and some determined, to crystallize religion in the idea of Orthodoxy ; which has been a changeable conception, a sort of idolatrous phantom, and has meant the existing opinions of a sect or combination of Christians. A venerable clergyman once humorously replied to the question. What is Orthodoxy ? ‘‘ It is my-doxy.” ^ The efibrt to comprise religion in any present character has been to freeze it, and to render it devoid of the interest which free inquiry must necessarily awaken.

Those wLo remember the particular history of the Reformation will call to mind, that a too successful efibrt was early made by European synods to render particular explanations of religious truth the bond of Christian union. This, of course, where there was any enlargement of mind, or spirit of independence, was only to aggravate the diffi¬ culty which it was intended to remove ; and to sever the Christian world into sects, which would come to look un¬ charitably, and even fiercely, at each other : for investiga¬ tion would frequently destroy these explanations ; when the bond of union, attempted to be effected by doctrines,

* Dr. M. L. R. Perrine, late of Auburn.

INTRODUCTION.

would be sundered. Bossuet, the ablest antagonist which the Reformation ever had, endeavored to turn these un¬ happy divisions to a derision of the pretensions of Protest¬ ants to make a nearer approach to true religion than Romanists; since they were not agreed among themselves.^ It must be admitted to be at least true, that they show that Protestants have not completely attained to the truth. And the examples afforded by the persecutions of Duffield, of Barnes and Beecher in this country, like that of Piscator in the seventeenth century, show, that a disposition to coerce a particular religious belief still lingers ; while the error of preceding generations has been very clearly dis¬ played. Indeed, what right can any body of Christians claim, to require that men shall assent to their explana¬ tions of the Scriptures, rather than to the simple facts of revelation ? Christian fellowship, surely, is not the fellow¬ ship of a sect.

But we will not discuss a point which touches too much the denominational feeling which still lingers among us, and which checked the development of the Reformation, and has since contributed to the same result. We will rather notice some convincing reasons for believing that some errors .have been admitted into our systems of re¬ ligion.

There was no book ever written exactly like the Bible. Its meaning lies in detached parts ; like the facts of science, scattered over nature. Its style, sometimes lucid, is often obscure. It frequently requires, as in the prophecies, a particular key for the interpretation of its language. Prin¬ ciples of interpretation, often very difficult to decide, and which can be attained originally only with much historical

* Variations of the Protestant Churches.”

PLAN OF THE CREATION.

knowledge, must be known by all who would interpret every part of the Scriptures justly. Such a book, like religion in the Patriarchal and Jewish age, was evidently intended for the^adual development of its meaning ; and such has certainly been its fate. This, with the necessity of separating its meaning from so many different connec¬ tions, must render it liable to frequent misapprehensions ; especially when its meaning is attempted by prejudiced and unqualified minds. Such a fact enhances, rather than other¬ wise, the character of the Bible as a revelation ; but it ren¬ ders it, like nature, the product of the same Author, very diflScult of comprehension.

The dependence of religious studies upon clergymen, who are for the most part engaged in laborious parochial duties, has also exerted an unfavorable influence upon the develop¬ ment of scriptural truth. Popular preaching requires a culture of mind somewhat different from that w^hich is de¬ manded for original investigations ; which require research, the sustained study of relations, and laborious adjustments, and the absence of passion, rather than its particular excita¬ tion. There is no resemblance between a popular sermon and a philosophical essay or treatise. But what is more, — for clergymen, like other men, have broken through the intellectual restraints which fettered them, — popular prejudice has often chilled and extinguished a disposition for original study. Plain minds feel a repugnance for what they regard as speculations in religion, and feel a strongopposition to innovations in opinions which they early im¬ bibed, and which have grown into their religious history.^

* This persistence in early prejudices has been exhibited in some ludi¬ crous examples ; as in the expulsion of clergymen from a religious denomination for exchanging “The Psalms in Metre” for a collection better suited to the taste of this age, and in the wrath of a clergyman upon the admission into the choir of “ a great ungodly fiddle.”

INTKODUCTION.

Still, these causes have probably operated less than ecclesi¬ astical power, and the usual mode of teaching divinity.

The idea of a theological education has been too gen¬ erally comprised in a knowledge of systems of divinity. The Bible has often been, unintentionally no doubt, yet practically, a secondary authority, and a book of reference, rather than the only legitimate source of religious opinions. Such a conception of the nature of a theological education must have the effect of rendering students of divinity very frequently the disciples really of celebrated theologians, rather than of Christ. Indeed, if the theological instructor chiefly occupies the attention of his pupils with a system of divinity which is essentially involved with philosophical explanations, the source from which the young men pre¬ paring for the ministry must derive their opinions is at least dual, and is in part philosophy. If we add tradi¬ tion — the source of some opinions in the religious world — Ave have Tradition, Reason, and the Bible, as the compound source of the religious doctrines of Christendom. It is impossible that errors should not grow from this dangerous compound. In time, a system of philosophical divinity would generate a monster as pernicious, perhaps, and as hideous, as Rome herself*

* The first theological school in the world may be said to have been the celebrated catechetical school of Alexandria, in Egypt. It was the boast of this school that* it explained the Scriptures by philosophy. Clemens, one of its greatest teachers, pronounced philosophy to be the basis of the Gospel, and regarded the Greek philosophers as having had a system as truly from God as was the religion of the Old Testament. This was a very wide departure, in a very short time, from the instruc¬ tions of Paul, as expressed in his Epistles to the Corinthians and the Colossians; and the pupils of this school were certainly “ spoiled through philosophy. ’ ’ That this school deeply infected the current of theology, as it began to depart from apostolic times, is well known; at least, is very

PLAN OF THE CREATION.

But several causes are historically known to have pro¬ duced a misapprehension of the meaning of the Scriptures.

In the first place, Christianity was cast in a Jewish mould ; and it bore away the impression of this cast in its future progress. Prelacy, in its proper character, was a form which the office of Christian instruction and edification

clearly shown in the history of the church. When we reflect upo» the change which philosophy made of the scriptural doctrine of the origin of man, of the state of men when they die, and of the simple doctrine of Christ; and add the preexistence of souls, purgatory, emanations, and other things, and ascetic practices, derived from the Platonic philosophy ; we may readily judge of the corruptions which were brought about by the union of philosophy with Christianity, and brought about by this school. The Bible was explained, by the Alexandrine school, as a book of allegories ; which the license of the interpreter, or fabulist, could make to teach anything to which his fancy inclined. The divine philosophy of Plato and Philo appeared everywhere in the Biblical visions of these interpreters. The Bible was little or nothing more than a sort of mag¬ ical mirror, to present, in a hundred varying shapes, the Grecian wis¬ dom, which Paul, in comparison with the Gospel, was taught, by the Holy Ghost, to view only with contempt. Clemens vindicated the study of philosophy, in this preposterous mode of interpreting the Scriptures, by the example of Abraham’s union with Hagar before having a son by Sarah. We are taught by this example, he says, the importance of an indoctrination in philosophy before any valuable fruif can be produced from Christianity. The monstrous productions of such unions, like those of the unions of angels with the daughters of men, which Justin Martyr and Clemens could see in the narrative in Genesis, the Alexandrine school has very abundantly shown. Christian teachers, in short, who actually wore the cloak, as well as the doctrines, of philosophers, carried the Gospel to the Academy for its verification; and, not satisfied with the splendor of its truths, baptized it in the font of Paganism. This was un¬ questionably one of the most signal departures of Christian instruction from its original simplicity and purity; and its pagan baptism gave it one of the most marked characters of the Man of Sin.

We cannot, in condemning the union effected between philosophy and Christianity by the teachers of the second century, exonerate modern theological instructors altogether from blame for a similar cause. Chris¬ tian teachers are now too much under the cloud of philosophy. To take

INTRODUCTION.

seems to have taken, though more harmlessly at its begin¬ ning, from this source ; and its subsequent blending with the Roman flamen and pontifex completed the departure, and was a graft on the same stock. ^ It can make little difference, in itself, whether a bishop presides over an asso¬ ciation of churches, or the pastor governs his own flock, or the congregation govern themselves. But Prelacy has one example : We are taught, in the Gospel, that men are saved only on one principle — that of grace or faith. Faith, we are taught, is the only possible commencement of true religion. This great doctrine, however, is, in many of our schools of theology, associated with metaphysical dis¬ cussions respecting the natural power of men in the operation of their wills; and it is thought to prove the dogma of a necessitated choice. Here two very different subjects have been confounded. The natural helplessness of men without the Gospel has been confounded with an imagined powerlessness which the microscopic vision of metaphysicians has discovered in the will, and which renders man a blind agent, or a passive link in an infinite chain of causes, and which renders obligation a mere barren distinction of terms. There is no relation whatever be¬ tween these subjects. When men are taught the obligation to believe in Christ and to conform to the precepts of the Gospel, the subject can be urged with power upon the conscience, which needs no metaphysics to augment; and it produces an effect upon the lives of men which a moun¬ tain of metaphysics can never accomplish. But theology has not yet emerged from the cloud into which this metaphysical subject of the will has plunged the doctrine of regeneration. It should be added to the Litany of all Christians, and be a part of their daily fervent prayer, “ From the error of confounding the speculations of man with the wis¬ dom and life-giving words of the Holy Ghost, and from all metaphysics and all false philosophy, 0 Lord, deliver us ! ”

It is gratifying to know that there were some Christians in the second century who foresaw the consequences of the philosophical inclinations of so many religious teachers; and that the union of philosophy with religion was not accomplished without opposition. How far the vitality of religion, however, had declined, at that early time, is manifest from the fact that the philosophical teachers were not shamed out of their preposterous innovations.

* See Commentaries of Mosheim, Century H.

2*

PLAN OP THE CREATION.

often manifested a character inconsistent "with Christian simplicity and equality j and the cause TV’hich produced it may reasonably be suspected to have produced other errors. One or two such errors will be seen in the course of this work.

But Jewish fables” do not stand alone in the causes which changed the character of Christianity. The varia¬ tions of opinion, in the first periods of the church, were much more numerous, and more important, than would be surmised by a reader only partially acquainted with ecclesi¬ astical history. As many of these causes and their fruits have been continued to our own time, they must affect our judgment of the present state of the Christian religion.

There was a wild range of diversity existing even under the eyes of the apostles themselves, as we learn from the epistles ; one can scarcely expect, therefore, to find a per¬ fection of Christian knowledge when inspiration ceased. The Apostolical Fathers,” so called, the immediate suc¬ cessors of the apostles, show an extraordinary union of truth and fable and tradition, and make it evident that Christian doctrine was not truly conceived at that time. They speak of the fabulous Egyptian phoenix as a reality, and seem to have regarded it as a proof of the resurrection. They received the most absurd fables respecting Abraham ; and tell us with great confidence : — what they had not learned from the Scriptures — that the world would con¬ tinue for seven thousand years ; a Jewish fable, w^hich has been transmitted to our time. If w^e go to the Apocryphal Gospels, let the time of their composition have been what it may, we plunge deeper into the fables which were widely substituted in the church for Christianity ; and which probably show the under-current of that powerful stream which was ploughing in the channel marked out by

INTRODUCTION.

the Gospel. A popular belief in dragons, in changelings, and in witchcraft, which prevailed among our British and German ancestors, shows a similar perverse tendency of the human mind.^

The second century may be regarded as dignified, to a limited extent indeed, by a disposition to penetrate through the bewildering and preposterous cloud of opinions to the standpoints of the Gospel. Perhaps this character, how¬ ever, more properly belongs to the two following centuries. Yet, this auspicious study of facts, when Christianity was nigh being lost in fable and tradition, was interrupted by several events, which resulted in submerging it in Reason and Asceticism ; and when the elements of these corrup¬ tions had been prepared, the arm of power shut down the gate against the purifying influences of the Gospel ; and the church took its flight into “ the wilderness,’’ until such time as it should please God to restore it again to the world, f

It would seem that no one could doubt, with these well-known facts before him, that the contents of the Gospel were very imperfectly settled up to the time of the Reform¬ ation. Nor can we be at a loss to perceive the effect of this admission upon the present state of Christian knowledge. For no less than six or seven still contested varieties of doctrine have come down to us, like the unfortunate legacy of a disputed estate, from the period of interrupted investi¬ gation ; some of which possess nearly equal currency and

Nothing shows more the importance of the exhortation, “ Take heed what ye hear.”

t The reader who wishes for further information upon this interesting subject may advantageously consult the Commentaries of the faithful Mosheim upon the State of Christianity during the Three First Cen¬ turies.

PLAN OF THE CREATION.

power, and divide the empire of the church among them. Calvinism and Arminianism have both been thus trans¬ mitted.* Arius has had, in modern times, however, few representatives, and Sabellius still fewer. The Nicene doctrine, or rather the doctrine which bears its name, has attained the prevalence. Some opinions respecting the Millennium and the second coming of Christ, and some relating to other subjects, have also been transmitted to our time.

The Gospel must be very imperfectly comprehended, and its facts must be capable of some new elucidation, when good and able men, as it would be absurd to dispute, have differed so widely upon all these subjects.f Especially, when we contemplate the vai^iety of these differences, must we be impressed with the belief that Christian theology demands a thorough revision, and must repay every earnest laborer who makes the attempt. Indeed, whether discov¬ eries in religion are practicable has been already settled by the fact that discoveries were made before the Reforma¬ tion, and have been made, more or less, almost every gen¬ eration since. We will call attention to one or two inter¬ esting facts upon this point.

* The historical reader does not need to be informed that the system or style of doctrine which now goes under the name of Calvin belongs really to a much earlier age; and that Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in the fourth century, is virtually its author. The doctrines called Arminian belong to as early an antiquity; and Pelagius, or Morgan, a British monk, and John Cassian, stand prominent among those who propagated sentiments of this nature.

t It would be impossible for any person to deny that the names both of good and great men have been attached to all these varieties of doc¬ trine. It is sufficient to know that Whitefield was a Calvinist, Wesley an Arminian, Dr. Samuel Clark an Arian, and that multitudes of good and able men have professed the Nicene doctrine, and many that of the Premillennialists, to justify this observation.

INTKODUCTION.

Every one is familiar with the benefits of the Reforma¬ tion itself ; and with the great doctrine which has produced them, and which Luther succeeded in raising from the for¬ getfulness in which it had lain for a thousand years. This great doctrine of Justification by Faith unfettered the mind from superstition and from church authority, and must ever produce these results wherever it is received.

But the Reformation of Luther was only one of a great series of reformations, and not the first in the series ; and it will appear an impressive fact to the reader, that no one of these reformations has been at any time effected without some new development of scriptural truth.

Wicklifife has been allowed, by some indeed reluctantly, the merit of a Christian reformer. He has been called the Morning Star of the Reformation. History will allow him an influence of the most powerful kind upon the religious sentiments of a great nation, and of a race at present the most powerful on the globe. Wickliflfe’s opinions, indeed, partook something of a political character, as falling in with the drift of popular feeling then existing throughout the civilized world. It was an age when the conviction of pop¬ ular rights was taking its deep root among men, to put forth its strong and terrible arms in a future age. The French lawyers may have said before, Avhat John Ball, the itinerant preacher, said, whose celebrated distich represents in some degree, though in doggerel, the spirit of Wicklifife’ s preaching : —

“ When Adam delved and Eve span,

Where was the fine gentleman ? ” ^

* The French national documents of this age express the very spirit and language of our Declaration of Independence. “ According to the law of nature, each ought to be born free.” — Michelet’s History of France, Book V. chap. 5.

PLAN OF THE CREATION.

But WicklifFe discovered the great doctrine of human rights, or rather of Christian liberty, in the Gospel. He acted powerfully with these ideas, mingled with some others, upon his own time ; and his influence may be be¬ lieved to have been felt in the freedom of religious opinion wdiich exists in England, and in the liberties of this coun¬ try, at the present time.

Whitefield and Wesley must also be admitted among reformers. Their great labors are now forcing themselves upon attention, as being among the greatest and most fruit¬ ful in historical events. Yet the beneficial effects of their labors did not start altogether in the line of existing ideas. Their reformation w^'as not a reproduction of the religious spirit of the Commonwealth. It had much in common with it. But it was more rational, less speculative, and struck its roots deeper in the genius of the Gospel. It was emi¬ nently philanthropic : without sternness or fierceness. No man ever expressed the genuine spirit of Christian charity more than Mr. Whitefield ; and Wesleyanism was a novel exposition of the Scriptures altogether, the justness of some of which is now very generally conceded, and some of the sterner features of Calvinism have melted away under the influence of this rising star. Whitefield, whose eloquence was unrivalled, did not theoretically depart from the Calvinistic standard of the day ; but the spirit of his extraor¬ dinary labors and eloquence was not inspired by the chill¬ ing system which he professed.* The doctrine of the