Present-day Papers on Prominent Questions in Theology

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Contents

I. THE ATONEMENT. By the Editor.

II. THE EUCHARIST. By the Editor.

III. THE RULE OF FAITH. By the' Editor,

Preface

T IS curious that Revelation should not be more regarded than it is in its primitive aspect, that is, as a Revelatiorij or giving of Light It is too much forgotten that this is its main character and intent; that Revelation is something over and above nature, something to interpret and supplement nature, and to give us " that which by nature we cannot have." Instead of this, it is too frequently regarded as another mystery, to be received on account of the authority by which it is imposed, but not on the ground of that which it is in itself, — light illuminating darkness. So much is this the case, that one of the most illustrious apologists of Revelation grounds his arguments for its credibility on the fact of its containing mysteries analogous to those of nature.

Yet surely this is not the true conception of Revelation, nor the object for which it was bestowed? Surely its character and intents are different ? Was it not given us to clear up mystery ? to be a key to the difficulties of nature ? to enlighten us ? to be a help whereby we might be able " to bear the burden of the mystery . . . the heavy and the weary weight of all this unintelligible world ?"

Doubtless it was so ; and do we not frustrate its object, and lose its blessings when we do not receive it thus? If we do not recognise it in this character, we miss its end, and fell short of its blessings, and to this may probably be attributed the slow progress which Christianity has made.

Revelation is "the making manifest," by an admission of light; it is the Revelation of meaning^ of a meaning capable of being understood, and which is required to be understood for the accomplishment of the ends for which Revelation was given ; and which only are accomplished as it is understood. It is no additional mystery, but the explanation of mystery — ^an explanation commending itself to our conscience and reason, and operating by them. It is not sent to demand faith on authority, but to produce faith by explanation and by giving reasons for believing. If not received, in this sense, we miss the character and ends of Revelation. But how often is this done ?

Materialistic substitutions and technical definitions have been made to travesty its meaning, and have been put into its place ; and that which was given to lighten our darkness has been brought to require more light to illuminate itself, than the darkness to which it was sent! When light becomes darkness, how great is the darkness ! and how doubly dark when Christ Himself becomes the cloud !

Finding nothing satisfactory in such conceptions of Revelation, and knowing that some of them are at variance with things which are sure, many turn from Revelation, thinking it to be in itself either insufficient or untrue, and to be but one of the many Religions which have appeared but to pass away. But this is a false conclusion, the product of a misapprehension, or misrepresentation of Revelation.

Revelation, if understood, gives us all we need; — ^in their essence its truths are absolute and eternal, and can never pass away, and as they are understood, are ever found ahead of human progress. Christ is " the heir of all the ages," and as He is recognised, so in proportion is the elevation of that time, and nation ; its place and standing.

As is morality, so is progress; and as is light, so is morality ; and as Love is, so light is ; for as a man is, he sees ; and as he sees he acts : but no man can have Eternal light and power but in the light of Christ. By His light only can we rise from temporal to eternal levels, to seek good, that is, not for a purpose, but for its own sake, and God, for that which He is. By Christ the true God is revealed to us ; Christ, by giving us to know the Son, enables us to find the Father. By Christ we come into our true relations with God, into a place of liberty, that is, and obedience also ; a place of rest ; which has its security, not from that which is in us, but from that which is in God : — His everlasting and righteous Fatherhood.

By Christ we have "fellowship'* with the Father, a reverent sympathy and adoration ; and yet the meaning of God's will, by getting His character in Christ. Brought thus nigh to God, we find that no sacrifice in place of " fellowship," or sympathy, is sufficient, that nothing can be our true relationship with God which is short of this, and that all regarding of this as a hard necessity, is of the nature of selling that birthright into which we were bom as " God*s offspring," and to which it is the main object and meaning of Revelation to call us — ^but from which, alas, we had been, and now are, too often tempted by other and lower things.

It has appeared to some who apprehend Revelation in this sense, that there are those who would be glad of assistance in receiving it under the same aspects.

Arrangements, accordingly, are being made whereby the works of some of those who look on Revelation in this light may be made easily accessible. Short treatises and papers are intended therefore to be issued from time to time, to form one, and a continuous, series, in monthly volumes.

These papers will be adapted for family reading, but are intended more particularly for the thoughtful and enquiring members of the family.

It is hoped that by means of this series, under God, some 'will be helped, in these days of change, to find sure standing in Christianity, and a foundation which neither the varying opinions of men, nor the diflference of the organization of Churches, nor connection or disconnection with the Civil power, will be able to alter or to destroy.

o

WILLIAM LAW.

I. It is remarkable that at this day there remain only a few scanty and sometimes conflicting memorials of the life and character of a man whose writings for more than a century exercised a very perceptible influence upon the mind of the English Church ; and whose letters to Hoadly may fairly be put on a level with the " Lettres Provinciales" of Blaise Pascal, — ^both displaying equal power, wit, and learning ; both now consigned to a common oblivion. Yet such is the case with William Law, whose " Dialogue upon the Atonement" is reprinted in the present volume.

William Law was bom at King's Cliffe in Northamptonshire, in the year 1686, where also— "the place of his nativity" — ^he died, and was buried in the year 1761. A monument (which still remains) was erected there to his memory " by a particular and dear friend, who had lived many years with him, and therefore had long known and highly and justly esteemed his singular worth."

After receiving the rudimental portion of his education in some provincial school, he was sent, in his nineteenth year, to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, of which society he seems to have been elected a fellow in 171 1. Refusing to take the oaths of allegiance and abjuration on the accession of George I. in 17 14, he vacated his fellowship apparently in the year 17 16, and thenceforward "was distinguished by thenameofanonjuringmmister."

About this time he went to Putney as tutor to Edward Gibbon, the father of the historian of the " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." While discharging the duties of this office, he gave " voluntary tuition " to his pupil's sister, upon whose mind " his instructions made an early and lasting impression." A friendship thus begun was never afterwards interrupted. According to a letter attributed to the great historian,* in Hester Gibbon's house at King's Cliffe, Law spent somewhat more than the last twenty years of his life, having, in company with a mutual friend, Mrs. Hutcheson, removed thither from London in 1740, to act as chaplain, instructor, and almoner. When, where, and from whom he received holy orders — ^when and where, if ever, he officiated in the Church of England — these are points which it has not been possible to ascertain. The accounts state that he acted as curate "for some time" in London; but no definite authority has been given for the statement. There is no record in the registers of King's Cliffe of his ever having performed sacred offices in the church of his native village.t

* This letter may be found in a notice of Law prefixed to the ZQth edition of " The Serious Call." London : 1825.

t This point has been cleared up through the kindness of the present Rector of King's Cliffe.

WILLIAM LAW. Ii

II. In private and domestic life, Law must have been very attractive and conciliatory. In spite of being an ecclesiastic, he conciliated much more than the respect of his friend Hester Gibbon's nephew. Unmarried, like the melancholy Cowper, like him also he was much attached to female society. He was a man of simple, abstemious, and retired habits j careless about money, for he refused to take payment for the copies of his publications ;• munificent, or (as it would be phrased now) injudicious and indiscreet in almsgiving; fond of children, and "naturally inclined to be more merry than sad"

" He rose early, breakfasted in his bedroom, alone, on one cup of chocolate, joined his family in prayer at nine o'clock, and again soon after noon at dinner. When the children of his nephew came to his house, as they often did, he was much pleased to see them, and to take them on his knee. When the daily provision for the poor was not made punctually at the usual hour, he expressed his displeasure sharply, but seldom on any other occasion. He did not join Mrs. Gibbon and Mr. Hutcheson at the tea-table, but sometimes ate a few raisins standing while they sat. At an early supper, after an hour's walk, he ate something, and drank one or two glasses of wine ; then joined in prayer with the ladies and their servants, attended to the reading of some portion of Scripture, and at nine o'clock retired."

III. Law's writings are numerous and varied. Some of

* It is said that his bookseller, Mr. Richardson, once prevailed upon him to accept one hundred guineas.

them are devotional ; some are directed to, what, for the sake of distinction, may be called, Dogmatic Theology ; and some are controversial. In controversy he selected men of no mean mark for his antagonists ; for he entered into the lists with Hoadly, Warburton, John Wesley, and Chubb ; and it is not too much to say that he was seldom, perhaps never, worsted in the fight. Of all his works, the best known at this day are the " Treatise on Christian Perfection," two editions of which were published in London in 1807, and his "masterpiece," "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life," much recommended by Dr. Johnson as the " finest piece of hortatory theology in any language."* Of this book a nineteenth edition was published also in London in 1825.

Both these works were for a long period studied and circulated by the Evangelical section (such as it still is) of the English Church, and by the more devout and intelligent members of the High Church section, such as it was prior to the year 1834.

Bishop Home (1730 — 1792), President of Magdalen College, Oxford, afterwards Bishop of Norwich, and author of the once celebrated " Commentary on the Psalms," was such a diligent student and devout admirer of the " Treatise on Christian Perfection," that he either copied, or was sufficiently conversant with it to quote from memory whole passages in his sermon on the " Duty of Self-Denial."t But

* See preface to the edition of the " Serious Call," published at York, 1815. t Compare " Christian Perfection," p. X46, 8th edition, London, 1807, with Home's Sermons. Ser. zxxiii. vol. i. 423. London, zSjz ^ great as was the popularity of the " Christian Perfection," its popularity was diminished on the publication of the " Serious Call," which made a still stronger, and certainly a more lasting, impression upon the sympathies of the religious world. Wonderful things are said of the influence which the "Call" has been known to exercise not only over individual minds, but even over the minds of an entire population. In a letter from Scarborough, dated December 21, 1771,* a clergyman, who signs himself Ouranius, states that he had been so charmed and edified by it, that he resolved to give a copy of it to each person in his parish — being desirous that his people should be fed with the same spiritual food which had so abundantly nurtured himself; and this effort for their good (he tells us) was rewarded with unusual success. "I had the satisfaction of seeing my people reclaimed from a life of folly and impiety to a life of holiness and devotion." Dr. Johnson f speaks of the " Serious Call" in terms so striking, that it is impossible to account for the language which he uses, merely from the fact of his known predilection for Law's nonjuring principles. He says, " I fell into an inattention to religion, or an indifference about it, in my ninth year. The church at Lichfield, in which we had a seat, wanted reparation, so I was to go and find a seat in other churches; and having bad eyes, and being awkward about this, I used to go and read in the fields on Sunday. This habit continued till my

** See Preface to 19th Ed., pp. xiii., xiv.

t Boswcll*s " Life of Johnson," p. 14, Tilt's Edition. London, 1840.

14 WILLIAM LA JV.

fourteenth year ; and still I find a great reluctance to go to church. I then became a sort of lax talker against religion, for I did not much think against it ; and this lasted till I went to Oxford,* where it would not be suffered. When at Oxford I took up Law's 'Serious Call to a Holy Life,' expecting to find it a dull book (as such books generally are), and to laugh at it ; but I found Law quite an overmatch for me : and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest about religion after I became capable of rational inquiry." From this time forward (says his biographer) religion was the prominent object of his thoughts. So much for the influence of Law's writings over the mind of a man who believed in the divine right of kings, and thought it a compliment (after he had received a pension from George III.) to address a friend as a Jacobite.t

Now, turning fi*om this high Tory and high churchman, it may not be uninteresting to mark how the mind of a man, cast in quite a different mould, was affected by the study of the " Serious Call," — the elder Venn. We are told that he read it repeatedly, and with great advantage; and when

* He went to Oxford on the 3xst October, 1728, being then in his nineteenth year, soon after the publication of the " Serious Call," in 1726, apparently,

t " ' My dear, I hope you are a Jacobite ? ' Old Mr. Langton, who, though a high and steady Tory, was much attached to the present Royal Family, seemed offended, and asked, with great warmth, what he could mean by putting such a question. ' Why, sir,' said Johnson, ' I meant no offence, I meant a great compliment. A Jacobite believes in the Divine right of Kings. He that believes in the Divine right of Kings believes in a Divinity. A Jacobite believes in the Divine right of Bishops. He that believes in the Divine right of Bishops, believes in the Divine authority of the Christian Religion. Therefore, sir, a Jacobite is neither an Atheist, nor a Deist.'"— Cf. fioswell's "Johnson," p. 130. Tilt, London, 1840 [An. 1763].

"The Spirit of Love " (a portion of which is now presented to the public) was in the press he looked forward to its publication with intense anxiety. The bookseller, Mr. Richardson, was importuned to forward it without delay. ''No miser, waiting for the account of a rich inheritance devolving on him, was ever more eager than Venn was to receive a book from which he expected to derive so much knowledge and improvement"* But the miser's experience was his. What he so eagerly coveted brought only disap- ^

pointment He either failed to appreciate, or else (as indeed is often the case now) he misimderstood Law's, that is, in other words, the Pauline, doctrine of reconciliation.

IIL Law's theological system may be said to rest upon one only basis, viz., that God is Love — from eternity to eternity Love — "abyssal" Love — ^an infinite fathomless depth of never-ceasing Love — ordering all His counsels, working all His works, regulating all events, governing all creatures according to the rules and measiures of Love alone ; every sentiment antagonistic to Love being absolutely foreign to the divine nature, and existing not in the Creator, but in the creature.

And it may also be said (in so far as such a thing can be said of any human being) that no passion or temper antagonistic to Love found a place in William Law's character. A dose reasoner, a keen disputant, at times rising up to a very high and noble eloquence (as witness his controversies with Hoadly and Warburton, and with the Deists), yet he

* Cf. " Life of Henry Venn/' pp. z8, 19. London, X839.

l6 WILLIAM LA W.

never indulges in personalities, or in the imputation of motives — ^never contends for victory, but only for truth — only for the glory of God and for the good of men ; for the good of those with whom he argues. In fact he exemplified what Gibbon said of him, that he believed what he professed, and practised what he enjoined j and proved, indeed, that at every weapon of attack and defence, on the groimd that was common to both, the nonjuror was at least equal prelate.

IV. At this day it is curious, and it may not be altogether useless, to cite some of the opinions, current in theological literature, in regard to this nonjuror and his writings.

The last editor* of his " Letters to Hoadly" characterizes them as incomparable for truth of argument, brightness of wit, purity of English ; and speaks of Law as one of the great defenders of the cause of the Church. Again, Edward Gibbon f represents him as a worthy and pious man, who believed all he professed, and practised all he enjoined — as a wit and a scholar — ^in argument specious and acute, in manner lively, in style forcible and clear. " Had not his mind been clouded with enthusiasm, he might be ranked among the most agreeable and ingenious writers of the times. His precepts are rigid, but they are founded on the Gospel His satire is sharp, but it is founded on a know-

• Apparently the last. See a Collection of Tracts called "The Scholar Armed." 3rd Ed. London, z8z2. •

t See letter cited n</f», p. zo.

ledge of human life ; and many of his portraits are not unworthy of the pen of a La Bniybre. If he finds a spark of piety in his reader's mind, he will soon kindle it into a flame; and a philosopher must admit that he exposes with equal severity and truth the strange contradiction between the faith and practice of the Christian world." This is one portrait — the bright portrait of the man, drawn by kind and friendly hands. We may now turn to a darker view of him — ^the work of less friendly artists.

Dr. Hey [1734 — 18 15], " a sound and judicious" divine (as he is evermore called), in his " Lectures on Divinity," dismisses Law's name with scorn and contempt, as hardly worth mention, inasmuch as he is a mere " mystic."* One of the editors of "Christian Perfection" warns his readers against the danger of falling, by Mr. Law's example, " into the stupendous reveries of Jacob Boehmen, the German theosophist"t — ^the blessed Boehmen, as Law in later life loved to call him ; while Alexander Knox J [1768 — 1831] becomes quite excited (as far as his feeble temperament was capable of excitement) at the thought of Law's " full-grown mysticism." Contrasting Law with Fdndon [1651 — 17 15], much to the disparagement of the former, moved perhaps by Law's controversy with John Wesley about regeneration, — he says, "I should not wish to analyze the character of William Law. His temper first and last is of a questionable

• "Lectures," iii. 450. Cambridge, 1822. t " Christian Perfection." London, 1807. X "Remains," i. 340. L.etter on Mysticism to Parken.

B l8 WILLIAM law:

complexion."* When Knox wrote this, he might have remembered that Bossuet wrote and spoke of the saintly Fdndon in a somewhat similar spirit; and perhaps if he had proceeded to make the analysis from which he shrank, he might have formed a diiFerent judgment; or, at least, have expressed himself in different language. Even Knox might have learned something from the writings of those who are generally stigmatized as Mystics, Great and precious thoughts of God are stored up in the works of such men as Frangois de Sales,t F^n^on, and Law, which are still worthy of attention. They contain truths which even we cannot afford to lose; but which are either forgotten or neglected in these hasty times : or else have been clipped by the rude shears of ecclesiastical definition into strange fantastic forms, like the box edges which disfigured the gardens of our forefathers. Be it granted, as indeed it must be granted, that errors are to be found in the speculations of such men; still we must admit that they moved along no ordinary groove, and soared far above the common level into an atmosphere purer and more sincere than that which most of us are in the habit of breathing ; and we hope that that Divine faculty which can eliminate truth from error, and which, like the chemist's test, helps to detect and expel foreign matter held in solution, is not withdrawn from us, but will still enable us to separate the dross from the pure ore. Yes, it is to be hoped that t Evfique et Prince de Geneve [1567 — 1622], this glory is not departed from this age of the Church ! And if Mysticism, according to the definition of a modem* writer,* be a system which examines religious phenomena simply as facts resulting from the immediate contact of God with the individual soul, we need not be at much pains to exonerate Law from the charge of it : nor will we presume to pass a panegyric upon a man who could thus express himself: — "I love no mysterious depths or heights of speculation, covet no knowledge, want to see no ground of Nature, Grace, atod Creature, but so far as it brings me nearer to God, forces me to forget and renounce everything for Him, to do everything in Him and for Him, and to give every breathing, moving, stirring intention of my heart, soul, spirit, life to Him. It is for the sake of the spirit of prayer that I have endeavoured to set so many points of religion in such a view as must dispose the reader willingly to give up all that he inherits from his fallen father, to be all hunger and thirst for God, and to have no thought or care but to be wholly His devoted instrument everywhere, and in everything His adoring, joyful, and thankful servant."

** There is nothing in this world so much concerns a man, as to settle his heart in a right apprehension of his Grod, which must be the ground of all his piety and devotion ; without which all his pretences of Religion are so nothing worth, as that in them God is made our idol, and we the misworshippers of Him ; without which, shortly, our whole life is misspent in error and ignorance, and ends in a miserable discomfort."— ^w/fo/ Bdirs Works, v. 487. Oxford : 1863.