The way of life

Front matter

m

I LI BRARY OF CQNGRK SS. |

^UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. |

Preface

It is one of the clearest principles of divine revelation, that holiness is the fruit of truth; and it is one of the plainest inferences from that principle, that the exhibition of the truth is the best means of promoting holiness Christians regard the word of God as the only infallible teacher of those truths which relate to the salvation of men. But are the Scriptures really a revelation from God? If they are, what doctrines do they teach ? And what influence should those doctrmes exert on our heart and life ?

The publishing committee of the American

Sunday-school Union have long felt the want

PREFACE of a book which should give a p.ain answer to these questions, and be suitable to place in the hands of intelligent and educated young persons, either to arouse their attention, or to guide their steps in the way of life.

The following work has been prepared at the request of the committee, with the hope that it may in some measure answer the purpose just stated. In a Christian country it might seem unnecessary to raise the question whether the Scriptures are the word of God? But those who have had m.uch intercourse with young men, know that even among those who have been religiously educated, there is more or less skepticism upon this point ; and where there is no absolute skepticism, there is often an impression that the evidence of the divine origin of the Bible is not so decisive as it might, or even should be. Hence it is that the want of faith is seldom felt to be a great sin. It was therefore deemed important that the question, Why we are bound to believe

PREFACE.

the Bible to be the word of God? should be distuictly, though briefly, answered.

The still more comprehensive question. What do the Scriptures teach? is of course here considered only in reference to those great practical doctrines which are essential to evangelical religion, viz.: the doctrines of sin, justification, faith, repentance, and holy living.

With regard to the influence which these doctrines should exert upon the heart and life, or, in other words, with regard to religious experience, reference might be made to the numerous records of the exercises of the people of God, or to what we see daily in his church As, however, the Scriptures themselves not only teach us what the truth is, but also how It operates upon an enlightened conscience and behbv'ing heart, our safest appeal is to them. It is there that we can best learn how we ought to feel and act in view of what the

Bible teaches us of sin, of justification, faith.

1*

6 PREFACE.

and repentance ; since genuine religious experience is simply the accordance of our views and feelings with the truth of God.

If this little book should be instrumeniai, by the simple exhibition of the truth, of pomting out the way of life to those who are anxious to know what they must belie s^e and what they must experience in order to be saved, it will answer the design of ith prepa ratjoD and publication.

Contents

Page Chap. I. — The Scriptures are the Word of God.

Sec. L — The internal evidence of the divine origin

of the Scriptures 9

Chap. IV. — Conviction of Sin

Sec. I. — Knowledge of sin. Sense of personal ill-desert 106

Sec. II. — Insufliciency of our own righteousness and

of our own strength 23

8 CONTENTS.

Pag9 Chap. V. — Justification.

Sec. I. — Importance of the doctrine. Explaflation of the Scriptural terms relating to it. Justification is not by works 135

Sec. II. — The demands of the law are satisfied by

what Christ has done 151

Sec. Ill, — The righteousness of Christ the true ground of our justification. The practical effect of the doctrine 17f

Chap. VI. — Faith

Sec. I. — Faith necessary in order to salvation. The

nature of saving faith 191

Sec. II. — Faith as connected with Justification. . . . 208

Chap. VIII. — Profession of Religion

Sec. I. — The nature and necessity of a public profession of religion 24."

Sec. II. — Baptism and the Lord's Supper. The nature, design, and eflficacy of these ordinances 255

Sec. III. — Obligation to attend upon the sacraments. Qualifications for the proper discharge of the duty 276

Chap. IX. — Holy Living

Sec. I. — The nature of true religion 293

Sec. II. — Tiie means of sanctificution 319

THE WAY OF LIFE.

CHAPTER L

THE SCRIPTURES ARE THE WORD OF GOD.

Section I. The Internal evidence of the divine origin of the Scriptures

It often happens that those who hear the gospel, doubt whether it is really the word of God. Having been taught from infancy to regard it as a aivine revelation, and knovvitig no sufficient reason for rejecting it, they yield a general assent to its claims. There are times, however, when they would gladly be more fully assured that the Bible is not a cunningly devised fable. They think if that point was absolutely certain, they would at once submit to all the gospel requires.

Such doubts do not arise from any deficiency in the evidence of the divine authority of the Scriptures , nor would they be removed by any increase of that evidence. They have their origin in the state of the heart. The most important of all the evidences of Christianity, can never be properly appreciated unless the heart be right in the sight of God. The same exhibition of truth which produces unwavering conviction in one mind, leaves another in a state of doubt or unbelief. And the same mind often passes rapidly, tliough rationally, from a state of scepticism to that of faith, without any change in the mere external evidence presented to it.

No amount of mere external evidence can produce genuine faith. . The Israelites, who had seen a long succession of wonders in the land of Egypt; who had passed through the divided waters of the Red Sea ; who were daily receiving by miracle food from heaven ; who had trembled at the manifestations of the divine majesty on Mount Sinai ; within sight of that mountain, made a golden calf their God. The men, who saw the miracles of Christ performed almost daily in their presence, cried out, Crucify him, crucify him. Hence our Saviour said, that those who hear not Moses and the prophets would not be persuaded though one rose from the dead. We may confidently conclude, therefore, that those who now believe not the gospel, would not

De peisnaded had they seen all the miracles which Christ performed.

It is important that the attention of the doubting should be directed to the fact that their want of faith is to be attributed to their own moral state, and not to any deficiency in the evidence of the truth. If our gospel be hid, says the apostle, it is hid to them that are lost ; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, should shine unto them.

There is nothing in the doctrine here stated, out of analogy with our daily experience. No truth can be properly apprehended unless there is a harmony between it and the mind to which it is presented. Even abstract or speculative truths are not seen to be true, unless the oinderstanding be duly cultivated to apprehend them. With regard to objects of taste, unless there is a power to perceive the correspondence between them and the standard of beauty, there can be no appreciation of their excellence. And still moie obviously in regard to moral and religious truth, there must be a state of mind suited to their apprehension. If our moral sense were entirely destroyed by sin, we '.ould have no perception of moral distinctions ; if •t is vitiated, what is true in itself and true m the view of the pure in heart, will not be true to U!S.

A man, who has no adequate sense of the evil of sin, cannot believe in the justice of God. If you awaken his conscience, he is convinced at once, without the intervention of any process of proof.

No one can fail to remark that the Bible demands immediate and implicit faith from all who read it It may lie neglected in the study of the philosopher, or in the chest of the outcast sailor ; or it may be given by a missionary yet ignorant of the language of the heathen to whom he ministers. The moment, however, it is opened, in these or any other circumstances, it utters the same calm voice. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. If this demand was confined to the educated, we might suppose it to rest on evidence which the educated only are able to appreciate ; or if it was made of those only to whom the scriptures are presented by regularly commissioned ministers^ we might suppose it rested on their authority; but it is not thus confined. It is inseparable from the word itself. It is as imperative when the Bible is read by a child to a company of pagans, as when it is proclaimed in a cathedral. But if this demand of faith goes with the word wherever it goes, it must rest upon evi dence contained in the word itself. The demand of faith cannot be more extensive, than the exhibi-

THE WORE OF GOD. 13

tion of evidence. Unless, therefore, we restrict the oblio^ation and the benefits of faith to those who are capable of appreciating the external evidence of the Bible, we must admit that it contains its own evidence.

To make the testimony of others to the truth of Christianity, the ground of faith, is inadmissible for two obvious reasons. In the first place, as already intimated, it is not sufficiently extensive. The obligation to believe rests on multitudes to whom that testimony is not addressed. In the second place, it is entirely inadequate. The great mass of men cannot be required to believe on the testimony of the learned few, a religion which is to control their conduct in this world and to decide their destiny in the next. Besides, learned m^en testify in behalf of the Koran as well as in favoiur of the Bible. That, therefore, cannot be an adequate ground of faith, which may be urged in support of error as well as of truth. To require the common people to be able to see why the testimony of learned Christians may safely be relied upon, while that of learned Mussulmans should be rejected, is to require of them a task as severe as the examination of the historical evidences of Christianity. There is, therefore, no way of justifying the universal, immediate and authoritative demand, which th^ Bible makes on our faith, except by admitting that it contains within itself the proofs of its divine origin.

It may not be easy, or perhaps possible, to give any adequate exhibition of the nature of this proof to those who profess not to see it. Enough however may be said to show that it is a rational and adequate ground for implicit confidence. Every work bears the impress of its maker. Even among men it is hard for one man successfully to counterfeit the work of another. Is it wonderful then that the works of God should bear the inimitable impress of their author? Do not the heavens declare his glory ? Does not the mechanism of an insect as clearly evince the workmanship of God? Why then should it be deemed incredible that his word should contain inherent evidence of its divine origin ? If the Bible be the work of God, it must contain the impress of his character, and thereby evince itself to be divine.

It may be objected that we are not competent to judge of this evidence. If it requires so much cultivation of ike intellect to judge of the excellence of human productions, and so accurate an acquaintance with the character of their authors, in order to decide on the genuineness of such productions, who can pretend to a knowledge of God which shall enable him to judge what is, or what is not worthy of his hand ? This would be a fatal t

THE WORD OF GOD IS

objection if the internal evidence of the scriptures consisted in their intellectual excellence. It loses its force however when it is remembered that this excellence is, in a great measure, m.oral, and that goodness carries with it its own evidence. To appreciate evidence of this kind requires no great degree of knowledge or refinement. It requires merely light moral feelings. Where these exist, the evidence that goodness is goodness is immediate and irresistible. It is not because the Bible is written wjth more than human skill, and that its discrimination of character or its eloquence is beyond the powers of man, that we believe it to be divine. These are matters of which the mass of men are incompetent judges. The evidence in question is suited to the apprehension of the humblest child of God. It is partly negative and partly positive. It consists, in the first place, in the absence of every thing incompatible with a divine origii. There is nothing inconsistent with reason, and there is nothing inconsistent with goodness. Did the scriptures contain any thing contrary to reason or to righl moral feeling, belief in its divine origin would be impossible. Such a belief would involve the ascription of folly or sin to its author. There is more in this negative evidence than we are apt to imagine It can not be urged in behalf of any other book but the Bible, claiming a divine origin.

An impassable giilf is thus placed between the scriptures and all apocryphal writings. The claims of the latter are in every instance disproved by the fact that they contain statements which cannot be true.

It is however the positive internal evidence of a divine origin, which gives power and authority to the claims of the Bible. This evidence consists mainly in its perfect holiness, in the correspondence between all its statements respecting God, man, redemption and a future state, and all our own right judgments, reasonable apprehensions and personal experience. When the mind is enlightened to see this holiness ; when it perceives how exactly the rule of duty prescribed in the word of God agrees with that enforced by conscience ; how the account which it gives of human nature coincides with human experience ; how fully it meets our whole case ; when it feels how powerfully the truths there presented operate to purify, console and sustain the soul, the belief of the scriptures is a necessary consequence. The idea that such a book is a lie and a forgery involves a contradiction. The human mind is so constituted that it cannot refuse its assent to evidence, when clearly perceived. We cannot withhold our confidence from a man whose moral excellence is plainly, variously and constantly manifested. We cannot see and

THE ^ 3KD OF GOD. 17

feel his goodness, and yet believe him to be an impostor or deceivei. In like manner, we cannot see the excellence of the scriptures, and yet believe them to be one enormous falsehood. The Bible claims to be the w-ord of God; it speaks in his name, it assumes his authority. How can these claims be false and yet the Bible be so Holy ? How can falsehood be an element of perfect excellence ? The orJy possible way of shaking our confidence in the competent testimony of a man, is to show that hb is not a good man. If his goodness is admitted, confidence in his word cannot be withheld, and especially when all he says finds its confirmation in our own experience, and commends itself to our conscience and judgment. Thus also it is impossible that we should discern the excellence of the scriptures and feel their correspondence with our experience and necessities, and yet supposethem to be untrue.

When the woman of Samaria reported to hen townsmen that Jesus had told her all that ever she did, many of them believed. But after they had themselves listened to his instructions, they said ta the woman. Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heaid him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world,* No Christian can be surprised at this de* claration, or think the faith in Christ founded upon what he said, either irrational or enthusiastic. We can well believe that there was such an ineffable manifestation of goodness in the Redeemer's countenance, manner and doctrines, as to conciliate entire confidence. Those who were rightly affected could not fail to believe all he said ; that he was the Christ, that he came to seek and save them that are lost, to lay down his life for his sheep and to give himself a ransom for many. Can we doubt that the goodness of the Saviour, the elevation, holiness and power of his instructions, their correspondence with our own nature, experience and wants, would of themselves constitute an adequate ground of faith ? All this we have. This every man has, who reads the Bible. There the Saviour stands in the majesty of unapproachable excellence. He utters in every hearing ear the words of eternal life ; declares his origin, his mission, the design of his advent and death ; offers pardon and eternal life to those who come unto God through him. There is the most perfect accordance between his claims and his conduct ; between his doctrines and what we know and what we need. To disbelieve him, is to believe him to be a deceiver, and to believe this, is to disbelieve our own perceptions ; for we know what goodness is, and we know that goodness cannot deceive, that God cannot lie.

It makes very little difference as to the force of this kind of evidence, whether we personally saw and heard the Saviour for ourselves, or whether we read the exhibition of his character and the record of his instructions. For the evidence lies in his goodness and in the nature of his doctrines. It is the same to us who read the Bible, as it was to those that heard the Saviour. There is therefore the same violence done to reason and duty, in our rejecting it, as was offered by those who believed not because they were not of his sheep, that is, because they were insensible to the constraining influence of the grace and truth which were in Him. Does then any one ask, how we know that the Bible is not a forgery ? Let him consider what such an assumption involves. It supposes either that the authors of the Bible were fools, which we can no more believe than that Newton was an idiot ; or that they were wicked, which no man can believe who knows what goodness is. Wherever, therefore, the Bible goes, it carries with it evidence, that is irresistible, (when attended to and apppreciated,) that its authors were neither dupes nor deceivers.

It may be asked, If the Bible contains such clear evidence of its divine origin, why are there so many unbelievers ? To this it may be answered, that there are two things necessary in oider that evidence should produce conviction. The first is thai

It should be attended to ; otherwise it might as well not exist. Of the many millions of people in Christendom, comparatively few give the Scriptures any serious attention. That such persons should have no effective faith, is no more a matter of sui prise than that they should be ignorant of what they never learned. The second requisite for the reception of evidence, is that it should be understood or really apprehended. If this evidence is addressed to the understanding, there must be strength of mind enough to comprehend its nature and bearing ; if addre^ssed to the moral faculty, there must be moral sensibility to appreciate it, or it will be like light shining on the eyes of the blind. The internal evidence of the scriptures is in a great measure of this latter kind. It consists in their perfect holiness. In proportion as men are corrupt, they are blind to this kind of evidence. It may exist in all its force, and men be insensible to it. Another part of this evidence consists in the accordance between the scriptures and the religious experience of men. Those who have not the experience, cannot see this accordance. Still another portion of the evidence is made available by the power of God in subduing sin, in purifying the affections, in diffusing peace and joy through the heart. Those who have never felt this power cannot appreciate this kind of proof. The fact, therefore, that so large a proportion of mankind have no adequate faith in tht; Scriptures, aflbrds no presumption against the -existence of sufficient evidence. This fact is in exact accordance with what the Bible teaches of the moral state of man.

Another objection to the view of the ground of taith given above, is that it leads to enthusiasm, and breaks down the distinction between true and false religion. Every enthusiast, it is said, thinks he sees wonderful excellence in the pretended revelations which he embraces. It is a sufficient answer to this objection to ask, whether the scholar has less faith in the excellence of the great standards of poetry, because the writers of doggerel rhymes have had their admirers ? That the sensual, selfish and cruel character of Mohammed appears good in the eyes of a Turk, does not prove him to be an enthusiast who bows with reverence before the supreme excellence of Jesus Christ. That the pagan world saw evidence of the existence of their gods in the heavens and in the course of nature, does not make him an enthusiast, who recognizes in the works of God the manifestations of infinite power, wisdom and goodness. It is most unreasonable to assume that we must not feel the force of truth and excellence, because others have ascribed these attributes to error and vice. It is not according to the con- Rtitution of our nature that one man should cease to know a thing to be true or good, because others do not see ii. The evidence is complete for him, though all the world reject it.

If it is asked, where the standard is ; what criterion of excellence exists by which I am authorized to decide that what I call goodness is really such ; the rule is given in the nature of man. We know that benevolence is better than malice, veracity than deceit, humility than pride, and by the same rule we know that Christianity is better than Hindooism, and the blessed Redeemer than the Arabian impostor. No judgment can be more sure than this, no persuasion more intimate, no confidence either more firm or more rational. It is, therefore, no objection against admitting the excellence of the Scriptures to be a proof of their divine origin, that besotted or deluded men have ascribed excellence to folly and wickedness.

Secttox ir. The internal evidence of their divine origin is the proper ground of faith in the Scriptures.

The Scriptures themselves clearly teach that the faith which they demand is founded upon the authority of God, manifesting itself in them by the excellence and power of the truth which they contain. They everywhere represent faith as the effect and evidence of right moral feeling, and unbelief as the result of moral or spiritual blindness. Our Saviour said to the Jews, If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.* Again, He that is of God, hearefh God's words ; ye therefore hear them not because yc are not of God.t On another occasion he said, Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep ; my sheep hear my voice. J The apostle speaks to the same effect. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us ; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. § In like manner Paul says, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. || And again, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. But God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our aearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory

* John vii. 17. f John viii. 47. t J'^hn x. 2G, 27. § 1 John iv. 2, 3. 11 Cor. ii. 14.

24 THF SCRIPTURES,

of Goa in the face of Jesus Christ.* The doctrine taught in these and similar passages, is that there is in the word of God and especially in the person and character of Jesus Christ, a clear and wonderful manifestation of the divine glory. To this manifestation the natural man is blind, and therefore does not believe, but those who have the Spirit of God discern this glory and therefore believe.

It is in accordance with this view that unbelief is represented as so grave a moral offence, and faith as so important a duty. Atheism is every where regarded as a crime, because the evidences of the existence of God are everywhere present, above us, around us and within us. They are ad dressed to the moral constitution, as well as to the speculative understanding. They cannot be resisted without ihe same violence to moral obligations, or the authority of moral considerations, that is involved in calling virtue vice, and vice virtue. Hence the Scriptures always speak of unbelief as a sin against God, and the special ground of the condemnation of the world. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.t Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He

♦ 2 Cor. iv. 3—? t John iii. 18.

IS anti-Christ, that denieth the Father and the Son Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.* Disbelief of the Son as revealed in the Scriptures, is an offence of the same nature as the denial of God. In both cases supreme excellence is revealed and disregarded. Much to the same effect the Saviour says, He that hateth me, hateth my Father also.t On the other hand, faith is represented as the highest act of obedience, as a moral act of the greatest worth in the sight of God. Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.J As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to as many as believed on his name.§ And our Saviour told the enquiring Jews, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.|| These representations cannot be reconciled with the assumption that faith is founded on external testimony, which does not address itself to our moral nature, and an assent to which has so little concern with moral character. All is plain, however, if we are required to believe in the Son because his glory as of the only begotten of the Father is presented to us ; and to receive the Scriptures because they bear the impress of the divine perfections. If this be

• I John ii. 22, 23. f John xv. 23. # 1 John v. 1. § John i. 12. i John vl. 29.

the ground of faith, unbelief is indeed a crime. It is a refusal to recognise wisdom and holiness, and to acknowledge the manifested excellence of God.

This view of the ground of faith is confirmed by the effects ascribed to that grace. It works by love, it purifies the heart, it overcomes the world, it produces peace and joy. It is indeed conceiva ble that the conviction of truths affecting our interests, however produced, should call forth fear, sorrow or joy according to their nature. But it is not conceivable that belief of moral or religious truths, founded upon the testimony of others, should control our affections. A man may believe on authority, or on merely rational grounds, that we are under a moral gofernment, and that the law by which we are bound is holy, just and good, but such a faith will not subdue his opposition. He may be, by argument or miracle, convinced of the existence of God, but such a faith will not produce love. Faith therefore cannot have the effects ascribed to it, unless it is founded on a spiritual apprehension of the truths believed.

Hence it is that faith is represented as the gift of God. The evidence indeed is presented to all, or there would be no obligation to believe; but men are morally blind, and therefore the eyes of their understanding must be opened that they may understand the things which are freely given to iheni cf God. The apostle therefore says to his believing brethren, Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you, because ye know not the ♦ruth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. The anointing which ye have received of him abidelh in you, and ye need not that any man teach you : but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.* It is here taught, as in other passages already quoted, that believers are the recipients of an influence, an unction, from the Holy One, which convinces them of the truth, and makes them see and know that it is truth. Hence Paul says, his preaching was not with the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power ; that the faith of his hearers might not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God ; that is, that their faith might not be the effect of skilful reasoning, but of the spiritual perception and experience of the truth.