Letters on the eternal sonship of Christ: in which the opinions of the Rev. Adam Clarke are revised and refuted

Front matter

I

LETTERS

ON THE

Preface

Unprotected orphanage presents, in the necessities of its nature, one of the most affecting appeals for sympathy that ever addresses itself to the heart of humanity. "The milk of human kindness/ 7 unlessits channels have been dried up by a life of cruelty and crime, flows spontaneously for its relief and support: and we feel, while mitigating its sorrows, that we are not only engaged in an office that is good in the sight of God, but we are doing a work which " the angels that fell not" 7 might emulate, and shout over the privilege of assisting. Posthumous publications have a very strong resemblance to orphans. They are often the first conceptions of minds capable of vast and brilliant achievements, hastily drawn, and as hastily fashioned into life and form : and then, perchance, laid aside for a convenient season that the increasing engagements of time never yield. And, in after years, when the mind that conceived them is abroad exulting among the won-

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ders of the Spirit-land, and the hand of the author is still in the solitude of the grave, they come forth to meet the vicissitudes of orphanage without a heart to love, or a hand to guide them. Life ; even under such discouragements, is not always unsuccessful or unhappy. There is a Providence that shapes the ends of the offspring both of the loins and of the mind. It is sometimes the case that the child, to pursue the figure, ascends to a higher condition of life, and sheds a blessed light of joy and truth, through a wider and more enduring sphere of influence than was ever dreamed of, or hoped for, by the ambition or anxiety of the paternal mind. Such, we venture to predict, will be the history of these Letters on the Eternal Sonship of Christ.

Nearly twenty-five years have elapsed since the author of these Letters ceased from his labours in the outer temple of Christianity. He was the author of several valuable works: among them a treatise on the Evidences of Christianity, and also an essay on Ecclesiastical Government. The one before us is, perhaps, his latest composition, and it is believed it will compare favourably with either of his other works. It was written in the vigour and maturity of his intellectual powers; and was the result of long years of careful and patient study — studies, superinduced by the necessities of a position demanding zeal for "the truth as it is in Jesus/ 7 and claiming, as well for the maintenance of a good conscience as for the preservation of the flock of Christ, that he should "contend earnestly 57 against a class of

PREFACE. V

heresies that contravened and destroyed "the faith once delivered to the Saints.*' In the earlier periods of his ministry ; he had witnessed the wasting and desolation of the Arian and Pelagian heresies in the land of the Pilgrims and among the hardy pioneers of the West. He had withstood them to the face, because they were to be blamed. Systematic and persevering efforts had been made to plant them among the early settlers of the West. Their advocates were on the frontiers. They were industrious and energetic. It is not surprising that partial success crowned their zeal. But it is humiliating to confess that these erroneous and false doctrines had found a lodgment among the Methodist Societies previous to 1810. This was a source of sincere sorrow to those whose duty it was to w T atch over the flock of Christ. They bewailed the prevalence of the error, and sought to drive it away from those of whom they had the spiritual oversight. Many entered into this contest for the truth. No one was more zealous, or spread his efforts over a wider space, or through a longer period, than the author of these admirable Letters. He opposed them by every form of hostility authorized by the gospel of Christ — preached, prayed, and wrote against them, with the uncompromising hostility of a sincere conviction that they were "'damnable heresies.'" As an auxiliary to these measures to oppose and put down these evil workers, the friends of sound doctrine resolved to establish a periodical to be devoted

mainly to this object. Accordingly 7 the Western 1*

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Christian Monitor, a monthly publication, was commenced in Chilicothe, Ohio, in 1816. Of this Magazine, Mr. Beauchamp was the Editor; and while he presided over its affairs it was conducted with distinguished ability. Contemporary authority informs us that it contributed very materially to the exposition and suppression of the heresies that denied divinity to Christ, repudiated the sacrificial character of his death as an expiation for sin, and sought to establish the doctrine of man's inherent freedom from guilt and condemnation. Besides this, it spread the leaven of pure doctrine through all the ramifications of Western Methodism, extinguished the false lights that false teachers had kindled, and left it glowing and joyous beneath the converging rays of the Sun of Righteousness.

Subsequently to 1816, Mr. Beauchamp united with Dr. Thomas Hind, entensively known in the Church, during the period we are considering, as Theophilus Arminius, in forming the settlement of Mount Carmel, in Illinois. Here, as an instructor of youth, as pastor of the flock, and as friend and adviser of all, he was eminently useful. But he possessed qualities of a different kind, that enlarged his usefulness, and contributed greatly to his influence. He "was well versed in nearly all the mechanical arts. He has been known to build a house, make a clock, and repair watches. He was particularly delighted with the use of tools, and was fond of working at the cabinet business. The writer*

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has seen him work in brass ; iron ; and wood, repair the firelocks of the hunters, so essentially necessary in a new country; repair and ornament his compass, and build a mill. All this he did, although never trained to any particular branch of business." But he has higher claims to our consideration. His educational advantages were limited. He manifested, at an early period, a taste for books, and a desire to acquire knowledge. But in the frontier settlements he had few opportunities for improvement. Yet such as were accessible, he used with avidity. Intervals of leisure during the toils of the day were spent in providing torches for the night, and with these, when the family had retired to rest, he would stretch himself upon the hearth, a devotee at the shrine of knowledge. The habits of study thus formed, continued to distinguish him to the latest periods of his life. His profiting appeared unto all. He was an excellent physician, a proficient in several sciences, a master of logic, a good linguist, and a profound theologian. As a preacher, he had few, if any superiors in his day. He commenced preaching in the nineteenth year of his age, entered the Itinerancy in 1793, and after filling successively some of the most prominent stations then in the Church, he located in 1801. In this relation, he was as diligent in study, and as industrious in all mental and spiritual employments, as when engaged in the exclusive work of the ministry. It was during this period he mastered the Greek, and became a critic in the Latin and Hebrew languages. His

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severest mental labours were performed amidst the presence of all sorts of physical occupations. He was diligent in business, a great economist of time ; and his time was always usefully employed. The works he composed and left behind him, are a proof of his industry. Besides those already mentioned, we may enumerate these : A volume on the Eternal Sonship ; Translations of Hebrew texts with comments ; An Essay on Slavery ; An Essay on the Divine Law : A brief view of the latter day glory, and of some events with which it is connected; An English Grammar, &c. &c. In 1822, he re-entered the Itinerancy in the Missouri Conference, and was stationed in St. Louis. In 1823, he was placed on the Indiana district. He was a member of the General Conference of 1824, and was nearly elected to the Episcopal office. His work was well nigh finished. In 'the autumn of this year, in the active discharge of his duties, he was arrested by disease, and soon after exchanged the toils of earth for the triumphs of heaven. He rests from his labours, and his works follow him. In these, " he, being dead, yet speaketh. ;?

Richmond, February, 1849.

Introduction

Most of the controversies with which the Christian interest has been afflicted have been occasioned by misapprehensions concerning the person of Christ, and the character of the atonement made by his death upon the cross. It is the design of revelation to set forth the truth upon each of these subjects; that our faith, rightly discerning and apprehending the truth, might find its vindication and support u not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." And it is one of the first and most pressing duties of those who have cc come to the knowledge of the truth," to illustrate and defend what was the mind of the Spirit when He spoke of " the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." Many false opinions have gone out into the world. These all misrepresent " the only begotten Son of God,"

X INTRODUCTION.

deny him as the divine Mediator, and refuse to receive him as the Saviour of Sinners. He is thus set at nought ; his person despised and rejected, and his atonement lightly esteemed, or » counted an unholy thing." Every careful student of the Word of God must perceive not only the viciousness of such opinions, but their utter destructiveness to all the motives and reasons for soundness of faith and holiness of life. And every one who has attained to "the knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins," must feel a desire to recover such as have embraced these errors, equal at least to the strength of his own perceptions of the truth, and to the ardour of his love for Him who " died for our sins, and rose again for our justification." The attempt, therefore, to enlighten and save, is no less the offspring of duty than the dictate of charity ; and while hope enlivens the labour, success will be crowned with the glory of " saving souls from death, and hiding a multitude of sins."

" With respect to the person of Christ, opinions have assumed every possible form. His Divinity and humanity have been denied, with a vehemence at least equal to that with which

INTRODUCTION. XI

his compound nature as the God-man of revelation has been derided and rejected. This conflict of opinion shows the freedom with which human reason canvasses the great facts and principles of Divine inspiration ; and almost justifies doubt upon subjects on which even good men have differed so widely. But it is a solace to know T that " the truth as it is in Jesus" is made known in the Word of God, and is susceptible, if not of positive demonstration (to concede something, in charity to the prejudices of our opponents), at least of complete and satisfactory proof and developement to minds submissive to the teachings of Eternal Wisdom. There is truth — sufficient, comprehensive, and convincing — as to the person of Christ ; and that truth has been revealed to man. And the truth thus revealed, is important as an integral element of the faith, whereof cometh salvation. It is, therefore, a dictate of duty, enlivened by all the considerations requiring a true faith in Christ, to study the testimony God has given concerning his Son ; and we are assured, the research, if guided by a devout submission to the authority of the words

Xll INTRODUCTION.

" which the Holy Ghost teacheth," will issue in knowledge of the truth, and exemption from opposing falsehood and destructive error: " Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

The Supreme Godhead of Jesus Christ is distinctly revealed ; and has been received with a nearly universal assent, as one of " the first principles of the oracles of God. 1 ' But the doctrine of the divine eternal Sonship of our Lord, although equally established by the Word of God, has met with a very different reception. Since the promulgation of the erroneous opinions of Arius, the divine filiation of Christ has been boldly controverted, or pertinaciously rejected, by many assuming the name and wearing the garb of Christians. In the early part of the fourth century this heresiarch denied the proper divinity and eternal Sonship of Christ. The occasion selected for the declaration of his heretical notions involves his character, in the judgment of some theological writers, in the suspicion of being actuated by impure motives and malignant feelings. "It is said he aspired to episcopal honours ; and after the death of

INTRODUCTION. Xlil

Achilles, A. D. 313, felt not a little chagrined that Alexander should be preferred before him."* Intellectually he was certainly superior to his more fortunate competitor. But whether his defeat operated to produce a change in his opinions, or provoked him to declare his real sentiments concerning Christ, which he may have previously held, but cautiously concealed from the church, it is difficult at this distance of time to determine. It is, however, a fact, that the elevation of Alexander w T as the occasion of their developement. " One day," says the authority already quoted, " when his rival had been addressing the clergy in favour of the orthodox doctrine, and maintaining in strong and pointed language, 'that the Son of God was co-eternal, co-essential, and co-equal with the Father,' Arius considered this as a species of Sabellianism, and ventured to say, that it was inconsistent and impossible, since the Father, who begat, must be before the Son, who was begotten ; the latter, therefore, could not be absolutely eternal." Opinions so obnoxious

XIV INTRODUCTION.

in themselves, and so variant from the longestablished faith of the church, could neither be connived at nor tolerated. Arius was first admonished, then efforts were made to convince him of his error, and he was borne with for a season ; till, finding him pertinacious in the maintenance of his opinions, and labouring to propagate them, the zeal of Alexander was roused, and calling a council of his clergy, A. D. 320, he proceeded to depose him from the ministry, and excommunicate him from the fellowship of the church. But error travels fast, and increases rapidly. The leaven of this heresy continued to spread, until a general council of the church was convened, A. D. 325, in the city of Nice, by order of the Emperor Constantine, and for the especial purpose of suppressing this heresy ; when he and his doctrines were again condemned, and the true faith of the church was declared to embrace the proper divinity and eternal Sonship of Jesus Christ. The heresy thus introduced, though variously modified, and ever departing more grievously and fatally from the true doctrines of the Gospel, and regularly descend-

INTRODUCTION. _ • XV

ing to a lower depth of spiritual indifference, has come down to our own times ; and, through the rushing tide of its tributary, the less licentious, but equally shallow and turbid stream of Unitarian theology, is emptied into the Dead Sea of modern Universalism, upon whose shores, and in the depths of whose stagnant and putrid waters, no living thing is found. It is a truth, well attested by all the facts of the Christian history, that the doctrine condemned, as we have seen, by the first general council of the church, has always seemed to be under the ban of Him, whose glory it would obscure, and whose Godhead it denies. Individuals who have embraced it, have added nothing to the purity of their character, or their experience of the grace and mercy of God. Organized religious systems, built upon this foundation, have been shorn of their strength, or left as monuments of the displeasure of God. They are mausoleums of the spiritually dead. No breath of God breathes upon the dry bones of that valley of death, to revive and enliven its multitudes of dead ; and the valley, instead of being instinct with life under the stirring in-

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fluences of a pure faith, is only a receptacle for the dying and dead — poisoned by drugging the well of life with a doctrine that, rightly estimated, repudiates the atonement of Christ, and denies the existence of real guiltiness in man. Affecting to receive the word of God, as a revelation, it measures it by the low and defective standard of its own ability to gauge its doctrines and fathom its mysteries ; and, despite its promise to obey Him "that speaketh from heaven, 5 ' it doggedly disputes the authority that commands M all men to honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. 1 " Refusing this honour to the Son, they have failed in their allegiance to God, and the Trinity in Unity have resented the indignity by abandoning them to the corrupting influences of an impure faith and a false worship. If the facts of their continued existence and numerical strength be alleged as an offset to this conclusion, it may be stated in reply, that the history of the error furnishes no proof of having ever " converted a sinner from the error of his ways ;" and it can scarcely be. affirmed that it involves the doctrine of conversion, either as a

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necessity of our nature or a privilege of the Gospel. And the seeming miracle of its continuance and success, may be explained by the facts " known and read of all men," that, preceding , in any community, purer doctrines and a more spiritual worship, it only aims to make converts to an opinion ; and is silent on the subjects of repentance, faith, and holiness, or, if it speaks, it is to " darken counsel by w T ords without knowledge ;" and only succeeds in making a vicious life quadrate w T ith an impure faith. Or, if it follow in the wake of those preaching repentance and remission of sins by faith in Christ, it finds the elements of its strength, and the means of its enlargement, in giving refuge to those who have paused in their Christian course, and turned aside from the holy commandments delivered unto them. Thus, from the beginning, "denying the Lord that bought them," putting him to an open shame, and trampling under foot the blood of the Son of God, their character and history explain the denunciations of Scripture, and vindicate the

Divine justice in leaving them, in hardness of

2 #

XV111 INTRODUCTION, heart and blindness of mind, « to believe a lie," and to M die in their sins."

But greater and more destructive errors are found in connexion with the doctrine of redemption by the death of the cross, than in misapprehensions respecting the person of Jesus Christ. Error makes him a good man, a martyr to his zeal for the reformation of his countrymen in faith and manners, and, in life and death, an example to all ages of goodness and devotion to truth and righteousness. It yields him no higher merit, pays him the tribute of no profounder homage than having illustrated a virtue which every man, independently of him, may emulate and attain. But truth teaches that he was « God manifested in the flesh ;" that by the conjunction of divinity and humanity in him, he was constituted " Mediator between God and man ; 75 that his death was a voluntary sacrifice for the sins of the world ; and that, except through him, as Redeemer, Advocate, and Saviour, there is no remission of sins, and no hope of salvation for man. Indeed it makes him " all and in all" to the system of God's remedial measures for the recovery and re-

INTRODUCTION. XIX

demption of mankind. In a word, it was by the death of Christ upon the cross, that sin was atoned for ; Divine justice propitiated ; and provision made for reconciliation between God and man. This is the doctrine of the Gospel, as to the atonement made by Jesus Christ. This atonement is the only foundation of our hope in the mercy of God. But we misapprehend the nature of atonement, if we suppose the sufferings of Christ had any part or lot in the matter. Mere suffering has nothing virtuous or vicarious in it. It was not by a death of suffering, but by the suffering of death, as a judicial act, and especially by the shedding of blood in death, that atonement was made. The sufferings of Christ sustain a very important position in the Gospel of the grave of God, bat they are never represented as identical with atonement, or as involving any of its elements. All his sufferings, from his birth to his crucifixion, if considered in their reasons and intentions, may be thus classified : 1. Those which were necessary to the fulfilment of the predictions concerning his humiliation and trials as " a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;" and which were

XX INTRODUCTION.

to constitute an important element of the proof of his Messiahship. 2. Those which, according to the appointment of God, were requisite to the perfection of his own character as "the captain of our salvation." 3. Those which in their nature and causes were intended to illustrate the trials and temptations of Christian life, and their opposite virtues ; and to teach us, by his own example of gentleness and patience, how we ought also to walk, and to please God in all things. In this classification we perceive the reason of Christ's sufferings, but we seek in vain for any Scriptural identification of them with the atonement made by his death upon the cross. Even that most solemn and affecting scene in the garden the night preceding his crucifixion, — when, "being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly : and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" — is never referred to as possessing any qualities of atoning efficacy or merit. Although blood was shed, and under circumstances sublimely awful and impressive, yet we do not refer to it, in our creed or our affections, as the blood of atonement, nor, in our estimate of the price

INTRODUCTION. XXI

of our redemption, do we comprehend aught beside the blood shed upon the cross. It was then, we repeat it with emphasis and earnestness, in the act of dying, and by the shedding of blood in dying, that atonement was made for sin, and a sacrifice worthy of the occasion and the subject was offered to God. But the blood shed upon the cross, as an offering for sin, was the blood of the only begotten Son of God. Indeed, the apostle proceeds beyond the divine Sonship to discover and designate the exalted nature and priceless merit of the blood shed for our redemption ; and affirms of the church, that God "hath purchased it with His own blood." (Acts. xx. 28.) The essence of atonement, therefore, is to be found in the nature and character of Him, who poured out his life unto death, and made his soul an offering for sin. " God manifested in the flesh" could only meet the grave demands of this great enterprise; and for " the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

We are placing the atonement of Christ upon high and holy ground ; but not higher

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than is warranted by the Word of God, and the actual character of the sacrificial offering for sin. Nor, when we have placed our highest estimate upon this great work of righteousness, can we transcend the design of God in setting forth his Son to be a propitiation for our sins, or lessen the obligation to seek the full stature of Christian manhood provided for in the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Indeed, the developement, maturity, and perfection of Christian character, must always depend upon the agreement of our own faith with the teachings of God's Word, as to the nature of redemption and the character of the Redeemer ; especially, since the Scriptures always identify the efficacy of atonement with the divinity of the sufferer; and make the righteousness of faith to depend upon the strength and accuracy with w T hich it embraces Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world.

The publication of Dr. Clarke's speculations on the doctrine of the divine Sonship of Christ, in his notes on Luke i. 35, was a source of great surprise to many of his personal friends, and of profound sorrow to the

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Wesleyan Methodist Connexion in England. They were the occasion of a controversy of several years' continuance, in which his erroneous reasonings were successfully exposed and refuted, especially by the Rev. Richard Watson, in a pamphlet entitled " Remarks on the Eternal Sonship of Christ ; and the Use of Reason in Matters of Revelation; suggested by several passages in Dr. Adam Clarke's Commentary on the New Testament." Others entered into the debate, sides were taken, and the peace and orthodoxy of the body were seriously threatened ; until the Conference, as a necessary rule for selfpreservation, resolved to admit no one to the exercise of ministerial functions " who denied the divine and eternal Sonship of Christ." By this means the orthodox doctrine of the Church was maintained, and peace and kindly feelings were again restored. It is due, however, to the memory of Dr. Clarke, to say he was a firm and constant believer in the Supreme Godhead of Jesus Christ.

The issue of Clarke's Commentary from the press in this country, soon after its publication in England, awakened the fears of the

XXIV INTRODUCTION.

friends of the orthodox doctrine concerning the personal character and atoning sacrifice of Christ, lest his speculations on the eternal Sonship of our Lord might unsettle the faith of the church and introduce heretical opinions into the pulpit. That his views gained adherents, we think highly probable, but we are not aware that they have ever been the occasion of injury or trouble to the church. But it was the fact of their adoption, or the fear of their prevalence, that led to the composition of the Letters we are introducing to the consideration of the reader. At that period the opinions of Dr. Clarke were held in the highest estimation by the Methodists on both sides of the Atlantic ; and there were just grounds of fear, when the authority of his name was brought to the support of any theological question. It was to remove the weight of that authority, and to vindicate from its influence the true doctrine of the Church concerning "Jesus Christ and him crucified," that the subjoined Letters were addressed to one, perhaps, perplexed by his reasonings, or confounded by the confidence with which they were put forth as the authorized teaching of

INTRODUCTION. XXV

the Word of God. And most effectually do they avail for that object.

Mr. Beauchamp brings to his work a mind endowed with talents of a very high order, well cultivated and matured, and peculiarly adapted to the course of reasoning required by the intricacies of the error he undertook to examine and refute. He was also remarkably qualified for the exigencies of such a discussion, by his long and careful study of the Word of God. His argument is purely scriptural ; seeking to ascertain, by legitimate deduction, what is " the mind of the Spirit," he brings his own mind into subjection to its teachings ; and refuses utterly to allow of any cavil or disputation against w T hat is written in the Law or the Prophets concerning Him who was « declared to be the Son of God w T ith power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." To whom these letters were addressed, what theological circumstances elicited them, or w T hat effect they produced, are questions we are as unprepared to answer, as we are the additional one of why they have been so long kept from their true sphere of publicity and 3

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usefulness in the church. But we are glad they are at length liberated; and we have misapprehended their character, if they are not found to contain a complete and satisfactory vindication of the doctrine that gives to Jesus Christ the exclusive and distinguishing merit of being recognised on earth, and reverenced among "the principalities and prsowe of heaven," as the Eternal Son of God : " begotten, 5 ' in the language of the Nicene Creed, " of his Father before all worlds ; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made," &c. But the question at issue in this work is one of great practical importance to the church of God. As the atonement is the ground of our hope, so the atoning Saviour is the object of our worship and love. We owe a profound reverence to Jesus Christ, both as " the Son of the Highest" and as the Saviour of sinners. Obedience is the fruit of faith, and the proof of love. The Apostles worshipped Christ in every form of adoration, homage, and affection ; and in this they have left us an example that we may wisely and safely imitate. In-