Doctrines for the times

Contents

CHAPTEB. PAGE,

I. Presumptive Evidence 7

II. Faith and Knowledge 24

Author's Preface

Religion should make us cheerful, yet it confers the sense of highest responsibility; therefore, he who treats this subject in anywise, must do so in all candor and faithfulness.

Even the historian, or poet, or writer of fiction, had better be asleep than at work, unless his aim be to promote human weal and the divine glory. For often a man's library companions deliver upon him as potent an influence as his personal associates.

If the author had not hoped to accomplish some good, he would have burnt the manuscript before it reached the publishers; for in this our day, the man or woman with the pen, next to the woman in the nursery, or to the man in the pulpit, directs the issues and shapes the destinies of the generation.

I am indebted to Rev. T. R. McCarty, A.M., of the North Georgia Conference, for valuable assistance in preparing the work and for seeing it through the press; and, by my request he wrote the Introduction and Chapter XIIL "Sanctification."

November 13, 1895.

Introduction

In this age of overproduction of books, the author who comes forward with a new book, must justify himself by clearing- new ground, or fertilizing and cultivating the old, so as to render it more productive.

We think that the author of Doctrines for THETiMEshasmetbothof these requirements.

The first five chapters furnish some new arguments, and present the proofs of the truth of Christianity in a manner differing somewhat from the usual method. And these chapters taken together, amount to a moral demonstration, provided the reader admits the existence of a God. If he be an atheist, we recommend that he read the "Appendix." This was originally designed for the first chapter, which is its natural position, but supposing an argument with the atheist uninteresting to many, the chapter was placed so its perusal would be optional.

I would call attention, especially, to the light thrown upon the subjects, "Conscience," "God Reconciled," "The Millennium," and "Man Created and Redeemed."

"Sanctification" occupies a novel position in the arrangement of chapters.

The design of the book is to furnish exact statement, accurate definition, and clear proof of the chief doctrines of Scripture.

DOCTRINES FOR THE TIMES.

PRESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE.

Conceding: that there is a God, it is highly probable that he would reveal himself, and his will concerning the conduct of men, more clearly than appears in nature. That he has done so in our Scriptures, appears from many probabilities so strong, when taken together, as to exclude all reasonable doubt. But it is my purpose in this chapter only to include a few of these probabilities.

The Christian religion is the religion of humanity. Indeed, it is the only religion of humanity. All other religions leave man in bondage to his own evil nature. That man's nature is evil and that this evil dominates society is evident to all who have read history. History is full of "woman's artifice and man's revenge, and endless inhumanities." No other religion even proposes to remedy this state by cleansing the fountain, the inner nature from which this stream of evil flows.

At the time of Christ's appearance there was a general expectation, among the Jews, of the appearance of their Messiah. They, however, expected a political liberator, who would break the hated yoke of Roman bondage. This opinion was so strong and general that it was held by his chosen apostles;

persisted in by them up to the day of his ascension, at which time they asked: "Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" And many persisted in this opinion, notwithstanding his repeated declarations to the contrary, until after the vision of Peter at Joppa and the actual conversion of the Gentiles under the preaching of Peter and Paul. This expectation enabled Barchocheb, Simon the Gaulonite and other impostors to lead multitudes after them to destruction. Jesus of Nazareth alone announced that his kingdom was not of this world; that he came to suffer and die for sin. It shows sincerity — that he could make such announcements and persist in them unto the death.

Agnosticism, calling itself the religion of humanity, because it puts humanity, in the aggregate, for God, and the hoped for survival of the race as the only immortality, though it have the sanction of some scientific and literary names, can never be indeed the religion of humanity, because most men will require some comfort from their religion, and some grains of common sense in it.

The religion of Christ is suited to all conditions and circumstances of men. Are we poor? Christ announces from the first that he was annointed to preach the gospel, or glad tidings, to the poor. Are we bereaved? Jesus shed tears at the grave of Lazarus, thus showing his sympathy for the bereaved. Are we orphans? He is the Father of the father-

Jess. Are we in widowhood? He is the husband of the widow. He is more constant and tender in his love than a mother. He is an elder brother, to whom pertaineth the inheritance, and yet he proposes to share it with us, upon the lone condition that we accept it. Have we infirmities? He is an High Priest, touched with the feeling- of our infirmities. I am to restore my neighbor's things that I find, his ox or sheep if astray. And his excuse to the hard Pharisee for healing a man on the Sabbath is that, "A man is better than a sheep." Not a sparrow falls without his notice, but he says that men are better than many sparrows. He clothes the grass and paints the lily, but he is more considerate of men than of grass and lilies. There never was any religion that had so much humanity in it, such tenderness for men. But while the Bible looks with tenderness at the temporal interest of man, it emphasizes his spiritual and eternal interest. It provides adequately for his higher and better nature. It is said that the inhabitants of St. Petersburg watch each other's faces, on the street, in winter, that they may give warning if there are any indications of freezing. If any one should behold such indications and not give warning, the Bible would hold him responsible for the damages suffered. Much more would it emphasize his guilt should he find his neighbor's soul in danger of freezing and not give him warning. If he should see his

10 DOCTRINES FOE THE TIMES.

neighbors house burning he must ring the fire bell. But if he should find his neighbor's soul in danger of burning he must ring the alarm bell as if an earthquake were rocking the belfry. Hence we read, "Thou shalt in anywise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him/' Now this tender regard for humanity, and this regard proportioned to the interest involved, is just what we should expect in a revelation from God. It meets all that could be desired or conceived in that direction.

We are to deny ourselves for other people, or for the glory of God. And we are promised for it compensation: A hundredfold here, and in the world to come eternal life.

Now of old, atheism was immoral; but when it had free scope, in time of the French Revolution, it showed up so ugly that decent men turned from it with horror. There was, therefore, nothing for it but to yield the field or change its banner. This last it did, and we need not wonder, for "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" when it suits his purposes. At any rate atheism now professes a purer, because a more unselfish gospel, than is to be found in the Bible. . It professes to make sacrifices for others without hope of reward either here or hereafter; that is, that we are to prefer our neighbor to ourselves without any regard to compensation. No doubt but acts of benevolence are frequently done from mere sympathy, and that such acts are lovely to behold; but to build a system of morals on such passion is to make duty a mere question of feeling", and, indeed, to put it out of the reach of men of cooler temperament. But be this as it can, the idea of preferring" your neighbor to yourself, if not hypocritical, must, nevertheless, be productive of great mischief. If it could be put into practice, then every one would go by his own field to work in his neighbor's field, and would in general attend to his neighbor's business, in preference to his own. The result would be such confusion as would end in utter ruin. If we lend to the Lord by giving to the poor; if we help our neighbor in those respects wherein he cannot help himself, from gratitude to Christ for what he has done for us, and because he will regard it as done to himself, and in general, love our neighbor as ourselves, we have gone as far as it is either safe or desirable to go. Atheism must steal the Christian doctrine here, or come short of it, or else overshoot it, as indicated above. The last would be most harmful, since it would send men to work at random, and make a floating waif of every unit in human society. That the Bible has here preserved the golden mean is presumptive evidence of its divine origin.

The religion of the Bible is the only spiritual religion ever announced or taught to men. Other religions look only to the outside; this, at the heart or innermost nature, making the right condition within of indispensable importance. To the question of the woman of Sychar, at Jacob's well, Jesus answers on this wise : "God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John 4:24. The statements of M. Renan are, to some extent, so just and pertinent that we transcribe them. He says : "On the day when he pronounced these words, he was indeed the Son of God. He, for the first time, gave utterance to the idea upon which shall rest the edifice of the everlasting religion. He founded the pure worship of no age, of no clime, which shall be that of all lofty souls to the end of time. Not only was his religion that day the benign religion of humanity, but it was the absolute religion; and if other planets have inhabitants endowed with reason and morality, their religion cannot be different from that which Jesus proclaimed at Jacob's well. The words of Jesus were a gleam in thick night; it has taken eighteen hundred years for the eyes of humanity (what do I say! for an infinitely small portion of humanity) to learn to abide it. But the gleam shall become a full day, and after passing through all the circles of error, humanity will return to these words as to the immortal expression of its faith and hope." Life of fesus, p. 215. Now, we hold that he who announced the universal and eternal religion was, by that token, not only "the Son of God on that day," but on all days and unto all the eternities. This is the true rationalism.

The best civilization of the world is Christian civilization. The old civilizations were very inferior to that of Christendom. So is to-day the deistic civilization of Turkey, and the pagan civilization of India, China and Africa. And such would have been our civilization had we continued pagans, or had we advanced only so far as deism. Look at Turkey, and see what the deist would do with our civilization, could he strike down Christianity.

Woman has always been a slave outside the circle moulded by Scripture. I do not think that warlike Sparta could be fairly adduced as an exceptional instance. For, waiving all other reasons, the fact that children were punished for failing of successful theft, would indicate that their mothers could not have possessed that moral delicacy which is found among Christian mothers, and which is a necessary concomitant of a properly regulated state of freedom. But if Sparta should be held an exception, it would be but a solitary star shining through the rifted clouds to show more clearly the "upper, nether and surrounding darkness."

But infidelity, in these days, undertakes to raise woman to a higher position than is assigned her in Scripture and in nature. John Stuart Mill proposes for her the ballot, and his proposition was ably seconded by Herbert Spencer. I do not propose elaborately to argue the question of woman suffrage, but to say that it is of infidel origin and unquestionably against Scripture and against the true interest of society, including woman herself. The Bible has clearly assigned her to a subordinate condition of meet helpfulness in partnership with man, and not to a place of competition and rivalry with him. She is subordinate in the family under a Divine constitution. This Divine law reads thus: "Wives, obey your husbands in all things," and this law reads further: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and gave his life for her." It is plain that if you give her the ballot you unsex her, making her the equal of man in all civil privileges, and thereby release man from all obligations of being her defender. If she brings war by her ballot, she must defend the country from the consequences of her act.

In fact, you strike down, or at least cripple, the institution of marriage, which no doubt is the aim of infidelity, and introduce optional contracts, promiscuous concubinage in its stead. We have but two paradisaical institutions that have survived the wreck of man's innocency, to wit: marriage and the Sabbath; and the spite of infidelity seems especially levelled at these. If infidelity could destroy either of these institutions, her triumph would be only a question of time. If ever society shall burden woman with the privileges, and of course with the correlative duties that belong peculiarly to man, she will lose all the charm and power of her loveliness, and win defeat, if not contempt, in the strife. Husband and wife each striving- to elect opposing candidates! Perhaps, themselves being opposing candidates ! It would be as if Luna should leave her sphere as queen of the night, to drive her chariot by the side of the phaeton of Apollo. She would be distanced in the race, all her loveliness would disappear, and the starry sky would be in mourning for the loss of her brightest luminary.

If infidelity could break down the delicate and beautiful hedges that Christianity has planted and grown around woman, it would soon win a practical triumph that would throw the world back into the old night of heathenism. Woman as she is in Christian countries has nearly always opposed infidelity. She is bound to do so by the double claims of interest and gratitude. It is the same old serpent's voice that led Mother Eve astray that now sings the siren song of making women as gods by unsexing them. In France and Spain it is said that there are five or six women to one man who have kept themselves in the faith. We suppose this is so, but it is a bad showing for the men. Why should women desire to be as bad as men? That they would be so if submitted to the same conditions there can be no doubt. Let her draggle her skirts through the slush of political campaigns, by the side of men, and she will emerge from the contest with hands and skirts and heart as dirty as if she were a man.

The true friends of woman, when the ballot is delivered unto her, will mourn over her exposure to ruin as the angels that kept their first estate might be supposed to mourn over those that fell. But on the other hand we confess that we have no fear for the ultimate triumph of the gospel so long as woman is in alliance with Christ for the defense of purity and virtue. It must count for something, when we look at it fairly, that the Bible has lifted woman from the condition of slavery, and made her a queen in the social circle, and though a second estate, yet the sweetest attraction and chief power for good in the family. O, may not infidelity beguile her to the overthrow of marriage, and to the ruin of posterity, which has its destiny bound up in her purity — the purity of home life!

Sinners have been captured and reformed by the Bible and by no other instrumentality ; by no other religion ; neither by science nor by philosophy. It is the only system that has ever had power to control irregular desires. Among ancient pagans prostitution was, sometimes, a constituent part of religious worship. In the palmy days of Rome it was not disreputable for a man to lend his wife, as he would lend any other property, to his friend. Cato, the philosopher, in whom his countrymen had more confidence than in any man of his generation, lent his wife to a friend in accordance with this custom, and when he died took her back to himself as if nothing had happened.

Such moral obtusity and indelicacy would be impossible, and is unheard of where the gospel has been. The old man, ostracized by society for eloping with his neighbor's wife, was right in asserting: "If Christianity could be destroyed society would receive me back." Dr. Martineau is vindicated by the facts when he says : "In times and places of religious declension, the Bible may not have had its legitimate influence; but to test the power of religion, we must limit ourselves to cases where the power is not effete. In the Puritan families of the seventeenth century, in the present Catholic families of Ireland, throughout the Society of Friends, and in the Wesleyan classes, it can hardly be denied that the control of irregular desires has been attained with an exceptional ease and completeness." 1

The inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, within the memory of men now living, were cannibals, sunk in the lowest depths of moral degradation. Now, by the preaching of Wesleyan missionaries they are said to be as moral as average Europeans — the best people of the world. But granting that this may be somewhat overstated — and possibly it is — yet there is, no doubt, a marvelous change for the better, such as was never accomplished by any other system. We have seen communities steeped in drunkenness, abounding in breaches of the peace and in all uncleanliness, brought to sobriety, peaceableness and purity, simply by the preaching- of the gospel, and the instrumentalities it supplies. A man once said to his pastor, "I would join your church were it not so corrupt." He replied, 'The church may not be entirely pure; indeed, it must be admitted that it never was. The church that crossed the flood, in the ark, had a bad member in it, and in the apostolic circle was Judas. So it has been and perhaps will be. But we would be willing to risk all on the fact that the church here is better than the world." He rejoined, "You would lose." Let us see. "Do you know any drunkard in the church here?" He said, "No." "Any profane swearer?" "No." "Any thief?" "No." Then he pressed the question, "Do you know any such in the world hereabout?" "Plenty of them," was his answer. Then he said, "I will put you on the stand and make you a witness to yourself." But the reader may say, "The church in my neighborhood has almost every grade and shade of sinners in it." It is sad to confess that it is sometimes so; in these times of religious declension, frequently so. Yet in almost all the churches that we have seen you could find a dozen or more that could not be matched in the world, of that community, for integrity and purity. So that after all abatements it may still be held that the Christian religion has reformatory power, and that it is the only system that has such power. Must it not, therefore, if merely a human power, be an extraordinary human power? But some

PRESUiVPriVE EVIDENCE. 19

have said that they have known a few drunkards reformed by temperance societies. If so, it must be remembered that the temperance society is a product of Christianity. No moral, no benevolent society ever had existence where the Bible had not been.

It is no more than could have been reasonably expected that the Christian religion should have been abused for unholy purposes. And it is not to be denied that there have been a few noble characters outside the range of Christianity. Yet the religion of the Bible has produced the highest style of men known to history.

The founder of Christianity not only "spake as man never spake," but he also lived as no other man ever lived. If this be so — and no fair-minded man of our day will question it — must he not have been more than human? We repeat, he outlived all other men. "He went about doing good." He gave all that was in him to the service of men; a faultless life and an ignominious death he gave for men. There is no man in all the ages that can reach near his stature. Was he who was full orbed and peerless in moral grandeur a mere man?

But the declared purpose of the gospel is to multiply copies of this man; and though it has not done this so fully as might be desired, yet it has come nigher the high standard than any other system.

There is Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, who gave up the best advantages and the best hopes his nation could afford, that he might accept and engage in abundant labors for the "despised sect," in the face of stripes, bonds and imprisonments, even to martyrdom, that he might glorify God and do good to men.. And there is John Howard, called, by way of eminence, "the philanthropist," who went from prison to prison, that he might ameliorate the condition of poor, degraded and suffering offcast men. He gave himself so utterly to this self-denying work, that when in sight of the pyramids, he would not allow himself time to visit them. And there is John Fletcher, of Madely, whose purity, self-abnegation and devotion to God and humanity are wonderful. Mr. Hill offered him the living of Dunham, with good salary and little work. He refused because the salary was too large and the work too little. He chose Madely when the salary was only half as large and the work double. It is not wonderful that when Voltaire was challenged to show a man who could rival Jesus, that he should point to John Fletcher, 1 of Madely, and not to any one moulded by merely deistic or atheistic influences. And there is John Wesley, a character not so rounded and complete, perhaps, as John Fletcher's ,at least, not so smooth and gentle, and yet more abundant in self-denial and labors. He abandoned ease and reputation that he might preach the gospel to the poor; he wrote, or abridged, about two hundred volumes, that he might cheapea

1 "Wesleyan Memorial Volume," p. 427.

and place within reach of the poor the best literature ; for fifty-three years, he preached more than an average of two sermons a day, besides attending" classes and doing many other works. And after reserving a bare support for himself, he gave all that he realized by his immense labors to the poor and needy. So that by design he died not worth ten pounds beyond his funeral expenses. We might go on with this list of great and good men, moulded by the gospel. But we pause and ask : Has deism or atheism produced one such man ? Who is he ? Where did he live ? What did he do ? Where are the men, and where the monuments of their goodness ?

The Christian religion is the simplest, sweetest, sublimest idea ever submitted to the contemplation of men. Logicians hold ^that the truth, certainty and glory of logic are found in the fact that it all can be reduced to the axiomatic principle contained in the dictum of Aristotle. Mathematicians tell us that the certainty and glory of that branch of logic appears in the fact that it may all be reduced to a few axiomatic principles, which, being admitted, as they must, all the rest follows. So the truth, beauty and glory of the Christian religion follow from the fact that it is all contained in one little monosyllabic Saxon word, Love. The simplest, sweetest word that ever trembled on the stammering lips of childhood ; and yet the sublimest word thai ever swelled the hearts or swept the harps of angelic choirs ; yea, the grandest word that ever stirred the heart or proceeded from the mouth of God. Paul declares that "Love is the fulfilling" of the law." Rom. 13:10. He also declares that we may "have faith," "give alms," "prophesy," "possess knowledge," and "yield ourselves to martyrdom;" yet without love we are nothing. I. Cor. 13.

A scribe asked Jesus : "Which is the great commandment in the law ?" Jesus said unto him : "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it : Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matt. 22: 36-40. Love makes us Christians ; and in the absence of it, no matter what we may have, we are but "sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."

This is the acorn that enfolds the tree, roots, trunk, branches, leaves, fruit; the grain of corn that has in it stalk, blades, and full ear. Love is the concentrated essence of all. Gather all perfumes into one garden, and love, the concentrated essence of the Christian religion, will burden the air with sweeter odor. Collect all the light of the material universe into one star, how it would dazzle the eyes of all beholders ! Yet love, holding in itself the concentrated light of the moral universe, would outshine a whole heaven of such stars. Suppose all the sweetness of sugar and honey, indeed, of all saccharine matter, concentrated in one grain ! How sweet that grain would be ! Who can estimate ? imagine ? So all the sweetness of the moral and spiritual universe is concentrated in that one word, Love. And that is the Christian religion. It bears on its face the image and superscription of God. Whenever announced it becomes henceforth inconceivable that there could be any other religion. If an angel should deny this faith, he would by that token show himself fallen. It is, indeed, the universal and the eternal religion. On this high ground we rest, satisfied that here is The Truth, since it is inconceivable that there should be anywhere any other true religion.

II. Faith And Knowledge

In searching- for truth we must divest our minds of prejudice; must not let sophistry build the fence that encloses the field; must not rest in plausible platitudes; must, indeed, in all fairness, "prove all things," and "hold fast that which is good."

Religious truth must be verified by such methods as are employed in the investigation of other truth. A random discussion of religion will conduct us just where a random discussion of any other question would conduct us — nowhere. Socrates was the peer of any man in ancient or modern times. Neither Plato, nor Aristotle, nor Lord Bacon, nor Sir Isaac Newton, nor modern scientist nor philosopher is his superior in native ability or acquired power of intellect. And yet his reasonings about immortality, as reported by Plato, in the "Phaedo," seems as the idle prattle of childhood. And we must confess that the battle of the giants in "Questions of Belief" seems but little better. Such men as Prof. Harrison, Huxley, the Duke of Argyle, Martineau, and Mallock write to little purpose, it being- mostly at random.

A man may build his hopes on mere negations; but these will not satisfy. He may say,

FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 25

as Shelley did of his maternal grandfather, "All his hope was in annihilation." Yet it is a hope based on no proof; indeed against all analogy; and that could have comfort in it only for bad people. A man could believe it only when his desire should dominate his reason. Reason raises a presumption of immortality; 'Very considerable degree of probability/' l And a good man would accept it, influenced by his desire and the preponderance of evidence. But the bad man whose interest makes him wish that he shall not be required to give an account of himself to a personal God, would find it easy to avoid such proofs. If we were left to the discoveries of reason "the battle would hang" almost in "even scale," inclining no doubt in favor of future responsibility, and therefore in favor of virtue, but not sufficiently so for full triumph. It is well for us that we have the gospel, with its all sufficiency of proofs. So that we may say, "Life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel." The Christian religion is capable of such proofs as not only raise a. presumption of its truth, but also such as bring it within the category of Positive Truth. If this be so it will be found that Christianity stands above all other truth, and Christian people, living or dying, are assured that it shall be better with them than with others; the title deeds to immortal blessedness are signed, sealed and delivered into their hands;