Doctrinal aspects of Christian experience

Preface

THE reader will find but little in the following pages that has not been previously said in substance, by the author or by some one else. The topics are familiar because fundamental. The ground has been traversed again and again, and yet the work is as nearly original as is possible, in the absence of novel theories or questionable methods.

The design has been to group the substantial doctrines of Christianity with reference to Christian experience in such a way as to give to each its appropriate place and importance, without exalting one at the expense of another.

It has been a gratification to the writer to find so little necessity for criticism, or for resort to strange constructions of the language

4 PREFACE.

of the Scriptures. His first thought was to elaborate some points more fully than he has done, particularly those relating to the higher attainments, but it soon became obvious that to indulge his inclination in that direction would swell the volume beyond the size intended. Had the work been a treatise on a single phase of experience, such as Holiness or Perfection, careful labor would have been bestowed upon passages scarcely mentioned, and many features of the subject would have been dwelt upon with interest which are passed over with brief remark. The doctrine itself would have been supported with formal arguments, and guarded against the most formidable objections. Whether the course pursued was best or not, it seemed necessary in presenting so. many aspects of experience in reasonable space. If the foundation of Christian character be laid in a genuine conversion, resulting in the possession of the Spirit of adoption, the path of duty with

PREFACE. 5

reference to future experiences will be easily found.

It is, perhaps, needless to say that the book is intended for the ordinary Christian reader It is hoped that ministers and theological students will find in it some profitable suggestions and food for thought, but its chief aim is to help those who are untrained in abstruse studies to a knowledge of the grounds of our faith, and to assist them in distinguishing between the true and the false in those things which pertain immediately to salvation from sin. If it shall prove helpful to inquirers in conquering doubts, and useful in leading to a clearer understanding of God's method of dealing with sinners in their restoration to the divine favor — and especially if it shall guide any to higher attainments in holiness, and to broader views of the love of Christ in redemption — the object of the writer will be met and his labor rewarded. S. M. M.

Chicago, January, 1882.

Chapter I. DEPRAVITY

CHRISTIAN experience is understood to include the process of the soul's emergence from its natural state, into the condition of acceptance with God, and fitness for the kingdom of heaven, with the emotions of peace and joy, and hope and fear, which are incident to the great transformation.

Salvation is deliverance from sin and its results; and this deliverance has its methods, its conditions, its stages, and its consummation. All these enter into the topic of Experience. It is therefore evident that the first thing to be done, as preparatory to the study of the process of salvation, is to obtain a clear view of the state of the soul as

IO CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.

to its moral condition and relations prior to the beginning of the work of grace. This does not necessarily require a minute examination of the representations of the origin of sin and its nature, and of its effects upon the soul and the body, and its entailment on the race, which are found in systematic theology; but it is important to take into the account so much of the Scriptural statements as will show what human nature now is, and what it needs in order to bring it into the likeness of God, which is the only fitness for heaven.

It is assumed, of course, that the Bible is supreme authority upon all questions involved, and the only source of information in regard to the creation of man, the introduction of sin into the world, and the mind and will of God with reference to duty and destiny. Revelation is the high court of appeals to whose decisions we bow in silence.

Men exist. They began to exist. There was, therefore, a first man. He did not create himself. He did not spring from reptiles, birds, or beasts. He was created, and, therefore, he was formed and fashioned after the mind of the Creator. If we had power to look into the first man, and trace the mysteries of his being, and mark the tendencies of all his faculties, and weigh his capacities and his adaptations, we might learn much of the divine thought and purpose in giving existence to such a being. But this ability is denied to us, and we can only catch the dim outlines of the soul and its powers as we look into ourselves, and as we observe the manifestations of its mental and moral qualities in actual life. The truths gathered thus are exceedingly unsatisfactory till the light of revelation falls upon them, when at once their feeble gleams flash into the broad beams of noonday, showing what we are, whence we came, why we live, and what calamities have overtaken us since the first man breathed the atmosphere of heaven, bearing the impress and image of God. That revelation comes in brief narrative, telling the story of the creation, the fall, the ruin, and the provisional recovery of the race ;

and brief as is the record, it contains all we

i

:; know, while the accumulated wisdom of the ages has failed to add a single fact to the original account, or to mar a sentence of the inspired Word.

In this brief record we learn that God created man in his own image, endowed him with fitness to govern, and made him ruler over this world. In this holy estate man was also placed on trial. The high trust committed to him was to be maintained and confirmed by fidelity; and his fidelity was tested by a simple restraint or interdiction. This was probation. He kept it not. He fell, and in the fall he lost his dominion and the image of God, wherein he was created. That image was "righteousness and true holiness." With this loss came spiritual death, and the forfeiture of all life, and all good. The penalty of sin was death. Fully executed, that penalty would have ended the history of the race. But God purposed redemption. He therefore, by an act of sovereign grace, suspended the penalty, renewed the probation, spared the offender, and sent him out in his fallen condition to people the world. Adam begat a son in his own likeness. That son inherited a degenerate nature, and every child of the race bears the impress of the first sin, in being born in the image of Adam, and not in the image of God. "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners. "

What, then, is the condition in which we' are born? If we trace our lineage to Adam, and consider our inheritance from him alone, we shall find nothing but impaired physical, mental, and moral powers, with the germ of sin and death within, turning our whole being into the way of unholiness. This is our state by nature. It is not as God made us, but as the transgression of Adam caused us to become. We are not personally responsible for that sin, but we are affected by it, and the elements which it brings into our nature and condition have to do with the character of our probation, and touch our destiny indirectly through our own responsible activity. That first sin is a tremendous fact in the history of mankind. Its streams of influence run through all the races and generations of men. " By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin./- "In Adam all die." "By man came death." These are divine postulates. They point to the entrance, and enthronement, and reign of sin and death in this world, through the one offense of the first man. From Adam we inherit death. From him we also inherit "the seed of sin," the germ of evil, the bent of our natures to the wrong. This comes from the absence of spiritual life. It is our depravity. Call it what you may, , original sin, birth sin, carnality, or any thing else, it is something that is born in us, and grows with our growth, and strengthens with our strength, till it produces alienation from God, and rebellion against his authority. We call it depravity. It results from the deprivation of holiness, which comes to all the seed of Adam, in consequence of his primary separation from the source of life and holiness in fellowship with God: and if that separation was complete, and that privation utter, then the loss of holiness through the line of nature is complete, and the depravity total. We inherit no spark of spiritual life from Adam, and not the least element of holiness.

' ' But there is in all of us, as a matter of fact, something that is good." Yes, but it does not come from Adam. The redemption that is in Christ took hold of Adam in his fall, and averted the penalty that would have cut him down without offspring, and secured the development of creation in the existence of his posterity ; and the redemption which secured our being and our probation, secured also the incipient workings of grace in the soul, placing every child of the fallen race in a justified state, in the kingdom of God, and in possession of the germ of life. This is the source of the good that is in us all. It comes not from Adam, but from Christ; it is not of nature, but of grace.

In theology, we encounter two opposite statements, which differ from this representation of the natural condition of the race, and deserve a passing notice. The first denies the federal character of Adam, and the fall in him, and repudiates the thought that sin and death come to us as our heritage through the first transgression. It holds that human nature is in us as it was in the first man from the beginning; that we are not corrupt, but only weak; that we are not perverse, but only ignorant. This theory, of course, charges the existing imperfections of our nature upon the Creator, who fixed the standard of morality as it is found in our constitution, and fails to give any explanation of the dominion of sin and death, except by placing it to the account of the laws of our being, as chosen and ordained for us in the counsels of the Eternal Mind. Sucn a view by no means accords with the Scriptural account, as we have seen it ; nor can it explain the divine postulates we have cited from the apostle on this subject. It also fails quite as glaringly to account for numerous facts of consciousness in our struggles with the evil within, and for the universal prevalence of wickedness in the world. We can not accept its glowing descriptions of the natural dignity, and purity, and excellence of man, without at once sacrificing our intelligence, and disregarding the testimony of Holy Writ. On the other hand, we encounter an extreme theory, which, with some tinges of truth, combines radical error. It is affirmed that Adam was the federal head and representative of the race, in such way as to involve all of human nature in the guilt of his sin; that in him the whole human family passed a probation, and fell; that the penalty was executed in full weight and measure upon him and his offspring ; that the condition of the race in this world is strictly penal ; and that all are born, not only corrupt, but under condemnation, and personally liable to eternal

DEPRAVITY.

death, on account of Adam's sin. Unfortunately, this extreme and untenable position is too often taken as the common doctrine of the evangelical Churches in relation to the fall of Adam, and the descent of the taint of sin through all the lines of his posterity. It assumes far too much in asserting the guilt of the race in the first sin, either in the realistic sense of responsible participation in their seminal existence in Adam, or in the fictitious imputation of the act or guilt of the progenitor to his children. The consequences come down to us under the law of entailment; but the guilt, the responsibility, the penalty, the punishment by judicial infliction, not at all. In this hypothesis the new probation is unknown, and all the immediate benefits of the purposed redemption are left out of the account. It sees humanity as related to Adam, and argues from his desert to the state of all his children as it might be supposed to be under a strictly legal administration ; but it fails to see the race as it is under the economy of grace, by virtue of the remedial scheme which lifts it to a new relation under a dispensation of mercy, and secures to all in responsible life a probation which involves the principles of equity and righteousness. It is therefore a sadly imperfect and distorted representation of the facts of our natural state.

Then, turning from these extremes, we find the ground taken above to be firm and tenable. It enables us to explain the Scriptures, to account for the evil in our natures and in the world around us, and also for the good. It accepts the fact of depravity, and obviates the objections so often urged against extreme statements of the doctrine. It finds that, so far as our * ' flesh" — our own nature — is concerned, ' ' there is no good in us; M and yet, in our relation to the second Adam, it reveals the elements of good, graciously imparted. Does this doctrine dishonor God ? Does it contradict fact ? Does it excuse wickedness, or destroy accountability ? In view of this statement it is not to be supposed that God made man weak, erring, wayward, and unholy. He made him upright, in his own image, and with capacity to keep his holy estate. Man fell into depravity by disobedience. Nor is it to be said that men are as bad by nature as they become by practice. The doctrine of total depravity does not mean any such thing. When properly defined as the heritage of the race from Adam, it does not imply personal guilt at all. It is a condition, a weakness, a moral paralysis, a spiritual death ; and under the dispensation of God's grace, with each soul born in this condition there comes some counteracting influence. But the supervening grace neither changes the primary fact of the fall, nor abolishes the law of propagation under which the first sinner transmitted his sinful nature to his offspring. The depravity which the Scriptures teach, consists not in positive guilt and wickedness, but in the utter loss of original righteousness, the destitution of the soul by natural inheritance of the spiritual life and holiness which Adam forfeited. The loss of that holiness is depravity, and the utter loss of it is what is meant by total depravity. In asserting this doctrine, we say nothing about the gracious state of men, as that does not belong to the line of nature ; neither do we mention their personal guiltiness, which comes only with responsible action, nor the diversities of character which manifest themselves as the result of their natural and gracious state. Indeed, this is the only doctrine which finds room for all the facte in the moral history of the race, and accounts for them without laying the responsibility upon God as the author of human nature as it now appears.

Finally, we do not deem it proper to say that we are born sinners. If this expression be used it must be explained. Sinners commit sin. They transgress the law. We are not born sinners. Nor dare we claim to be born sinless. This implies such purity and freedom from depravity as belong to none who are the offspring of fallen Adam. We are therefore not sinners, by nature, nor sinless, but sinful By this we mean that our nature is perverted by sin, and tends to sin, before we commit sin. In other words, we are affected by sin, and inherit the germ of evil, which develops into such a bent to sin, that none successfully resist it of themselves. This is our depravity. We are "born after the flesh," and must be "born again." We are not born in the image of God. That comes in the "new creation." Depravity is not an accretion, gathered about the soul by contact with the world. It comes not from without, through bad education or bad examples. It is a disease of our natures — a 4 ' leprosy within" — a moral malady whose poison permeates the fibers of our spiritual being, and sends the chill of death through all the hidden chambers of the soul, and touches with its blight the fountain of the sensibilities and the passions.

Starting in life with this natural inclination to evil, it is not wonderful that the whole race is practically estranged from God. Without considering the question as to the possibility of exceptionally well-favored persons, under Christian influences, so far escaping the natural disposition to do wrong, as to retain the primal justification, till the traditional faith of childhood passes into the personal confidence which secures the standing of active discipleship, we find that in Old Testament times, when the Lord looked down from heaven to see if there were any that were not corrupted, he declared, "They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." In Paul's day the facts were no better. He repeated the words just quoted, and affirmed with emphasis that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Practically, then, the whole world is guilty before God. Therefore we accept the proposition that men are sinful by nature, and naturally become sinners in practice. They are "aliens" from God, and "enemies;" they are "without strength;" they are "carnal, sold under sin;" they are "dead in trespasses and in sins;" they are "lost;" they are "by nature the children of wrath ;" they are ' ' the children of the devil. " They are " condemned " under the law of God, and "blinded," and "led captive by the devil at his will." Such is the nature, and such the condition of men, when the Gospel comes with its offer of pardon, life, purity, blessedness, and triumph. In acceptimg the Gospel, and verifying its truth, and rising out of the "horrible pit," and passing into the " image of God," and into the life of faith, and the obedience of love, and the fellowship of the holy, there is a deep and joyful experience placed before every one which is too mighty in its inception, and progress, and results, to pass upon us, and transform and save us, without our consciousness of its presence. It is to some of the aspects of this experience we shall direct attention, considering not merely the emotional elements therein, but also the conditions and doctrinal relations implied, as these are unfolded in the Holy Scriptures.

Chapter it.

REPENTANCE.

FIRST among the terms which the attentive reader of the Scriptures encounters, relating to the spiritual exercises of the soul in its struggles with sin, is the word Repentance.

This word, in some respects, resembles the word l( conversion/ ' as it signifies a turn round in life, the forsaking of former ways, and the adoption of new principles of action. It is not, however, the full equivalent for the word " conversion/ ' as it is not so intimately related to the spiritual life which follows regeneration. Yet if we analyze its meaning, and study its use in the Scriptures, we shall find that it describes a very important feature of experience. It expresses a twofold idea — the proper inward feeling of the soul in regard to sin when its true nature is apprehended, and the act of turning away from sin in obedience to that inward feeling.

Repentance implies a conviction of the fact and of the evil of sin. This conviction is wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. In performing this office the Spirit may or may not employ outward instrumentalities, but ordinarily something external to the sinner is used to draw his attention, and to excite thoughtfulness. Conviction, however produced, is not properly regarded as a part of repentance, but as an antecedent to repentance, and as necessary to it. We do not repent of sin till we feel its burden, and discover its nature ; but when the law of God in its purity and spirituality is applied to the conscience, it reveals the presence of sin, and shows its guilt, and declares its ill-desert. This far the Spirit goes in its work without our consent or co-operation ; but when conviction is produced, and we see our sins and feel conscious of guilt and danger, then we are called upon to become active in the matter of repentance; and unless we become active, the work will not proceed, but the conviction will abate and die out, and increased insensibility will ensue. Many in whose heart the Spirit works, resist its warnings, its illuminations, and its drawings, and never advance a step in the real work of repentance.

In connection with conviction, there springs up in the soul a desire to escape the consequences of sin, and if the work of the Spirit is not resisted, this feeling will take the form of an earnest desire to obtain deliverance from sin itself. This is incipient repentance. When indulged or cherished, it will lead to the first active step in repentance, which is the confession of sin.

Confession is first made to ourselves. This is a great victory. When we become so penetrated with the sense of our sinfulnesses to be willing to own to ourselves the vileness of our hearts, and the wickedness of our deeds before the Lord, and our liability to the wrath which we feel to be impending, we have started in the way of repentance. Then confession is made to God. The folly of hiding sin in our hearts is manifest in our consciences. We feel as never before that the eye of God is upon us ; that the whole of our outer and inner life is naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do ; and then we go to him in penitence and confess our sins. Following this, if we have wronged or injured our fellows, we find something within prompting us to acknowledge our fault to the injured party, and to seek forgiveness. This is real progress. The work of repentance is begun. By this time we are ready to confess to all around us our unworthiness, our weakness, and our great need of pardoning mercy ; and if we have sinned publicly so as to injure the cause of God in the community, we are led to make our confession as public as our wickedness had been.

By this time the feeling of deep regret that we have wasted time, and strength, and abused the mercies of God, becomes paramount in the soul. This is sorrow for sin. It is the essence of repentance. It arises from the view we have gained of the evil of sin, of the holiness of God, and of his goodness to us. We dread the punishment of sin, but we deplore the sin itself. The ingratitude of our hearts fills us with dismay. We bewail our guilt ; we loathe our past lives ; we reproach ourselves for blindness and stupidity, and tremble before the God of righteousness.

Moving on in the way of repentance, we 11 cease to do evil, and learn to do well/' The pleasures of sin have vanished. We hate what we loved. We break off from sin without regret. Prayer is now our refuge. " God be merciful to me, a sinner," wells up from the soul, and breaks from the lips. No other sentence is so appropriate as this ! Mercy is our plea. Then we learn of Christ. His life, and death, and resurrection, and ascension, bear new lessons to our hearts. He is no longer a name, a historical personage, a mere person ; he becomes a living reality, a Savior. With heart and soul and voice we turn to him. This is indeed repentance. It is "godly sorrow" that worketh repentance unto salvation "not to be repented of." It is too high a step in the direction of deliverance to be taken without divine aid. God is surely working in the soul, and it is already not far from the kingdom.

Some degree of faith must attend every step in the process of repentance. He who begins to repent believes in God, and in his Word. He accepts the light as it comes. He acknowledges the divine authority. But as

REPENTANCE.

2 9 yet his faith has not reached the point that justifies. He has not cast himself wholly on the Son of God, and trusted for acceptance. Faith takes this form, and this degree, only when repentance becomes so deep as to cut off the last particle of confidence in self. None but the self-despairing can trust in Christ alone.

Mistakes are sometimes made in regard to the work repentance does for the sinner. It is claimed that it prepares the penitent for pardon, and entitles him to receive it. This statement contains some truth, and some serious error. Repentance prepares the man for pardon ; it brings him into the right disposition to receive and appreciate the blessing; but we dare not say that it gives him a title to it, or in any sense becomes the ground or reason for forgiveness. The ground of pardon is not in the person receiving it, but in Christ. "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. " That is a false view of repentance which makes it the consideration in the divine mind on which alone the blessing may be bestowed. Repentance does not expiate guilt. It does not satisfy the requirement of the broken law. There is nothing in it tending to uphold the authority of government in the administration of clemency. As between men who are equals, repentance for a wrong done may open the way for forgiveness, and make the exercise of clemency right and duty; but in matters of government, where not only private wrong has been done, but the public law violated, the private party injured may acquit the offender, on repentance, so far as his personal feelings and relations are involved, but he has no right to adjust the claims of the law in the case. God is offended by the sins of men, and his law is transgressed. He is the moral ruler of the universe.

His law is for the protection of myriads of intelligent beings whose loyalty is complete, and whose happiness depends on the maintenance of authority, and the unbending assertion of righteousness. The interests of the moral government require the enforcement of the law. If clemency be exercised, it must be in harmony with the rights of the government, and in such way as to display the righteousness as well as the mercy of the sovereign. Herein is found the necessity of the atonement — the propitiation in the blood of Christ. Repentance does not atone. It affects the person of the penitent ; it marks an era in the history of his transgressions; it starts him into a new and better life ; but it makes no amends for the past. The record of his sins stands against him, and nothing but the blood of atonement, appropriated by faith, can blot out the record or cancel the account. If forgiveness were simply a matter of prerogative, the sovereign might impose the condition of repentance, and treat it as a sufficient reason for forgiveness; but it is not a mere matter of prerogative. It is a governmental action. The Supreme Ruler can not separate himself from his universe, and act in an arbitrary way. The attributes of his being govern his administration. His holiness restrains him from being indifferent to sin, and his justice impels him to regard the rights of his law, as his goodness inclines him to seek the happiness of his creatures. In his dealings with the subjects of his law every attribute of his nature must concur, and every right of his government must be maintained.

Then, if he should forgive sins by mere prerogative, what would become of the justice and law that affix penalty to transgression ? If in this way he should forgive some and not others, what would become of his equity, his impartiality ? If he should forgive all, what would become of his opposition to sin ? How would he vindicate his authority ? how manifest his holiness? The truth is, arbitrary action is not government. The Supreme Ruler of the universe is himself governed by the law of his being, and that same law determines the character of his government over his creatures. God can not act contrary to his own nature. He must act by rule, by the law of his perfect selfhood. Therefore, he can not act arbitrarily. He can not change. He can not do and not do. Therefore, he can not enforce his law and set it aside. He can not denounce sin under penalty, and without consideration set aside the penalty. His own nature, and his relation to his law and to the universe, alike proclaim the absurdity and the impossibility of the forgiveness of sin by mere prerogative ; and if not by prerogative, it can not be upon any condition that does not satisfy the claim of justice and maintain the authority of law. The repentance of the sinner does not do this ; but the sacrificial death of Christ is the provisional satisfaction, rendered available to the penitent upon personal trust in Christ. Hence, repentance and forgiveness are preached in his name.