Christianity viewed in some of its leading aspects

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

CHEISTIANITY

I. Christianity A Life

" This is life eternal, that they might know thee the onlytrue God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." John xvii, 3.

It is of great importance to entertain wide and comprehensive views of Christianity. Almost all errors have arisen from taking partial views of it; and perhaps the best way, after all, of counteracting these partial views is not by attacking them directly and separately, but by bringing them into harmonious combination, and showing that there is really no contradiction and incompatibility between them. There is a greater or less measure of truth in each of them, but not the whole truth. They are but half-truths at best, some of them only mere fractions of the truth, which have seized hold of the mind, to the exclusion of other portions and aspects of it; and it does appear

to me, that he would confer the greatest benefit on our common Christianity who, gathering these scattered and fragmentary conceptions together into one grand whole, would present it to the contemplation of men in all its dimensions and proportions, in all its grandeur and symmetry. For this end he must lay aside all party-spirit, and, taking his stand upon the broad and elevated platform of Scripture, endeavor to survey with minuteness at once and breadth of view the wide field that stretches 6ut before him and around him. No where but in the Bible is this broad, entire, universal Christianity to be found; nor is it to be found even there wrapped up in a single verse — except by implication, a method which is open to many risks — but it must be sought for with painstaking care and diligence throughout every one of its inspired pages.

In the passage before us we have a very full exhibition of Christianity, fitted to correct certain partial and one-sided views of it. Various important and essential elements are brought forward as entering into it, and constituting it. First of all, there is the vital element — This is life eternal; then there is the intellectual element — That they might know; then there is the personal element — Thee; then there is the theistic element — The only true Grod; and then there is the evangelic element — Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent Not one of these elements can be left out without materially injuring Christianity — without impairing its fullness, and weakening its efficiency. Leave out the first, the vital element, and you reduce it to a mere form. Leave out the second, the intellectual element, and you make Christianity a wholly-emotional thing— a mere matter of feeling. Leave out the third, the personal element, and you deprive it of all form and substance. Leave out the fourth, the theistic element, and you lose sight of its ethical or moral character. Leave out the last, the evangelic element, and you bring it down to the level of natural religion. Let us advert to each of these elements separately, and then let us consider what a beautiful and harmonious whole is the result.

First of all, then, we take up the vital or life element: "It is life eternal/' Christianity is a life. It is something more, indeed, as we shall see as we advance. This is only one aspect of it; but it is a very important aspect. Christianity, we repeat, is a life; that is, real, personal, concrete Christianity is so. It is this, or it is nothing to nie, so far as I am individually concerned. If it has not brought life to my soul, a new life to which previously I was a stranger — a spiritual life, ay, a divine life — indicating plainly its origin to be of God by its desire to return to him in love, and trust, and fellowship — if Christianity has not done this, there might as well be none for me, that is, for any good it has done me. There is still a Christianity revealed in the Bible, and experienced in the hearts of those who have actually embraced it, and come under its influence. But what is all this to me, if Christianity form not a part of my experience, of my history, of my inner life ? Practically it is nothing. It is well, indeed, there is a Christianity independent of me — out of me altogether, and out of every man — exhibited, as to its ground, its nature, its effects, in the only inspired and authoritative standard of faith and practice. This is well; for by the continual holding up of this high, definite, fixed standard, I may be taught my deficiency, and my need of a decided change to constitute me a living embodiment of Christianity. But till this is the case, Christianity is, to all practical purposes, a name, and nothing but a name, to me. For only conceive that I should die in this state of separation from it ? what end would it serve in reference to my moral destiny, except the melancholy one of making that destiny darker than it would have been if I had never heard of it? There is a Christianity without, and there is a Christianity within; and it is right that, for certain purposes, they should be distinguished. But it is a grievous error wdien they are separated; and is it not a strange perversity in the human mind that leads to this separation? You believe there is an external, objective Christianity, consisting of a system of facts and truths revealed in Scripture. Right, most right. Never lose sight of this; let nothing shake your confidence in this. But why lose sight of this other point, that there is an internal, subjective Christianity, consisting of these facts and truths received into the mind, and given forth again, stamped with the person's own individuality — bearing the hues and forms of his own experience — the very breath and motion of his new-born existence? It is then and thus that Christianity becomes truly vital. It becomes then a life — "life eternal." The soul begins to live, in the true sense of that profound term — to live to God; nay, to live the very life of God — an immortal, blessed, spiritual life !

Yes; Christianity is a life. It is a great truth, and, we fear, too much lost sight of. There is need for its being brought forth froix its obscurity, and urged unceasingly upon oui hearers. Christianity is a life. Unfortunately this has become the watchword of a school grievously unsound in its doctrinal theology. It is the one idea of their creed. Nevertheless, it is a truth, so far as it goes; a deep truth — a grand and glorious truth — a much forgotten truth. And shall we leave them in possession of this great truth? Shall we be afraid to proclaim it, lest we be misunderstood ? No; we will take from them any advantage they may have obtained from the statement of it. We will show that it is not peculiar to them. We, too, will raise the cry — Christian ity is a life. We will let it be known how thoroughly we hold this truth, and in a far deeper sense than they do. For, while their life is a shallow, mystical, baseless, inexplicable thing — self-originated, fed from within — ours is a life that pervades and energizes the whole soul — that is imparted from above — that is nourished from infinite fullness — that will

"bear scrutiny as to its nature and actings — that can be brought to a definite test — and that is conversant, not with the ideal, but with the real, the actual, the personal.

Thus do we hold Christianity to be a life — not in any mysterious, magical, mystical way, but in a manner consonant with Scripture at once and reason. How, then, is Christianity a life? It is so, because it is a system in connection with which Divine influence is imparted to quicken the soul " dead in trespasses and sins," raising up its prostrate powers, enlightening the understanding, awakening the conscience, renewing the w^ill and affections. It is so, because it is a system which exhibits those views of the Divine character that reawaken the soul's love and confidence. It is so, because it is a system which brings reconciliation, full forgiveness — grace, in short, in all the fullness of that comprehensive word.

Has Christianity thus vitalized our souls? Have we experienced its life-giving power? Can we say, "To me to live is Christ;" "Christ liveth in me?" Ah! these are expressions, the full import of which is known only to those to whom Christianity has become a life. And how few are these !

Secondly. The intellectual or truth element: 66 That they might know." Christianity is a life. It is a great truth this ; and yet it is only a half-truth. You say, and you say perpetually, Christianity is a life. You denounce systems — you decry the letter, as you are pleased to call it, of Scripture — you abjure the creed of Christendom — you protest against the introduction of the intellect into the domain of religion, "which, you say, is not an affair of the understanding, but — of what ? You can hardly tell. Either you know not well yourself, or you do not wish to be urged to explicitness on such a topic. Be that as it may, you are a determined opponent of intellectualism. Christianity, you insist, is a life — a matter of feeling — an intuition; it lies too deep to be fathomed — it defies expression — it shuns observation — it is something too fine, too ethereal, to be laid hold of, and manipulated by the rude hand of the theologian : its forms may vary, but there it is, the same divine, unchanging, immutable thing in all good men, in all ages. Christianity, in short, is not a creed, but a life.

There is an air of wisdom and of spiritualism in all this, that is very apt to impose upon shallow and undisciplined minds — minds not inured to much close and exact thinking. And, in point of fact, multitudes are led away by it, and are fast giving up all that is of a definite and substantive character in religion.

Now, waiving for the present many objections that might be urged against this new assault upon our doctrinal Christianity, we shall confine ourselves to this one objection, which is fatal to the whole theory. Christianity is a life. Be it so ; but our difficulty is how, upon your principles, this life is originated. Let us see. Either the life produces the Christianity, or the Christianity the life. If the former is the true state of the case, then we see not of what use Christianity is at all, since it is an effect and expression of life rather than its cause. If the latter is the true state of the case, then where is Christianity to be found anterior to its producing life ? and by what channel does it reach the soul and quicken it ?

Where is Christianity to be found anterior to its producing life in the soul? Now, Ave demand a distinct answer to this question. It is a point that must be settled beyond the possibility of doubt. There must be no uncertain sound given forth in reference to it. It will not do to refer us to something called a stream of life, flowing down, through all ages, from the Author of Christianity himself, enkindled in some mysterious way in the souls of those who conversed with him, and saw his glory. It will not do to refer us to something termed the universal Christian consciousness.. This is only removing the difficulty a step farther back. The question still presses upon us, What is the origin and nature of this life — this consciousness which has all along existed in the Church ? Vv T e can not prove a thing hy itself. We are thus as much at sea as ever. Where is Christianity to be found? What is it? Where is that fountain whence life in all ages — so far as it is true, genuine life, and not one or other of its many specious counterfeits — has issued? Where is that test by which the ever-varying and ofttimes contradictory consciousness of those professing to be Christ's disciples may be tried ? Is there such a fountain? Is there such a test? In the very nature of things there must be. This fountain, this test is the Bible. Here, and here only, is Christianity, in its true character and claims, clearly and authoritatively revealed. The Bible is the safe and sure deposit of the sacred treasure of Christianity throughout all ages. Opinions vary, systems change, Churches rise and decay — the Bible alone is infallible and immutable. It holds the same language from age to age. In proportion as it is lost sight of, the life of the Church declines ; and every revival it experiences arises out of a return to this only rule and measure, origin and food of the spiritual life. Such, then, is the place that belongs to the truth, to doctrinal truth in this matter. We must not think or speak lightly of this. It is the glass in which we discern the image of our absent Lord. It is the revelation of his character and mission. It is the medium of our converse with him. It is the first, though not the ultimate ground of our faith. It is the light that guides us to Him, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead — in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge — in whom we have eternal life. We must stand up for the truth — for God's truth — for it is a priceless treasure. We must be valiant for the truth upon the earth. This is a point on which we can not afford to be neutral, and in which no compromise is lawful. We must take care, indeed, that it is the simple, unadulterated truth of Scripture we exalt to this supremacy over the human mind. But we must equally beware of that latitudinarianism which would lead us to ask the skeptical question of Pilate, What is truth ?

This is the first point. Then the second is, By what channel does the truth reach the soul, and quicken it? Now, this is the place that belongs to the intellect — the intellect spiritually enlightened, no doubt, but still the intellect. The truth must be known, must be intelligently embraced, ere it can impress its likeness on the mind. " Ye shall know the truth," says Christ, "and the truth shall make you free." There are many other passages in which the intellectual element is distinctly recognized. You can not, therefore, banish the intellect from the sphere of religion — any more than any other portion of your complex nature — without great injury. And whence this anxiety in certain quarters to effect a separation between religion and the intellect? The reason is plain. They are afraid of the intellect. They know that their religion is of so groundless, flimsy, unsubstantial a character, that it will not bear to be viewed in the light of the understanding. It is an unworthy stratagem to get rid of Scripture truth altogether, and sweep away, one after another, all the peculiar and fundamental doctrines of the Gospel. It is life eternal, says our text, not to feel merely, or believe merely, but to K3"0W. This, in fact, is the basis of the whole ; for we must know ere we can either believe or feel. A religion devoid of intellectualism is wanting in depth and permanence. It is a nickering light that often leads astray; and in an age such as this, when error in every form is abroad, and truth in every form is questioned, it seems especially necessary that we should aim at being intelligent Christians ; that w T e should know what we believe, and why we believe it; that we should be able to give a " reason for the hope that is in us;" that, in short, all the powers of our minds being put forth upon the truth, we should take so firm and comprehensive a grasp of it, that nothing can move us away from the faith. We confess ourselves to be exceedingly jealous for the maintenance in our Christianity of the intellectual element, in its right sense, and in due proportion. For this it is, after all, that will invest our religion with such dignity and grandeur, as that it shall command the veneration of the world, who are but too ready to despise religious people for their want of intellectuality; and that will impart to our religion such strength and substance, as that it shall withstand the rude shocks to which it must be exposed in a world like this.

Thirdly. The personal element: "Thee." Christianity is a life. Let us keep hold of this truth. It is the leadings central idea. Life eternal ; this is the grand thought of the passage. Life ! what is it ? We must look more closely into this subject ; we must endeavor to fathom this thing called life. Life ! it is a very marvelous attribute this of life ; it is the great mystery of the universe, the mystery of mysteries. Life, in any form and degree, is so ; how much more life in its highest manifestations ! It is the life of the soul of which we here treat; and what can the true and proper life of the soul be — of such a soul as man's — a soul formed originally after the Divine image — a soul of vast capacities and endless duration ? I answer, it is God alone — the only living and true God — God himself, communicating to .me, as can be communicated to a finite being, his own blessed and immortal life. I must be brought, somehow or other, into union and communion with him, the fountain of life. I must be restored to his image, and favor, and fellowship, I must be "renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created me." No truth, simply as truth — no system, simply as a system — no ordinance, simply as an ordinance, can be the life of my soul, in the highest sense. All these, of themselves, leave the soul empty, barren, lifeless as before. These may be inferior channels of life, but they are not themselves the life. It is not in them; and what they have not, they can not communicate.

I must look for life where life resides in all its fullness. The soul's death is separation from God; the soul's life is restoration to God. In him, both in a natural and spiritual sense, "we live, and move, 'and have our being." The realization of this great truth is the first awakening of life in the soul; and as life increases, the soul is cleaving faster and faster to the living and life-giving Jehovah, the I am that I AM — a name, this, expressive of this great truth, that he only has life in and of himself. The scheme of redemption is based on this. "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." The whole power of Christianity to vitalize the soul lies in the existence of the personal element — in the actual presence and power of a personal God, and a personal Savior, put forth upon the individual soul. And forasmuch as knowledge, like faith, is the bond of union and communion between the soul and God, on the part of man, we see at once the nature of the connection between eternal life and the knowledge of him. It is not so much that the life flows from the knowledge as a distinct thing. The life and the knowledge, as matters of experience, are all one. The rise of life in the soul is identified with the rise of knowledge; and ever after, the progress of the one is proportionally as the progress of the other. It is the same thing viewed from different sides. From the side of God it is life, because life is his gift. From the side of man it is knowledge, because this is his act or exercise of mind.

The whole power of Christianity, we repeat, to vitalize the soul, lies in the existence of the personal element. For look again at the text: " This is life eternal, that they might know Thee;" not the truth merely, not the Gospel, but Thee. And this throws light upon the nature of the knowledge here spoken of — the nature of that intellectual element which we have shown to be an essential ingredient in personal Christianity. You will observe that eternal life is connected with the knowledge, the simple knowledge of God and Christ. Now, are we not at first rather stumbled at this ? We say, how can this be ? Do we not find persons possessed of the knowledge of Christianity, who have no spiritual life in their souls ? And how do we meet this apparent contradiction between Scripture and actual experience? We say, their knowledge can not be of the right kind; it is not saving knowledge, it is not spiritual knowledge, and so on. And, therefore, with the view of correcting the text of Scripture, and preventing the abuse of it, we read it thus : This is life eternal, that they might savingly, spiritually know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. But there are no such words as savingly and spiritually in the original, and surely if they had been necessary they would have been introduced. Our Savior's words are simply, that they might hioiv. Would it not be better, therefore, instead of almost always directing people's minds to the act itself of knowing, to direct them more frequently rather to the object — the person to be known ?

This would determine the nature of the knowledge required, as well as call it into exercise. Scripture does not define, at least in any formal way, either faith or knowledge ; and the explanation is this: it sets before us the proper objects of faith and knowledge, and trusts to their making, when realized, the right impression upon the mind. It does not tell you how to believe, or how to know. How could it ? It could use no definition that would not leave the matter as great a mystery as before. Besides, this would have been drawing away our regards from the truth itself to the operations of our own minds. What, then, is the explanation of our nowadays deeming it necessary to guard those simple words, faith and knowledge, from abuse, by qualifying them, and making additions to them? It is this : We have too much lost sight of their proper objects. We have overlooked too much the personal element. We have dealt too exclusively with abstract doctrines, which, in their own nature, can not give birth to any thing but purely-abstract and dialectical states of mind; and so we need to draw distinctions, and to speak of saving and speculative faith, saving and speculative knowledge — distinctions which are quite unintelligible to those for whom they are designed, just because the spiritual character of those acts presupposes the spiritual character of their objects. It is life eternal to know Thee. Ah! there lies the secret of that knowledge which is eternal life. I must either know Him, or not know Him. There is no middle state of mind. If I have not the knowledge which is eternal life, it is not the true God and the true Christ that I have been contemplating, but a figment of my own imagination — an unsubstantial conception of my own mind. True, the knowledge of a divine and spiritual being must needs be a spiritual knowledge, the result of a spiritual influence upon the mind. But here, as in every other department, the nature of the knowledge depends primarily on the nature of the thing known; and we do think that by far the most effectual way of dealing with the unrenewed is, instead of telling them that they do not know aright and believe aright, to assure them they do not believe and know the God and the Savior of the Bible at all.

Fourthly. The theistie or Grod element: "The only true God." Christianity is a life. It is a beautiful view this, and correct as it is beautiful. It is truly a most profound view, going right to the heart of it, and bringing to light its hidden nature. It is a most comprehensive view, taking in with one sweep its highest and most far-reaching results. Christianity is a life — the very life of God in the soul of man; bringing God and man together again in sympathy and fellowship, uniting them again in righteousness and true holiness, which is the life that God leads — the very breath of the Divine existence. Christianity is not so much an end itself as a means to an end, and this is the end — the re-enthroning of God in the heart of man, so that it shall not be so much I that live, but God that lives in me — every pulse of my new life throbbing in unison with God's — my heart beating responsive to his heart — my understanding the faint reflection of his understanding — my will the echo of his will; this is a grand and elevating view of Christianity, and we can not help thinking, that if there is too little of Christ in the Christianity of some, there is too little of Grod in the Christianity of others. True; Christ is God. But we speak now of the Godhead generally, with a more special reference to the Godhead of the Father. Have you never marked how much Christ speaks of his Father ? He is the Father's servant; he sought not his own glory, but the glory of the Father ; he came not to do his own will, but the will of the Father.

His mission was to bring men back to God, in subjection to his authority, in resemblance to his image, in the enjoyment of his favor now, and of his presence hereafter. His object was not to come between us and God — to hide him from our view as a vail, or defend us from him as a shield. He is the Mediator between God and man; he heals the breach; he brings the parties again into an amicable relation. We are accustomed to say that the person of Christ is the ultimate and terminating object of faith; and this is true so far. He is so as in contrast with other Saviors, or with the truth, which does nothing more, and can do nothing more, than exhibit him. But not as in contrast with the other Persons; for the ultimate and terminating object of faith, as well as of all other religious homage, is the Divine Nature— the whole Godhead, especially the first Person, as in a sense representing the others. Mark this passage, in 1 Peter i, 21, "Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory ; that your faith and hope might be in God" — by Mm, that is, by Christ, through a medium — in Ciod ultimately, as a final end. Now, is not all this a good deal lost sight of in our popular Christianity? Is there not a tendency to leave God out in it? is there not an extreme type of evangelism, which regards Christianity as a scheme for effecting men's salvation merely? Salvation! this is the one idea of this Christianity. But salvation — as commonly understood, at least — expresses only the negative side of Christianity, which is far more than deliverance from certain dreaded evils.

The positive side of Christianity is, that it is a life — that it exhibits the glory of the Divine character, and vindicates the honor of the Divine government — that it writes anew the law of God in the heart of man — that it makes the rebel a willing subject of the "King eternal, immortal, and invisible" — that, in short, it makes God all in all. But the exaggerated form of evangelism to which we refer, makes little or nothing of the theistic element; man's salvation is everything; God's supremacy, nothing. It is a purely-selfish Christianity this. It dishonors Christ. Under the idea of exalting him, by making him the Alpha and Omega — the first, middle, and end — it really dishonors him, by counteracting the grand end of his mission. It dishonors God, for it displaces him from his own position as the supreme object of worship and the moral governor of the universe. And such a Christianity, being deprived of the theistic element, is deprived of its etiiical character. Such themes as the divine being and perfections, the moral law, the judgment to come, divine providence, the claims of humanity, and many other kindred topics, all bearing upon the character of God, form a part of Christianity, as well as those points which bear directly upon the individual's own safety and peace. A Christianity without Christ, without his grace and righteousness, is not the Christianity of the New Testament; as little is a Christianity without God, without his law, and his supremacy. You love to hear of Christ and his free salvation ; this is the Gospel, you say. But you do not love to hear much of God, of his sovereign authority, of his infinite majesty, and other attributes! This you stigmatize as legalism — as mere natural religion, forsooth! You love to hear of Jesus Christ, but not of the true God that sent him — of the sent, but not of the sender — of the .embassador, but not of the king — of the gift, but not of the giver. Surely there is something very far wrong here, grievously wrong, dangerously wrong. It is making Christ the minister of sin; it is virtual Antinomianism. Let us be assured that a Christianity which thus makes light of God is as unscriptural as that "which makes light of Christ.